The Cozy Dog Drive-In restaurant, a landmark on Route 66 in Springfield, Ill., is listed as a "can't miss" stop in the Rand McNally Midwest Getaway Guide, published this month. According to the news release: Cozy Dog Drive In, locally owned and operated since 1946, has been a Route 66 attraction drawing travelers from around … Continue reading Cozy Dog featured on Rand McNally guide
Category: History
Memorial commemorates ordnance disaster
The Pontiac (Ill.) Daily Leader reports that a statue was dedicated earlier this month commemorating the 52 people who died in an explosion in 1942 at an ordnance plant just off Route 66 in Elwood. The statue, of a man in work clothes, wearing a hard hat and carrying a lunchbox, is next to the … Continue reading Memorial commemorates ordnance disaster
Book review: “Hip to the Trip”
Just when you think there are no more new avenues to books about Route 66's history, Peter Dedek finds unexplored backroads and obscure alignments in his "Hip to the Trip: A Cultural History of Route 66" (169 pages, University of New Mexico Press, $19.95). Dedek, a professor at Texas State University, diligently researches the history … Continue reading Book review: “Hip to the Trip”
History to a T
This is an interesting idea: an apparel company in Portland, Ore., scours the country for cool graphics from now-defunct 1930s to '60s roadside businesses and puts them on T-shirts. Vintage Roadside not only helps preserves the memory of a long-gone motel or restaurant on a T-shirt, but its site also provides a brief history of … Continue reading History to a T
Coffeehouse opens in Seligman
Kathryn of Australia, a Route 66 veteran who's blogging about her current trip on the Mother Road, pointed out there is a new business in the Route 66 town of Seligman, Ariz. It's the Historic Seligman Sundries, which is a combination soda fountain, coffeehouse and gift shop that opened May 1. The building is one … Continue reading Coffeehouse opens in Seligman
Italians on the Mother Road
The Rolla (Mo.) Daily News reports that a new book, "Searching for Italy in America's Rural Heartland," contains a chapter about Italians who settled in the Rolla, Rosati and St. James region of central Missouri. In the chapter about Rosati, Calvitto notes that a group of immigrants from Italy came to the United States and … Continue reading Italians on the Mother Road
Route 66, Iraq historical sites named most threatened
As threatened as Route 66's historical sites are, it at least it has one thing in its favor: The country in which they are located is not at war. The World Monuments Fund today included Iraq archaeological sites and Route 66 on its 2008 watch list of 100 threatened sites around the globe. The group … Continue reading Route 66, Iraq historical sites named most threatened
McKinley Bridge set to reopen this fall
Route 66 travelers going through the St. Louis area received good news over the weekend: The long-closed McKinley Bridge is set to reopen to traffic on Sept. 25, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The bridge, built in 1910 to link St. Louis to Venice, Ill., was closed in 2001 when it became too dangerously … Continue reading McKinley Bridge set to reopen this fall
The Blue Whale — inside and out
If you never visited the Blue Whale of Catoosa, Okla., this video provides the next-best thing to being there. The camera operator even provides a rare look inside the whale's second level, in the head. For more history about the Blue Whale, go here, here and here.
Memories of 66 — past and present
Max Nichols, a history columnist for the Daily Oklahoman, tells about the past and present attractions of Route 66 in Oklahoma before the National Route 66 Festival in Clinton in June.