ROUTE - February / March 2023

Kick Back on Route 66

We’ll Show You Around

Whether it’s classic cars, old-fashioned burgers or a museum that brings history to life, you can relive the glory days of Route 66 in its birthplace. We love our city and know the best places to eat, drink and play. See you in Springfield, Missouri!

When exploring Route 66, Oklahoma City is a must-see destination. OKC’s 14 vibrant districts welcome visitors into their diverse local restaurants and shops. Our classic neon signs evoke the nostalgia associated with the Mother Road and our newly renovated state capitol includes an engaging public art collection that celebrates Oklahoma's history and people.

Start your journey at VisitOKC.com

OklahomaStateCapitol

Here, experiences feel larger than life. A boutique hotel recreates the delicate ambience of a dollhouse with a sweet surprise — a bakeshop filled with scrumptious treats! Concertgoers flock to a historic venue, captivated by its neon beacon. Seasonal flavors shine in a restaurant that reinvents its menu each day. And vibrant portraits reimagine history, inviting artsy types of all stripes to see themselves.

Imagine that.

Tower Theatre Oklahoma City

Ludivine Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City Museum of Art Oklahoma City

Bradford House Oklahoma City

Willowbrook

Chicago

Romeoville

Joliet

Joliet

Wilmington

Braidwood

Dwight

Pontiac

Pontiac

Tulsa is simply a must for any Route 66 trek. Once known as “The Oil Capital of the World,” T-Town is recognized today for countless unique attributes such as a skyline brimming with cherished Art Deco architectural treasures, pivotal art, music and history museums―and of course―a massive collection of Route 66 landmarks along its 28-mile stretch of the Mother Road. Tulsa really is the city of everything you could ask for... and more.

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CATHEDRAL DISTRICT

Known for its historic churches and stunning architecture, the Cathedral District boasts a rich combination of faith, culture, entertainment & dining.

KENDALL WHITTIER MAIN STREET

With a mix of art studios, music venues, restaurants & retail, Kendall Whittier is a hub of Hispanic culture & Tulsa’s unofficial brewery district.

FEB 23 needs updating

UNIVERSITY DISTRICT

Surrounding the University of Tulsa, the district is an eclectic mix of local and chain restaurants, shopping, services, and historic neighborhoods.

CONTENTS

22 Best in Town

Tulsa, Oklahoma, is a town that takes huge pride in its Mother Road roots. It is a city that seems to add to its Route 66 offerings constantly, but it is also a town that has more than a few historic destinations to boast about, and as for eateries, El Rancho Grande is right at the top. This 50+ -year old restaurant, with its classic neon sign, has had quite a voyage, and under current ownership, its story just keeps unfolding.

28 Santa Fe’s Gem

By Cheryl Eichar Jett

Not many hotels have a 400-year-old story to tell, but La Fonda on the Plaza's history is peppered with tales of explorers, traders, soldiers, gamblers, pioneers, and politicians. Notable players in its story, such as the Fred Harvey Company and Southwestern architects, John Gaw Meem and Mary Colter, created this legendary lodging, but modern heroes like Sam and Ethel Ballen and Jenny Kimball, are saveing it.

34 Oh Fudge!

By Nick Gerlich

Missouri is packed with fun, quirky attractions that require a stop, but there is only one place like Pulaski County’s Uranus. The hugely successful dream of self-proclaimed “Mayor” Louie Keen, this Route 66 roadside attraction is a destination that not only has a great story but plenty to keep visitors hanging around.

40 A Conversation with Patrick Stewart

By Brennen Matthews

With a career spanning seven decades and a long list of award nominations, English actor Sir Patrick Stewart has done Broadway, West End, television, film, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and voice work. However, he may be best known for

his roles in Star Trek: The Next Generation and the X-Men film series. In this candid and wide-ranging interview, Sir Patrick talks of his career, life, and passions.

50 Where Amarillo Hangs Out

Amarillo’s stretch of Route 66 may immediately bring to mind the iconic paint-spraying spectacle of the Cadillac Ranch or the Big Texan’s 72-ounce steak challenge, but among the quaint shops along the old Sixth Street alignment, the Lile Art Gallery offers a welcoming mix of friendly greeter dogs, a wide selection of art, and the unique jewelry that Bob Lile is famous for. In this story, the journey is the destination.

54 All Our Heritage

By Heide Brandes

The most iconic figure in the story of the American West is likely the cowboy — that lonely silhouette astraddle his trusty horse who lived on in dime novels and in legend. Dedicated in 1955 and opened a decade later, the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City isn’t about to let that history die, either, thanks to the vision of many.

ON THE COVER

Delgadillo’s Snow Cap, Seligman, Arizona. Photograph by Efren Lopez/Route66Images.

Avery Plaza Southwest. Photograph by Rhys Martin.

talk now. Have a big stop 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. Enjoy fun roadside stops, then fill up at unique diners before heading off to uncover even more rare finds at countless antique shops. Book your stay and get ready to play on a road you’ll always remember.

Plan your 2023 adventure through the heart of the Ozarks at pulaskicountyusa.com.

“Can’t

In recent months I’ve had a lot of extra opportunity to discuss Route 66 — due to promoting my new book, Miles to Go — and have been amazed by how many people assume that most of the historic highway is no more, a relic of the past. They are equally amazed when I inform them, enthusiastically, of course, that 85% of the iconic road is still very much available for those setting out on their own Great American road trip. Most of these discussions have ended with an obvious excitement on their part to explore America’s Blue Highways in 2023 for themselves.

In many ways, this discussion echoes this issue’s focus of articles. The Mother Road is more than just a road, it is a living testament to the history, culture, and myriad of stories that define the country. It has refused to die, steadfastly balked at being made obsolete. Route 66 was and always has been a highway of opportunity. It has been home to and attracted tens of thousands of entrepreneurs. It has been a beacon for artists and dreamers. And it has been a flowing storeroom for fascinating history and beautiful cultures and traditions that define America.

In the February/March 2023 issue, the first issue of the year, we are featuring stories that speak to all of this in an undeniable way. Several of this issue’s focus articles, destinations like Santa Fe’s iconic La Fonda Hotel on the Plaza and Missouri’s quirky roadside stop of Uranus, have a plethora of information online, but nowhere else will you discover their true stories in quite as complete a fashion. Others like the hugely impressive National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in OKC, Oklahoma, Del’s Restaurant in Tucumcari, New Mexico (best cuisine in town), and Bob Lile’s inspirational Art Gallery in Amarillo, Texas, have received less fanfare but have traveled no less of a remarkable, fascinating journey.

America is a young country. It is turning 250 years old in 2026, the same year that Route 66 will be 100, and yet the nation has experienced perhaps a more captivating, turbulent, delightful, charming history than any of its (country) counterparts. Route 66 was not always around to witness the chapters of America’s varied passage, but roadways just like it were, and these dirt highways and wagon trails transported the exact same type of people as our beloved Mother Road: seekers, dreamers, entrepreneurs, entertainers, down-trodden hopefuls, and others. These folks are the essence of America. They reflect the character and personality of the nation. They define it.

If I could go back in time — and I’ve thought a lot about this in my life — I would spend some intimate time in the first half of the 20th Century and soak in all of the marvelous things that were happening at this time in history. Think about all that happened between 1895 and 1970! It’s true, I am a bit of a romantic, but that period in time has just always struck a chord with me. Life was exciting and being invented as folks lived. There was still a great deal to discover, and I have always longed to be the intrepid individual setting off to discover it. Alas, those days are long gone and with the internet and the advent of the home computer (let alone the mobile phone), the world and all of its many mysteries are now right at our fingertips. There is not nearly as much to be “discovered” in 2023, beyond the artificial and technology of course. Yet, much of the magic can still be found along America’s two lane highways, its scenic byways… This year, make a plan and hit the road for yourself. It doesn’t matter where you go or how long you are able to travel, all that matters is that you go. Life is short and opportunities are fleeting. Plan a road trip, escape the security of your daily life, and make a memory or two. I hope to see you on the highway this season.

If you haven’t yet, remember to order a copy of Miles to Go: An African Family in Search of America Along Route 66, and remember to leave a great review on Amazon. It matters. If you love Route 66 and are a fan of humorous, history-laden travelogues that have a ton of interactions, Miles to Go is for you.

If you’ve not yet subscribed to the magazine or followed us on social media, take a moment to do so and stay invested in the journey all year long.

On behalf of myself and the team at ROUTE Magazine, welcome to 2023!

Safe travels,

Brennen Matthews Editor

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

Haley Aldrich

Lauren Sanyal

Mitchell Brown

Rachel McCumber

Shannon Driscoll

DIGITAL

Matheus Alves

ILLUSTRATOR

Jennifer Mallon

CONTRIBUTORS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS

Chandler O’Leary

Efren Lopez/Route66Images

Heide Brandes

Jennifer Mullins

Mike Vieira

National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum

Nigel Parry

Rhys Martin

Springfield Illinois Convention and Visitors Bureau

Xanterra Travel Collection

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 service contractors. Every effort has been made to maintain the accuracy of the information presented in this publication. No responsibility is assumed for errors, changes or omissions. The Publisher does not take any responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or photography.

HORSEPOWERED HEARTBEAT

Remember when driving was a joy? Back when you drove to escape, to feel that rush of freedom, or to connect with the person across that bucket seat from you. You’d share a smile when that one song came on; the stereo would get turned up, and windows would get rolled down. You can recapture that moment—or find it for the first time—on Route 66. Feel that horsepowered heartbeat that you’ve been missing in America’s Heartland.

Take the Scenic Route: VisitLebanonMo.org

Grand Canyon Railway

Long before modern travel connected everyone to everywhere, the American West was a vast panorama of open land as far as the eye could see. Settlers who lived and worked in these lands could feel an unbridled sense of both privacy and isolation living far from the nearest city. But by the late 1800s, the far-off sound of a train chugging along the tracks or a tiny glimmer of its headlights in the distance could trigger a sense of connection to society. The mammoth project of building the Transcontinental Railroad, completed in 1869, opened up the West to far easier travel from the East and the growth of western population centers.

