ROUTE THE MAGAZINE THAT CELEBRATES ROAD TRAVEL, VINTAGE AMERICANA AND ROUTE 66
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February/March 2022 $5.99
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THE LEGACY OF THE HOWARD JOHNSON’S COMPANY THE DIAZ FAMILY: MAKING PONTIAC BEAUTIFUL
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Here, mankind and Mother Nature intertwine. Floral terraces adorn an urban oasis. Sizzling burgers tower sky-high. Neon beacons blaze. Rhythms resound from a legendary stage. And an Art Deco gem enthralls guests with eleven stories of luxury.
Imagine that.
Let your imagination bloom. Get inspired with itineraries at TravelOK.com.
PLAY
EAT
Fat Guy’s Burgers Tulsa
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STAY
Cain’s Ballroom Tulsa
Tulsa Club Hotel Tulsa
E
E
LO XP R
Tulsa Botanic Garden Tulsa
Order or download your free Route 66 Guide & Passport at TravelOK.com.
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Chicago
Willowbrook
Romeoville
Joilet
Joilet
Wilmington
Braidwood
Dwight
Pontiac
Pontiac
www.TheFirstHundredMiles.com
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e v o l u o y f I , s m u e s u m r e h t r u f o n look e r o m e r a l C than
We have more museums per capita than any other city in the world. From the famous Will Rogers Memorial Museum and J.M. Davis Arms & Historical Museum, to the Claremore Museum of History, Belvidere Mansion and Oklahoma Military Museum, your adventures await! Learn more at visitclaremore.org/explore
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CONTENTS
La Fonda Hotel, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Photograph by Robert Reck.
26 Keeping Up with the Diazes
By Cheryl Eichar Jett A close-knit Pontiac family who has put their shared talent of sign painting to the ultimate test — creating murals that the town would come to be known for. Discover how this family of four each got their start and, in turn, uncovered the passion they share by blood and their impact on Route 66 tourism.
32 Deep Roots
By Cherwyn Cole You’ve probably driven by them, and chances are, you’ve stopped in for a steakburger. Learn the history behind Springfield, Missouri’s, most iconic Steak ‘n Shake restaurant, an eatery that traces its roots to a chain that has been in operation since the 1930s, and the family lineage that still illuminates.
42 A Conversation with John Oates
By Brennen Matthews You might know every word to “Maneater,” “Kiss on My List,” or “You Make My Dreams,” but do you know the man behind half of the iconic pop duo Hall & Oates? John Oates discusses his life before, during, and after Hall & Oates, and their fascinating rise to the fame that many can only dream of.
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50 Host of the Highways
By Rich Ratay Uncover the story behind the first ever restaurant “chain” and how Howard Johnson turned rags to riches and became an American Empire that shaped the country’s leisure and travel landscape.
58 Under One Roof
By Heide Brandes As the saying goes, “it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission,” and in this case, it’s true. Crack the case behind the crime in Oklahoma that led to a “mini-city” of museums, including the famous National Route 66 and Transportation Museum.
ON THE COVER Gemini Giant, Wilmington, Illinois. Photograph courtesy of Enjoy Illinois.
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EDITORIAL Well, we made it. 2022 is finally here and with it comes the promises and possibilities of a new year. I for one am excited to see what the year will bring. ROUTE has entered its fifth year in print with this issue and we are amazed by how fast the time has gone. It seems like just yesterday that we were working hard to get our inaugural issue ready. Those were fascinating days, as thousands of stories and interviews and images and ideas lay before us. Now, looking back, after 24 issues, we have really been blessed to feature a great many of Route 66’s most fascinating people, places, and history, and to work with some of the country’s most talented writers, photographers, and celebrities. I am honored to be at the helm of ROUTE and to see the magazine and our team into 2022 and our fifth year. It’s going to be a good one! To start things off, we are featuring a family who have undeniably brought Pontiac, Illinois’ outdoor spaces alive with their fantastic wall murals. The Diaz family love their beautiful little town and have shown it — in color and design. Discover the vision behind some of the Mother Road’s most famous wall murals and meet the family who have channeled their united passion for celebrating Route 66. I am a sucker for a well-planned, interactive museum and Route 66 has several, but only one has a giant kachina doll out front. Down in the western Oklahoman town of Elk City, it is impossible to miss the enormous sign announcing that you’ve arrived at the National Route 66 Museum. Both inside the museum and throughout the sprawling complex it inhabits, visitors come face-to-face with a history that is anything but gone. This is a destination that you will want to spend some time at, so plan accordingly when you pay them a visit. And the backstory, of how it all came to be, is one that is filled with a load of determination and a wee bit of law breaking. In this issue, I spend some good time with one of the world’s most noted singersongwriters, John Oates. While most of you can immediately sing along to many of Hall & Oates’ hugely popular hit songs, how many know that they are considered the most successful pop duo of all time? In this conversation, John takes us through the early years, how he and Daryl Hall met, the stories behind several of their hit songs, their participation in the “We are the World” hit single, his unexpected departure from the limelight, and a lot more. This is one interview you will want to read. We also take readers behind the scenes and into the journey of the oldest Steak ‘n Shake in Springfield, Missouri, and the rise and demise of the iconic Howard Johnson’s company. Both of these stories share a common thread of hard work, seized opportunity, and an ability to change with the times. These and so much more make up the February/March 2022 issue. Make sure to visit us online regularly and to follow us on social media if you’ve not already done so. We have a lot more stories, news, and information there, too. Blessings, Brennen Matthews Editor
ROUTE PUBLISHER Thin Tread Media EDITOR Brennen Matthews DEPUTY EDITOR Kate Wambui ASSOCIATE EDITOR Cheryl Eichar Jett EDITOR-AT-LARGE Nick Gerlich LEAD EDITORIAL PHOTOGRAPHER David J. Schwartz LAYOUT AND DESIGN Tom Heffron EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Lillie Richards Olivia Miller DIGITAL Matheus Alves ILLUSTRATOR Jennifer Mallon CONTRIBUTORS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS Ben Johnson Museum Cherwyn Cole CZmarlin Efren Lopez/Route66Images Greg Disch Heide Brandes Jeff Fasano J.M. Davis Arms and Historical Museum Kate Byrne McElroy Fine Art Photography Oklahoma City National & Memorial Museum Rhys Martin Rich Ratay Robert Reck Sarah Kamin Wyoming Frontier Prison Museum Editorial submissions should be sent to brennen@routemagazine.us To subscribe visit www.routemagazine.us. Advertising inquiries should be sent to advertising@routemagazine.us or call 905 399 9912. ROUTE is published six times per year by Thin Tread Media. No part of this publication may be copied or reprinted without the written consent of the publisher. The views expressed by the contributors are not necessarily those of the publisher, editor or staff. ROUTE does not take any responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or photography.
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DESTINATION: CARLSBAD, NEW MEXICO From 750 feet underground at the Carlsbad Caverns to floating down the gorgeous Pecos River, Carlsbad, has everything you need for your New Mexico Adventure. VISIT CARLSBAD, NEW MEXICO, WHERE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS! Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce 302 S Canal • Carlsbad, NM 88220 • 575-887-6516 tourism@carlsbadchamber.com Paid in part by Carlsbad lodgers tax. ROUTE Magazine 13
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nnumerable people have contributed to the evolution of America’s Main Street. From government officials, to business owners, committees, and county commissioners, it’s the product of thousands of people. A national highway spanning a large part of America was a step into the future, marking the transition from train travel to automobiles, and its creation changed the daily life of many. Although there isn’t just one name to honor for the creation of Route 66, the road we know today is mostly attributed to Tulsan hero Cyrus Avery. Regarded as the “Father of Route 66,” Avery was a leader in a half-dozen highway associations before being named to the Joint Board of Interstate Highways, a commission created to designate the new national highway system. Although intended to be a coast-to-coast highway, Avery never forgot his intent to benefit his adopted city and state. His influence changed the path of what would become US Highway 66 to pass through the Oil Capital of the World before swinging northeastward through St. Louis to Chicago. “Cyrus was the county commissioner for Tulsa County and got the Arkansas River Bridge built there, the concrete bridge upgrading the old wagon bridge that had been there. Cyrus was able to effectively lobby and say ‘if Route 66 goes down through Tulsa, it is going to have the most state-of-the-art safe crossing across the Arkansas River, it’s this great concrete bridge.’ So, he was successful, and that’s the reason why Route 66 goes through Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas, instead of what looks like a more logical route if you draw a line straight from Chicago to L.A.,” said Rhys Martin, President of the Oklahoma Route 66 Association. “With the 2005 masterplan the City of Tulsa was putting together for Route 66 development, they wanted to highlight some of the resources we have, with the Arkansas River Bridge being a big one. Since the bridge itself has such a high price tag to renovate and allow for access, they thought at least we can put a sculpture here and celebrate Cyrus Avery, ‘the father of Route 66.’” In 2008, the Cyrus Avery Centennial Plaza and the “Route 66 Skywalk” opened adjacent to the Eleventh Street Bridge 14 ROUTE Magazine
he was credited with. But the city wasn’t done honoring the local hero just yet. After six years of work on the $1.2 million project, a large bronze statue named “East Meets West” was unveiled in 2012. Standing at 20 by 40 feet and weighing 20,000 pounds, the statue depicts quite the scene. Cyrus Avery can be seen driving a 1926 Ford automobile with his wife in the passenger seat and daughter in the back, clutching their family cat. They’re seen staring curiously at an oil field waggoneer with a horse-drawn wagon as he pulls his horses to a quick stop. The waggoneer and horses look fearful of the new invention that stands before them. The sculpture is meant to depict the past meeting the future, the east meeting the west. The artistic representation was done by native Texan Robert Summers, and the 10,000 bronze pieces that make up the sculpture were fabricated by the Deep in the Heart Foundry. “Anecdotally, 80% of the time I drive by, there’s somebody there either looking at the sculptures or looking at the bridge next to it, or there’s a series of historic markers they’re reading, or taking pictures. It is very common to see a person or a group of people at the bridge. On the tours I’ve personally led, this plaza is a place [that is] always selected as a place to stop and talk since it’s so symbolic of the Route 66 story,” said Martin. The sculpture is only one small step in the City of Tulsa’s big plans to capitalize on their history as “the capital of the Mother Road.” The Route 66 Experience and Interpretive Center is still in the process of locating funding, but backers are pushing for a 2022 opening. The multifaceted “experience” side will include a drive-in movie theater, restaurants, retail shops, a resource center, and more, while the interpretive center will focus more on the history of Route 66 with permanent displays, artifact collections, exhibits, and interactive experiences. It’s a modern take on classic history and the collision of the past and the future, much like the sculpture’s inspiration out front. As the city continues to build and expand, one thing remains the same: Route 66 is a cherished part of Tulsa’s story and a piece of its history that will forever live on.
Image by David J. Schwartz – Pics On Route 66.
WHERE THE EAST MEETS THE WEST
In 1889 a shot rang out. A land run started. And El Reno, Oklahoma would become the front door to the American West.
Photo courtesy of Canadian County Museum.
Historic El Reno, Oklahoma, where the glamour of Route 66 meets the Old West drama of the Chisholm Trail. Where the world’s largest fried onion hamburger is celebrated, and where you can ride a rail-based trolley through historic downtown. Nearby Fort Reno is home to the colorful U.S. Cavalry Museum, as well as the graves of Buffalo Soldiers, Indian scouts and World War II prisoners of war. For information, visit www.elrenotourism.com.
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iant statues are a beloved form of vintage advertising along America’s historic highways. Route 66 fans especially are no strangers to the Muffler Men and green dinosaurs that call attention to roadside businesses. It’s a type of advertising that the Pink Elephant Antique Mall in Livingston, Illinois, has taken to extremes, as the home of more than a half-dozen different (and rare) giants posed across the lawn. Located inside a typically-Midwestern old redbrick school, the Pink Elephant Antique Mall is a spacious expanse of treasures. Owner Dave Hammond opened the Pink Elephant Antique Mall in 2005 along with his late wife, Cheryl, and his father, David. Hammond had worked for the Village of Glen Carbon, Illinois, for over 40 years, but as antiquing was a shared passion within his marriage, the couple decided to turn the cherished pastime into a career. They opened their first venture, the Princess Antique Mall, in 1998; their second, the Coliseum Antique Mall, in 1999; and their third, the Pink Elephant, in 2005 — all three along Route 66. The Princess and the Coliseum malls sadly closed, but the busy Pink Elephant has achieved iconic status. “My late wife and I used to enjoy going around to antique malls. We thought, ‘we’ll open one up,’ and that’s kind of how it started, without knowing what we were getting into. She passed away and I married her best friend. I knew my wife since she was eight, and I knew her best friend since she was 13, she’s always been a part of our life. My wife had cancer and my new wife took her to all the appointments and everything else for 11 years. After my wife passed, we just kind of got together,” said Hammond. The former Livingston High School, the antique mall’s current home, was built in 1924, making the building an antique in and of itself. Few renovations were needed, and now customers stroll through a former gymnasium and auditorium chock full of antiques offered by over 50 dealers. After Livingston’s annexation to the nearby Staunton School District in 2004, the property went up for purchase, awaiting a new life. “We were driving around trying to find some properties for sale. A guy I used to do some work for left me a message on my cellphone and said, ‘Dave, the Livingston High School is going to be for sale, you might get it cheap.’ So, that night I 16 ROUTE Magazine
went and picked up my dad and told him to take a ride with me, and we came down here and rode around the building. He said, ‘What’s going on?’ and I said, ‘I want to buy this building,’” said Hammond. The Pink Elephant is now home to much more than just antiques. The mall operates a retro candy shop with homemade fudge, a ‘50s diner, an ice cream shop, and a Route 66 gift area (not to mention the variety of photo ops that the giants offer outside). Hammond and his current wife, Bernice, have plans in the works to expand further into an “Area 66” RV Park and event space, a theme inspired by the Futuro or “UFO House” which nestles close to the giant elephant. (Only 96 Futuros were ever made, and a mere 19 made it to the United States). In addition to the Futuro, travelers can meander around a land of colossi, including a 24-foot-tall “Beach Guy” from the 1990 movie Flatliners, a “Twistee Treat” ice cream coneshaped building, a rare and fully restored Uniroyal Gal, and its namesake, a bubblegum-pink elephant. Hammond has collected these giants himself from all over the country, from Maryland to Michigan. Although being along Route 66 wasn’t Hammond’s intention when opening the Pink Elephant, it has been what he describes as “the icing on the cake.” “All the iconic statues outside from the old-school way of advertising with the giants, pretty much connect us with Route 66,” said Hammond. “I think that’s probably the main thing. We get people from all over the world coming through here, and the statues and spaceship really draw them in. I mean, they’re out there in the middle of the night taking pictures.” Illinois 66 starts off in bustling Chicago, with its fantastic restaurants and wonderful museums, but then slowly meanders through quiet friendly towns and bountiful farmland, showcasing a plethora of restored filling stations, tasty eateries, vintage truck stops, and fabulous giants (muffler men and more), along the way. The Pink Elephant is the perfect destination to wrap up your time in the Prairie State, where it all culminates together. This vintage way of marketing still stands to this day as an effective technique — enticing travelers off the road and into the comforting presence of a tasty slice of Americana.
Image by David J. Schwartz – Pics On Route 66.
T H E PI N K E L E PH A N T u I N T H E ROOM u
WHERE T HE MO T HER ROAD BEGINS
Route 66 defined a remarkable era in our nation’s history – and it lives on today in Illinois’ Route 66’s many roadside attractions, museums, and restaurants – it’s the shining ribbon of blacktop we call ‘The Mother Road’.
SPE N D SOME T IME ON T HE I L L I N O I S R O U T E 6 6 S C E N I C B Y WA Y A N D DI S C OV E R ROU T E 6 6 Start planning your trip now at www.illinoisroute66.org. Request a visitor’s guide by emailing info@illinoisroute66.org and make sure to check out our mobile app by searching for ‘Explore Illinois Route 66’ in the App Store and Google Play, to help with all of your Route 66 Illinois planning.
