The Travel Channel reality show "Hotel Impossible" aired a Route 66-related episode on Tuesday night, showing how host Anthony Melchiorri tries to dress up the Luxury Inn in Flagstaff, Arizona, and the Red Garter Inn and Canyon Motel and RV Park in Williams, Arizona. As you'll find, the Red Garter and the Canyon didn't need … Continue reading The Route 66 episode of “Hotel Impossible”
Category: Motels
Palms Motel in Needles is for sale
The Palms Motel of Needles, California, a historic property on Route 66 that features individual cabins amid towering palm trees, is for sale for $429,900, according to a recent listing on several real-estate sites. The property was listed on Trulia.com about a week ago. It's also on Zillow. According to the listing, the 16 units … Continue reading Palms Motel in Needles is for sale
Painted Desert Inn may serve ice cream, baked goods
The historic Painted Desert Inn in the Petrified Forest National Park in eastern Arizona soon may partly go back to its original purpose as an eating place if the National Park Service has its way. For the first time in 75 years, the park is asking for bids from concessionaires, according to the Arizona Journal. … Continue reading Painted Desert Inn may serve ice cream, baked goods
Lebanon Park Board approves funding for Route 66 park
The Park Board of Lebanon, Missouri, approved nearly $400,000 in funding for a Route 66-themed area in Boswell Park after about an hour of debate, according to the print edition of the Lebanon Daily Record. That was about $100,000 less than a previous proposal floated about a month ago. About $323,000 of the funds will … Continue reading Lebanon Park Board approves funding for Route 66 park
Documentary film, book coming about Negro Travelers Green Book
This weekend, filmmakers Calvin Alexander Ramsey and Becky Wible Searles will interview relatives of the former publisher of the Negro Travelers Green Book for a documentary, according to the New York Times. Victor Hugo Green, a letter carrier who lived in New York City, in 1936 began publishing the guidebook to help travelers find black-friendly … Continue reading Documentary film, book coming about Negro Travelers Green Book
Rail Haven hotel installs replica of classic sign
The Best Western Route 66 Rail Haven hotel in Springfield, Missouri, on Friday installed a replica of a classic neon sign that came down in 1994 when the hotel was rebranded, according to the Springfield News-Leader. Part of the reason the original sign was taken down was because it was "in bad shape," said Jennifer … Continue reading Rail Haven hotel installs replica of classic sign
Springfield mayor ends up with Bel-Aire Motel’s seal
The mayor of Springfield, Illinois, is the new owner of the seal sculpture that once stood at the now-demolished Bel-Air Motel on Route 66 in Springfield, according to the State Journal-Register. Jim Langfelder said he paid $2,500 of his own money for the 8,000-pound statue, which once stood as a fountain near what used to be … Continue reading Springfield mayor ends up with Bel-Aire Motel’s seal
Full inventory of Negro Motorist Green Book sites released
Here's another reason to go on a road trip: The Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program has released a list of all the properties listed in the Negro Motorist Green Book from 1936 to 1964 during the Jim Crow era of rampant racial segregation. A full list of the properties and their statuses is here. Kaisa … Continue reading Full inventory of Negro Motorist Green Book sites released
More 1993 footage from a Route 66 trip
Anthony Reichardt has uploaded more videos from a Route 66 trip he took with a friend in August 1993 in a 1959 Cadillac. The first is a visit to Our Lady of the Highways Shrine near Raymond, Illinois. The shrine has changed little, but the footage contains a chat with longtime caretaker Francis Marten, who … Continue reading More 1993 footage from a Route 66 trip
Former cop pleads guilty to Tucumcari motel arson
A former police officer and another man pleaded guilty Friday to arson charges in burning down the closed Payless Inn on Route 66 and an abandoned house in Tucumcari, New Mexico, on Sept. 3, according to the Quay County Sun newspaper and other media outlets. Dustin “Dusty” Lopez, the former Tucumcari officer, and Robert Sandoval … Continue reading Former cop pleads guilty to Tucumcari motel arson