However, up through the turn of the century, the rugged land between Williams, Arizona, and the Grand Canyon was still only serviced by stagecoach, costing $15 for an uncomfortable eight-hour ride. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad (ATSF) changed all that when they took over a freight line to open the Grand Canyon Railway, taking its first passengers 64 miles from Williams to the Grand Canyon’s South Rim on September 17, 1901.

In 1904, the railroad hired the Fred Harvey Company to build and manage hotels and restaurants at the Rim, including legendary architect Mary Colter’s Bright Angel Lodge. Charles Frederick Whittlesey, the ATSF’s architect, designed El Tovar, the Grand Canyon’s flagship hotel — said to be the finest west of the Mississippi at that time. And the magnificent Grand Canyon became a National Park in 1919.

Passengers depended on the Grand Canyon Railway for decades, but by 1930, the number of tourists arriving by automobile had already begun to surpass those traveling by rail. The interstate highway system and the availability of commercial airlines finished the railway’s relegation to an antiquated form of transportation. The railway made its final trip on June 30, 1968, with just three passengers aboard. The steam and diesel engines sat idle for decades.

However, 20 years later, salvation came just in the nick of time. After a failed attempt at restoration, the railway line was on the verge of being demolished for salvage when Arizona residents Max and Thelma Beigert, who had made a fortune in crop spraying and as founders of a chain of for-profit daycare centers, put $15 million dollars into reclaiming of the railway. Tracks were rebuilt, and the depots were restored.

On September 17, 1989, 88 years to the date of the first train out of Williams, the Grand Canyon Depot once again welcomed the railway’s trains. In 1999, the railway was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, the passenger trains include 1920s-era Pullman cars and ‘50s-era dome cars, all beautifully restored. They are pulled by vintage diesel-electric engines, except for one Saturday a month, when the train runs via the “French Fry Express” steam locomotive. “The engine is one of the last standard gauge steam engines in passenger service on a daily working railroad in the U.S.,” said the railway’s Community Relations Manager Sam Langer. “The ‘French Fry Express’ runs on recycled waste vegetable oil and captured water, making it a certified ‘Green Engine.’”

Every day, excluding Christmas, the train departs from the Williams Depot. But just before the train leaves the station, there’s an Old West-style shootout between the Marshall and the Cataract Creek Gang. “The show was originally created and now managed by Williams’ mayor, John Moore, to celebrate Arizona Governor Rose Mofford and Senator Barry Goldwater’s ride on the train,” said Langer. “It started out as a fun, one-time experience, and since then, it’s evolved into an integral part of the railway experience.”

The anachronistic travel also offers such things as live music performances of old-school western and cowboy music, performed on fiddles and banjos. It also offers a picturesque view of the country since the railroad runs mainly in the backcountry. Passengers witness old homesteads, curving washes, and the high plateau elevations to the Grand Canyon. It’s a journey that’s hard to experience anywhere else. A by-product of its existence is that it also takes an estimated 70,000 cars off the road into the Grand Canyon every year, thanks to the 200,000 passengers who ride annually.

“Everyone aboard wants to go to the Grand Canyon, and they’ll do so while experiencing the romance and adventure of rail cars from a bygone age,” said Langer. “One can drive almost anywhere, but arriving in the shadow of the El Tovar Hotel is one of the great memories in the world of travel.”

Historic hotels, staged shootouts, and that great old train travel feel are all memorable, but it’s the once-in-a-lifetime vistas that they’ll never forget.

Image courtesy of Xanterra Travel Collection.

COUNTRY CLASSIC CARS

Cruising down the Mother Road through Illinois, you’ll pass through the sleepy town of Staunton, home to the historic Decamp Station roadhouse and quirky Henry’s Rabbit Ranch, with Volkswagen Rabbits arranged a la Cadillac Ranch. But nearby, sandwiched ironically between the Mother Road and Interstate 55 with traffic zooming by, sits the equally-cool Country Classic Cars.

This classic car business was built from the ground up in 1999 by Russ and Anita Noel, beginning with a single car. “It was kind of an accident. We bought an old car [and] didn’t really know what it was. [It] turned out to be a rare car,” explained Russ, Country Classic Cars’ founder. The 1957 Chevrolet sold at a profit, enabling the family to begin their car business and give up farming.

“We quit farming [in] ‘98 and we moved up to the Interstate on Route 66 where it kind of went crazy,” explained Russ. Switching from farming to classic cars was a no-brainer for the Noel family, given Russ’ experience as a mechanic prior to becoming a farmer. “Oh, classic cars are a lot easier, because there are so many variables in farming. It’s not like these classic cars; we don’t have to sell them in the spring,” Russ chuckled.

Anita managed Country Classic Cars’ unique gift shop while Russ traveled to auctions across the country in search of new merchandise. Once the cars rolled into the shop, the Noels had no trouble selling them.

But not every aspect of their business ran smoothly over the years. On August 8, 2017, a fire broke out at Country Classic Cars, turning 143 vehicles into charcoaled shells within the destruction of the main building that housed them. “It was a little bit hard on us,” said Russ. Thankfully, the business had good insurance and outside help from friends who offered to lighten their load. Construction of a new main building, a project that would have normally taken two to three months, was dramatically shortened to less than one, thanks to the hard-working crew that the family hired. The Noels were fast on their feet too, quickly resuming their daily operations after the fire and selling three vehicles the very next day.

But despite making a swift recovery from the fire, the catastrophes unfortunately didn’t stop. On December 1, 2018, a tornado swept through the Staunton area, causing considerable damage to two buildings and 131 vehicles. Instead of being left with irreparable, blackened cars, the Noels now had to replace broken parts for many vehicles. Despite these back-to-back catastrophic events, the Noel family was able to pick themselves up by their bootstraps and repair their facilities and vehicles with the help of friends and family members. “It was sure nice to have people to offer what they can do [to help]. You don’t realize how many friends you have until you have tragedy,” said Russ.

Even with the setbacks of major fire and tornado damage, the Noel family bounced back, purchasing more vintage cars at auction to build back what was lost. But sometimes it’s time to slow down, retire, and travel the country, which is exactly what the Noels have decided to do after almost a quarter-century.

As of August 2022, Country Classic Cars has new owners— Josh and Candi Laurent and their sons, Vincent and Victor. With more than 20 years of experience in the automotive industry as automotive technician and, most recently, in dealer acquisitions, Josh is a perfect fit. Candi, formerly a career nurse and now assisting in the classic car business, has welcomed a change to her daily routine. The Laurents are ready to take Country Classic Cars in a slightly different direction, with the focus on making the business a destination for tourists and aficionados.

“From our perspective, we saw a significant opportunity to modernize this business and turn it into a lot more of an attraction on Route 66 rather than [just] a car dealership,” said Josh. “So, we’re going to be changing up the inventory to focus on a better representation of fully-restored cars and build some new buildings. And we’ll have a lot more car-related events in the spring, summer, and fall starting next year.”

Very much alive and well, tucked into its lively spot between the old and new highways, Country Classic Cars is anticipating an exciting new chapter of its automotive life.

A Brand Like No Other

The 1893 Chicago World’s Fair — more accurately known as the Columbian Exposition — launched the careers of numerous new food items, including Cracker Jack, Aunt Jemima pancake mix, Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, and Vienna Beef. Among the baking contests and food stands was the beer stand of Herman Berghoff.

Berghoff had emigrated from Germany to the United States in 1870. Over his first years in the states, he found himself working on cotton and sugarcane plantations and even in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, before opening, along with his three brothers, a brewery in Indiana. His stand’s success at the Chicago World’s Fair put his German-style beer on the national map and inspired him to open the Berghoff in 1898 on West Adams Street in Downtown Chicago.

However, like most entrepreneurial stories, this one was not without its stumbles. When Berghoff initially tried to open his restaurant, he was denied a liquor license. Not one to be easily deterred, he instead applied for a cafe license, which allowed him to sell beer alongside sandwiches.

Famously, beers were sold for only a nickel, and a sandwich came with it — for free! Berghoff had successfully sneaked his way into downtown Chicago life. And this would not be the last time he would have to circumvent an entrepreneurial obstacle.

When the Prohibition Era hit in 1920, it brought with it another challenge. Again, Berghoff’s shrewdness rose to the occasion. Instead of shutting down, he instead produced “near beer,” a selection of soft drinks including root beer, and a malt tonic, while focusing on serving authentic and delicious German fare over the course of Prohibition.

When Prohibition ended, Berghoff quickly returned to the production and sale of alcoholic beers when he acquired Chicago’s first-ever post-prohibition liquor license for the Berghoff Bar. In accordance with this achievement, the city still ensures that the Berghoff is always the first establishment each year to receive a liquor license. The original license is now on display in the bar.

And now, more than 120 years later, the Berghoff still stands proudly in the Chicago Loop offering drinks and food, and it is still owned and operated by the Berghoff family. Carlyn Berghoff, Herman’s great granddaughter,

took ownership in 2007 before selling the company to her brother, Pete Berghoff, in 2017, who restored the 115-yearold, 95-foot-long wood bar.

While things have changed over the years, most of the aspects that make the iconic Berghoff unique have remained the same. “When you come into the Berghoff, almost everything that’s in the bar: the wood, the bar itself, the light fixtures, they’re all original. You can dine in the space and kind of picture what it would’ve been like a century ago,” said Colleen Silk, Brand Manager of the Berghoff Restaurant and Adams Street Brewery.

Just as much a beloved icon for Berghoff fans as the fixtures, the beer, or the food, is the huge neon sign extending upwards from over the entrance to the third-floor windows. The Berghoff trademark signature in glowing neon adorns the top and bottom cross pieces, while “RESTAURANT” spelled vertically gives the sign its height. This beauty belongs to the era of the ‘30s through the ‘50s when neon signs proliferated throughout downtown Chicago.

But for many, the restaurant is much more than just an eatery. “Actually, I met my husband at the Berghoff,” said Silk. “I started as a front of house manager and my husband was waiting tables at the time, and we ended up connecting. And then a few months after I left the restaurant, we ended up dating and getting engaged! When the Berghoff light — the neon light — switched on, (after Covid), [people] literally came flooding in the doors, and it was just so remarkable to see how much it means to people. It’s their history, where their parents and their grandparents dined,” Silk said. “It’s not just a restaurant where we serve sandwiches and beer every day. It builds memories for people. And you can’t say that about a lot of places. That is incredibly special to us, and everyone that works there.”