Tel: (217)-414-9331 • www.illinoisroute66.org
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sage County, Oklahoma, is an unsuspecting breeding ground of success. Over 25 Rodeo Champions have come out of this one county of just about 50,000 people. In the 1920s, the Osage Indians were recognized as one of the richest groups in the world due to oil royalties. Not to mention its setting and historical inspiration for the upcoming Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese book adapted film Killers of the Flower Moon. But one figure remains most notable from this small, accomplished county, with a legacy spanning several decades into modern day as the only person in history to win both an Academy Award and a Rodeo World Championship title: Ben “Son” Johnson, Jr. Born in 1918 to a famous Osage County rancher and Rodeo Champion, Ben Johnson Sr., roping, and riding was prominent in the Johnson genes. Because of his father’s notoriety in the rodeo community, Johnson Jr. was known as Ben “Son” Johnson. It stuck. “Everybody around here is just really proud of him. They called him Ben “Son” Johnson, that’s how he was known in this area. He is still known as Ben “Son” today. His gravestone even says Ben “Son” Johnson,” said Cody Garnett, Curator of the Ben Johnson Museum. In 1943, a young Ben Johnson Jr. made his way to Hollywood in true cowboy fashion: in a “carload of horses,” as he liked to say. Director Howard Hughes bought horses from the Chapman-Barnard Ranch, where Johnson Sr. was the front man. It became young Johnson’s job to get the horses to Arizona for the shooting of the 1943 film, The Outlaw, thus beginning his career as a Hollywood horse wrangler. From there, he moved into stunt work, which caught the eye of director John Ford. As the story goes, Johnson was hired as a riding double for Henry Fonda for the 1948 film Fort Apache. Suddenly, the horses pulling a wagon filled with actors stampeded. Johnson stopped the wagon and saved the men from what could have been a tragedy. As a reward, Ford called Johnson into his office and offered him a contract that read “$5,000 a week.” That was all Johnson needed to see. He stopped reading and signed the bottom line right away.
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His first credited role was in Ford’s 1948 film, 3 Godfathers, alongside John Wayne. Better roles followed, including his biggest role as Sam the Lion in 1971’s The Last Picture Show, earning him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. “Something that’s really amazing is the part that he won the Oscar for, he turned it down several times, and they eventually let him rewrite his part of the script because it had a bunch of cussing in it. It’s kind of a risqué film, his character in particular had a bad cussing problem. He took every cuss word that his character had in it out and won the Oscar, so that’s saying something,” said Garnett. “Every part he played was truly an authentic part, he was an authentic man, and he’s a known son of Oklahoma. We’re real proud of him around here. He’s one of the greatest cowboys to ever live.” In 1953, Johnson decided to take a break from Hollywood to compete in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) and became the Team Roping World Champion. Although he took a financial break to compete and only broke even financially that year, Johnson became the only person in history to win an Academy Award and Rodeo World Championship. Despite his fame and fortune in two differing worlds, Johnson’s legacy remains in child philanthropy. Starting in 1984, Johnson created the Ben Johnson Pro Celebrity Benefit for children’s medical research, which soon came to include country singer Reba McEntire as co-host. The event continued for two years after Johnson’s passing in 1996 from a heart attack, and raised $2.2 million from start to finish. The Ben Johnson award is presented each year at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum to someone who has contributed to the betterment of rodeo and is involved with youth or community activities, similar to the awards namesake. From the Ben Johnson Award to the Ben Johnson Museum in Pawhuska, both dedicated to the man himself, Johnson is clearly a beloved figure not only in Oklahoma, but western culture in general. As he famously once said, “Everybody in town’s a better actor than I am, but none of them can play Ben Johnson.”
Image courtesy of the Ben Johnson Museum.
Ben “Son” Johnson Jr. c
On exhibit February 11 – May 1 Open Daily • 1700 NE 63rd St. 15 minutes north of Downtown OKC nationalcowboymuseum.org • (405) 478-2250 @ncwhm
@nationalcowboymuseum
#HashtagTheCowboy
Embroidered shirt, pattern and sewing accoutrements. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 2008.03.03.
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MOT E L of th e STA R S
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ingman, Arizona, has a rich history of colorful characters, and rough-and-tumble times. Railroad men, Chinese workers, miners, military men experimenting with camels as a means of travel, and movie stars have all left their mark on this town dubbed the “Heart of Historic Route 66”. The ups and downs of several centuries have weathered this plucky place, making it the perfect location for the quirky and enduring El Trovatore Motel. Between 1937-1940, John F. Miller, best known for building the first hotel in Las Vegas, opened a gas station, café, and auto court motel in Kingman on El Trovatore (“the Troubadour”) hill. For three dollars a night, visitors could drive right up to the door of their room. El Trovatore Motel was ahead of its time, very luxurious, very desired. Miller intended to keep it that way, erecting a onehundred-foot neon tower spelling out El Trovatore that still lights up the desert at night. It could be seen for miles. During World War II, Kingman swelled with 40,000 troops. It became the site of a gunner school and home to 7,000 B17s; its most famous students were actors Don Knotts and Charles Bronson. USO performers brought their shows to the soldiers. Bob Hope, Rita Hayworth, Jeff Chandler, the Three Stooges, and Kingman native and favorite son, raspy-voiced, rotund actor Andy Devine, all entertained during the 1940s. Throughout the Korean conflict, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, and James Dean were there to encourage the men. And where did they stay? Why, at the El Trovatore, of course; every room had its own bathroom, and air conditioning, a novelty at that time. After Miller’s death in 1957, his son Abe took over. Abe added another stunning neon sign at the entrance of the venue, and the motel became a destination of its own. But by 1985, Abe himself had passed and the place shuttered. The neon signs went dark. The future of the historic venue was uncertain. That is, until current owners, Sam and Monica Frisher, acquired the motel by chance. “We were driving from Las Vegas to Phoenix in 2006,” said Sam, an Israeli immigrant, “and saw the place deserted.
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It was behind fencing, defaulted on, and facing bankruptcy.” A sign announced that it was going to be auctioned off the following weekend by a Vegas bank. They returned to Nevada, convinced the bank manager to delay the action, and got a key. Homeless were living in the motel and had stripped it clean. But Sam and Monica recognized it as a piece of history that needed preserving and a second chance to reign along Route 66. “We hired a maintenance man who lived at the motel to keep the homeless out. A new roof was the first project,” Sam added. Electric and plumbing were updated, but they kept the original toilets, sinks, and floor tiles, wanting to keep the history of the place intact. Twenty themed rooms honored those Hollywood legends who had come to entertain the troops. Of the fifty available rooms, the themed ones are for the passing traveler, featuring artdeco details and style, with king or double queen beds. The other thirty are long-term rentals with kitchenettes. “The first few years were shaky but fun, getting El Trovatore back on its feet. The neon signs were lit again. Word seemed to spread that the motel was back in business and visitors came to stay and talk and enjoy their time,” Sam reflected. But then the 2008 Recession hit. They lost their Vegas home but hung on to El Trovatore. They moved into one of the rooms, making do with a TV, microwave, and small refrigerator. In 2011, local artist Dan Louden added another defining aspect to El Trovatore; the 206-foot-long mural that graces the sides of the motel, humorously depicting the Mother Road from beginning to end. States, towns, nature, and attractions meld seamlessly and creatively into windows and doors; a section of Route 66 is even painted on the sidewalk. As one of the last pre-World War II motels still in operation along the Mother Road, both El Trovatore and Kingman are enjoying an upswing today. With more travelers on the road, losing themselves in the feeling of the open highway and a bygone, simpler time, destinations like El Trovatore may be around to continue to welcome visitors for a long time yet.
Image by David J. Schwartz – Pics On Route 66.
By Kate Byrne
Experience outdoor fun, incredible attractions, historic Route 66, and so much more. www.experiencewilliams.com ROUTE Magazine 23
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ne of the most special aspects of Route 66 is the passion of local citizens dedicated to maintaining the nostalgia for what once was. The hard work and countless hours that are put into restoring historic buildings, mid-century signs, and quirky attractions is unmeasurable. A prime example of this dedication is tucked away in the tiny town of Foyil, a sleepy Oklahoma spot of only 350 people that is certainly not lacking in spirit and commitment. In 2015, Foyil resident Kean Isaacs had an unexpected epiphany. Nestled quietly on a property behind his home stood an old, run-down filling station that had clearly seen better days. It had sat in his midst for years, unobtrusive and out of sight, but fate would step in when the owner decided to sell the property and Isaacs’ interest in the property was piqued. “It came up for sale and it was really run down,” said Isaacs. “It backs up against my property. I wanted to see it cleaned up because there was a derelict house and a derelict trailer on either side of the station, and a whole row of out buildings and trash everywhere.” What Isaacs didn’t know at the time was that this iconic Oklahoma station dates back to the early twenties. In 1923, Thomas B. Millard bought the lot and built the Foyil Filling Station before selling it to his brother William in 1926, the same year that Route 66 was born. The station’s ownership was passed around through cousins and in-laws before the final owner, Floyd J. Shaffer, the Millards’ brother-in-law, officially took over ownership in 1937. Shaffer continued to operate the station until the mid ‘60s when it closed. It was then left desolate and abandoned until Isaacs discovered it. But it wasn’t until a bus full of foreign tourists visited the station that Isaacs realized the value of the project that he had sitting before him. “I was out in the yard mowing and this van pulled up. This woman came out and was asking for directions to get to Ed Galloway’s Totem Pole, so I gave her the directions and I 24 ROUTE Magazine
noticed that there was an emblem on the side of the van that said Route 66. I asked, ‘Are you guys on some kind of tour?’ She said, ‘Yeah, we’re doing 30 [tours with people] from Beijing, China, covering Route 66 from LA to Chicago.’ I said, ‘Great! Do you know the road you’re sitting on now is the original alignment?’ And I pointed to the station, which was just a wreck, and said, ‘That used to be an old Texaco station.’ So, she yells back at the van, and they all pile out, they’re real excited, they circle around it, and take photographs. My jaw just dropped. What is this? I didn’t realize the importance of the station,” mused Isaacs. “It was then that I decided that I needed to do some research and find out why these people from Beijing are so excited about this rundown shack of a station. And when I did that, I found out,” continued Isaacs. “The people around here drive Route 66 every day, it’s no big deal. But to people all over the world, it’s important, and they travel from all over to go up and down Route 66, and so I thought, ‘Wow, I think I have something here.’ So that’s what made me decide to go ahead and fix it up.” Currently, Isaacs is renovating the old filling station into a Route 66 rest stop and information center. Other than adding a back porch, bathroom, and central heat and air, the building will be true to its 1920s design. Isaacs cleaned up the property, demolishing the house that had been built next to the station. His main struggles with the station itself were with a large branch that had punctured the roof and termite damage to the building. After repairing the roof, he gutted and rebuilt the inside to make it structurally sound. He works on the renovations as time and money allow but hopes to have it all finished by the Mother Road’s centennial in 2026. Lacking the glitz and glamour of big busy cities, small towns like Foyil continue to carry on quietly, welcoming visitors and locals alike who share their appreciation for a way of life and a history that is too precious to ever let die.
Image by Rhys Martin.
ONE MAN’S PA S S I O N P ROJ E C T
KEEPING UP
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with the DIAZES By Cheryl Eichar Jett Photographs by Sarah Kamin
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governor of one of the Route 66 states once said, “The arts give us our identity as a community.” That might be a bit of an overstatement — and yet, the big art of mural-painting gave the pretty, quietly charming community of Pontiac, Illinois, the finely-drawn pizzazz of an idealized Route 66 town. This small-city picturesque image soon embedded itself in the minds and on the bucket lists of legions of domestic and international US travelers. The formula for designing this tourism success? Make sure there’s a whole family of talented artists who own the local sign shop and belong to a worldwide group of mural painters. Watch as the city provides the structure to unleash the Walldogs — named after an old-fashioned term for ‘signpainters’ — in the slightly ho-hum city blocks surrounding the unbelievably beautiful courthouse in the downtown square. Then stand back to watch what happens. But don’t be surprised when almost 20 murals are magically created and just a couple months later, tourism numbers begin to go through the roof. That’s exactly what happened in Pontiac in 2009. In addition to a picture-postcard courthouse, two swinging bridges, the Route 66 Museum and Illinois Hall of Fame in the historic city firehouse, and the new events presided over with the loving care of Pontiac Tourism Director Ellie Alexander (now retired), Pontiac became the poster child for Route 66 fun times. The tourism phenomenon of this Livingston County seat became a cover story for Route 66 publications. But lest anyone forget — or not know — it all might never have happened without the hometown love and persistence of the artistic family behind Diaz Sign Art... and the Walldogs. But how did Pontiac native Bill Diaz go from fine arts student to home decorator, to sign-painter and vehicle pinstriper, and, along with his wife and local art teacher Jane Diaz, to local hero? This is their colorful story of artistic endeavors and community service, and it’s a good one.
The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far from the Easel In 1950s-’60s Pontiac, young Bill Diaz, son of William Lopez Diaz and Virginia McCoy Diaz, grew up in his mother’s hometown of Pontiac, where he learned mechanical skills from his father (an engineer, inventor, and builder) and artistic pursuits from his mother (an award-winning painter of landscapes, still lifes, and portraits). “When I got my master’s degree at Northern Illinois, I worked for a year and a half for a camping equipment company as chief draftsman and then packing designer, but what I really wanted to do was paint and draw pictures,” Bill Diaz explained. “So, I applied to universities to get a grad assistantship and I got one at Penn State. I went and did that, but [found that] I really didn’t care for teaching at all.” 28 ROUTE Magazine
Bill explored his various skills working in a chair factory and as an apprentice carpenter. He tried out commercial art in Chicago before settling into a partnership with home developers, drawing house plans in the winter, and painting and wallpapering the finished houses in the summertime. When that partnership “went south,” Bill seized the opportunity to strike out on his own. “We were just married, and he decided that he’d do painting and decorating. He took my teachers retirement and got a van,” said Bill’s wife, Jane. “But then the local sign painter left town.” That opening was soon filled by Bill as he started getting sign jobs, edging out his painting and decorating activities. In fact, he got so busy that he asked Jane, a portrait painter, calligrapher, and art teacher with an art education degree, to lend a hand. There was just one little problem. Bill didn’t have a clue how to paint signs. “I knew design stuff from my schooling: letters and fonts,” said Bill. “All signs were hand painted [then]. My wife’s brother was a part time sign painter and he [also] did race cars and turned me on to that. I always liked pushing paint around...when I’m working with it, I become one with the paint. I just wanted to learn the basics. I got a hunk of glass, and I would sit there at night watching television and practice. The next day the paint would be dry, and I’d take a razor blade and scrape the glass clean and start again.” From there, the Diaz sign and pin-striping shop rolled through the years, with occasional employees or interns helping out. Jane managed the finances and produced vinyl signs, and Bill busied himself painting signs and doing pinstriping. This was a formative, productive time.
The Next Generation Sons Joe and Ben grew up in the business, sweeping floors, helping Mom file in the office, and tagging along with their parents to Walldogs events. Impressing their friends by drawing designs with the mechanical plotter and “playing” with the new CorelDRAW program evolved into designing simple layouts and creating logos during high school. “I remember trying to draw dinosaurs and robots with it,” Joe recalled. Joe regards it as a milestone when his father gave him a shot at designing layouts for a fleet of 35 trucks while he was still in school. Both boys became Walldogs project leaders
The town is filled with lifelike murals.
for the first time in 2010. Joe’s fascination with CorelDRAW beginning in 1992 led to his winning the grand prize in the 2011 International CorelDRAW Design Competition. He was the only finalist from the U.S. After that, he began producing webinars, videos, and tutorials for others to learn the program. Both Ben and Joe ended up working at a large sign shop in Bloomington, but otherwise their paths back to the Diaz family business weren’t quite the same. Ben went to Northern Illinois College but used the National Guard’s college benefits; then 9/11 occurred and he lived in Germany while serving in the Army. When he got back to the U.S., he went to work in the Bloomington sign shop with Joe, until he met a girl from Pontiac (who wanted to continue living in Pontiac and thought Ben should too), went to work at the Diaz sign shop, and also taught art for the Pontiac High School. Joe also went to work at the Bloomington sign shop, realizing that was the industry he wanted to be in, and that he had the education that he needed from Heartland Community
College. But he got to the point where he realized that he couldn’t move up any farther. About that time his parents realized that someday they would want to retire and asked their sons to come back and work with them.
