The Happy Burger restaurant along Mission Street, aka Route 66, in Sapulpa, Okla., is marking its 50th year in business this month, reports the Sapulpa Daily Herald. The Happy Burger was a Tastee Freez franchise when it opened in 1957. The name was changed to Happy Burger during the 1970s. The restaurant's floor and counters … Continue reading Happy Burger marks 50 years
Category: History
Rest area
During a recent trip to New Mexico on Route 66, we stopped to check out an old cemetery near the settlement of Montoya. A few graves predated the commissioning of Route 66, and burials occurred there as recently as 2005. There are traditional engraved tombstones, including a fair number of markers for local soldiers of … Continue reading Rest area
Chery Cory’s road journal is online
Web guru and fellow roadie Guy Randall had been working on this, and I'm excited to see it's done. What I'm talking about is Chery Cory's Route 66 journals from 1992 until her untimely death in 2001. She and her husband Earl traveled Route 66 in an RV, and Cheryl wrote about her experiences. She … Continue reading Chery Cory’s road journal is online
Need a lift?
It looks like the Route 66 Hall of Fame Museum and Livingston County War Museum, which are part of the same complex in Pontiac, Ill., will have an elevator by next summer. The Pontiac Daily Leader reports that the City Council authorized an architect to proceed with those plans. The elevator would provide access to … Continue reading Need a lift?
KiMo Theatre marks 80th year
The KiMo Theatre in Albuquerque, which is along the Central Avenue alignment of Route 66, is marking its 80th year. Check out this excellent story by the Albuquerque Tribune about the theater's doughnut-loving ghost, performers such as a beer-drinking mule and Sally Rand, and its non-Nazi swastikas.
Do you know the road?
To coincide with the International Route 66 Mother Road Festival this weekend, the Springfield (Ill.) Journal Register published a quiz to test your knowledge of America's most famous highway. I gained Big Daddy status (barely) by getting 12 of the 15 questions right. The Springfield questions might trip up even the most devoted roadies.
Nuclear blasts for road construction
At least cooler heads prevailed. In Mark Muckenfuss' column in the Inland Press-Enterprise, he said he was doing some research about old Route 66 in Southern California when he uncovered a 1967 newspaper article by Earl E. Buie about Interstate 40 road-construction plans through the Bristol Mountains. Normally, construction crews would have blasted their way … Continue reading Nuclear blasts for road construction
Book review: “Traveling the Historic Three”
Here's something for roadies: A guidebook for traveling not one, not two, but three historic highways, all in a compact loop. Illinois Route 66 preservationists John and Lenore Weiss recently published the "Traveling the Historic Three" (self-published, 74 pages, $9.95), which is a guidebook to Route 66, the Lincoln Highway and the Dixie Highway in … Continue reading Book review: “Traveling the Historic Three”
Old Potapov Service Station buildings are razed
The Victorville (Calif.) Daily Press reports that the stone buildings that once were Potapov's Service Station and Auto Court on Route 66 in Oro Grande were torn down Monday. “The only option I had was to tear them down, in my mind, because what are you going to do, a tourist spectacle? It’s not safe,” … Continue reading Old Potapov Service Station buildings are razed
A special birthday celebration
The Bartlett-Carnegie Sapulpa Public Library in Sapulpa, Okla., is marking its 90th birthday on Sept. 15, and to begin the festivities that day will be Route 66 author Michael Wallis, reports the Sapulpa Daily Herald. Wallis will sign books and answer questions from the public from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in John Frank Hall … Continue reading A special birthday celebration