At the Berghoff, you can enjoy a delicious hand-carved sandwich on freshly baked bread, sweets made in-house, a full dinner, or beer that was brewed in-house from a recipe that is over 140-years-old to create an authentic German — or Chicago — dining experience. The well of history that makes up the Berghoff offers an epicurean experience far beyond a visit defined merely by taste.

Lincoln’s Little Chapel

In a city named Lincoln, Illinois — the only city named for the 16th President before he was elected — one might think the only attractions would be Lincoln-centric. However, seasoned Route 66ers know that there is rich history in a variety of sites in this Mother Road town. A perfect example is the Log Chapel, built with love in 2004 by a local retired businessman, located in the Zion Lutheran Church parking lot, and just big enough to hold a handful of people. But why a log chapel? It’ll make perfect sense when you meet the man behind the project.

On his 64th birthday, Pete Fredericks, a member of Zion Lutheran’s evangelist committee, sat on his front porch and brainstormed how to attract people to his church. His past hobby, building log cabins — yep, that is actually a hobby — popped into his mind. Pete knew that he could put his skills to work again, this time to help his church.

The next day, his project commenced. “As soon as I got some logs out there, people started showing up,” said Fredericks. “Well, I’d have to tell them what a chapel was, and then we talked about God and what Jesus does for you. So, I had kids sitting on a log and talking to them [about God]. That was the greatest, talking to those kids.”

Besides young visitors, Fredericks’ project also had a lot of adult help, too. Between muscled men lifting logs and old light posts, others lending trucks to move supplies, and people donating funds, the Log Chapel quickly became a community effort. One local student even helped build the steeple and cross with his great-grandfather’s 1930s hand tools.

Material contributions were also received, but some donations, like a small piece of brass, came with a lessthan-traditional history. “It was a homemade bell … [But] it was never meant to be a bell,” said Fredericks, referring to a piece donated by a maintenance man. “We didn’t tell anybody it was made from a [piece of a] urinal. It was brand new!” This unique small bell still hangs in the tower and is available to those who want to ring it.

While many locals consider it a landmark, the Log Chapel has been used for Sunday school and meetings over the years. Older members particularly enjoy using it, even in the cold. When Fredericks suggested that parishioners go into the main church to warm up, he surprisingly received some pushback. “‘Oh, Mr. Pete, can we keep having [Bible study] in the chapel?’ one member lamented,” Fredericks remembered. “‘We used to ride to church on a buggy with blankets!’ It brought back a lot of memories.”

Others weren’t so keen on the new chapel, although the structure was stable, built with spikes and the logs chinked with cement. A college professor complained to the city, claiming that it wasn’t a safe structure and needed a permit to be built. “But, when an inspector went out to the site and wrote up a report, it stated, ‘In the event of a catastrophe, this chapel will be standing when a lot of these other buildings will be on the ground,’” said Fredericks. “That kind of shut that fella up.”

Since its opening, the chapel has regularly had an open door to the local community. But recently, some of the church members have had a change of mind and advocated that a padlock keep the door closed to the public, resulting in varying open hours being posted by the tourism bureaus.

“The paperwork that went to the church said it would never lock the door — the door would always be open,” Fredericks said. “We had a book in there that [visitors] signed. People from all over the world have been in that little chapel. People are just afraid of kids burning something down or writing something bad on the wall.”

In today’s climate one never knows what is in the mind of would-be visitors, but one thing is for sure; the little log cabin is a splendid addition to Illinois’ historic stretch of Mother Road. And as far as the town of Lincoln, while the Log Chapel isn’t exactly a President Lincoln attraction, we’re pretty sure that most likely, President Lincoln would approve.

Image by Brennen Matthews.

BEST IN

By Mike Vieira

Photograph by David J. Schwartz - Pics On Route 66

TOWN

Tucumcari, New Mexico, is a true representation of the heyday of the Mother Road. For years, “Tucumcari Tonite!” billboards pulled in travelers to pause and enjoy lodging, food, and fuel at this neon oasis in the high desert. But the coming of Interstate 40 in the 1950s caused a decline in tourism as travelers favored the more modern, faster travel that I-40 offered. In turn, businesses in Tucumcari fell on hard times — some closed shop while others moved closer to the exits. Some, like Del’s Restaurant, hung on to their place on Route 66. Today, Del’s is considered the oldest restaurant in town, a true testament to the spirit of the Mother Road. But like all Route 66 survivors, it has a story.

Del Akin and his wife Wilma Akin owned and operated the Ron-Dy-Voo Cafe in Tucumcari, a popular spot that also served as a Greyhound Bus Station. Akins would go on to build Del’s Restaurant on Route 66 in 1956 and operate it for several decades before he sold it to his secretary, Jessica Braziel, in 1978 with a warning: “A woman could never run the place.” Apparently, his employees agreed.

“The employees all boycotted me. Nobody showed up the morning that I opened, except for one cook I had hired,” Braziel said. “So I called my husband, I called my son, my daughters and their boyfriends, until I got employees. Nobody thought that I would keep it, but I fooled them! I’d have sat there and died before I’d have given up.”

In the early ‘90s, after several years of running the restaurant, Braziel leased the business, but when that didn’t work out, Del’s finally shut its doors. But not for long. Having grown up helping out at their mother’s restaurants, Braziel’s daughters, Yvonne Braziel and Yvette BrazielPeacock had the shared desire to run their own successful business. In 1995, they bought the restaurant, and with a handful of employees, they jumped in with both feet, doing everything from bussing tables, washing dishes, cooking, and everything else in between. Their hard work paid off, and Del’s once again became a must-stop along Historic Route 66 serving Mexican and American fare, from chicken-fried steak to catfish to chimichangas. With its success, the sisters opened another eatery on the Mother Road, Kix on 66, which served as their breakfast outlet. However, after more than 25 years, in 2021, the sisters were ready to retire and pass the torch on. And just the right person came home from Texas to take it on.

Born and raised in Tucumcari, Chase Waters had a longstanding connection with Del’s. He had worked at the eatery in his teen years, carrying on what had become a bit of a family tradition. His uncle, Paul Adcock, had worked for a time at Del’s in the late 1950s, and even his mother had worked there in the late 1970s. An alumnus of the Mesalands Community College in Tucumari, Waters furthered his

interest and skills in the restaurant business in Texas where he managed an Olive Garden in San Angelo and a Chili’s in Amarillo, with the ambition of one day purchasing his own restaurant. When Del’s was put up for sale, he was ready. The Braziel sisters were more than happy to hand it over to a Tucumcari native who already had a history with the local establishment.

“I started here at 15, and by the time I was 16 or 17, I decided I was going to own a restaurant one day,” said Waters. “I never thought that it would be this restaurant. I always thought it was too big for me to own, but here we are.”

Although Waters brought a modern management style, the interior style of the restaurant still has the same Old West motif that has welcomed customers since its early days. But when he took over, the previous owners had removed many of the personal decorations handed down through their family that had adorned the eatery.

“I kind of had to scrounge up some [decorations] to put in here. At first, I thought it was going to be a hard thing to do, but it wasn’t, because we were in the process of cleaning out my grandmother’s house and ranch,” Waters explained. “Nobody had lived at the ranch for 30 years, and we came up with all kinds of stuff to put on the walls and on the shelves.”

2022 was a pivotal year for Del’s as it marked 66 years since the restaurant first opened on Route 66, and the milestone was commemorated on July 1st, a date that coincided with the oneyear anniversary under its new ownership.

“It just seemed right to do the celebration on that date. We had live music on the patio, and were completely full, and we had a classic car and hot rod show. We’re going to bring that back every year. It was so big last time, and everybody wanted us to do it once a month, and I said there’s no way I can do that once a month, but we’ll do it once or twice a year and have fun with it.”

Many decades have gone by now, and familiar faces have also come and gone. But Del’s is still offering the same food and hospitality that has kept it going for more than 60 years. And now with Waters at the helm, a new lease on life has been given to the iconic restaurant.

“Del’s is probably one of the bigger draws to Tucumcari,” said Connie Loveland of Tucumcari Mainstreet. “They are definitely the restaurant of choice for Route 66 travelers. It’s one of the destination places that they’re looking to go to when they come here.”

Chase Waters’ dedication to carry on the traditions of Del’s Restaurant will likely keep travelers looking for the big cow, high in the sky on the side of Route 66 — the restaurant’s signature Hereford-bull statue and neon sign — exactly the type of draw that makes Route 66 travel such an endearing, and enduring experience for so many people the world over.

Springfield’s Giant 66 Slide

The kitschy roadside attractions, the picturepostcard landscapes, and the bright glitzy glare of neon signs make driving America’s Main Street an unforgettable experience. But how many can say they have “slid down Route 66?”

For Mother Road enthusiasts who have attended the Illinois State Fair in Springfield, that number might already be quite a few, actually. In the 1960s, Fred Pittroff, a California fair food vendor got together with his father-in-law, a fabricator, and made 42 Giant Slides, which ended up at fairs across the country. One of these locations was at the state fairgrounds in Springfield, where in 1968, it was erected near the fair’s main gate. The 40-foot-tall and 130-foot-long slide has been a popular “ride” ever since. The other point to this story is that the fair’s eastern boundary is at the edge of Springfield’s second alignment of Route 66 (Peoria Road).

Meanwhile, a collaborative tourism partnership including the Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB), Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway, Illinois State Fair, and Ace Sign Company came together in 2021 to construct Phase #1 of the “Route 66 Experience,” a miniature Illinois Route 66 where visitors can stroll leisurely past smaller versions of iconic attractions, such as the World’s Largest Catsup Bottle, the famed Gemini Giant, and Litchfield’s historic Vic Suhling gas station sign. The Route 66 Experience, known locally as “Gate 2,” is located at the southeast corner of the fairgrounds — not far from the Giant Slide.