A Shield on a Museum Wall In 1993, Bill and Jane, with sons Ben and Joe, aged eight and twelve, in tow, were invited to attend a gathering in the tiny town of Allerton, Iowa, by Nancy Bennett, a member of a group of sign painters that called themselves the Letterheads. The group, soon to be known as the Walldogs, painted several murals during their meet and even provided a garage door for the kids to paint. “After the meet in ‘93, when Mom and Dad got back, they did an article in the local newspaper and a bunch of people were asking, ‘well, why don’t we do that in town?’ So, I think that my parents talked to the City Hall pretty early on about doing an event like that,” said Joe. “And then we did the 66 ROUTE Magazine 29
shield and the powers that be in town saw what that could do, a shot in the arm for tourism. They saw that mural go up and people got excited about that, and they wanted more.” The whole family agrees, hands down, that their favorite mural in town is the most recognizable one, and the one that they did first, when the City agreed to one mural done by the Diaz family. That one mural was the huge iconic Route 66 shield on the back side of the museum building which began Pontiac’s transition to a tourism showcase. “They just wanted that shield shape on the building, but that wasn’t good enough for Joe. I don’t remember who came up with the idea of including the skylines of Chicago and St. Louis on there, with Pontiac in the middle,” Jane said. “We didn’t know people would take pictures of it like they did. It was kind of like a ‘greetings from’ card.” That “greetings from” card has been chosen ever since for multiple commercials and multiple print ads. Pontiac’s tourism staff believes that the mural helped to put their city firmly on the map, but also led their leaders and citizens to realize the value of public art and what public art can do for a community. When Pontiac hosted the actual Walldogs meet a few years later, that helped the community buy in and really rally around what was being done to transform the downtown. “I would argue that the [shield mural] pretty much launched our tourism product, [although] we did have the Route 66 Museum that opened in 2004, which was great, and we were getting some traffic from it,” said Liz Vincent, longtime city employee and newly appointed as Pontiac Tourism Director. “But I think that mural on the back of the building with the very iconic shield, that’s what started to make us a must-stop. And there’s a lot of foresight to it because now we all have our phones and our phone apps, but in 2007, when that was first painted, that was not quite the thing.”
Bringing the Walldogs to Pontiac After that first meet in Iowa back in ‘93, the highly skilled but loosely organized group of sign and mural painters evolved into a group of artists located literally around the world who pride themselves on being “a different breed of muralist” — the Walldogs. As Walldogs festivals began to happen in cities around the Midwest, the Diaz family was part and parcel of the mural-painting and festivities. Although each artist works year-around as an independent sign painter, the group realized that their collective brush stroke was the Walldogs Festival, which first boosts tourism with the mural painting activity itself, and then later on by visitors coming to see the images of local places, people, and products of historic significance immortalized on the walls of the downtown buildings. By 2009, the recession was being felt, and it was clear that a Walldogs festival in Pontiac might just be what was needed. The City of Pontiac stepped up to take care of insurance issues and logistics and a $50,000 investment in the festival. And so, Walldogs showed up from around the country for a June 25-28 event named “Chief City Runs with the Dogs.” It was held in conjunction with Pontiac’s Heritage Days, the Hang Loose Car Show at Riverside Park, and Cruise Night in downtown Pontiac. Residents of the city hosted 150 mural artists who hand painted, along with local artists, 17 murals in four days! The city had formed a special commission back in 2007 to select and authorize murals. The commission’s first official act was to authorize the Route 66 shield mural on the back of the Route 66 Museum. Before the Walldogs gathered in Pontiac in 2009, the commission assembled a list of mural topics and locations, from which the Diaz family chose some of the best mural project leaders from across the country to design them. Just after the festival, the second individuallycommissioned mural was approved — the “Welcome to Downtown Pontiac” mural by the Vermilion River, completed in July 2009.
Deserved Recognition
The newest Pontiac mural. 30 ROUTE Magazine
The paint was hardly dry in Pontiac when the city named the Diaz family the Pontiac Rotary Club Citizens of the Year in August 2009. This was followed by a visit to the Diaz Sign Art office by Mayor Bob Russell, City Administrator Robert Karls, and Tourism Director Ellie Alexander with an announcement to make. The Diaz family were recipients, one of 40 in the State of Illinois, of the 2009 Studs Terkel Humanities Service Award, honored for their collective energy and dedication to community with the Walldogs Festival project,
The Diaz family next to their cool company sign.
and nominated by Mayor Bob Russell. Louis “Studs” Terkel was a Chicago radio personality, historian, actor, and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer. The Illinois Humanities Council initiated the Studs Terkel Humanities Award to honor extraordinary accomplishments of ordinary people, as Terkel did in his chronicles of American life. All four members of the family have been cited as well for their individual contributions to the community. Bill has served as volunteer coach with Pontiac youth football program and worked with local theater group. (Again, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree — Bill’s dad William had been president of Pontiac Chamber of Commerce and of Rotary International of Pontiac and member of numerous organizations.) Jane serves as a Pontiac Public Library trustee, children’s story time leader, and advocate of childhood literacy and adult lifelong learning programs. Ben has been co-president of the nonprofit 4-H Park Henry Street Horrors. Joe has also been involved with Henry Street Horrors, and was named a Pontiac Chamber of Commerce Young Professional.
It’s a Family Thing Although thinking of retirement, Bill and Jane are still involved in the business. Everyone has their own niche, which seems to have developed organically. Mom Jane does the bookkeeping, sees that bills get paid, and bills get sent to customers, plus does fine art portraits. Dad Bill does all the pin striping (which Ben is learning) and a lot of the design work, especially for trucks. Joe does a lot of the design work and is working on doing quotes up front. Ben
“gets things out the door” with his management capability, and both boys work on the website. They are not just a family, but a team. “We especially like it when people come in and say, ‘We know that you’ve been doing this a long time’... and they trust you because of your knowledge and experience,” Bill said. “I think that people like the fact that it’s a familyowned business. It’s kind of a throwback to yesteryear when you had an apprenticeship, that families had to teach their craft to their sons or daughters, and I think that resonates with people.” From pin striping local trucks to painting signs for Pontiac businesses to creating murals that bring travelers from around the world, the Diaz team’s longevity and integrity not only benefits their business, but their community. In the revved-up tourism town of Pontiac, big ideas have revitalized it, while artistic creativity has adorned virtually every downtown city block. “You can just go through the downtown and see all the different signs and lettering they’ve done — their designs, murals, signs, plus their in-house marketing stuff that we’ve been using, including a new logo and branding that they designed for us,” said Vincent. “When you take a drive through town, you can see their fingerprints everywhere.” So, perhaps art has given Pontiac its world-wide Route 66 identity. The city’s murals have preserved its history and elevated its charm. Its giant Route 66 shield has become a beacon to travelers around the world, offering them the ultimate in iconic selfie backgrounds. Mural-painting has crystalized Pontiac’s identity, turned it into cover art, and made the Walldogs famous. Not bad work for a little paint. ROUTE Magazine 31
DEEP
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ROOTS By Cherwyn Cole Photographs by David J. Schwartz - Pics On Route 66
ROUTE Magazine 33
“S
ell the sizzle, not the steak,” marketers have said for a hundred years, meaning that the benefits, not the product itself, is what people purchase. But a literal interpretation of this old saying would seem to mean that you can only have one or the other. In any case, the Steak ‘n Shake on St. Louis Street — “City Route 66” — in Springfield, Missouri, has been serving up both since 1962. And it’s abundantly clear that its owners, the Leonard family, never forgot that they had something very special here — and not just the sizzle.
A ‘Normal’ Beginning In 1934, wanting to do something different, Gus and Edith Belt had repurposed their original idea of a gas station-cumchicken restaurant, into the first ever Steak and Shake at Main Street and Virginia Avenue in Normal, Illinois. There, Belt wasn’t afraid to promote the sizzle or the steak. His advertising slogan “in sight it must be right” was meant to assure customers that the meat in their “steakburgers” was top quality. And the motto “it’s a meal” let diners know that they would feel satisfied after eating at Steak ‘n Shake. Whitepainted surfaces on the building implied purity, and a packed parking lot told customers most of what they needed to know. It was no surprise when the Belts’ popular mom-and-pop hamburger eatery grew into a multi-restaurant corporation, including several locations in Missouri. Management of the Route 66 Steak ‘n Shake (and its sister restaurants) in the Springfield, Missouri, area haven’t forgotten Belt’s lessons. “We take pride in the fact that everything is cooked fresh to order. We have to take care of the guests, and we believe deeply in that. You get people to wait on you, get your drink, pour your refill, pick up your plate, and a lot of companies aren’t doing that anymore. We just really believe that we’re in the people business,” said Director of Operations Brandon Gilbert. And being in the people business meant that the Leonard family’s franchise-management company heartily endorsed the idea of in-room dining. The Route 66 Steak ‘n Shake at 1158 E. St. Louis Street has become an icon, with its now-exclusive original décor and its status as one of only six restaurants in the chain that offers a sit-down dining experience. The slightly-tangled tale of this proud tradition of service goes way back to the ‘30s in two central Illinois towns — and to Springfield, Missouri, in the ‘60s — to unravel its beginnings.
Steak ‘n Shake Expands Herb Leonard was born in 1915 in Atlanta, Illinois, but grew up on a farm with his parents, Bert and Ethel Leonard, three brothers, and a sister on a farm in Lincoln, Illinois. As with other young men his age during the 1930s, Leonard worked 34 ROUTE Magazine
for a wildcatter — a driller hoping to hit oil. There was a great deal of speculation surrounding oil at the time. Fortunately, before he went bust looking for oil, the wildcatter had diversified into a small chain of football-themed restaurants in college towns. This move apparently gave his oil expedition employees another chance at employment. And so, in the 1930s, Herb Leonard found himself managing a restaurant in central Illinois instead of chasing oil downstate. Meanwhile, Gus Belt started to expand his Steak ‘n Shake chain into other central Illinois cities in 1936, beginning its trajectory into a respected national franchise. Several years later, he bought two restaurants operating under the name Goal Post, one in Champaign, Illinois, and one in East Peoria. “Gus Belt acquired one of the restaurants that my father was running — and so Gus acquired my father [Herb] in 1939,” explained Gary Leonard, a 48-year veteran of Steak ‘n Shake franchises in the Springfield, Missouri, area. And so, Herb Leonard re-branded the former Goal Post restaurant as a Steak ‘n Shake which, incidentally, is still there and open today. But between the Depression and his expansion, Gus Belt didn’t have any money to pay Herb at the time. “He put my dad on a 40-60 split and Dad became moderately successful, and he worked his way up in the company. In the ‘50s, he was making more money than the owner of the company! I remember his last year of running that restaurant, this was 1953, he bought a new Corvette and a Cadillac,” Leonard explained. “They were kind of jealous of the money my father was making, and so they talked him into moving on up the corporate ladder. He worked his way up till he became vice-president of operations.” But Belt died in 1954, leaving his widow, Edith, to run the company.
The Steakburger Comes to Springfield, Missouri In February 1962, the Springfield Leader and Press announced that a building permit had been issued for a $50,000 restaurant project at the intersection of National Avenue and E. St. Louis Street. That was Route 66, and that was the first Steak ‘n Shake in the area. As that now-iconic location was just about ready to open, it was announced that ground had been broken for a second Springfield Steak ‘n Shake on South Glenstone, with another $50,000 building permit from the
The original stainless steel counter inside.
city. At that time, Steak ‘n Shake was operating in just four states — Illinois, Indiana, Florida, and Missouri. At its helm was Edith Belt, co-founder and chairman of the board. The E. St. Louis Street restaurant was the 43rd location opened by the company and the 15th location opened in Missouri. The E. St. Louis Street location opened in June, featuring seating for 40 persons inside the glazed tile structure, with drive-in spaces for 70 cars. It truly reflected the iconic design and architecture of the early 1960s (and is still capable of stirring waves of nostalgia in 21st Century customers). Sleek white glazed ceramic tiles, and plenty of glass covered the exterior of the low-slung building, epitomizing the shape of Mid-Century commercial buildings. Steak ‘n Shake’s familiar slogans — including “Famous for Steakburgers,” “Tru-Flavor Shakes,” and “In Sight it Must Be Right” — on the roof overhang along with striped canvas below ringed the building. Neon signage lit up the whole shebang — and still does, just like it did in the ‘60s. The interior had large windows, chrome and red accents, and the decor of 1950s diners.
More Changes By around 1969, Edith Belt decided to sell the Steak ‘n Shake company, and the chain went through a succession of owners, including one Bob Cronin in the early ‘70s. In an interesting turn, Cronin only wanted college graduates in the corporate offices. Of course, that didn’t include Herb Leonard, who was wildcatting oil at an age when others might have been in college. Rather than fire him, Cronin offered Herb a choice — go open up some Steak ‘n Shakes in a new area or take on some restaurants that weren’t making any money. Those restaurants that weren’t making any money included the two in Springfield, Missouri. “This market down here was just neglected; they might get a visit from St. Louis [corporate] once a year,” said Gary Leonard. “Dad liked the area down here and thought it had potential. So that’s how we got down here.” And that’s how Herb Leonard took on the two neglected Springfield stores, the ROUTE Magazine 35
one at 1101 South Glenstone, and the one that would eventually turn out to be the real prize, the 1158 E. St. Louis Street location that was on Route 66.
Like Father, Like Son Through hard work and becoming involved in his adopted community, Herb Leonard turned around the fortunes of the two Springfield, Missouri, restaurant franchises, and they became money-makers. Herb’s son Gary worked in his father’s Steak ‘n Shake franchises throughout high school and college, beginning at age 14. In 1981, Gary graduated from the University of Missouri and he and his father opened up another restaurant location, which Gary ran for a decade. As the Leonard family’s success grew and their number of franchised locations increased, they formed a management company. After 66 years in the restaurant business, Herb Leonard retired, handing down the reins of the management company to Gary. In addition to the male members of the family, Gary’s mother, Melba, achieved her own measure of fame. Initially, she was a Steak ‘n Shake employee at the East Peoria, Illinois restaurant, and that’s how she met and married Herb. “When they had store openings, they used to make a big hullaballoo about that, and they’d have little plants and balloons, and everybody got a balloon,” Gary said. “In that iconic picture, which I think is in almost every Steak ‘n Shake today, there’s my mother, dressed up very nicely, and she’s helping with the store opening, and handing out plants.” But when she wasn’t officiating at Steak ‘n Shake openings, Melba Leonard spent many hours volunteering for the Red Cross, square-dancing, or making her family’s favorite potato salad. She died from breast cancer in 2011, following Herb’s death in 2006 due to injuries from a fall. A Steak ‘n Shake
Iconic photos decorate the dining room. 36 ROUTE Magazine
emblem adorns their gravestone in Hazelwood Cemetery in Springfield. In 2012, the Route 66 store at 1158 E. St. Louis Street turned 50 years old. That same year, the National Park Service announced that it had been added to the National Register of Historic Places, citing the original building and floor plan, the neon and painted signage, the original kitchen, and other features that identified it as an excellent example of historic corporate architecture associated with an iconic transportation route. The Leonards had been careful to resist remodeling. “That restaurant essentially remains unchanged. Of course, we have to do maintenance, but from a signage standpoint, from the footprint standpoint, it’s almost exactly like it was when it opened in 1962,” Gary said. “It’s just kind of like a ‘57 Chevy that’s been maintained very well and polished and loved.” Incredibly, the Route 66 restaurant (and the one on Glenstone also dating to 1962) are the only two Steak ‘n Shake restaurants left in the entire chain with the original interiors intact. That ambience along with the iconic Route 66 location brings travelers from all over the world.
