An automotive artist from California may buy Dale’s Ole 66 Barber Shop in Joplin, Missouri, and turn it into a gallery and visitors center, according to the Joplin Globe.
Len Nordmann of Lake Elsinore, California, wants to buy the property at 2312 Utica St. (aka Route 66) from Shirley Holly, widow of longtime owner Dale Holly, who owned it for 50 years as Dale’s Ole 66 Barber Shop until his death in 2012.
The only catch is the city has to approve a special-use permit for Nordmann to run the property in the fashion he envisions. Approval seems likely; the Planning and Zoning Commission is recommending to the city council that the zoning change be greenlighted.
Ron Hart of the Route 66 Chamber of Commerce went to bat for the proposal at the zoning meeting:
The property opened in the 1920s as the Shamrock Inn. It had a Phillips 66 gas station, a cafe, three cabins and a tourist camp, a place where travelers could park and tent camp during their journey. The filling station closed in 1959.
“It is best known in Joplin as a major attraction, something people like to stop and see” because of its nostalgic connection to early travelers of the highway, Hart said. “It’s rare to find an old filling station like this that’s not been moved somewhere else. Today, only the filling station and a cottage remain,” built on the foundation of one of the former cabins, he said.
Dale Holly died last year. “It was his desire to see that property still serve a Route 66 purpose. We’re getting real close to that happening,” Hart said.
Shirley Holly says she plans to lend her late husband’s barber shop gear so Nordmann can make a re-creation of Dale’s shop. Nordmann also says he wants to restore the gas-station part into its original Phillips 66 appearance.