In 2019, Scott Dahl, Director of the Springfield CVB, had an idea. Why not have a Route 66 shield painted on the slide and market a “Slide Down Route 66” campaign in conjunction with the Route 66 Experience? In August of that year, Dahl approached the then-owner of the slide, Scott Grunwald, about opening the slide seasonally and adding a Route 66 shield to it. However, Grunwald’s out-ofstate residence made him uncomfortable with the change, and Dahl had to shelve the idea for the time being.

In 2022, Grunwald decided to sell the slide, and Doug Knight, owner of Knight’s Action Park on the south side

of Springfield, bought the brightyellow ride, with the intention that it would stay where it was at the fairgrounds. With the help of Ace Sign Company, the CVB was able to get the shield onto the center of the slide just before the August 2022 state fair. This was a monumental task, as Knight had only finalized the purchase in June. But the Route 66 Experience, the Giant Slide, and the Illinois State Fair overall, was a big success, with recordbreaking attendance.

As for the future, Knight and the CVB plan for the slide to be open on Saturdays from May through August, with consideration for opening on more days depending on interest and numbers. With the 2026 Centennial of Route 66 fast approaching, the Slide Down 66 Campaign is expected to gain even more momentum. “I anticipate having 250,000 sliders between 2023 and the end of 2026, so it’s a lofty goal for sure,” Dahl said. “But I think once we get the campaign underway and we let more people know about it, not only will we have sliders locally, but internationally as well. We think it will be one of the top five things to do when you’re traveling Route 66.”

Just east of the Giant Slide stands the Route 66 Experience, with Phase #2 in development. It will include time capsules from Route 66 in Illinois, such as a neon sign park, a 35-foot tall giant, a drive-in theater, and more. “When you’re experiencing this, you can step over and slide down ‘66. And I think it’s going to be a really cool experience for travelers coming in, especially for our international travel,” Dahl continued. “I think it’s a symbol of the Mother Road, and this is something you can participate in and really experience going up four stories, feeling the wind running through your hair, and really be able to kind of step back in time. And that’s really what Route 66 is, right?”

Of course, he is right, that’s what Route 66 is — an iconic ribbon of road — or slide — to be savored and remembered, whether motoring down that iconic two-lane, or sliding down a giant slide perched on a burlap sack.

Image courtesy of Springfield, Illinois, Convention and Visitors Bureau.

SANTA

FE’S GEM

By Cheryl Eichar Jett

Photographs by Efren Lopez/Route66Images

In Santa Fe, New Mexico, a huge complex the color of warm desert sand occupies a large and prominent corner in the city’s Old Town. If it weren’t so constantly filled with activity, and if it weren’t so immaculately maintained, it might look as if it had sat there for hundreds of years, an adobe emergence out of the timelessness of the Southwestern desert. In truth, it has now stood there for 100 years, while other adobe creations preceded it on this spot for nearly three additional centuries.

A dozen or so years before the Mayflower arrived in 1620 on the East Coast of what would become America, a rudimentary inn on a dusty street corner welcomed travelers. And so, La Fonda’s story really begins 400 years ago, at this gathering place in what would become the capital city of the State of New Mexico.

In 1922, the vestiges of earlier inns and outbuildings on that simple intersection were replaced by a new and larger hotel. But by 1928, the Fred Harvey Company was in charge of the lodging and utilized the considerable talents of the legendary designer Mary Colter and a young architect named John Gaw Meem to completely remodel and expand the hotel into the massive adobe structure with a southwestern elegance that still occupies a full city block.

Through good times and bad, through the decline of the railroad passenger years and the arrival of Route 66, this building has stood sentinel on this corner as the only hotel on Santa Fe’s historic plaza. Its tower reaching toward the turquoise sky, this La Fonda has welcomed guests for a hundred years, and all throughout 2022, La Fonda on the Plaza has celebrated its century and its story.

Inn at the End of the Trail

Santa Fe was established in 1607 by Spaniards, and somewhere around that time, an inn or fonda was already operating on the very corner where the lovely La Fonda on the Plaza stands today. North American travelers stopped at the inn over the next two centuries as they passed through Santa Fe along the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro.

In 1821, Captain William Becknell organized a trading party from Franklin, Missouri, across the Great Plains to New Mexico. The party stayed at the inn in Santa Fe for a month, trading their goods at a profit before making the return trip to Missouri. A second trading party in 1822 explored variations of their original route and blazed the Santa Fe Trail. Military movement and pioneer traffic followed, and Santa Fe’s early lodging on the corner became known as the “Inn at the End of the Trail.” Soldiers, trappers, gamblers, gold seekers, and politicians sought out lodging here throughout the rest of the 19 th Century as national events such as the Civil War and railroad expansion touched what would become the State of New Mexico in 1912.

A Hundred Years Ago

As the 1900s began, a one-story lodging known as the Exchange Hotel or simply the “Fonda Americana” occupied that corner. The inn had served as a community gathering place and had hosted travelers of all sorts. Here, grand balls had been held and travelers had found food, beverage, and rest. Of course, if one believes all the tales, Billy the Kid had not only washed dishes in the kitchen but played piano in the hotel’s bar, someone was hanged in the courtyard, and another unfortunate soul or two were shot in the lobby. A welldocumented story tells of territorial council member William Rynerson shooting and killing Chief Justice John Slough in an altercation in the bar. All this history crumbled in 1919 when a World War I tank on a Victory Loan tour was allowed to assist in the demolition of the old lodging to make way for a newer, larger, and more luxurious hotel.

“The Exchange Hotel sat on this very corner, built in the 1830s. Then in 1919, a group of Santa Fe citizens formed the Santa Fe Building Corporation. Locals could buy shares to invest in building the new hotel, in order to raise $200,000,” said Ed Pulsifer, Director of Sales and historian and tour coordinator at La Fonda. “Rapp and Hendrickson out of Trinidad [Colorado] were the architects. The hotel struggled the first couple of years it was open and then went into receivership.”

Harvey, Colter, and Meem Rebuild

But in 1925, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe (AT&SF) purchased La Fonda, and in 1926, the Fred Harvey Company leased it, which was unique for Harvey because La Fonda was not a trackside hotel.

“Two things happened in 1926 that had a major impact on Santa Fe and a major impact on this hotel. In May 1926, the Indian Detours [tourism cars to the pueblos] launched, and in November 1926, Route 66 opened — right behind the hotel. So, between those two things happening, people were coming into this sweet, sleepy little town to the hotel that was in bankruptcy,” Pulsifer explained.

The original alignment of Route 66 cut through the heart of Santa Fe bringing with it a surge in tourism numbers. But with not enough hotel rooms in Santa Fe to cater to the increased travel traffic, La Fonda’s sudden success necessitated renovations and expansion. Under Fred Harvey this involved the design talents of Mary Colter and the fresh architectural approach of a young John Gaw Meem. When Colter and Meem were recruited, Colter was nearing 60 years old and was a 30-year veteran of the Fred Harvey Company, while Meem had only been a practicing architect in Santa Fe since 1924. But by 1928, when they began the project, Meem had become adept at balancing his respect for vernacular architecture with new design, uniquely qualifying him to work on La Fonda with Colter.

While Meem remodeled and expanded La Fonda with additional rooms and suites for contemporary use, ever mindful of the historic nature of the building, Colter executed a total interior redesign. As was her signature by then, she struck an inspirational balance between Spanish and Southwest Native American esthetics, including such design elements as Mexican tiles and exposed vigas and featuring the work of several Santa Fe artists, including the famed Native American muralist and painter Olive Rush.

La Fonda reopened in May 1929, and for decades, the guest book read like a Who’s Who list of politicians, celebrities, and prominent people from all stripes, including Eleanor Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Errol Flynn, James Stewart, Clint Eastwood, Diane Keaton, and, during the World War II era, the scientists working on the then-top-secret Manhattan Project in Los Alamos. La Fonda had “arrived” and was renowned around the world.

Fall and Rise and Fall

Then came the age when petroleum, automobiles, and fast highways ruled, and the Harvey hotels associated with railroad travel were failing. It was an age that saw more than one of legendary architect Mary Colter’s hotels sink into nonentity, such as Albuquerque’s Alvarado Hotel razed in 1970, just 65 miles southwest of La Fonda.

Meanwhile, over in Texas lived a couple from New York City who had made it big in the Texas oil market — Sam and Ethel Ballen. Sam and Ethel had happily adapted to life in the American Southwest. Intrigued by Southwestern native art and design, they ended up making multiple trips to Santa Fe, which they loved. By unanimous family vote, in 1967 they moved to Santa Fe. And in serendipitous fashion, the following year, the Fred Harvey Company put a rundown and neglected La Fonda up for sale. And Sam and Ellen purchased it.

“They knew that this hotel was too special to let it be torn down, so they bought it in 1968 and it was in absolutely horrible condition. The Harvey company, at the end, just did

not take care of it. And literally for the next 40 years Sam and Ethel Ballen just put their heart and soul into bringing the hotel back to life,” explained Pulsifer, who is proud of his 37 years in the hospitality industry, but even prouder of his 20 years at La Fonda. “They would do trades with [upcoming local] artists for room and board, and we have a lot of their work throughout the hotel. They just kept improving the hotel. And so many employees have been here for 30 to 40 years.”

The Ballen’s zest for life knew no bounds, and they traveled the world, visited friends, and climbed mountains. Their support of numerous causes in their beloved adopted home of Santa Fe along with the generous loan of their hotel facilities endeared them to the community. Advancing age didn’t slow them down until Ethel died from a massive stroke in 2006 and Sam followed a year later, dying after a fall while shoveling snow.

“They [Sam and Ethel] had five daughters, who ran the hotel, but they decided that they just didn’t want to be in the hotel business anymore, you know, the reminders of their parents,” Pulsifer said.

By then, it was time for renovations again.

Passing the Torch

Meanwhile, Texan Jenny Kimball — who also loved the Santa Fe area, just like her family friends, the Ballens, did — had been literally on the scene since the late 1980s.