Second-generation to Second-generation In March 2021, after 48 years in the business, Gary Leonard was ready to retire and pass the torch to another “secondgen” Steak ‘n Shake owner. Mike and Lisa Stennett’s purchase of Leonard’s six area stores was big news in Springfield, after the Leonard family’s respectable long run. But it was also big news in Joplin, Missouri, and a bit farther south in Arkansas, where the Stennetts were the wellknown owners of Steak ‘n Shake locations there. You see, these two families — the Leonards and the Stennetts — were inextricably tied through the Steak ‘n Shake “family.” Mike’s father, Charlie Stennett, had officially joined Steak ‘n Shake in 1968 after working as a carhop at the St. Louis Street store in his teens. He liked to say that he only had two jobs in his life — with the US Army and with Steak ‘n Shake. Working his way up to general manager, Charlie worked for the Leonards before opening his own Steak ‘n Shake in Branson, Missouri, in 1992. “I can remember when Mike’s mother was pregnant with him, and when he was born. So, he grew up in the business also and had stores down in Arkansas; he always wanted to come back up. It was a good fit for him when I retired,” said Gary. Although he’s grateful for retirement and looking
Steak ‘n Shake’s neon lights up the parking lot.
forward to some new projects, life is now very different for Gary Leonard. “I like people, so being in that dining room, you might call it being on stage, and just to go out and visit with everyone. We had people from all walks of life, from all socio-economic standards, everybody ate with us, and we just had a pulse… you just got to know, really, the community and the people. I really literally cannot go anywhere in town where I don’t say hello to someone that I know, and that’s been the delight... and also the loss. Retiring is to lose that, that was a big part of who and what I was at that point, and I sure miss it,” he added wistfully.
Into the Future So, after 48 years of management tailored to their community, the Leonards’ legacy has draped itself upon the shoulders of the younger generation of the Stennett family. It doesn’t seem to be a heavy load, but a welcome opportunity to Mike Stennett, who stated to local press at the time of the sale in March 2020, “Herb [Leonard] was a good mentor to my dad; to be able to walk in here and to be able to be in those shoes again is a pretty cool thing.” Both Herb and Gary Leonard have been ingrained into the culture of Springfield, belonging to numerous civic organizations
and participating in fundraisers, especially making sure to take out ads in the school yearbooks and programs. Gary is proud of how active he was in the restaurants, calling people by name and visiting at the tables as he became part of the community. He believes that helps customers to identify the restaurant more as a local business than part of a distantly managed chain, and to the Leonards, that is important. “Having been down there since ‘62, we just had that legacy of being here and being involved with our community,” Gary said. He gives his father full credit for beginning that legacy. “He was a great guy. A good man, and my best friend,” he added. “We were just fortunate that we were able to have a restaurant along Route 66 and that we got to be engaged in that heritage, and what that meant, and the people that came, because if we hadn’t been there, we wouldn’t have had that aspect,” Gary said thoughtfully. “We would have had everything else that I talked about [the people and the community], but that part of it was, you might say, just the whipped cream and the cherry.” The whipped cream and the cherry. The iconic vintage building and the retro ambience inside. Carhops and waitresses. Route 66 travelers snapping photos before going in for a meal. The Route 66 Steak ‘n Shake on E. St. Louis Street undeniably has it all. It’s got the sizzle — and the steak. ROUTE Magazine 37
pril 19, 1995, was a normal day as people began to arrive at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. As in every office, workers mulled about as they started their morning, grabbing a fresh cup of coffee, chatting with their colleagues, and catching up on urgent work. The day had just started. It was 9:01 AM. Spring was in the air and the morning showed promise. A moment later, at 9:02 AM, 168 lives, including 19 children, would be lost when a massive explosion ripped through the government building, forever altering the landscape and lives of the residents of Oklahoma City. Prior to September 11, 2001, this was the deadliest terrorist assault on US soil and remains one of the most exhaustive cases in FBI history. The culprits, ex-army soldier turned anti-government militant, Timothy McVeigh, and his accomplice, Terry Nichols, had wanted to send a message to the federal government. It was not received as they had hoped. McVeigh was captured by accident 90 minutes later during a routine traffic stop, and Nichols soon after. But as is so often the case in America, the story does not end with these men or their heinous action. In the same year as the attack, Oklahoma City Mayor Ron Norick commissioned a 350-member task force to figure out what to do with the site of the bombing. He knew that the decision was an important one. The body became the Oklahoma City National Memorial Task Force. Nearly five years later, the task force shared their idea: the land would become part memorial, a symbolic remembrance, and part museum, to tell the “guts” of the story. The outdoor memorial was unveiled on the fifth anniversary of the bombing in 2000. Former President Bill Clinton dedicated the site which honors the victims, survivors, first responders, and anyone affected by the attack. On the former Murrah building soil sit 168 chairs made of glass and bronze, each engraved with the name of an individual victim. The chairs sit in nine rows symbolizing the nine stories of the Murrah building. Nineteen of the chairs 38 ROUTE Magazine
are smaller, representing the children. Every chair lights up at night, representing a “beacon of hope” that shines over a reflection pond. The memorial sits between two gates, one stating “9:01,” the other stating “9:03.” A wall is engraved with the names of the survivors, while the rescue workers are recognized with fruit and flower-bearing trees, meant to show the “fruits of their labor.” It is a surreal, somber site that demands contemplation. The museum opened a year later in the west end of the former Journal Record Building, formerly beside the Murrah building. The building itself was originally built in 1923 and survived the bombing despite severe damage. Dedicated in 2001 by former President George W. Bush, the museum tells the important story through a multitude of interactive mediums. Its 30,000 square feet hold special exhibits, permanent collections, fragments of the destroyed building, and augmented reality storytelling. Everything has been donated – from the victims' personal artifacts to trial documents and everything in between. “The entire story is remarkable. It is told by the people who were impacted by it, and it is told in their voices, by them. The stories are very powerful, and the artifacts are very powerful,” said Kari Watkins, Executive Director of the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum. “The Gallery of Honor, where you see all 168 faces of those who were killed, and the artifact that their families chose to represent them is, to me, one of the most powerful places in the museum. The attacks didn’t change Oklahoma City, how we responded to it changed Oklahoma City, and it changed the world. People saw how Oklahomans responded and they looked at how we took care of one another. The national media coined it the Oklahoma standard,” said Watkins. “It was [the] way that neighbors helped neighbors.” OKC is a city that has a lot to be proud of — on and off Route 66 — but this tradition of caring for one another may be their biggest.
Image courtesy Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum.
I N M E M ORY OF A
DISCOVER CLINTON, OKLAHOMA
WHERE ROUTE 66 TRULY COMES ALIVE!
• HIS TORI C HOTE L S• D IV E RS E D INING• •M OHAW K LOD G E IND IAN S TORE• •THE WATE R ZOO•
www.clintonokla.org
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ituated just south of the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, the City of St. Louis signals the “center” of the contiguous United States to many. While not technically true, the Gateway to the West has been its moniker nearly since its founding in 1764. Often an important stop for wagon trails coming out of the east, it was also an important port along the Mississippi River on the way to New Orleans. In the 20th Century, it played another role as the newly designated Route 66 zigzagged its way through the city, heading west to the still somewhat unexplored lands beyond. While there are many landmarks in the St. Louis area along that historic route, nothing is more recognizable than the Gateway Arch. “Back in the early 1930s, the main civic leader, a man named Luther Ely Smith, started this idea of building a memorial to [Thomas] Jefferson’s vision of westward expansion from coast to coast,” said Pam Sanfilippo, the program manager for Museum Services and Interpretation at Gateway Arch National Park. “He got a lot of local committees involved and took it to Congress, where eventually President Roosevelt signed an executive order creating the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.” After several setbacks, including the Great Depression, the onset of the second World War, and lawsuits disputing land claims for where the monument would stand, the time and opportunity finally came for the real planning to begin. “There was no idea what it would look like,” Sanfilippo said. “It wasn’t until 1947 when an international competition was held to come up with the design. Submissions were made from all across the world and the top five were invited to do an expanded version of their piece.” The winning design was of a catenary arch, submitted by Finnish architect Eero Saarinen. His goal was to highlight St. Louis’s status as the Gateway to the West, and even the other entrants agreed that while their ideas were good, Saarinen’s was better. Many of the other ideas consisted of obelisks or simple buildings with museums, but the open concept of an archway, standing like a doorway opening into the promise of the West, resonated deeply. 40 ROUTE Magazine
Construction on the Arch finally began on February 12, 1963. Due to the nature of a catenary arch, which is supported by the uppermost centerpiece, the legs had to be constructed simultaneously. As one layer of the south leg was completed, the same layer was mirrored on the north leg. Each piece is constructed of reinforced concrete sandwiched between carbon steel and covered with a glistening stainless-steel skin up to the 300-foot mark. The next 323 feet are made of carbon steel. From start to finish, 142 equilateral triangles were welded together to create the Arch, reinforcing its durability. The final piece of the Arch was installed on October 28, 1965, observed by Vice President Hubert Humphrey and thousands of spectators. The Arch officially opened in the summer of 1967, with a museum dedicated to the history of western expansion. Trams riding to the top of the 630-foottall (it’s also 630 feet wide) monument allowed visitors, on a clear day, to see 30 miles to the west. The museum served its purpose for nearly 40 years, but by the 2010s it had become outdated with little improvement since its installation. “Through a public/private partnership called City+Arch+River, we were able to raise funds to redesign not only the museum, but the whole entrance,” said Sanfilippo. “You used to enter at either leg, but now we have a beautiful entry and lobby centered a little further west than the legs of the Arch. It really helped us welcome people better and orient them to where the museum is now, and there’s much more green space that’s a lot quieter, and really connects us with the downtown area.” The redesigned museum now highlights the stories of Native Americans, explorers, and pioneers throughout the history of St. Louis. The Arch itself stands glimmering on the banks of the mighty Mississippi, overlooking the skyline of one of the oldest cities in the American Midwest. “It really makes this idea of St. Louis being the Gateway to the West more tangible,” said Sanfilippo. “Seeking better opportunities and heading out west, it really ties it all together for me. With the Arch being part of a lot of these preservation programs, it really makes it a national treasure.”
Image by McElroy Fine Art Photography.
THE GATEWAY TO THE WEST
DEVILS ELBOW, MO
Today 10:18 AM
“Taking off now. Have some stops to make!”
CLEAR YOUR SCHEDULE. GET TO PULASKI COUNTY, MO!
Ready for a road trip of breathtaking twists and turns that will take you back in time? Take your pick of drives down Route 66, through historic Fort Leonard Wood, and along the Frisco Railroad line. Then, fill up at unique (and oh so tasty) diners before heading off to uncover even more rare finds at countless antique shops. So, book your stay and get ready to play on a road that you’ll always remember. Plan your trip, complete with downloadable turn-by-turn directions, at pulaskicountyusa.com. ROUTE Magazine 41
42 ROUTE Magazine
A CONVERSATION WITH JOHN OATES
Hall & Oates By Brennen Matthews
Images by Jeff Fasano
ROUTE Magazine 43
A
s a young teen, my evenings and Saturday mornings were spent glued to the radio, anxious to discover and enjoy the myriad of amazing music that flowed from the airwaves. It was the ‘80s and iconic music was being born. Radio offered a diversity not witnessed before and the poppy sounds of hit artists like Madonna, Michael Jackson, and Phil Collins influenced young and old across the world, ensuring commercial success. There were many fantastic artists in those golden years, but one group seemed to dominate the charts: Daryl Hall and John Oates, aka Hall & Oates. Week after week, their tracks ruled every mainstream countdown. It was impossible to turn on the radio and not hear their music. Hit songs like “Kiss on My List,” “I Can’t Go for That,” “Maneater,” “Out of Touch,” and “Private Eyes,” found a firm home at #1, and the duo constantly hit the road to tour the world. In 1984, the Recording Industry Association of America announced that Hall & Oates had surpassed the Everly Brothers as the most successful duo in rock history, earning a total of 19 gold and platinum awards. They were on fire. And then suddenly, surprisingly, by 1986, Hall & Oates went relatively quiet. Hall went on to pursue a solo career and Oates made some major life changes that led him down new and impacting paths. Yet still, their huge hits lived on in video and radio for us all to enjoy. Now, in 2022, I still constantly hear Hall & Oates when I am scrolling through the channels, and their smooth sounds bring back vivid, wonderful memories from a period of time now long gone.
You were born in New York, but moved to Pennsylvania when you were about four, due to your dad’s job. You would have been in your early 20s during the Summer of Love era that was going on in San Francisco and in New York. Did you experience that whole movement in Pennsylvania/Philadelphia? I mean, yeah, sure, there was kind of a quasi-hippie culture in downtown Philadelphia which Daryl and I were kind of part of. I don’t think we, together, ever really considered ourselves to be hippies. But we were part of, you know, being young, being in your late teens, whatever, early twenties, adopting the style, the kind of mentality of the times— we were definitely in on all of that. I remember there was a “Be-In” in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia. I can’t remember the bands who played, but I remember going there. It was kind of like what happened in San Francisco, the Philadelphia version, a year later. It was kind of a cultural social thing that was sweeping the country with young people and of course centered in the urban areas. We were part of that, but I don’t think we ever bought into it completely. Daryl and I thought about moving to the country and living on a farm, you know, getting back to the land. It was the era of the singer-songwriter. So, I guess it affected us in a way, but at the same time, we both came from an R&B tradition as well, much more musically sophisticated and kind of sharkskin suits and band arrangements, and horns, and strings. We had our foot in two worlds and I think we’ve always kind of been like that if we’re talking about Hall & Oates.
You joined your first band when you were quite young...in grade eight? I was probably 12 or 13. I joined a band with a bunch of guys who were a little bit older than me. The band kind of started 44 ROUTE Magazine
when I was about in 8th grade and continued all the way through high school. We recorded a song [“I Need Your Love”] the year I graduated from high school in the summer, which was a song that got played on Philadelphia radio and then, of course, simultaneously Daryl was recording a song with his doo-wop group that was also being played on the radio. It kind of drew us together in a strange way, we knew of each other, we were aware of each other, and then we finally met.
At that young age, what was it like the first time you heard yourself on the radio? I remember I was parked on a country road in Pennsylvania with my girlfriend at the time. I like to say that whatever we were doing at the time, I stopped doing it and paid attention to the fact that it was on the radio. It was a big thrill. To be a teenager, to hear yourself on the radio, it was a big deal. It was definitely a moment in my life where I thought that things could change.
Did you guys actually have a record deal at that point? Well, we sort of had a record deal. We made the record at a place called Virtue Sound on North Broad Street in Philadelphia. The guy who owned it was Frank Virtue, who had a band called the Virtues. They had an instrumental hit called “Guitar Boogie Shuffle.” That’s what put him on the map. He had a very small, funky, little studio. We saved our money, and went in, and recorded the song. In those days, you would record a song and you would get what was called an acetate, which was an actual vinyl record that would be literally etched and cut with a stylus in the studio. You could only play it x amount of times before it would wear out since it was all vinyl. So, we had this acetate and we went down to Chestnut Street in Philadelphia. There was a really great shop called the Record Museum that specialized in vinyl. Well, that was the only thing that existed then. They specialized really in 45s, really offbeat, obscure 45s from doo-wop groups and B-sides, and things like that. It was just a very cool place to go. I used to go there all the time just to buy records. So, we went into the Record Museum with our acetate under our arm. I said to the guy behind the counter, ‘Hey, we made a record. You wanna hear it?’ and the guy went ‘Yeah, sure,’ and he took it and literally put it on the 45 player right there behind the counter and played it, and he said, ‘Oh, this is cool. What are you guys doing?’ and I said, ‘I don’t know, we’re trying to put this record out,’ and he said, ‘Come on back into the office.’ And we went back and signed a contract. Of course, without consulting a lawyer or anyone else which would be a portent of things to come in my very well-documented crooked career of dealing with the music business. So, the record came out on Crimson Records. Crimson Records was this little custom label that was owned by the Record Museum. The only other release that I’m aware of is “Expressway to Your Heart” by The Soul Survivors, which was actually on Crimson Records, as well.
After high school you joined Temple University to study journalism. Yeah, I studied journalism because it was the path of least resistance for me. I was a writer, I always thought of myself as a writer. I was always good at writing. Whether it be prose,
or songs, or whatever it might be. It just has always come naturally for me. So, when I got to college, I didn’t know what to do, so I literally did what was easiest. It kept me out of the Vietnam War by college deferment, and also was easy, and I could spend a lot of time doing music on the side.
