Book review: “Route 66 Treasures”

A new book from prolific author Jim Hinckley, “Route 66 Treasures” (64 pages, hardback, Voyageur Press, $30 U.S. retail) might seem just a simple collection of facsimile souvenirs from the Mother Road.

It is that, but it’s more.

Although its 64 pages seem to be a slim book, Hinckley and more than 100 color illustrations deftly look at the history of how Route 66 and its businesses promoted themselves — often in ingenious ways — through the decades.

But first is a partial inventory of the 15 removable goodies packed into “Route 66 Treasures”:

• Individual and state-specific stickers circa the 1950s from Illinois, Oklahoma, California, Missouri, Kansas, New Mexico and Texas
• Brochure from the Hotel Will Rogers in Claremore, Okla.
• El Rancho Barstow postcard with correspondence on the back
• “Greetings from Amarillo” postcard with correspondence on the back
• Brochure for Indian-made jewelry from Maisel’s Indian Trading Post in Albuquerque
• Illinois/Missouri McKinley Bridge Auto Trails Map
• Eight-inch diameter sticker from Rimmy Jim’s Arizona store
• Coffee Pot Cafe tourism brochure from Williams, Ariz.
• Vintage menu from Rod’s Steakhouse in Williams, Ariz.

Hinckley chronicles such early promotional  efforts as the nearly forgotten Pierce Pennant Petroleum Terminal that sought sites every 125 miles on the fledgling U.S. 66. More successful efforts arrived with the distinctive gas stations by Phillips Petroleum Co. and the efforts of the U.S. 66 Highway Association, which operated for decades.

During the late 1920s and all of the ’30s, methods for promoting businesses grew in number and sophistication. The crude-but-effective Burma Shave-style signs made way for gigantic, colorful billboards. Map advertisements and brochures became commonplace. Companies such as the Gilmore Oil Co. in California sponsored events along Route 66 and collaborated with service stations. Lester Dill and his Meramec Caverns staff in Missouri developed the first bumper sticker, a cardboard sign affixed with wire. Ernie Pyle, before gaining fame as a World War II correspondent, wrote a syndicated column about 66, inducing Mother Road businesses to run ad space next to it.

One of the most enduring promotional methods turned out to be postcards. Hundreds of millions of these mail-able pieces of paper circulated over the decades. They started with black-and-white images, then colored illustrations on linen, then so-called chrome photographic images in saturated colors. These images dominate the images seen in “Route 66 Treasures.”

Motels along Route 66 evolved from crude tent cabins such as Carty’s Camp in Needles, Calif., to the elegantly appointed grounds of the Nelson Dream Village in Lebanon, Mo., complete with colorfully lighted fountain and exotic birds. The White Rock Court in Kingman, Ariz., developed one of the first motel air-conditioning systems using utility tunnels, burlap and a water tank. That paved the way for climate control at roadside lodgings.

A few businesses became roadside icons primarily because of their logos. Wayne Troutner’s Store for Men in Winslow, Ariz., gained scads of out-of-town business because its logo of a curvy woman in western wear. The “Here It Is!” billboard continues to bring tourists to the Jackrabbit Trading Post in Arizona.

Movies such as “The Grapes of Wrath,” the “Route 66” television drama, and two separate but successful versions of the song “Route 66” by Bobby Troup and Nelson Riddle cemented the Mother Road in pop culture.

The years after World War II brought exotic animal museums and amusement parks, such as the still-operating Frontier City in Oklahoma City and defunct establishments such as Little Beaver Town near Albuquerque and Buffalo Ranch in Afton, Okla.

The 1950s also signaled the rise of franchises, including Hiway House, Whiting Brothers, Bob’s Big Boy, Chicken in the Rough and Stuckey’s. Those businesses withered over time, but they were a harbinger of more-successful chains that drove many mom-and-pop operations out of business. Traffic on Route 66 continued to swell, prompting the U.S. government to build bigger, limited-access highways that bypassed small towns and devastated their local economies.

Route 66 continued its long decline in the p0st-interstate era until the late 1980s and early ’90s. The renaissance began when a small-town barber, Angel Delgadillo, formed a Route 66 association in Arizona, Michael Wallis’ “Route 66: The Mother Road” became a best-seller, and the National Historic Route 66 Federation started an annual gathering of roadies. A number of vintage businesses, including the Munger Moss Motel, Ariston Cafe and Blue Swallow Motel (from which the book derives is cover images), are thriving.

In keeping with the theme, Hinckley closes the book by noting many of the old postcards, menus, guides and other promotional materials have become collectors’ items, a few of them fetching hundreds of dollars.

Perhaps it’s because of a lack of space or a print medium’s loathing to mention a competitor, but the book fails to mention the Internet’s still-evolving impact on Route 66’s revival. The Route 66 e-group (now on Yahoo!) during the 1990s helped persuade Congress to enact the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program. A search of “Route 66” in Google brings up more than 95 million pages. And Route 66 businesses use dedicated websites, Facebook, Twitter and other social media to promote themselves. The glaring omission of cyberspace is the only fault I found with “Route 66 Treasures.”

However, this brief but enjoyable book — and its souvenirs — should serve nicely as an introduction for novices interested in the Mother Road. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this book under a lot of trees on Christmas Day.

Highly recommended.