“I moved to Santa Fe in the late ‘80s and lived with Sam and Ethel Ballen, who owned the hotel since ‘68, while I studied for

Inside La Fonda on the Plaza.

the New Mexico bar exam, because I was licensed in Texas. Why not New Mexico?” explained Jenny Kimball, Chairman of the Board for La Fonda. “What drew me was our friendship with the Ballens, as well as I’m a real outdoor advocate and lover, and like to bike, snow ski and horseback ride, and hike. Growing up and living in Dallas, Texas, you pretty much had to get on a plane to go do that. And so, I decided after practicing law in Dallas for a couple of years, that I wanted to try small town living in an area that was more conducive to my real passions, which was the outdoors. I called the Ballens and said, ‘I want to come.’ And we came out as a family because the Ballens had been friends with my parents.”

Kimball began practicing law in New Mexico after passing the state bar exam, and she began doing legal work for La Fonda. She also bought some stock in the hotel under the Ballens’ tenure, thereby becoming one of the owners. As she spent more time at La Fonda and the Ballens aged, with their daughters helping to run the hotel, it was assumed that Jenny would take over at some point.

“They had kind of teed me up and asked me if when they pass, I would take over. And so, it was just out of a sense of duty and appreciation and protection for the Ballens to make sure that the hotel was run by an honest, ethical person who would honor their ownership. I kind of got the baton passed to me. I wasn’t in the hospitality business. It wasn’t my background or anything that I planned. It was really out of the personal connection to the family that owned the hotel.”

Kimball and her brother Phillip Wise, also an attorney, formed Cienda Partners, a small group of family investors, that realized that the hotel had always meant a lot to them over the years when traveling to Santa Fe. So, when the hotel sold on October 31, 2014, the partnership was ready to take on some major renovations, including all new electrical from the basement up, all new windows, and “the entire facility, which is a city block, re-stuccoed.”

With the hotel purchase came the responsibility for its art collection and the design sensibilities of the building itself, but Kimball already had a leg up. Or maybe two.

“My dad was a lawyer, but my mom was a member of the Dallas American Institute of Architects (AIA), so we kind of grew up with architect friends in our home. And Sam [Ballen] had hired Barbara Felix, a female architect, just as an interior designer,” Kimball explained. “It was just so wonderful to

be working with a professional, talented female, and Barbara did just what Ed [Pulsifer] did immediately, immersed herself in the history [of the hotel] and of Mary Jane Colter and John Gaw Meem, and really partnered with me on how to improve the infrastructure in a way that would thread the needle of the current, modern-day luxury standards, and still honor the history.”

Kimball also joined the board of directors of the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA), which the Ballens had also been involved with, that produces the annual Santa Fe Indian Market.

“I’m certainly not an expert but sitting on a board that’s putting on the largest Native American Art Market in the country, I learned a lot and met a lot of artists. I kind of just immersed myself, starting with Native American art,” Kimball added. Artwork from talented contemporary Native American artists adorns La Fonda’s interior spaces, thanks to Kimball’s immersion into the local art community.

Into the Next Century

It only takes a cursory bit of research to learn that La Fonda on the Plaza is a huge, world-famous success story. And a solid partnership seems prepared to sail this magical stuccocovered ship well into another century. But first, it was time in 2022 to celebrate reaching the hotel’s landmark status; and celebrate they did.

“In March, we held a Centennial Party that was phenomenal, with over 400 attendees, including the governor and the mayor — the Party of the Century is what we called it,” explained Britta Andersson, Director of Marketing. “And we created a documentary video that highlights the history of the hotel and a Centennial plaque.”

The La Fonda website was expanded to include a history timeline and a gallery of event photos, while the Centennial logo found its way into social media and marketing. A special gift for guests during the year has been an expandable accordion-fold set of images from over the decades. Detours at La Fonda, the hotel’s gift shop, has offered celebratory Centennial gift items.

“We also remodeled a portion of the hotel, which is above the parking garage. It’s 15 distinct luxury accommodations with their own concierge. It’s called the Terrace at La Fonda, and it offers gorgeous rooftop views of the cathedral or the Loretto Chapel or the mountains. It’s a great way to mark the future, while still honoring the past,” said Andersson.

Marking the future, honoring the past. La Fonda has gotten good at that, through all its iterations and regenerations. No one is in danger of forgetting this story while La Fonda and its current team of caretakers are telling it so well.

While dining on the patio, taking a docent-led tour of the property, shopping in its street-level shops, or perusing the hotel’s outstanding collection of over 1,200 pieces of art dating back to 1920, guests would probably agree with Ed Pulsifer when he says, “The world walks through this hotel. It’s one of the greatest historic properties, anywhere.”

Route 66 signage in Santa Fe.

Culture you can step into.

Storyteller Museum

Monday - Friday

Gallup Cultural Center

Summer Indigenous Arts: Dances

Monday, Wednesday, Friday May - August

Gallup Cultural Center

Summer Indigenous Arts: Demonstrations

Fridays, May - August

Gallup Cultural Center

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OH FUDGE!

By Nick Gerlich

Photographs by David J. Schwartz - Pics On Route 66

ore than a century ago, Americans took to the highways en masse, and ever since, marketers, showmen, and shysters have tried to outdo each other in finding gimmicks to get people to pull over and spend money. Actually, some may say that those three characters are one and the same, but the marketers or showmen themselves might point out that there are shades of gray between them.

In a country where novelty sells, it is no surprise that motel units shaped like teepees, steaks the size of pot roasts, alligator farms, giant whales and soda bottles, tourist destinations ostensibly built around artifacts of questionable origins, and amphibious vehicles plying rivers and roads alike, cause people to stop what they are doing. Some are even destinations in their own right.

And then — pretty much beyond categorization — there is Uranus. No, not the planet, even though the name is a riff on the seventh planet. It’s one of the newest roadside attractions in America and has already become legendary. While scientists are split on whether it should be pronounced “yer-RAY-nus” or “YER-uh-nus,” rest assured that Louie Keen, owner and self-proclaimed Mayor of this fudgepacking town-that-isn’t-a-town, prefers the former.

Let the cheeky, ribald one-liners commence. And commence they have.

Make No Mistake

“I am a marketer,” said Keen, 58, settling the matter of which of the three he is. “I can be whomever I want to be. We’re in the marketing business, not the fudge business. We sell fudge to support our marketing business.”

With his ringside seat along the Mother Road between St. Robert and Devils Elbow, Missouri, Keen notes there are 33,000 cars a day passing by on the freeway, plus the locals and Route 66 travelers on the old two-lane. “We’ve become a destination, so people have bucket-listed us,” he added. “If you’re out traveling, you for sure have to have some fudge. And for us, it was all word play with the name. I knew it would grate on some peoples’ nerves.”

Keen is a serial entrepreneur, born into an entrepreneurial family. It’s in his blood. That said, he is also equal parts P.T. Barnum, a showman of the highest order. In his earlier years, he toiled in family businesses, including their farm, making the rounds at livestock markets. But in 2000, he decided to hang his own shingle with Chicken Bones Bar and Grill in the same location where Uranus stands today. He was roundly successful with a format that especially appealed to people associated with the nearby military base.

“Everything we did was built for the military. We’re right down the road from Fort Leonard Wood, which everyone calls Fort Lost-In-The-Woods,” Keen joked.

Like so many other ideas hatched over a few too many adult beverages, Keen confesses that the idea for Uranus

Mstarted as a joke, and a decade later had gestated long enough to be ready to deploy. “The first thing I have written down is from 2004 when I said, ‘We could do this thing called Uranus and sell t-shirts. Ha ha ha.’”

Roughly ten years later, Keen declared with a degree of audacity, “‘I want to open Uranus Fudge Factory.’ All of my managers thought I had lost my mind. ‘I’ll make all the fudge. My wife Nadia will work the counter.’” Never mind that he didn’t know the first thing about fudge, so he took an online course to become a certified chocolatier first. Meanwhile, Keen had grown weary waiting for his Mission Outpost Outdoor Outfitters shop to be completed onsite (Fort Uranus Outdoor Outfitters did open in October 2015, but has been closed since May 2021), and forged ahead with his fudge project to resolve that unsettled feeling.

What happened next was careerchanging for Keen, even though he had already proven his mettle as a restaurateur. The itchy feeling that entrepreneurs sometimes get caused him to follow his instincts. Beginning in July 2015, initially, he sold fudge out of a portion of his by-then sprawling building. It quickly became apparent that the future was in fudge, and he systematically exited his other enterprises, converting everything into the Uranus that travelers enjoy today.

“In the first month I made 1,200 pounds of fudge, then 1,300 pounds the next month. I only had one kettle, and it was hard to make more,” he continued. “In month three, I had to hire someone and get another kettle.”

It took off instantly, making money from Day One. “There are practically no new businesses profitable for a couple of years. Who would have ever thought?” In what turned out to be trading a silver mine for gold, Keen relinquished Chicken Bones, which was earning him a six-figure profit. “We were

making tons of money. But now we’re making more money than all the other things.”

In spite of the quick success, there were initial doubts, especially among his own workers. Ever the savvy marketer, though, Keen knew that publicity, whether good or bad, was all going to be good in the end. When a reporter from Springfield, Missouri, published negative comments, Keen’s employees thought that Uranus would die before it could ever take off. Keen brushed it all off and never looked back. “Dude, why are you all upset? We’re about to make a ton of money from this,” he told an employee.

“We had half a million customers in 2021,” he said. “And we were ten-percent above that for 2022.” So much for all that negative publicity.

The Uranus experience is nonstop entendres. Some might make people blush under normal circumstances, but that is

all part of Keen’s marketing plan. It’s a sideshow, but at the same time, it’s the main attraction. “The best fudge comes from Uranus,” Keen boasts.

Man-eating dinosaurs, a double-decker London bus, and police cars with skeletons provide exterior décor. At the entrance to the fudge store, a hand-carved black bear welcomes visitors with a cautionary note not to feed him. Friendly teenage girls respond on cue as each new group of people wander through the door: “Welcome to Uranus!”

In the seven years since Uranus opened, Keen has added breadth and depth to his product line, from nearly two dozen flavors of fudge and candies to t-shirts and Route 66 trinkets, an online store, and the Uranus Sideshow Museum. He bought the 18 acres across Route 66, added a miniature golf course, and is in the process of building a drive-thru chicken restaurant.

A giant T-Rex statue in Uranus.