I have read different iterations of how you and Daryl actually met. What’s the real story? You know, in those days, the DJs from the various stations would hold record hops, which were teenage dances basically for kids in the Philadelphia area. There was a guy named Jerry Blavat — “the Geator with the Heater,” one of the DJs from WDAS which was one of the premiere R&B stations. [The station] that was playing both Daryl’s record and my record had a record hop in West Philadelphia at a place called the Adelphi Ballroom. The DJs would ask the various artists to come and lip-sync their songs to make a guest appearance at these record hops. It was kind of part and parcel of getting your record played. It was kind of a free version of payola. We’ll play your record and you got to come and perform at our dance basically. So, Daryl’s group was independently asked to do it, my group was independently asked to do it, but we didn’t know each other. We were all kind of sequestered in this little area because it was kind of a social hall, I guess you could call it a banquet hall, where they’d clear out everything and the kids would dance, and the DJ would play records. We were all in the back in the little kind of holding area. Before any of us went on, a gang fight broke out among the kids in the crowd, so we basically jumped in the service elevator and went down to the street level and that’s how we met. Sounds too good to be true right?
So how did you and Daryl end up connecting musically, because after university you ended up setting off to travel around Europe for a little bit. That was the summer of ‘67 into ‘68. After the [Adelphi Ballroom] happened, Daryl and I just kind of palled around. We shared an apartment for a little bit and then we lived in different places separately. He was doing studio work and playing with a bar band at night. I was playing in folk clubs and various blues bands around the city, but we weren’t working together. We were just hanging out here and there or not. When I graduated from college in 1970, one of my dreams was to travel through Europe. So, I sold everything I had and took off with a backpack and a guitar and I went to Europe. It was a thing that kids were doing in those days. I subletted my apartment to Daryl’s sister, and her boyfriend, and I took off for four months.
When I got back, there was a padlock on the door. They hadn’t paid the rent, so I literally got back with no money and a backpack and guitar and was standing on the street. So, I went down to where Daryl was living at the time and I said, ‘Hey, your sister didn’t pay the rent. I’m locked out of my apartment,’ and he said, ‘Why don’t you just sleep in [my] upstairs bedroom?’ He had this little, tiny “Father, Son, Holy Ghost” house, which was a three-story house with one room on each story. They were former slave quarters back in the 1700s or whatever, in the downtown historic area of Philadelphia. So, I moved into the upstairs bedroom that had a fold-out couch to sleep on. That’s where Daryl’s electric piano was. Every day he would come up to noodle around on his piano, and there I’d be, sitting on the couch with a guitar. He was not happy with what was going on musically with what he was doing, and I really didn’t have much going on [either], because I’d just gotten back from Europe. So, we started to write songs together. We started taking it seriously and seeing that it might be a viable thing for the two of us to do. We played a few art galleries, coffee houses, things like that, and the response was always very positive. Little by little, it grew, and we realized that we might have something that might be something.
In late 1971, you guys signed with Atlantic Records. Many aspiring musicians send in demos to A&R and never hear back. What was the process like for you guys to get signed by Atlantic? We were associated with a guy in Philadelphia who was a famous songwriter, producer from the late ‘50s and ‘60s. We would record some demos, this guy would represent us, but we never got any response, it was always negative. And then we decided to try to do some showcases in New York City, because we were doing some recording sessions as studio musicians. So, we’d go to New York, and we’d play a showcase at these various venues. People would come up to us after the show and rave about us and say, ‘You guys are amazing! Oh, we love you, we love you,’ and a week or two would go by and we’d say, ‘Hey, what happened?’ and he’d say, ‘Oh, they passed.’ It was always, ‘they passed,’ and we couldn’t figure out why. Later on, we realized that what he was doing was basically demanding so egregiously from these various companies that seemed to like us, that they all just said, ‘These guys aren’t worth dealing with, let’s just forget about them.’ We didn’t know that we were being basically misrepresented. We kind of figured it out after a little while and we were so frustrated, we said we need to try to do something different. So, we pulled a little bit of money together and we bought fake student half-fare flights to Los Angeles. Back in those days, if you were a student, you could buy an airplane ticket for half-fare if you could prove that you were a student. ROUTE Magazine 45
So, we brought our old student I.D. cards, because we were both out of college at the time, and we convinced the guy that we were still in college, and the guy gave us half-fare tickets and we flew to Los Angeles. During that period of time there was a publishing company that we were associated with vis-à-vis this guy in Philadelphia, Chappell Music, now Warner Chappell, and because we didn’t know anyone in Los Angeles and we didn’t know what to do, we reached out to a guy that we had met during this ill-conceived showcase adventure. We said, ‘Hey, we’re coming to Los Angeles,’ and the guy said, ‘I’ll pick you up at the airport.’ And this guy picked us up at the airport, we didn’t really know him that well, he worked for Chappell Music, and he picked us up and he said, ‘You can sleep at our house.’ So, we went to this guy’s house, and we just crashed there for a little bit, and then we checked into a place called the Tropicana Motel on Santa Monica Boulevard which was a classic ‘60s rock n’ roll hotel. They had this little coffee shop called Duke’s, and I think Jim Morrison pissed on the table or something like that. But anyway, it was that period of time in L.A. We didn’t realize that in L.A. you needed a car, and we didn’t have a car. So, there we were in this hotel on Santa Monica Boulevard and the only thing we could do was walk to the International House of Pancakes that was about a four or five block walk, and that was about as far as we could get without getting arrested. So, we did that, and this guy said, ‘I’ve got a guy that you should meet.’ I guess he was independently wealthy... He was an art dealer and very good personal friends with Ahmet Ertegun at Atlantic Records. So, he took us over to this little bungalow in West Hollywood and the guy had this kind of garden, a backyard with trees and plants and flowers. So, we went there, and we literally brought a little electric piano, and I had an acoustic guitar, and we sat in this guy’s backyard, and we played some songs. I remember this was the unique part of it — he started laughing after we played a few songs, and we weren’t sure exactly what was happening. I remember he said, ‘Are you guys for real?’ And I thought he thought we were mocking him or something and we were like, ‘Yeah, this is what we do,’ and he’s like, ‘Why don’t you guys have a record contract?’ and we said, ‘Well, because we don’t,’ and he goes, ‘Well, you do now.’ And he called Ahmet Ertegun and said, ‘You have to hear these guys, these guys are amazing.’ His name was Earl McGrath. Anyway, he had made arrangements for us to go back to New York and audition for Atlantic Records based on his endorsement. So, we went into a little room in Atlantic Records with Arif Mardin, Jerry Greenberg who was the President, and Tommy Mottola who, at the time, also worked for Chappell Music. At the end of the audition, Arif Mardin said, ‘I want to produce these guys,’ and that was all it took, because Arif Mardin was a god then at Atlantic Records. And that’s how it started.
You guys then ended up opening for David Bowie during his Ziggy Stardust Tour. Were you fans of his music? We were both fans of his Hunky Dory album, the album that preceded Ziggy Stardust, because he was doing kind of what we were doing. It was very artsy, acoustic, you know singersongwriter in style. Little did we know that he was going to make a 180 and become this spaceman from Mars. We actually didn’t know that when we got the gig as his opening act. It was 46 ROUTE Magazine
in Memphis, Tennessee, at his first show on his American tour, and we had no idea what he was going to do. We assumed he was doing Hunky Dory-type music, and we thought that’s why it would fit based on what we were doing, because we were very acoustic at the time. Then, of course, I remember we did our show and then I went out into the house to watch him, because I wanted to see him play, and all of a sudden strobe lights and smoke and this creature with red hair and giant platform shoes appeared, and it became this entirely different thing. To be honest with you, I was shocked, and I was blown away. I think what I was really blown away with was the fact that someone could actually do that. They could be one thing and then be something completely different. I think that was inspiring for me and Daryl. We said, ‘We can do whatever we want,’ and we had no mandate to continue to do what we were doing because our record wasn’t successful. We didn’t have a hit record or anything like that, so we just thought, ‘Well, we can do whatever we want,’ and of course, I think that mentality has carried over through our whole career.
“She’s Gone” was only moderately successful when it was first released as a single in 1974, but then found huge traction when it was later released as a remixed version. What is the song’s backstory? I was hanging around in downtown New York in the [Greenwich] Village going to the Mercer Art Center, going to the clubs and things like that, just really immersed in the New York downtown life. There was one night, I guess it was December of ‘72, probably. I was down there, it was the middle of the night, very late, there were very few things open. There was a place called the Pink Tea Cup, which was a soul food restaurant on Bleecker Street that was open all night. One of the few places. I was in there and this gal came in and she was outrageously dressed in a pink tutu and cowboy boots, and it was freezing cold. We just started hanging out. In the style of the ‘70s, things kind of happened fast in those days. We saw each other a few times and then I asked her if she wanted to get together on New Year’s Eve and she said yes. New Year’s Eve rolled around, and she never showed up. So, I sat on the couch and pulled out my guitar. In my mind, I was thinking, ‘Well, if she’s not coming tonight, she’s never coming.’ I started singing ‘she’s gone, oh’ and it was kind of this folky lament, I guess you’d call it, and it never went any farther than just that little hook idea. Then Daryl came back a few days later, we were sharing an apartment at the time, I don’t know where he was, but he was somewhere, and I played it for him, and he sat down at the piano and immediately started playing. It just kinetically happened. You know, he played the classic piano riff that you hear at the beginning of the song and that was the catalyst to start the song, and then we just wrote it, we wrote the whole song in probably an hour and a half.
Your first three albums Whole Oats (1972), Abandoned Luncheonette (1973), and War Babies (1974) were with Atlantic Records. Then you moved to RCA Records for your fourth album, which produced your first Top 10 hit, “Sara Smile.” That song really hit hard. How did that impact your lives at that point? Well, we had three hits in a row. We had “Sara Smile,” “She’s Gone,” and “Rich Girl.” All at the same time, ‘75 and ‘76. It took us from playing in clubs right into playing in arenas,
immediately. That was the mid-’70s. Then, in the late ‘70s, we had a bit of a lag, a little bit of a dip, we didn’t have any hits on the subsequent albums after “Rich Girl.” There were three albums that came out and none of them had any real hit records. We had been recording in L.A. in the mid-’70s, during that period of time, and we weren’t satisfied or very comfortable recording [there], we wanted to get back to New York and record there. So, we used this downturn… we kind of went from the clubs to the arenas and then went back to the clubs, or the small theaters, and during that period of time, we realized that what was missing was the fact that all the subsequent records prior to the ‘80s were made with studio musicians and not our live band. We had two different worlds going on; we had a live band that we would perform with, but we never felt comfortable enough to take into the studio, and we’d go into the studio with studio musicians, but we knew that wasn’t the answer. So, as the end of the decade approached, we focused on trying to develop a live band that was good enough to take into the recording studio. We went through a bunch of different configurations of players and that culminated in the ‘80s band that we finally found. We made all our records in the ‘80s with that band, and we began to produce ourselves, and that was the key to the success that we had in the ‘80s.
What was your writing process like? Did you write the lyrics together or separately, and then come together? One of us would always initiate something and then the other person, depending on the situation... let’s put it this way, there were no hard and fast rules. Whatever happened, happened. Daryl would write a song… like “Rich Girl,” he wrote it himself. Or someone would come up with an idea and we would function to write together, like a collaboration, or we would function almost like editors, where one person really had a handle on the song, and it wasn’t really a collaboration as much as the other person was giving an objective opinion like, ‘Oh, well try this,’ or maybe, ‘What if this part was here,’ and then we would collaborate a lot on the lyrics. That’s where most of our collaboration happened — on the lyrics.
Then, enter the 1980s and you had a string of successful albums with a new soft-rock soul sound: Voices (1980) — featuring “Kiss On My List,” “You Make My Dreams,” and “Everytime You Go Away.” Then Private Eyes (1981), and H2O (1984) which had your longest-lasting No. 1 hit “Maneater.” From 1981 to 1985 you had twelve top 10 hits and five #1 singles. At what point during this time did it hit you that you had really ‘made it?’ All I remember in the ‘80s was being completely consumed with demands. Demands for time. What people, I think, don’t realize is that one of the most important aspects of success is that it’s a demand on your time, your energy, your emotion, and your physical energy. MTV had just started, so now in addition to making records, we had to make videos. And of course, there was touring, and it was never-ending. So, between writing the songs, making the records, making the videos, going on tour, and then starting the cycle over again from late ‘79 right up until mid-’80s, we didn’t stop for a second. In fact, there were no breaks from 1972 until about 1987. It was all-consuming and the ‘80s just ratcheted up the intensity of all that.
Because we had such tremendous success in the ‘80s, I assume people think, ‘Well, that must be your favorite time in your career.’ It might have been one of my least favorite times because, as I said, I couldn’t really enjoy it, because I was so deep in it. My favorite time was the early ‘70s when everything was new, when everything was discoverable, when everything was in the process of becoming. It was so interesting to go to a different city and meet new people and play a show and realize what worked and what didn’t work, and how to change it, and constantly trying to get better.
Did you guys feel a lot of pressure to churn out hits? There’s always that pressure, yes, without a doubt. In fact, the song “I Can’t Go for That” is exactly about that. That song’s about not being told what to do, not being pressured to do something. I think one of the things I’m most proud of, when you look at the ‘80s hits, or actually any of our hits going back to “Sara Smile,” “She’s Gone,” “Rich Girl,” or whatever — none of them sound like the other one. Not one. And there’s always that pressure, as you said, to kind of follow up your hit with the follow-up single. We never did that ever. Every song is completely different. Which I’m very, very proud of and I don’t think a lot of bands can say that.
An interesting song that does sound very different from a lot of your other stuff that really hit heavy on the radio is “Maneater.” What’s the story behind that song? I was hanging out in Greenwich Village, it was the ‘80s, very jacked up. If you were in New York City in the ‘80s, you were at the epicenter of that. As a songwriter, you can’t help but be affected by the things that are around you. There was a hangout in the Village that we used to go to, it was kind of a bar-restaurant, and it was full of actors, models, and musicians. It was the cool downtown scene kind of thing. There was a girl that was very pretty, in fact, beautiful, who had a really… well, she swore like a sailor. So, to me, the juxtaposition of her great beauty and her coarse personality was very weird. The first thing I thought was ‘she’ll chew you up and spit you out.’ That mulled around in my head, and I remember, I was walking home from the place in the middle of the night, and it popped into my head ‘she’s like a maneater.’ I had just come back from Jamaica, so I began to write this kind of reggae-inspired idea for a chorus based on ‘Woah, here she comes. Watch out boy she’ll chew you up.’ I just sat with that for a while and… interestingly enough, I was writing songs at the time with Edgar Winter, and I went to Edgar Winter’s house, and we were throwing around ideas and I played it for him, but he didn’t respond to it — the reggae thing. It just didn’t move him. So, we moved on and we ended up not really writing anything. Later, I played it for Daryl and he sat down and said, ‘Yeah man, I like the idea, but I don’t like the groove. I don’t think reggae is a cool groove for us,’ and he began to play that Motown feel that you hear on the record, and then we went in that direction with the song.
Around the mid-’80s, you were invited to take part in the “We are the World” soundtrack. How did that come about? It was cleverly scheduled for the night of the American Music Awards when everyone who was anyone in the world of pop music would be in one place. Nothing like that could ever ROUTE Magazine 47
creative people, that’s what they do. At the same time, it wasn’t their show. I think that was an unusual dynamic to put all these triple A type leaders so to speak, a lot of chiefs, and not a lot of Indians, let’s put it that way. You put them in a room, and they all want to have creative ideas, but at the same time, it was really Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie’s song, and they were kind of running it. I think the reason it came off so seamlessly was because a lot of people had respect for them, first of all, and they were leading the thing. And to have Quincy Jones there, everyone had ultimate respect for Quincy Jones. I think he was the glue. So, no, there was not a lot of takes. You have all these amazing singers, and then you just say, ‘Here’s what we’re going to sing,’ and everyone sang in unison.
