Oklahoma City station features Route 66 researcher and artist Jerry McClanahan

Jerry McClanahan at his shop

KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City recently ventured to Chandler, Oklahoma, to do a 2 1/2-minute feature about Route 66 artist and researcher Jerry McClanahan at his shop there.

The best part from the video’s transcript:

Just outside sits an idling 1954 Chevy station wagon, not so different from the cars his father used to drive on summer vacations with the family.
“We did our first summer vacation, family trip in 1959,” recalls McClanahan.
Back in those days, Dad didn’t like to stop in places like Chandler for anything but gas.
“I saw all this cool stuff going by. Neon signs, to billboards, ‘see the live snakes’, ‘see the rabbits’, that kind of stuff. Dad wouldn’t stop.”
Jerry made a career out of stopping at every wide spot to paint or mark another spot on the map.

It’s good to see McClanahan get a little due. He’s been creating artwork about Route 66 and finding long-forgotten alignments of that historic highway for at least 30 years. He remains a key figure in documenting the road’s history and helping Route 66 travelers find it.

More on McClanahan’s artwork may be found here.

He also has co-written several books — several with fellow Oklahoma Route 66 researcher Jim Ross — but his best-known and most indispensable is the “Route 66: EZ Guide for Travelers” guidebook, now in its fourth edition.

(Screen-capture image from KFOR-TV video of Jerry McClanahan)

4 thoughts on “Oklahoma City station features Route 66 researcher and artist Jerry McClanahan

  1. Sorry to be picky, but the error is too blatant to overlook. That is definitely not a ’54 Chevy wagon’. It is, quite obviously, a ’57 Chevy wagon. I can’t be the first to notice?!!

  2. I’m glad to see Jerry’s great talent recognized! He is an amazing artist and a very nice gentleman. His knowledge of the Route is as extensive as his ability to portray it’s scenery. A trip to his studio should be on every Route 66 tourists’ itinerary.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.