An extravagant neon sign (“1,920 feet of Neon!” he proclaimed) outside alerts travelers, and a red- whiteand-blue fiberglass “Mega Mayor” Muffler Man beckons photographers. A 20 x 55-foot wall features a map of the Mother Road, along with neon elements depicting iconic Route 66 locations. Keen also has brewing equipment in storage, to be deployed once he tears down one older building and adds a new, bigger one. In 2020, Keen bought Redneck Nutz, a Springfield, Missouri, company whose products he already sold. The name needed no tweaking to fit into the gimmickry.

If that’s not enough, the tireless Keen plans a wedding chapel. The world’s largest belt buckle is also located on the

premises, a fitting metaphor that keeps the corporate pants from falling down.

In an era of oversized travel centers and truck stops, Keen has thus far resisted adding fuel to his product mix, but that may change in the future. All that negative publicity spawned worldwide media attention that keeps sending customers his way. His staffers ply the social media sites, as does Keen, who is relentless in keeping his brand front and center, never behind.

If anything, the paint never dries in Uranus, and Keen is keen to keep doing it until something better presents itself. “If someone could show me a way to make more money, I’d jump on it,” he said matter-of-factly.

Indiana Wants Me

If Keen had learned anything through the meteoric growth of Uranus Missouri, it is that the business was scalable as well as replicable. Unlike some roadside attractions that are bound to the space in which they were created, Keen sensed that he could conjure the same excitement elsewhere. After all, there are nearly 47,000 miles of interstate highway in the U.S., not to mention other heavily traveled highways and arterials.

“I was looking for a second location. I was in Georgia just looking, and I went to a Buc-ee’s [a chain of large travel centers]. I went, ‘Oh crap, we’re not ready.’”

But when an opportunity arose to buy an existing candy store in Anderson, Indiana, Keen was all eyes and ears. It was a turnkey operation that had been open for more than 30 years, thereby relieving Keen of having to build. It would also allow him to easily acquire local market intel. “Heck, I’ll just buy all the knowledge right here,” he stated, and then boasted of his early successes. “I’m already beating 2019 numbers from Missouri.” Although not located directly on I-69, travelers still have easy access from the freeway. Uranus Indiana opened in April 2022, and devoted customers from as far away as Canada, Texas, and Pennsylvania came for the grand opening. His location is strategic, if not providential. “We’re at Exit 222. Number two is important for Uranus. Tell me this wasn’t a match made in heaven?” he joked.

Keen is quick to credit Anderson for helping make his second location open so seamlessly. “The City has done a wonderful job here. One of the reasons I am here is because of how efficient the [local] government is.”

With an average 55,000 people driving past his freeway exit each day, he has even more potential customers than in Missouri. And, given his proximity to Indianapolis and its metropolitan area of nearly one million people, Keen rightfully has dollar signs in his eyes. The man knows his metrics, and revealed that 90-percent of his Indiana customers venture those two miles out of the way just to visit his shop.

Between the two shops, Keen now has more than 100 employees. He plans to use the Indiana location to innovate his forthcoming line of gourmet ice cream, which the previous owner was already making, and he will subsequently start producing it in Missouri as well. By then, he will have more than 150 employees.

Once the ice cream shop is open, Keen plans to up his outdoor advertising game from nine billboards to as many as 17. It’s a model he knows works well in Missouri, too, with more than 30 boards as far as 85 miles away alerting

The new Mega Mayor Muffler Man in Uranus.

motorists. He plans to expand that reach to more than 100 miles distant, and has even considered as far away as I-40 in Oklahoma, a model utilized by other major roadside attractions.

To the Future

There is no denying that Uranus has changed Keen’s life, yet he maintains his rural roots. He still has ties to the family farm near Cassville in Barry County, where his family has had as many as 500 cows and 75 heifers, especially after his father died. But he moved his wife and four children to Lebanon so that they could all be closer to the first location.

Nadia has been supportive through all of his business launches and expansions, even if Keen’s degree of American showmanship may leave her scratching her head. “My wife is an immigrant from Ukraine. She loves it. She probably doesn’t like it that I am on the road so much, but she takes care of the kids and allows me to go where I need to go.”

As for Route 66, he’s always been close to it. His move to Lebanon reinforced his ethos. “I’ve got to stay on the route. Every time I drive it, I wonder, what did people think when they were driving this highway years ago?” It’s a good pause for a man who rather ironically is creating similar thoughts in the minds of those who drive by today. “When I opened it, I thought that people would stop once. Nope. They stop every time. It’s always changing, and they love it,” the marketer in him intoned.

Keen hopes to have between six and eight Uranus Fudge Factories across the U.S., all in the range of 400-500

miles apart, and each somewhat different from the others and a destination unto itself. Fuel will likely enter the equation as well. He’s deeply invested in a couple of movie projects at the Missouri location through 2024, and vows that the ice cream shop at both current locations is “going to be mindblowing.”

“My motto is ‘AOC: Always Under Construction.’” To that end, he plans to have the Uranus Meat and Sausage Company open in Missouri by 2025, just in time for the Route 66 centennial.

“I have full-time carpenter crews at both locations, as well as painters,” he added, attesting to his ongoing commitment to change.

Decades of business ownership have yielded a deep thinker, one who now spends time pondering the things that made him successful. Unlike some business owners who might reduce prices to try to cure a lack of patrons, Keen takes a different tack: raise the prices and improve the experience. “If cheaper drinks brought in more people, all these dive bars would be packed,” he laughed sarcastically.

The benefits of Uranus Missouri have not gone unnoticed at the local level. “It is actually a big draw to our county. It has had international fame and is very well known for the fudge. And they’ve got a great general store that has all kinds of hilarious merchandise throughout it,” said Beth Wiles, Executive Director of the Pulaski County Tourism Bureau and Visitors Center.

The blend of visitors coming through the county is a mixed lot, with about half knowing about Uranus and the others being surprised to hear about it. Either way, Wiles is excited about the economic impact that Keen has made on the county. “He’s right off the interstate, so he has high visibility there, which brings a lot of people traveling through, right off the interstate.”

It takes an uncommon person with uncommon sense to succeed in this environment, one that demands of its provocateurs to dig ever deeper into the cauldron of new ideas. Customers like some degree of consistency, yet also crave newness. It’s a precarious balancing act.

The modern day marketer waxed philosophical: “Common sense brings common results, and the most common result in business is failure.” Sounds like the perfect prescription for a successful roadside attraction. Just cue the cheeky, ribald one-liners once more.

Louie Keen, the founder of Uranus Missouri Towne Center.

Patrick Stewart A CONVERSATION WITH

By Brennen Matthews

Photographs by Nigel Parry

In 1987, when the remake of the cult classic sci-fi drama Star Trek: The Next Generation hit the air, few thought that the show would last more than a single season, if that long. It seemed unlikely that a new version of a short-lived ’60s space drama would interest viewers sufficiently to merit any hype. Naysayers could not have been further from the reality that was about to unfold, taking the show and cast through seven highly successful seasons.

Manning the helm of the fledgling show — and starship — was a little-known British actor, best famed at that point in his career for his enormous stage talent. Yet even he refrained from fully unpacking his bags upon moving to Los Angeles. But with a well-planned premiere strategy for the series, Star Trek franchise owner Paramount Studios showcased the spin-off to a whopping 27 million viewers. The two-hour pilot, “Encounter at Farpoint,” was a hit, and the rest is history. The then little-known actor, Patrick Stewart, is now a household name.

Best known for his authoritative, in control characters, Patrick Stewart, interestingly enough, made a name for himself through his work on Star Trek: The Next Generation and the ever-popular X-Men franchise as Professor Charles Xavier, films that are set in the generally less respected genres of sci-fi and superhero. Yet, prior to moving to the U.S., Stewart had built a solid career on stage, bringing to life colorful characters from the mind of Shakespeare and on local BBC television programs, acting opposite noted actors. The shift could not have been an odder one for an actor who found safety and belonging on the stage and a comfort in the discipline that his craft demanded. But perhaps a talent as immense as Stewart’s could not remain limited to the theater.

Watching Stewart in action is often like experiencing an emotional rollercoaster, his face and voice fully embodying the character that he is portraying. For Stewart, there is nothing phoned in. His total buy-in to the role is undeniable. In the sixth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation , the Captain is captured by Cardassians, a race of aliens, who are seeking to start a war against the Federation in the twopart episode “Chain of Command.” Captain Picard is being tortured, his abuser seeking to use pain and psychological manipulation to break him. As the tormented Captain resists, there is an intense determination in his body language, a defiance in his eyes. He is in control. He is unshakeable and yet, at the very end of the episode, Captain Picard reveals to the ship counselor what was also somehow evident in his performance, that he was on the verge of breaking just before his release. Few actors have Stewart’s ability to translate so many diverse and vulnerable emotions simultaneously and to such a degree. And yet, his portrayals may be closer to home for Stewart than many know.

Speaking with him, it is impossible to fail to notice a man who has wrestled with demons and come out on the other side stronger, wiser, and much more sensitive and human as a result. Known for his serious, no-nonsense characters, Stewart has reached a time in his life and career where he is seeking a lighter reality, an opportunity to simply laugh and leave the head winds behind him. Married to singersongwriter Sunny Ozell, Stewart seems to have found what he was looking for — a safe harbor; and with fellow famed actor Sir Ian McKellan, a partner in crime. At 82 years of age, the English actor is in a good space.

You have a wicked sense of humor. A lot of people wouldn’t know that about you because a lot of your better-known roles have been quite serious and intense. Do you have an interest in doing more comedic projects?

That’s already happening significantly, and of course anybody who’s been following me on Twitter will have had plenty of examples of that. I did a guest appearance on Frasier, which I enjoyed immensely. I have done one Funny or Die film. I’ve been with John Stewart on The Daily Show. I have done a sketch with Colbert on The Colbert Report, but most importantly for me, in this respect, was the episode of Extras — Ricky Gervais’ brilliant series — that Ricky invited me to do. That, I think, for a lot of people created a reassessment of who Patrick Stewart is.

The picture that was posted on Twitter with you in a lobster costume was hilarious. You must have gotten a lot of responses.