How was Michael Jackson to work with? I had met Michael before; he was very shy and very quiet. He always spoke in that very quiet voice of his. He wasn’t extremely outgoing. But he was dressed to the nines, you know, in his quasi-military garb.
You spent a lot of years on tour. Did any notable crazy things happen?
happen again. The music world was much more condensed, it wasn’t as crazy as it is now, with multiple award shows. So, everyone was in Los Angeles attending the American Music Awards and Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson wrote the song and a reach out was made through the various managers and agents to come to the studio after the awards were over, and the old cliche sign, leave your egos at the door, managers and agents stay outside. Everyone went in and we recorded the song.
So, the video and the whole recording was done that same night, after the American Music Awards? Right then. It happened within a few hours. It went pretty late into the night with the solos and stuff like that. The bulk of it, where everyone is standing, singing all at the same time… everyone was on these tiered bleachers. I remember Ray Charles was off my left shoulder in front of me and Bob Dylan was behind my right shoulder. I thought that was pretty cool. Up there on the wall, you see that right there, that framed picture? That’s the sheet music with everyone’s signature on it from “We are the World.” One of my prized possessions. I actually had enough foresight to go around and get it signed by everyone.
Did everything go off seamlessly when recording or were there a lot of takes? Well, if you think about the type of people — all major stars, people who obviously were very successful doing what they do, all put into one room together with no wardens to keep them in check. You had a lot of people just throwing out ideas, because 48 ROUTE Magazine
You don’t have enough time. (Laughs) We were on the road for 50 years! We got robbed at gunpoint in Australia the first time we went there by the Rusty Gun Bandit. We were in a restaurant after the show, the restaurant was empty except for the chef, and his wife, and another couple. And this guy came in with a shotgun, and a ski mask, and wanted our money. He went to this table with the chef… the chef I think grabbed his gun, hit him, and we knocked him down. We pushed him through a plate glass window, the police arrived, we were in all the newspapers. It turned out this guy had been robbing restaurants in that area for a period of time, they called him the Rusty Gun Bandit because his shotgun was all old and rusty. MTV had a Learjet race which is the height of extreme, absurd excess. Daryl was in one Learjet in New York, and I was in a Learjet in California, and we had contest winners from MTV in the jets with us, and we both raced toward Kansas, the middle of the country. It was just a big, giant promotion. There was just so much stuff going on.
What an amazing experience. In 1986, after having made at least one album a year since 1972, you guys slowed right down. Daryl pursued his solo career and you moved to Colorado to start a new chapter. Daryl started making solo albums in the ‘70s. He made a number of them. None of which really seemed to have much impact. We’ve always had that kind of thing where we look at ourselves as two individuals who work together. Even more so today than ever before. We have our own lives, our personal lives are different, but we come together, and we play the music that we created together, and that’s good; people want to hear it and that’s fantastic.
When you moved to Colorado, did you have any clear definition of what you wanted, at that point, for yourself? I had a very clear definition, but it wasn’t what I wanted musically, it was what I wanted personally. That was the
important thing for me. I was happy that we could break out of that constant rat race, that hamster wheel of writing, touring, recording, making videos — I was done. And I had personal issues: I was getting divorced, we had lost our manager, there were things going on that were just breaking down. And I wanted to change my life. I needed a complete reboot of who I was as a person, and it wasn’t going to happen by me continuing on the same path. So, I had to have a clean break and my going to Colorado was really, for me, a necessity. I didn’t know it at the time, but it ended up being the thing that really changed my life and made me able to continue.
In what way? Well, because I completely stopped making music and I began to live in the mountains [where] I just associated with a group of people who didn’t care whether I was a musician or not. I started backcountry skiing; I spent a year without a car, riding my bicycle. I started over again, I unplugged from everything I’d done. That led me to meeting my current wife, and having a kid, and building a house, and really changing my life completely. I think had that not happened, who knows where I would’ve been.
After being a famous rock star who played arenas, how would you compare being a dad to all that other worldly success? I have to credit being a dad to my wife, because if it wasn’t for her, who knows, I might not have ever done it. Then after having a kid, I have to credit Amy again, because she said, ‘You know, if we’re going to be a family, we have to be a family. We have to stick together.’ I had never even conceived of that. If I was going to tour, would I tour with a wife and kid? It was a completely alien concept. Everything I had done prior to that was kind of a boy’s club, really. So, I took a leap of faith and trusted her, and she was right. We took [our son] on the road at five weeks old, and he was basically on the road with us until he was 13. He started at a boarding school in ninth grade, and went straight through boarding school, right to college, and has basically been living on his own from the time he was 14. I like to think, because we were able to spend his earliest years constantly together, that we created a bond that’s unshakable. Even today, we have a great relationship, even though we don’t see each other as often as we’d like.
The older my son becomes, the more I hear the Harry Chapin song “Cat’s in the Cradle.” Whereas now, we’re older and we want to spend that time with them, they’re busy trying to build their lives. Yeah, that’s true. That period where they’re going to find themselves from 12 to 20, as a father, you go from being their superhero to the dumbest human being on planet earth. (Laughs) I think it’s necessary, it’s that necessary break. Especially for boys… boys need to assert themselves, need to flex their masculinities in a weird way so they do stupid sh*t that they have to kind of go through. But now, now he’s coming back. For the past few years, he’s definitely come back to actually seeking our opinion on a more adult level, which is great. But you know, he’s his own man, he’s an independent thinker, and that’s what I’ve always hoped he
would be — someone who would think for himself and be strong-willed, and self-sufficient, and he certainly is that.
You’re in your 70s. Has this been a good decade for you? I wouldn’t talk about it in terms of a decade, but I would talk about it in terms of the last couple of years. For me to be able to reflect, to have time to think about a lot of things. I had a lot of realizations about how I want to deal with where I am right now and how I want to deal with the years going forward. I think as you get older, and you see the horizon kind of getting closer, you start to think about things in a different way. These past two years have really given me a chance to reevaluate a lot of things, and I like to make a little joke — there are no more rehearsals. Time for rehearsals is over. It’s all about the show at this point, the show of life, I guess you’d call it.
You published your autobiography Change Of Seasons in 2017. What inspired you to write the book? I had done a series of interviews with a guy named Chris Epting who actually grew up in the same area of Pennsylvania that I did — we didn’t know each other. He just seemed to get me. Every time we’d talk, we’d go in directions that we had some kind of commonality. He was a writer who had written a number of books, mostly history books, and I’m a history buff. One day after numerous interviews he said, ‘You’ve got such great stories; you’ve had such an interesting life. You should write a book, and if you ever want to do it, I’d like to help you,’ and that’s how it happened. As we began to write, I began to find my writer’s voice. It took quite a while and he was very encouraging, and he also served basically as an editor and a researcher. He really helped me by researching the past and bringing up a lot of things that I had forgotten about or didn’t have a lot of detailed memory about. So, in a way, it was almost like having regressive therapy, it kind of opened up my past and history of things that I might never have even thought about. I really spent a lot of time on that book, over two years. It was an interesting process to go through. I really enjoyed it. The hardest thing about that book was to decide, how do I tell my personal story when my personal story [is] so intrinsically wrapped up in the Hall & Oates experience? So, I had to try and separate myself, but I couldn’t ignore a major part of my life, so it was kind of an interesting challenge to do that.
What do you want your legacy to be, what do you want to be remembered for? I play bluegrass, delta blues, I play jazz, I play ragtime, I play ‘60s R&B, I play ‘80s pop obviously. I don’t think a lot of people can do what I do; play in a musically sophisticated band like Hall & Oates and at the same time I do very roots music, acoustic-based, traditional roots-based music in Nashville with my Good Road band. I’m doing an acoustic tour with a Nashville guitar player named Guthrie Trapp. [I can] pick up a guitar and play roots music from the 1920s and the 1930s in a very authentic way. I think it’s a very unique thing. I would like people to understand [and remember] how versatile I was as a musician. ROUTE Magazine 49
“HOST OF THE THE RISE, DEMISE, AND RETURN By Rich Ratay
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HIGHWAYS”
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G
olden Arches. Green mermaids. Freckled schoolgirls with pig tails. Our modern highways are lined with memorable icons beckoning motorists to pull over for a quick bite or refreshment. But long before any of them, road-weary families on their way to distant destinations looked for another familiar fixture along America’s arteries — the bright orange roof of Howard Johnson’s. Not long ago, those distinctive roofs were hard to miss — not just because of their unmistakable color, but because they could be seen just about everywhere. At the chain’s peak during the 1970s, more than 1,000 Howard Johnson’s Restaurants and 500 Howard Johnson’s Motor Lodges awaited travelers across North America. However, like fake wood-paneled station wagons, the success wouldn’t last. While tired travelers can still check in to a more modest number of Howard Johnson hotels, the chain’s once-beloved restaurants and their signature orange roofs have vanished from the landscape. Still, the memories remain. Fond recollections of smartlyappointed orange-and-teal dining rooms with sparkling soda fountains, platters of crispy clam strips and creamy mac ‘n’ cheese, and of course, freezer cases filled with 28 tantalizing flavors of ice cream — all conceived by the man with the vision to create the first great chain of the American highways.
Building an Ice Cream Empire Many entrepreneurs built empires from very little. Howard Deering Johnson started with considerably less. Born in the Boston neighborhood of Dorcester in 1897, Johnson attended school only through the eighth grade before dropping out to help his father run the family’s thriving business, importing, and selling cigars. In the early 1920s, however, the company ran into trouble. The elder Johnson made a large advance payment for a shipment of Cuban cigars that arrived in port spoiled. The seller denied responsibility. When his father suddenly died not long afterward, Johnson found himself at the head of a floundering company, and $30,000 in debt. Left with the responsibility of supporting his mother and three sisters, Johnson considered his options. Though dealt a bad hand, the young businessman still had much going for him. “Despite only having an elementary school education, Johnson had the acumen of a business school graduate,” says Anthony Sammarco, Boston-area historian, and author of the book A History of Howard Johnson’s: How a Massachusetts Soda Fountain Became an American Icon. “He was smart and charismatic, a real presence in the room. He was also what today we’d call a ‘lifelong learner.’” 52 ROUTE Magazine
One lesson Johnson learned was that the cigar trade wasn’t for him. He liquidated his father’s company and tried his hand at another. In 1925, he purchased a small drug store in Quincy, Massachusetts. Johnson quickly found that there was little he could do to entice more customers to buy the medicines and sundries for sale in the front of his store. But business was often brisk at the small soda fountain in the back. He realized that his ticket to success might be to offer truly exceptional ice cream — like the kind sold by a local pushcart vendor, an elderly German immigrant. Learning the man planned to retire, Johnson offered the vendor $300 for his recipe. To Johnson’s delight, the man accepted. The secret to the ice cream’s rich deliciousness, Johnson learned, was doubling the usual amount of butterfat and using only allnatural ingredients. But for Johnson that wasn’t enough. Toiling away in his basement with a hand-cranked machine, he perfected a vast assortment of distinctive flavors: coconut, macaroon, fruit salad, chocolate pudding, and more. Ultimately, Johnson emerged from his cellar with 28 tasty flavors, a number he believed represented “every flavor in the world.” Young Howard Johnson had taken his first big step toward becoming THE Howard Johnson.
A Crash and a Jumpstart Johnson’s decision to go all in on ice cream proved to be a scoop. Soon, the line of customers at his soda fountain stretched out the door. Sensing opportunity, Johnson opened stands at area beaches to sell his ice cream along with hot dogs and soft drinks. Within three years, he was selling 14,000 cones a day and grossing $240,000 a year. The success of the stands emboldened Johnson to take his next step. In 1929, Johnson opened his first fullfledged sit-down restaurant. In addition to hamburgers, the restaurant’s menu featured “frankforts” (as Johnson called his hot dogs), macaroni and cheese, chicken potpies, and other dishes that today we might call “comfort food.” Johnson also included one more off-beat offering — “clam strips,” a New England favorite. It would become his signature dish.
Howard Johnson’s Motor Lodge, Chicago, Illinois.
From the beginning, Johnson was a stickler about the quality and presentation of the food. As with his ice cream, he insisted meals were prepared fresh using only natural ingredients. “Howard Johnson’s offered good food at sensible prices,” says Sammarco. “But it wasn’t just the price, it was the quality. The meals were attractive on the plate and delicious.” Word of Howard Johnson’s Restaurant spread fast, and the restaurant was a sensation. But just as Johnson laid plans to expand, he was dealt another major setback. The stock market crashed, initiating the Great Depression. Cash for financing dried up instantly. Rather than allowing the crisis to stunt his ambitions, Johnson was inspired to conceive perhaps his greatest idea — franchising. While Johnson didn’t have the necessary funds to open another restaurant, a longtime family friend, Reginald Sprague, did. Johnson and Sprague reached an agreement. The wealthy Sprague would put up the capital to finance a new restaurant to be run by his son. Johnson would provide the food and supplies and, most importantly, allow the restaurant to use his increasingly famous name and logo —
for a considerable fee, of course. Howard Johnson had created America’s first franchise agreement. Located at the busy intersection of Route 28 and Route 6A in the popular tourist destination of Cape Cod, the new Howard Johnson’s became as successful as the original. Soon other eager investors were clamoring to reach similar agreements with him. By 1935, the chain had grown to 25 locations.
Rise of an Icon Johnson never made much money working for his father. But the experience of driving around America’s Northeast delivering cigars provided valuable insights that he would apply later. First, he learned how hard it was for travelers to find restaurants that could be relied upon to serve good food at inexpensive prices. The observation would strongly influence where his restaurants would be located. “Johnson told prospective franchisees that if they couldn’t be on a major road or busy intersection, they shouldn’t bother,” says Sammarco. ROUTE Magazine 53
Acting on his own advice, Johnson partnered with the Esso and Gulf Oil Companies in the early 1930s to purchase the exclusive rights to build restaurants in service plazas along the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Ohio Turnpike, and New Jersey Turnpike. Johnson’s sales experience also taught him the value of differentiation and branding. He designed the exteriors of his restaurants to resemble inviting colonial-style homes with dormers and central cupolas with clocks. Each cupola was topped with a weathervane conceived by artist John Alcott featuring Simple Simon and the Pieman from the popular nursery rhyme. The design would become the Howard Johnson’s logomark. Most importantly, Johnson demanded that the shingled roofs of his buildings were painted a vibrant orange, which he deemed “the best shade for attracting a motorist’s attention.” Howard B. Johnson, the founder’s son and eventual head of the Howard Johnson Company would later say, “The orange roof saves us a lot of advertising bills. The orange roof is symbolic. People know exactly what they can count on when they see it.” Travelers noticed the restaurants, all right. They also stopped. By 1940, more than 100 Howard Johnson’s lined the highways of the East Coast from Maine to Florida. But like a decade earlier, just as the chain was stepping on the gas, it would encounter another roadblock. America’s entrance into World War II hit Howard Johnson’s like a bombshell. Leisure travel nearly ceased overnight. Gas and food became rationed. Diners stopped eating out. By 1944, all but 12 Howard Johnson’s Restaurants had closed.
Howard Deering Johnson. 54 ROUTE Magazine
Johnson kept his company alive — barely — by providing food to military installations, defense plants, and schools near his remaining restaurants. Also like a decade earlier, when the war was over, the adversity Johnson experienced helped him rebuild his company even stronger.
