Anthony Reichardt recently uploaded more videos from his 1990s trips on Route 66 in a 1959 Cadillac.
The videos hold historical value because a number of the places where he visited have vanished or have drastically changed. Reichardt’s YouTube channel is here, where more than 50 videos are posted.
He posted a video a couple of years ago of a 1993 visit to Lucille Hamons, longtime owner of Lucille’s in Hydro, Oklahoma. He recently posted a new video of his follow-up visit in 1994. Reichardt and a pal chatted with Hamons for more than 10 minutes; it’s worth your time to listen. It’s clear from her comments the Route 66 revival already was well underway at that time.
Hamons died in 2000 after running the station for almost 60 years. The Lucille’s station, built in 1929, is closed but was restored as a photo op.
Next is the Lewis Motel in Vinita, Oklahoma, including the interior of one of the rooms.
Alas, the Lewis Motel was demolished in 2006 to make way for an O’Reilly’s Auto Parts store. The restored neon sign resurfaced years later at Bungalow in the Boulders near Joshua Tree National Park in California.
Next is a 1995 follow-up visit to the Twin Arrows Trading Post and Cafe in Twin Arrows, Arizona.
The entire complex would be closed by 1998, although the site’s trademark twin arrows were restored in 2009. Other than that, Twin Arrows has been left to the elements and vandals.
Finally, here is the Stuckey’s gas station that once sat on Gruhlkey Road near Adrian, Texas. The station closed in 2015.
Stuckey’s once counted more than 350 locations all over the U.S. About 110 will operate.
(Screen-capture image from 1994 video of Lucille Hamons at Lucille’s in Hydro, Oklahoma)