Oh yes, yes, yes indeed. In fact, those photographs turn up now in fan mail. That was just a little bit of wacky fun that we like to have on Twitter.

You and Ian McKellen seem to have a lot of fun together.

Oh yes, Ian and I spent [a lot] of time together when we were filming X-Men, and then pretty soon after that we assembled with Billy Crudup and Shuler Hensley to do a Broadway run of two plays. So, we have spent a huge amount of time together, most of it in front of the camera or on stage, as well as a lot of social time too.

You’ve known each other for over 60 years, and he officiated your wedding. Why did you go that route for the wedding rather than having Ian, maybe, be your best man?

Well, I had a best man, who actually, finally, couldn’t make it to the ceremony, so then I didn’t have a best man. The man who was basically responsible for me meeting Sunny, my wife, was to be my best man. It was entirely Sunny’s idea that we should ask Ian if he would officiate at our ceremony. She got to know Ian, and they became really good friends — she adores him, and of course admires him and has done [so] for many years. He immediately agreed that he would, and he became a minister at the Universal Life Church, and this gave him the authority to officiate a formal wedding ceremony.

Are you a fan of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy?

Huge fan, yes. I was a fan of the books; read them many times.

When Ian was dressed up as Gandalf and he was in the role, were you able to forget that he is a friend and get into the character, into the performance?

Oh no, no, no. I never forget that’s Ian McKellen behind that white beard. But he’s become a benchmark, he’s become the model for any future Gandalfs, and he is Gandalf in my mind entirely. But of course, he is always my pal too.

Patrick, you’ve done so many great things on television, film, and the stage. Is there anything you are particularly proud of?

Well, there are one or two things where I feel I took a little bit of a gamble, and it could’ve gone either way. I mean, there are things you may not have even heard of. For example, during the time that I was in L.A. shooting Star Trek, I became concerned that I would lose touch with my theater roots, so in my spare time I created a series of solo shows, one-man performances, and the idea behind them was that I could let people know that I had these shows. I could take off on a Saturday morning and go to a college or community center or a campus of some kind, and on a Saturday night I’d put on this show, and if there was big enough interest, I would do a Sunday matinee as well.

Speaking of comfort zones, you almost turned down the role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation , when it first came to you. It would become perhaps the biggest role of your career, and you almost turned it down.

Well, during the six months of conversation about it, I never really took the possibility of being in a Hollywood science fiction seriously. So, when, to my astonishment, on the same morning that I did my last call-back — a kind of audition for Paramount — I learnt that I had been offered the leading role of the Captain, I was of course excited and amazed and confused as to what it would mean to my life. The next day I met with my agent for lunch, and we went through the terms of the deal that the studio was offering and, of course, there were many things in there that just amazed and dazzled me. But then we came to a point where he was talking about season one, two, three, four, and I said, “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop. What are you talking about season two, season three?

I mean, I’m just signing up for one season.” And he said, “Oh no, no, no, no, with a deal like this you have to commit for at least six seasons.” I said, “But six seasons, that’s six years.” He said, “Of course.” And I said, “That’s impossible, I’ve got too many things to do. I can’t sign my life away for six years. That’s absolutely out of the question.” I said, “I can’t do this, I’m really sorry. I hope I haven’t wasted their time. If I’d known that that’s what it meant I would never have auditioned for it.”

And my agent said, “Look, let me be frank with you. There’s not a hope in hell that this series is going to take off. You’ll be lucky to make it through season one. Everybody in Hollywood thinks it’s a crazy idea. You cannot revive an iconic series without iconic characters and actors and expect it to succeed. Don’t worry about it. Make a little bit of money, get a suntan, and go home.” I then consulted other people, a few people I knew in Hollywood, and they all said the same thing. So, on the basis of that, I signed a contract for six years. It went for seven seasons and four feature films. And of course, it bears out William Goldman’s well-known remarks, that in Hollywood, nobody knows anything about anything.

Gene Roddenberry had a very different idea in his mind for Captain Picard. Rumor has it that when you met for dinner, you guys didn’t even discuss the show. What did you talk about that night?

I think Gene was always kind of puzzled and a little bit confused that somehow, I had ended up as the captain. I had

met him six months earlier. In fact, I met him the morning after an event at UCLA. He was very polite, and I met with a couple of his other producers that morning in his home, and when I left — and this was reported back to me later — he said, “Ok, forget about this guy, he is absolutely the wrong person. That would never work.” And Gene had to be talked around, most notably by Robert Justman and Rick Berman, who of course eventually took the mantle from Gene Roddenberry when Gene so suddenly died in the third season. I didn’t have much contact with him really, but Gene and I went out to dinner about a week before we began filming the pilot episode. He took me to his country club, the Bel-Air Country Club, and we largely talked about golf, in which I have no interest whatsoever. And finally, I said, “Look Gene, you created this character. I know nothing about him except what I read in the pilot. What’s on your mind? Give me some ideas that I can use as a launch pad for this character.”

And he said, “Well, have you ever heard of the novels by C. S. Forester, the Horatio Hornblower novels?” And I said, “Oh, yes. I read them as a teenager. Love Hornblower.” This is about an 18th Century British Naval Captain. He said, “Well, I’ll send two or three of them round. You read that and you’ll find out all you need to know about Jean-Luc Picard.” And I didn’t bother reading all of them because I knew a lot about Hornblower. But it gave me an idea of what Gene had in mind. I did watch a couple of the earlier films of the original cast, and they were no help at all. They just succeeded in confusing me, so I stopped watching them. And I thought, well, ‘I’m not going to try to [re]create Captain Kirk, that would be crazy,’ you know? Apart from anything else, William Shatner was still Captain Kirk; they were still making their movies.

Over the first two years or so, Gene would come down to the set occasionally, not very often, but occasionally, and I used to catch him looking at me with a kind of puzzled expression on his face, as if he didn’t really quite understand how I had ended up in the captain’s chair of the Enterprise.

One thing that many fans of the show really loved was the intimacy between your character and Whoopi Goldberg’s character, Guinan. It was so well written, especially the end of season five and the beginning of season six.

Whoopi coming on to the show at the start of season two was a very important move, and of course it astonished all of us because Whoopi had just won an Academy Award. She was flying high as a film star and the last thing you would expect an Oscar winner to do was to ask if she could be written into a syndicated science fiction TV series. But that’s exactly what Whoopi did. She asked Gene Roddenberry if he could find something for her to do on the show.

You also originally turned down the role on X-Men !

I had completed Star Trek: The Next Generation, 178 episodes, and I think we had already done three movies by then. And proud as I am of the work we all did on Next Generation, I had begun to discover that there was a downside to being in a highly successful franchise, in that one becomes so identified with the character that directors and producers of original work, although attracted to the idea of having me in their movie, felt that I was carrying too much baggage from Next Generation

So, it was proving a little challenging at times to move on to the kind of work I wanted to do, and when X-Men came up, my first reaction was, well, I’m already fighting one battle with a franchise, do I really want to fight two battles? But then I had lunch with Bryan Singer, and Bryan persuaded me that in every respect this was going to be a very different experience. Of course, at the time there was no certainty that this would become the franchise that it has become; it might just have been a one-off film. And the role of Charles Xavier was so different from Captain Picard. He persuaded me that this might actually help to make an adjustment to the way that I was perceived, playing this character. I was persuaded by that, and, in fact, I think that for the most part Bryan was right.

You came out quite publicly in 2014 about your childhood and the turbulent relationship with your dad. What made you decide, after all these years, to share those more personal stories?

You’re right; I’d always kept quiet about my childhood, except of course with very close members of my own family. But I had, during the 17 years that I lived in Los Angeles, been fortunate to undergo some really fine, high quality, therapy. A lot of it had to do with finding a safe situation in which I could look back at my past. This was of such value to me in understanding why things had been as they were in my life and why in certain ways I was still struggling with some things. I had been blessed to have the benefits of all this. During an interview, I don’t know how it came up, but I think somebody had asked me about why I became an actor and I had said, “Well, when I was 12 years old my English teacher put me in a play with adults, playing a small boy, and I instantly found the stage was the safest place I had ever been,” which to people who are not actors, of course, sounds like insanity, because they would find the stage a terrifying place to be. And the journalist said, “Well, can you explain a little bit more to me why the stage was safe?” And that was what led me to talk about my childhood. And well, you know how it is with the media and journalists, once you’ve said something and it’s in print or

it’s there on the screen, it goes into your record and anybody who wants to access things that Patrick Stewart has said or done can find it very easily. So, I found that I was being asked about this more and more often. I tried to stem that. I didn’t want to appear like somebody who was suddenly cashing in on his parents’ unhappiness. But what made all the difference was that I was approached by the major domestic violence charity in England — Refuge — and asked, because of my experience, if I would become a spokesperson and a patron of the organization. I knew immediately that that was right for me, because I’d known about Refuge back in the late ‘60s, early ‘70s, when a woman called Erin Pizzey had opened the first safe house in the U.K., not far from where I lived in West London. My then wife and I used to take things round to the safe house: clothing, blankets, food and so forth, because we knew that there was a real need there. I was impressed by what I saw. It resonated with me a lot, so I was instantly very proud and happy to accept this invitation.

On BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are , you discovered a great deal about your dad. You mentioned that as you've gotten older, you've realized that your dad's had a huge influence on how you portray most of the characters that you've played in your career. How so?

Well, he was a very strong personality and a man of strong opinions, and he had many fine qualities, some of which he did not get the opportunity to use when he was in civilian life. But I have spoken with men who served with my father, and during the course of making that BBC program, I talked with soldiers who didn't know him, but who knew what he did. I was impressed and moved by some of the things that I was told. I remember hearing the man who now has my father's job, in other words Regimental Sergeant Major of the Parachute Regiment, saying, "When your father was brought back from Italy to help reassemble the regiment after the disaster of Caen Canal, someone handpicked your father and brought him out of Northern Italy, where he was fighting, to put him in charge of reassembling the regiment and giving it back its sense of purpose and duty and morale. I can only tell you that the man they chose must have been a remarkable man to be handpicked in that way to perform these duties." And it was marvelous to hear that. And so, in a way, I sometimes think that some of my discipline and determination to do the best I can with the work that I do had stemmed from what I drew from my time and my experience with my father.