All Highways Lead to Howard Johnson’s By the war’s end, Americans were eager to put hard times in the rear view. Blessed with a booming economy, paid vacations, and a bounty of shiny new steel-bodied station wagons, excited families hit the highways to explore the many attractions and boundless beauty of their great nation. Howard Johnson made it his mission to help them on their way. In making a fresh start, Johnson believed his chain should have a fresh look. He hired Miami architect Rufus Nims to provide it. Nims’ style was sleek and modernist. He replaced the staid dormers and traditional clapboard siding of the original restaurants with sparkling floor-to-ceiling glass windows and chic white stucco walls. He transformed the colonial-style cupolas into teal space age pyramids set on low roofs of beaming orange porcelain. But the Simple Simon weathervanes remained, as did Howard Johnson’s appeal to travelers. By 1954, the chain boasted more than four hundred locations along America’s highways. Still, Johnson wasn’t satisfied. While on his own trip to Florida, he stopped at his restaurant in Savannah, Georgia. During his meal, Johnson observed several families walk from the restaurant to retire to their rooms at the motel next door. He immediately realized his next step. In 1954, Johnson opened the first Howard Johnson Motor Lodge — right where the idea had occurred to him, in Savannah. Like Kemmons Wilson’s Holiday Inns, launched a year earlier, Howard Johnson’s Motor Lodges offered travelers — especially budget conscious families — spacious, clean guestrooms boasting full bathrooms, air conditioning, televisions, and other amenities. Soon, Howard Johnson’s Motor Lodges became nearly as common along the nation’s highways as the chain’s restaurants. When construction of America’s Interstate System began two years later, in 1956, Howard Johnson’s was poised to explode. Unlike with the turnpikes, the legislation creating the Interstate highways specifically prohibited service plazas. Instead, Johnson shrewdly purchased land near exit ramps on which to build his restaurants and motor lodges. “Throughout the 1960s and 70s, the success of Howard Johnson’s was directly attached to the construction of the Interstates,” says Rich Kummerlowe, who runs “Under the Orange Roof,” a website dedicated to the history and legacy of Howard Johnson’s. “The chain appealed to people primarily because of standardization. You knew what you were going to get from Howard Johnson’s wherever you traveled.” To ensure such consistency, Howard Johnson innovated a commissary system in which meals were created in central locations, then flash-frozen and distributed to restaurants for final preparation. In 1960, Johnson famously hired acclaimed chefs Pierre Franey and Jacques Pépin from New York’s ritzy Le Pavillon restaurant to oversee his kitchens. The duo introduced new menu items like chicken croquettes, while prepping and cooking vast quantities of food each day.
The Orange Begins to Fade In 1968, Howard Deering Johnson retired from the company he founded. A decade earlier, he’d already turned the reins over to his son, Howard Brennan Johnson. Despite overseeing a period of tremendous Howard Johnson’s restaurant entrance with its trademark weather vane. growth, the younger Johnson encountered major headwinds as he guided his father’s make their way to a hotel that bears the famous founder’s company into the 1970s. name. Now owned by Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, The OPEC Oil Embargo of 1974 led to gas shortages Howard Johnson Hotels (the ‘s’ was officially dropped from and recession at a time when the company depended on the name in the 1980s) boasts more than 300 locations road travel for 85% of its revenue. The company also faced around the world, including properties in China, Saudi intensifying competition from economy motel chains, and Arabia, and even Cambodia. multiple fast-food players offering speedy drive-thru service. In 2012, the chain received an unexpected boost when it But the company’s greatest challenge may simply have was featured on the HBO series Mad Men. In the episode, been changing perceptions. A new generation saw Howard 1960’s ad executive Don Draper and his wife Megan head Johnson’s as the place where their parents went, with many off to Howard Johnson’s flagship property in Plattsburgh, joking that the chain offered “fast food served slow.” New York, on a “fact-finding boondoggle” as research for After attempts to diversify and modernize failed, Howard a pitch. Draper comes away impressed. Apparently, so did B. Johnson sold the company to the British-based Imperial many viewers. Group in 1980. Similarly unable to reverse the chain’s Hoping to capitalize on the renewed interest, Howard fortunes, Imperial sold the motor lodges to Marriott who in Johnson Hotels and its individual hotel owners recently turn passed them on to Wyndham Worldwide. embarked on a $40 million effort to update and redesign Left essentially orphaned in the series of transactions, guest rooms in the classic mid-century modern style. Howard Johnson’s Restaurant franchisees tried to soldier “The new look and feel seeks to celebrate our storied on. As the years passed, however, one location after another past, while looking to the future with modern amenities, shuttered. Today, just one original Howard Johnson’s playful design, and a re-imagined aesthetic that is distinctly Restaurant remains open, in Lake George, New York. Howard Johnson,” explains Clement Bence, Brand Vice President, Howard Johnson by Wyndham. “It’s fun, Everything Old is New Again memorable and makes people smile.” While little more than memories remain of Howard Somewhere, Howard D. Johnson is no doubt among them. Johnson’s once omnipresent restaurants, travelers can still ROUTE Magazine 55
Image courtesy of CZmarlin.
Throughout the 1960s, the growth of Howard Johnson’s was nothing short of meteoric. In 1961, when the company went public, the chain already included 605 restaurants and 88 motor lodges. Soon, the company was opening a new restaurant every nine days. By 1965, sales at Howard Johnson’s Restaurants exceeded those of McDonald’s, Burger King, and Kentucky Fried Chicken combined. The orange roofs of Howard Johnson’s became a familiar sight across the country. During the period, the company opened several notable properties in Los Angeles and along Route 66. The Howard Johnson’s in Springfield, Missouri, was considered the crown jewel of its region. Now known as the Oasis Hotel & Convention Center, the property remains a popular hot spot for aficionados of the Mother Road. “Howard Johnson’s became part of the fabric of American life just like baseball, apple pie and Chevrolet,” says Kummerlowe. “Everyone went to Howard Johnson’s.” That is, until they didn’t.
B
efore Henry Ford standardized car manufacturing, it was difficult for the average person to afford a motor vehicle. Long distance road travel was not yet common, and America seemed a much larger country. However, the mass production of cars and the emergence of roads such as Route 66 created a breeding ground for much of what is familiar to us along the interstates we now use. In 1926, the same year that Route 66 was commissioned, four brothers — Arthur, Earnest, Eddie, and Ralph Whiting — noticed the rising demand for gasoline. With nothing more than a small car dealership, a few gas pumps, and some signs built of wood from their father’s lumberyard, the Whiting Brothers began their empire. They opened the first Whiting Bros. Service Station in St. Johns, Arizona, and soon had over 100 stations spanning across the west from Texas to California. “The story of the Whiting Brothers is really tied to the evolution of the interstate system,” said Johnnie Meier, the Preservation Officer at the New Mexico Route 66 Association. “They were an integral part of the route. Every 50 to 60 miles you would see one of their stations.” The distinctive red-on-yellow signs were a famous trademark of the chain and easy to spot along the road. These signs soon became synonymous not only with the gas stations, but with gift shops, motels, and truck stops. The brothers reinvested what they earned to continue expanding their stations, and throughout the next few decades would venture into other business fields that helped support them through the Great Depression and World War II. For many people, the Whiting Bros. signs are a reminder of the glory days of the Route. However, their rise tracks with the movement of people across America who were leaving behind Dustbowl ridden farms in the Midwest and searching for survival in California. The main goal of the brothers, as well as the slogan for their station, was to provide the best quality of gasoline for the cheapest price. Thanks to their access to cheap building materials and their early use of local oil refineries, they could keep their prices lower and would often provide discounts to their customers coming across
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the country. “They aggressively went after the Route 66 tourists and travelers,” Meier said, “But they always treated their customers like friends or family. That evokes a lot of memories.” The brothers built a reputation around their stations where they cared about the well-being of their customer. They would lend out tools to fix vehicles and give away their old, used oil to families who may not have had the money to buy oil to keep their cars running. All of these efforts created a legacy that lasts to this day. When the Interstate Highway Act was enacted in 1956, Route 66 and, by proxy, the Whiting Bros. stations, began to decline. The interstates were much faster and more direct than the meandering Route, and they sadly bypassed many of the Whiting Bros. stations. In the 1990s the company officially closed or sold its remaining stations, but the Whiting name, and their propensity for business, has not gone away. Today, members of the Whiting family still run Kaibab Industries, a logging company that goes back to their roots. In 2021, only one station remains operating under the original Whiting Bros. signage along Route 66, located in tiny Moriarty, New Mexico. Sal Lucero started working for the Whiting Brothers in 1965 and moved to Moriarty in 1969 to run the station. He bought the property in 1985 and still provides car repair services, although he no longer sells gas. Lucero has spent much of his life working to preserve the station. In conjunction with the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program and local fundraising, the original Whiting Bros. signs outside Lucero’s shop were refurbished with new neon lights and relit on December 10th, 2014. “As you drive through New Mexico, you still see the remnants, the big pole signs with the yellow paint,” Meier said. “Stopping at those stations is an important memory for many people. There’s a lot of emotion attached to it.” It’s hard to ignore the impact that the Whiting Brothers had on many of their customers. Their contributions to road travel will never be forgotten.
Image by David J. Schwartz – Pics On Route 66.
A N A MER ICA N STORY
VISITTUCUMCARINM.COM #tucumcariproud
UNDER ONE ROOF
By Heide Brandes Opening image by Efren Lopez/Route66Images 58 ROUTE Magazine
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n the middle of the night in 1963, a crime was committed in Elk City, Oklahoma. Unknown “rebels” moved a large Victorian mansion from one end of town to the other during the dark hours, despite a ruling from state officials that it couldn’t be done. The leaders of the Western Oklahoma Historical Society, with the support of Elk City’s Mayor and Council, wanted to move the old house from one location in the community to another with the dream of turning it into a museum, but the state declined approval. Once the private home of the O.H. Young family before it became a funeral parlor, the two-story structure had been purchased by the city in 1963 with the museum plan in mind. But according to the state inspectors, the prospective museum building was too big to pass under power lines or traverse the narrow streets. “Technically, the city wasn’t supposed to move that house. You know how big that thing is! The state said that we couldn’t do that because of stop lights hanging down,” said Randy Haggard, sculptor and president of the Elk City Museum board. But by the next morning, the house suddenly appeared on the corner of 2717 West 3rd Street. Nobody seemed to know how it got there, so there wasn’t much that the state could do about it. Everyone in town was “just as surprised” to see the structure at its new location on the west side of town. But there it was. Just five years later, in 1968, Elk City opened the Old Town Museum, in that Victorian-era house, to the public, kicking off the complex which would grow to include four more museums: Farm and Ranch, Blacksmith, Transportation, and, of course, the National Route 66 Museum, the highlight of the complex, which attracts roughly 2,000 visitors a month. Located on the west side of Elk City on Route 66, a huge Mother Road shield positioned pleasantly at an angle and a giant kachina doll alert travelers that they’ve arrived at the city’s pride and joy, the Elk City Museum Complex. There, the National Route 66 Museum pays homage to all eight states through which the Mother Road runs with its display of Route 66 memorabilia, antique cars, and rare historical documents. But wait, there’s more to see. Through their series of unique museums and pioneer town, the Museum Complex tells the whole story of Elk City — from cattle drives up through the Route 66 era.
The Queen of the West Before Elk City’s founding in 1901 as a railroad shipping center, cattle drives thundered through the area from Texas to Kansas, but after regular train service arrived later that year, the prairie town began building in earnest. There is a story that the town’s fledgling post office was named “Busch” in the hopes that Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association co-owner Adolphus Busch might be flattered and put a brewery in the 60 ROUTE Magazine
town. “That’s actually a myth with just a little bit of truth,” said Lynn Kennemer, author of Elk City: Rising from the Prairie. “You know how lore is there is some truth to it and not truth to it.” Regardless, that idea was apparently abandoned, and in 1907, the Busch Post Office was renamed Elk City. According to an article published in The Oklahoman on June 14, 1939, Elk City was a thriving community in the early 1900s. “Old-timers here get many a hearty laugh now out of reminiscing about those early days. They like to recall, for instance, the Fourth of July street dance in 1901 which lasted from Wednesday until Sunday. Settlers and businessmen for miles around declared an extended holiday. Some even came from Canadian, Texas, which was quite a trip as reckoned by the horse and buggy method of transportation. The Indians rode down from the hills to show their white brothers something really fancy in the way of ceremonial dances,” the article touted. Fondly nicknamed “the Queen of the West,” Elk City was an agricultural town as well as transportation hub, and the area’s main crops were cotton and broom corn, which was grown more for its fibers than its kernels. Those fibers were used for a variety of products, including brooms. “They call [Elk City] the Broom Corn Capital of the world,” said Haggard. “In our Farm and Ranch Museum, we actually have a broom-making machine.” Elk City lived up to its queenly reputation with four banks, four cotton gins, and a cotton oil mill by 1909. Soon, natural gas lured even more people to the area. Located smack in the middle of the Anadarko Basin, a major natural gas reserve, Elk City earned another title as “Natural Gas Capital of the World’’ after drilling began with the first well in 1918. In fact, a 180-foot tall, non-operating oil rig remains right in the middle of downtown as a tribute to the gas boom.
The Mother Road, More Traffic When US Highway 66 was established in 1926, it ran straight through the middle of Elk City. Although the Great Depression and World War II saw a fair number of motorists pass through the town, it would be the postwar years that would really help western Oklahoma grow.
“When the War was over, that was a big deal. Route 66 went right through town, and everybody was starting to get cars, so there was a big increase in traffic,” said Haggard, who was born in Elk City in 1950. “You’d have a real hard time getting down Third Street because of all the highway traffic. I was just a kid. Cotton was king at the time, and on weekends, people came to town to shop or buy their new coveralls or whatever. Everyone came to town and bought groceries and visited their buddies, and the downtown was just jammed.” US 66 saw millions of Americans travel for leisure, thanks to postwar prosperity and Bobby Troup’s song that encouraged people to get their kicks on Route 66. Small businesses along the highway found new opportunities, including little roadside attractions that touted everything from “live rattlesnakes” to “Native American jewelry.” “The Queenan family had a really well-known shop off of Route 66. [The Elk City National Route 66 Museum] now has the kachinas that they had in front of their store,” Haggard continued. When Interstate 40 was completed in
1970, Elk City didn’t suffer as much as many towns did. While the new interstate did not run through the city like Route 66, it did include four exits to reach the town, so they were not totally cut off. Still, the number of visitors started to drop.
The Building of a Museum Complex While the National Route 66 Museum is arguably the big draw of the Elk City Museum complex, the Old Town Museum started it all. “The idea for a museum came from the Western Oklahoma Historical Society, a group of 12 citizens who were doctors and attorneys and residents,” said Cindy Wood, a volunteer with the National Route 66 Museum. “The two people who got them together were Pat and LV Baker, who was a physician. They wanted the museum to show what Elk City was like, and they felt that the history was important to keep.” To move the 6,000-square-foot former funeral home, the “unknown” persons split the house into two separate pieces ROUTE Magazine 61
Image by David J. Schwartz – Pics On Route 66.
In the ’40s, Route 66 was important for the war effort.
Native Americans have a long history along the highway, too.
and held up the power lines along the road. “It was quite a little undertaking, but they moved it about a mile and a half,” said Wood. “This was cotton patch farmland right here, and it was outside of town,” added Haggard about the location. “At the time, I don’t think it was even in the city limits, so they annexed it. It took the city about three years to get enough artifacts to make the museum.” The Old Town Museum still occupies the old Victorian house. There, guests can explore artifacts from early-day pioneer life, enjoy a Native American art gallery, and learn about the early days of Elk City. Upstairs in the museum, the entire second floor pays homage to cowboy and rodeo culture with items donated by the Beutler Brothers Rodeo Stock Producers. But the city had bigger plans. It envisioned a “mini-city” museum complex. After the Old Town Museum was opened, a vintage railroad caboose was installed next, followed by the one-room country chapel with its original stained-glass windows. Throughout the years, more historic buildings, like the schoolhouse and the livery, were added. In 1994, Pat Baker secured a $380,000 federal grant to develop the Elk City National Route 66 Museum. “We cannot give enough credit to Mrs. Baker,” said Wood. “The grant was federal, and that’s why it’s called The National Route 66 Museum. My understanding is that every state throughout Route 66 was able to get the grant, and the governors all got together to choose which museum in their state would be a national museum. Ours got chosen.” The National Route 66 Museum sprang out of the Elk City Transportation Museum. Filled with such treasures as vintage firetrucks and Harley-Davidson motorcycles, the Transportation Museum was already touting the history of the Mother Road. When it expanded to the National Route 66 and Transportation Museum, the artifacts, documents, and 62 ROUTE Magazine
A Complete Little Town Along Route 66 in Elk City, visitors can now find an entire block dedicated to the history of the Mother Road and the community itself, and Myrtle, the giant kachina doll, welcomes visitors from her nearly two-story height at the museum entrance. From the 1953 Lincoln Continental, a collection of “Burma Shave” signs, and vintage Route 66era toys, to Americana hotel signs and examples of Native American woven rugs, there is a plethora of history to experience. Inside the Route 66 Museum, visitors can walk through numerous vignettes designed as if the visitors are “driving” the old Mother Road. A roadside tourist attraction touting “Live Rattlesnakes” pays homage to the grassroots tourist traps that sprang up, and neon signs, 1950s vehicles, old motel signs, vintage postcards, music history, vintage Texaco gas station signs, and photos from the glory days fill the wonderfully curated museum. “I don’t think any other Route 66 Museum has what we have,” said Wood. “We’re a complete little town, and I think people like to see the history that is here.” And although the museum complex got its start with a little rule-breaking, the history and artifacts showcasing Route 66 and Western Oklahoma in these museums more than makes up for its mischievous beginnings. The Elk City Museum Complex shines brightly in the light of day, its community proud to show off its history from another era. There’s no crime in that.
