After a topsy-turvy session in the Oklahoma Legislature, major funding for the OKPOP museum finally was approved and is slated to open in Tulsa's Brady District in 2018. A lot of people assume the museum is going to focus on Oklahoma's rich music history. But a recent article in the Tulsa World clarifies that OKPOP … Continue reading So what’s going to be in the OKPOP museum?
Category: History
A video about the Negro Motorist Green Book
A few days ago, we told you about Candacy Taylor earning a grant to document Route 66 properties listed in editions of the Negro Motorist Green Book. About the same time Taylor's grant was announced, she uploaded this video about the book that helped African-Americans travel more safely during the Jim Crow era from 1936 … Continue reading A video about the Negro Motorist Green Book
Petrified Forest pilfering tale is fiction
For decades, the Petrified Forest National Park in eastern Arizona tried to discourage visitors from stealing its small pieces of petrified wood by saying the park loses 12 tons of the fossils per year. But, as an Arizona Republic report explains, the park's pilfering tale isn't true. No one's for sure how much petrified wood … Continue reading Petrified Forest pilfering tale is fiction
Joplin: then and now
Patrick McPheron, an artist based in Los Angeles who is a native of Joplin, Missouri, put together this amazing video of century-old images from Joplin that deftly fades the images into current-day images from the same exact vantage point. https://youtu.be/aNLk6f3F7P8 Getting the new images from the same location must have been the most challenging part … Continue reading Joplin: then and now
More Genuine Route 66 Lives
KC Keefer recently uploaded a few more videos as part of his Genunine Route 66 Life series. Here is Bob Russell, mayor of Pontiac, Illinois, who personally greets many Route 66 travelers as they arrive in downtown Pontiac. The clip prominently features the bus of late Route 66 artist Bob Waldmire. https://youtu.be/X6MmLMJ3RWQ Next is historian … Continue reading More Genuine Route 66 Lives
Teaser film out about Will Rogers, Route 66
A few weeks ago, the Will Rogers Memorial Museum in Claremore, Oklahoma, announced it was working with Kirkpatrick & Kinslow Productions in nearby Tulsa to produce a three-minute film about the link between Oklahoma movie star and humorist Will Rogers and Route 66. “Route 66: The Mother Road” author Michael Wallis and Jennifer Rogers-Etcheverry, great-granddaughter of … Continue reading Teaser film out about Will Rogers, Route 66
One of Oklahoma’s classic Lebanese steakhouses
Discover Oklahoma spent a little time at Freddie's Bar-B-Que and Steakhouse, located on Route 66 in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, for a quarter-century. https://youtu.be/4H8z_XVDbu8 Oklahoma contains pockets of Lebanese-Americans who've lived in the Sooner State for generations, first with the Land Run and later during the oil boom of the 1920s. Many reside in Tulsa, Bristow, Drumright … Continue reading One of Oklahoma’s classic Lebanese steakhouses
The story behind the first Fun Run
Ryan Abella, a reporter for the Kingman Daily Miner in Kingman, Arizona, dug into the newspaper's archives for a story on the very first Arizona Route 66 Fun Run in 1988. The 28th edition of the Fun Run finishes today. Abella found some fascinating tidbits about the inaugural event: --- The Fun Run started not … Continue reading The story behind the first Fun Run
Lincoln on 66 Visitors Center opens
The Lincoln on 66 Visitors Center, a prominent new part of the McLean County Museum of History in downtown Bloomington, Illinois, opened to more than 300 guests in just three hours during its debut Saturday, according to the Bloomington Pantagraph. Spurred by the success of Pontiac, Illinois, playing up Route 66 tourism, Bloomington embarked on a major renovation … Continue reading Lincoln on 66 Visitors Center opens
Short film coming about Will Rogers, Route 66
In recent days, a film crew has been working with "Route 66: The Mother Road" author Michael Wallis and Jennifer Rogers-Etcheverry, great-granddaughter of Oklahoma humorist Will Rogers, at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum in Claremore, Oklahoma, and other locations for a project. Russ Kirkpatrick of Kirkpatrick & Kinslow Productions in nearby Tulsa told me in an email what … Continue reading Short film coming about Will Rogers, Route 66