Image by Brennen Matthews.
displays continued to grow. Wanda Queenan, who in 1990 donated the two tall kachinas from the by-thenclosed Queenan’s Trading Post west of town, became the museum’s curator. The fourteen-foot-tall Myrtle the Kachina and her lanky, equally tall friend, were created from oil drums and scrap metal by a Delaware Indian named Johnny Grayfish back in 1962. They served the same purpose at the trading post that they do now at the museum complex — to attract visitors. “Everything in here has either been donated or loaned to us, not just from people from Elk City but from the surrounding areas,” said Wood. “What makes us different from the other national museums is the fact that we have a little town — a replica of the early days — and people like to see that. They enjoy seeing not only Route 66, but other things that were in their own grandmother’s house. Things that bring back memories for them.” The National Route 66 Museum was completed in 1998.
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Lawman section, a collection that celebrates the infamous personalities that continue to capture the country’s collective imagination and define our image of that era. Over the years that followed, Davis received several offers to purchase the collection, including from buyers as distinguished as the Smithsonian Institution. However, he refused them all, as he was determined to keep his collection in his beloved Claremore permanently. He secured its future there in 1965 when the State of Oklahoma signed a 99-year lease on the collection, with an option to renew, for a grand total of $1. A crucial part of the agreement was the understanding that the state would never charge the public admission to see the collection. In 1968, they began construction on a new 40,000-square-foot museum building, which was completed and opened the following year. This would become the J.M. Davis Arms and Historical Museum. Davis went on to serve on the City Council for eight years and was mayor for a combined 12 years, making him the longest-serving mayor in the town’s history. In 1972, he was honored for his contributions to the culture and history of Claremore when the town renamed a major street J.M. Davis Boulevard. He passed away in February 1973 at the age of 85. He had lived a good life. Though focused on firearms, the museum proudly displays over 50,000 items. Many of the objects are things that Mrs. Davis collected over the years, such as items from the kitchen, Native American artifacts, especially from the Cherokee Nation, saddles, spurs, political buttons back from the 1880s, walking sticks and canes, and so much more. Today, the museum emphasizes its role as part of the vibrant fabric of culture that surrounds the Mother Road and takes pride in showcasing this side of Americana to visitors from all over the globe. Davis was proud of his town and of the role of the state of Oklahoma, and its contributions to the country. He would like that his humble collection is still drawing visitors from around the world. But truly, who could have known that a potentially lethal illness in childhood would so greatly impact the lives of so many.
Image courtesy of the J.M. Davis Arms and Historical Museum.
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t would’ve been difficult for his parents to imagine how J.M. Davis contracting a life-threatening disease as a seven-year-old would prove a blessing in disguise. When Davis fell ill during the 1890s, he flatly refused to take potentially life-saving medicine, prompting his deeply concerned father, in desperation, to bribe him with a muzzle loading shotgun. These were different times. Not only did this gift possibly save the child’s life, but it triggered a lifelong devotion that would spur the largest privately held firearms collection in the world. Decades later, Davis and his wife, Addie, traveled to Oklahoma from Arkansas in 1916, attracted by the Tulsa oil boom. They were on the hunt for opportunity. While in Claremore, the couple providentially stayed at the Mason Hotel, yet another chance experience that would hugely impact Davis. He would eventually buy the hotel from Dr. John Rucker in 1919 by offering Arkansas Timber, his company, as a down payment. Under Davis’ stewardship, the hotel grew to become one of the town’s most eminent institutions, and contained a popular ballroom, Claremore’s first bank, and a coffee shop frequented by later-in-life icon Will Rogers. It was here that Davis first began to put his gun collection on display, as he adorned the hotel walls with his already extensive and diverse collection in the late 1920s. By 1932, the collection had swelled to about 2,500 pieces. In the following decades, veterans, gunsmiths, machinists, and various other enthusiasts would give him their guns simply for the bragging rights of having donated to the now-famous collection. When the country descended into the Great Depression and people living in Davis’ rental houses couldn’t muster the money to pay rent, he never evicted a single one, but would allow them to trade items, like guns, for their rent instead. Meanwhile, the collection continued to grow prolifically. Massive expansion came in 1948 with the purchase of Merle Gill’s collection of guns and other paraphernalia associated with the infamous outlaws and lawmen of the Wild West. To this day, the contents of that purchase form the bulk of the J.M. Davis Arms and Historical Museum’s Outlaw and
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gleaming 190-foot-tall cross stands sentinel over the tiny town of Groom, Texas. Constructed in 1995 by a man objecting to the adult-business billboards spread along the east-west stretch of I-40 through the western plains’ Golden Spread, it was intended to make a statement. Now, whether viewed as a Christian symbol or as another “giant” roadside attraction, like the Britten leaning water tower just three miles down the road, the Giant Cross has grown into a ten-acre religious campus. Along America’s highways, everything large and unique turns into a tourist attraction — a place to photograph and post on social media before being relegated to the back burner of one’s mind after the return to everyday life. But some travelers, possessed of a historical obsession or mindful of their Christian values, take a more conscientious approach to some roadside stops. The Giant Cross is often one of these, a place to be respectful of the inspired project created by Steve Thomas and his wife Bobby. “Some people just don’t want to leave, because it’s so peaceful here,” said Bobby. “But we get a great variety. There’s really no typical visitor.” Structural engineer Steve Thomas had known since he was a child what his career would be. “I was playing with my Tonka trucks in a dirt lot. We [kids] were making roads with our hands, and all of a sudden four or five guys looked over and asked why I’d dug a hole for a post. ‘That’s a signpost,’ I said. They asked, ‘What’s the sign say?’ And I said, ‘I don’t know.’ I never did know, but God had a plan for me back then.” In 1995, Steve decided that it was time to create a spiritual billboard as a counteraction against those adult billboards. But then he realized, “in a V-8 moment,” that it was within his capabilities to build a giant cross instead, after his wife Bobby’s discovery of a 100-foot-tall sheet-metal cross 300 miles south. “It was in our local newspaper, but the cross was in Ballinger, Texas. Since Steve is a civil engineer, I was like, oh my gosh, we should check that out,” Bobby said. “I showed him the story and we just kind of realized that was
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the Lord’s plan for him. Since he was a civil engineer, he had designed one of the world’s largest drilling rigs. It was perfect practice.” Engineer Steve oversaw eight months of construction in two separate shops in Pampa, Texas, keeping over 100 welders busy on the project. The search for a place to erect the cross had not been so easy. After crossing Pampa and Amarillo off their list of possible locations, a chance drive past Groom one day called the couple’s attention to some property there. “I’d been trying to build it in various cities and my wife, Bobby, said, ‘Why don’t we just build it right along the interstate?’ and I had another V-8 moment. I mean, why not?” explained Steve. “I didn’t know anyone in the locale, but I located the owner, Chris Britten (leaning tower), on a Saturday afternoon. I told him what I wanted to do, and he said, ‘I’ll just give you ten acres.’ I said, ‘You’re going to just give me ten acres on interstate 40?’ So that’s how we ended up in Groom, Texas.” Steve and Bobby Thomas watched as the two-anda-half millionpound cross was finally erected in July 1995, just off Exit 112 in Groom. But they weren’t done. Standing alone, the cross is the centerpiece of the Cross Ministries complex, but it now includes the Stations of the Cross, a replica of the Shroud of Turin, the Empty Tomb, statuary, a state-of-the-art 225-seat theater, gift shop, and a counseling center. Illuminated at night in the dark Texas sky as a sort of modern-day Star of the East, the cross is seen each year by an estimated ten million people, who, as the Thomases’ Cross Ministries like to say, “makes people think about Jesus Christ, if only for a minute.” Hailed at its construction as the tallest cross in the U.S., it was bypassed a few years later when the City of Effingham, Illinois, assisted by Steve, built a cross just eight feet taller. (The Effingham cross was in turn dwarfed by the cross at Mission Nombre de Dios in St. Augustine, Florida). But for travelers across the Texas Panhandle, the Groom cross is plenty tall enough to satisfy their needs, whether they’re on a spiritual pilgrimage or a hunt for the “giant” constructions of the American road.
Image by Greg Disch.
Giant Cross of Groom A
W
yoming has always been a frontier state. With fewer than 600,000 residents, it is the leastpopulated state in the nation, and, because it is the 10th-largest by land mass, it also has the lowest population density. If ever there were a place for an anything-goes mindset to develop, this would be it. And it was. Lawlessness was the word of the day in the late-19th Century, and it was in this scenario that the Wyoming Frontier Prison was built in Rawlins. Opened in 1901, it had neither electricity nor water, and boasted only a feeble heating system. Yet, even in its humble form, it took 13 years to complete, using locally quarried sandstone. Today, the prison is no longer operational, but is now a museum chronicling the state’s penal system. Tourists can now take a three-hour tour to view the grounds, cafeteria, cell blocks, and various other more serious punishment areas, but in the past, it was certainly not a place folks wanted to visit. The prison closed in 1981, and then sat empty until 1987, when a low-budget movie was filmed there and left behind significant damage. “The State of Wyoming asked around if anyone would be interested in preserving the site,” said Tina Hill, Historic Site Director at the Prison. A year later, a collaborative effort between the City and Carbon County assumed ownership and opened it as the museum. Rawlins, centered along the 375-mile-wide breadth of the rectangularly-shaped state, was a logical location to build a prison to house those wreaking havoc on Wyoming’s towns and open range. It was a town built along the Union Pacific railroad tracks. Later, the Lincoln Highway, and I-80 bisected it. At the time, all that lawlessness turned out to be bad PR in the land of train robbers and desperadoes. The proposed prison was a proactive effort to help the territory gain traction in its quest for statehood in 1890, but wound up suffering from funding problems and Wyoming’s signature bad winters. But what really sets this prison apart from others is that the wild, wild west existed both outside and inside of its four walls. “We are the number one attraction in Rawlins. We bring in 14,500 visitors a year,” Hill continued. That’s more than the 70 ROUTE Magazine
PRISON
13,500 who were incarcerated there in what has become the stuff of legend and lore for its brutal conditions. These stories have now become part and parcel of tours open to the public, and docents are happily willing to tell them. The Old Pen, as it is known, is haunted by its own history.” The tour allows guests an unpleasant glimpse of what the prisoners experienced. The Death House held death row prisoners awaiting their trip to the gallows. Nine inmates were put to death in this manner, until 1936 when a gas chamber was chosen as the preferred means of execution. Guests are then ushered over to that chamber and allowed to sit on the steel seat upon which five executed prisoners actually took their final breath. All told, only 14 prisoners actually met their Maker as punishment for their crimes. But that doesn’t mean that life was easy for the rest. There was a dungeon for solitary confinement. Prisoners were given a blanket and left to ponder their behavior for six weeks. The worst form of solitary—the Old Hole—was pitch black. That unlucky prisoner was stripped naked and given a bucket. It was enough to drive many insane. And then there was the “punishment pole,” to which prisoners were handcuffed and whipped with rubber hoses and other objects to induce pain. The museum is a fascinating, albeit morose, reminder of a piece of American history of which few are aware. “Most of our visitors have not spent time inside a state penitentiary. They are fascinated to see that kind of life,” said Hill. “And when they are done learning, they can walk away.” Today, the freeway shuttles travelers past town, and the Lincoln Highway—US 30 in these parts—is a city street, like many others across the country, with only a fraction of the traffic volume that it once had. Classic motels and neon signs are scattered throughout town, vestiges of an earlier time contrasted with modernity, yet here too is a destination that few other towns can claim. Rawlins is home to one of the wildest prisons ever built. And visitors leave town having learned how a prison helped tame the wild, wild west.
Image courtesy of the Wyoming Frontier Prison Museum.
W YOMING
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PARTING SHOT
Rebecca RUPARD What is the most memorable place you’ve visited? My family’s cemetery. What did you want to be when you grew up? An attorney. Most famous or noteworthy person you have ever met? Johnny Morris. What characteristic do you respect the most in others? Generosity. Dislike in others? Laziness. What characteristic do you dislike in yourself? I overthink WAY too much. Who would you want to play you in a film based on your life? Jennifer Garner. Talent that you WISH you had? A professional singing voice. Best piece of advice you’ve ever received? People are assets or liabilities, know the difference. Best part about getting older? Understanding that people are what’s important in life, not things. What would the title of your memoir be? RR: Lessons in Taking the High Road. First music concert ever attended? Willie Nelson at the MO State Fair. What is your greatest extravagance? Purses. What is the weirdest roadside attraction you’ve ever seen? Paul Bunyan & Babe, the Blue Ox in Bemidji, Minnesota. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? More control over my facial expressions. What do you consider your greatest achievement? Switching career paths 18 years ago and never looking back. Most memorable gift you were ever given? A caricature picture of me and my 2 former Labradors. Most memorable hotel/ motel that you have stayed at? Inn at Price Tower in Bartlesville, OK. Why so? Designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright, this hotel had a great, clean feel. What breaks your heart? Animals and children being harmed. What is the last TV show you binge watched? Nashville. What is still on your bucket list? A trip to Greece and/ or Italy. What do you wish you knew 72 ROUTE Magazine
more about? The stock market & investments. Coolest town in Missouri NOT on Route 66? Pleasant Hill — my hometown! What is something you think everyone should do at least once in their lives? Sing karaoke. What fad or trend do you hope comes back? Silver jewelry. Strangest experience while on a road trip? Being in an RV that got hit by lightning. What movie title best describes your life? It’s My Turn. Lake or ocean person? Ocean. Last book you’ve read? Drive: 9 Lessons to Win in Business and in Life. What does a perfect day look like to you? Coffee, lunch with friends, and dinner out before heading to a concert or live music venue. What is your favorite place on Route 66? Cowan Civic Center in Lebanon, MO (It’s where my office is located!). What is the most unexpected surprise about Missouri? The variety of cultures throughout the State. What makes Lebanon a special place? Hands down, the people. What would your spirit animal be? A Labrador Retriever. Which historical figure — alive or dead — would you most like to meet? Princess Diana. If you won the lottery, what is the first item you would buy? A vacation home in a warm climate. What meal can you not live without? Tacos. Tacos. Tacos. Bizarre talent that you have that most people don’t know about? Perfectly folding fitted sheets. What surprises you most about people? Their willingness to share too much information. What makes you laugh? TV or movie bloopers. Who makes you laugh? My mom. What do you think is the most important life lesson for someone to learn? When to be silent. What is one thing you have always wanted to try, but have been too afraid to? Anything involving heights. What do you want to be remembered for? My kindness, loyalty, and sense of humor.
Illustration: Jennifer Mallon.
While the most recognized city in Missouri may be St. Louis, down south, amongst rolling hills and Dogwood trees, lies a town whose story is worth knowing. Even its name is emotive: Lebanon. As a staple along the Mother Road, Lebanon holds its classic past close through revitalizing iconic stops like the Munger Moss Motel and Wrink’s Market, and erecting new ones that celebrate the town’s history, like the respected Route 66 Museum and Research Center. At the lead of it all is the town’s tourism director, bringing people to the small, cherished town. In this issue, meet Rebecca Rupard.
With more than 300 days of sunshine a year – and a unique mix of tranquil waters, rugged mountains, and tons of fun – it’s hard to stay inside. Discover Lake Havasu City – just a short drive from Route 66 – and play like you mean it.®