Did you take a lot from your own childhood experience when you became a father, in raising your son and daughter when they were younger?

I don’t think I did. If there is anything I regret it is my obsession, if you like, my dedication to my work, that it meant I was away from my family a great deal. When you’re in the theater, especially somewhere like the RSC, you go in at 10 o’clock in the morning and you leave at 11 o’clock at night, and that’s day after day after day. So, there were years that I missed bedtime stories, tucking in, singing goodnight songs, all of those things, and I regret that. But at the time, I was trying to build a career. But my childhood experiences, I have come to realize, are of huge significance in my life and I have been, I think, drawing on them in different ways all my life.

SMALL TOWN, BIG SCREEN THE POMONA FOX THEATER

Just six miles south of where I-210 meets Route 66, amidst the strip malls and car dealerships that have come to characterize Southern California’s Inland Empire, lies a Los Angeles suburb with a seedy reputation. At a glance, you might never guess Pomona, California, was once known as the “darling of the Citrus Belt” — but upon deeper exploration, this little city has quite a few gems tucked away in its historic downtown. And undeniably, the crown jewel is the fully restored Fox Theater, a timeless relic of Pomona’s golden age.

Walking into the ornate building, with its grand chandeliers, bronze flourishes, and masterful plasterwork feels like stepping back into the 1930s. But the impression of agelessness is an illusion, more a testament to the tireless work of the restoration team than to the maintenance of the theater itself. You wouldn’t know it, but the Fox has been through countless ups, downs, and evolutions. At its best, it was a glamorous hub for star-studded movie previews. At its worst, it witnessed two patron deaths in the span of eight months.

Constructed in 1931 and designed by LA architects Balch and Standberry, the Fox Theater was one of many single-screen movie palaces that popped up during Hollywood’s jubilant period. But it was unique due to its semirural location and ornate construction. At the time, Pomona was a small but lively town surrounded for miles by nothing but orange groves and populated largely by farmers, so when the Fox went up, with its enormous $300,000 budget — by today’s metrics, the equivalent of five million dollars — it was unlike anything the area had ever seen. The 1,700-seat theater was truly a diamond in the rough; a glitzy tribute to Hollywood amidst the destitution and hardship of the Great Depression.

“People really went to the movies,” said John Clifford, a member of the original Fox restoration nonprofit committee. “It’s how they got away from the depression and the economic issues of the [time].”

In its heyday, the Fox was primarily a preview house. Producers would show movies in their final stages of production and gauge audience reactions to determine what tweaks should be made. It is because of Pomona moviegoers that The Wizard of Oz does not feature a reprise of “Over the Rainbow”—at a preview of the movie attended by Judy Garland herself, the crying in the theater during the reprise

was so intense that producers decided to cut the song. In addition to movie previews, the Fox also hosted vaudeville shows, newscasts about the war, and even the Bob Hope radio show. It was the place to be.

However, the golden age of the Fox couldn’t last forever. Despite extensive modernization efforts, the singlescreen movie palace was unable to survive the advent of the multiplex theater. Next to massive parking lots and multi-screen complexes, the Fox looked tiny, dated, and far too costly to run. After decades of decline, it closed its doors in 1976. Throughout the 1980s, it was revived in numerous forms: a stage for community theater, a Spanish language movie theater, a wrestling venue, even a church. With each new use, the building fell into greater disrepair. It was left completely vacant for several years until a convicted felon named Amos Wallas purchased it in 1999, painted the walls black, and transformed it into a rave venue, leaving the once-beautiful building even more ravaged than before.

The final straw?

“A guy actually was knifed in the alley behind the theater. Everyone started putting pressure on the city to close it down. It wasn’t safe,” reported Clifford.

The Fox of the early 2000s was unrecognizable as the glamorous establishment once graced by the likes of Lucille Ball and Shirley Temple. Nevertheless, in 2004, the City purchased the building with the intent to restore it. Realizing that they’d bitten off more than they could chew, they sold it to the local Tessier brothers, who embarked on a mission to return the run-down establishment to its 1931 glory. To discover long-forgotten details like the original carpet pattern and the colors on the wall, the brothers turned to Pomona residents who’d seen the building in its prime. Locals came forward with stories and photographs, and the developers took note.

Nowadays, the Fox’s ornate halls are frequented by the famous once again. The fully restored building enjoys a new life as a popular concert venue. Some notable performers have included Wilco and Duran Duran, amongst others. Pomona may never again be the “darling of the citrus belt,” but the Fox Theater certainly lends it status as a cultural hub of the Inland Empire and a survival just off of Route 66.

The Story on the Wall

Although the history of murals dates back thousands of years, in recent years, brightly-colored murals have become eye-popping tourist attractions. The larger the better, these iconic pieces of outdoor art entitle its communities to sought-after spots on “don’t miss” lists along Route 66 and other historic highways. But a mural on a historic red brick wall does something else — it proclaims the shared history of a community.

The small town of Virden, Illinois, 25 miles south of the Illinois capital along the original alignment of Route 66, is proud of their Virden History Mural, adorning the west-facing brick wall of the Sav-Mor Pharmacy building. Located at the busiest downtown intersection, the mural is an approximately 40-year-old landmark on the side of a 125-year-old building, facing Illinois Highway 4/Route 66. But the current rendition of the mural is not the original painting — this is actually its third and newest incarnation. Created around 1990, “The Circus Mural,” as it’s known by those who remember it, was a community-sponsored piece by local commercial painter Jim Palmer. The image depicted circus animals and train cars, and the spaces upon it could be bought by local businesses for advertising purposes. The Circus Mural remained a source of pride until Palmer eventually relocated, and the artwork fell into disrepair for lack of someone to repaint it.

In August 2004, the local citizens chose to depict the town’s history on their second mural. Painted by Greenville, Illinois, artist John Hubbell, the 19-by-50-foot-long mural displayed the community’s story in four panels. The first panel showed the prairie before the town was erected, while the second showed the Virden Hotel, established by namesakes John and Emily Virden, following the location of his stagecoach stop next to the train tracks. The third panel depicts the town’s economy built around coal mining and also nods to Melvin Vaniman (a famous aviator and “Acrobatic Photographer”) and Charles Lindbergh, a U.S. postal service pilot who made an emergency landing in a field north of Virden. A view of how the downtown square would appear to motorists on Route 66 completed the fourth panel. The thing about murals is that they are not made to last on their own. By 2017, Hubbell’s mural was beyond repair

due to severe weathering, a forming of mold or mildew, and the peeling of its protective sealant. However, devoted in their pursuits to keep this essential element of their town alive, the Virden Mural Committee — headed by dedicated committee chairman Suzanne Gray— began a fundraiser in December 2017, intending to raise $20,000. By May 2018, they had surpassed their goal and raised over $22,000, with the additional funds being saved for future preservation needs of the mural.

With the funds in, it simply became a matter of choosing the artist(s) to create the next iteration. The committee contacted the husband-and-wife artistic team of Bernie Gietl and D.L Whitlock-Gietl from nearby Carlinville, Illinois. “We approached the Gietls after seeing samples of their work at Gillespie [Illinois] and online,” said John Alexander, local historian and co-owner of Books on the Corner in downtown Virden. “They’re residents of the area, enjoy a good reputation with the community, and were easy to work with on the project.”

By August 12, 2018, almost exactly 14 years after the creation of the John Hubbell mural, the Gietls finished the third mural. The current design is a collage of disparate images that represent and tell the town’s history and story. The images range from a dedication of founder John Virden to the Illinois stretch of Route 66 to a presidential campaign badge for Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson and a portrayal of the Virden Mine, emphasizing the importance of coal mining in the town’s history. That’s to name a few. The project took around two months to complete, and it was painted with an ultraviolet clear-coat protective finish to make it last longer.

The hard work of the Gietls and the committee’s determination have paid off big-time, as the mural stands as a metaphorical picture of the town while still looking new due to the protective finish used to seal it. “Our town has a rich history like many small towns,” said Alexander, “The mural and [Virden] Mine [Battle] Monument shed some light on what makes us a bit unique. Corn and coal have provided economic legs to the community, but its flavor has come from lots of interesting people. Some of them are depicted on the mural.”

Image by David J. SchwartzPics On Route 66.

WHERE THE MOTHER ROAD BEGINS

WHERE AMARILLO

AMARILLO HANGS OUT

Photograph by Efren Lopez/Route66Images

While small towns are perhaps more romanticized along Route 66, the larger urban areas are also much loved, each known for their own unique offerings. Springfield, Illinois, is home to the always busy Cozy Dog eatery, and St. Louis is of course the proud owner of the Gateway Arch. Tulsa receives visitors to the Golden Driller every day, and Oklahoma City is home to the Historic Stockyard and the Gold Dome. But down in Amarillo, the largest of the Texan towns that Route 66 runs through, they are famous for the undeniably quirky Cadillac Ranch and for the Big Texan’s 72-ounce steak eating challenge. But there is a destination that calls Amarillo home that is not quite as loud but is no less proud: the Historic District on Route 66, and there is no one who has demonstrated their love and dedication to celebrating this unexpected location in Amarillo more than one man with a big smile.

Located along the quaint Sixth Avenue alignment of the famous highway, smack dab in the Historic District, there are shops, galleries, and eateries not to be missed. But there, in an 1,100-square-foot building perched on what was once just a vacant lot during the Great Depression, a unique gallery offers not only a wide selection of art, but also an array of handmade — and unusual — jewelry pieces. The bright, turquoise-painted store front amid a low-slung row of small brick commercial buildings might be the first thing to catch one’s eye, followed by the laid-back Australian Shepherd draped across the threshold of the front door. But the visitor’s interest is solidified once they’re greeted by the gallery’s friendly and knowledgeable owner, Bob “Crocodile” Lile.

Lile Art Gallery features the work of not only local artists, but also that of others from states as far away as California. There are even prints by the late Bob Waldmire, who inspired the character Fillmore in the Pixar film, Cars. But among the work of these talented individuals, visitors also find art created by the proprietor of the gallery himself, “Croc” Lile. Not only has Croc run the place for the past 14 years — ten and a half of those in the current location — he is also a recognized artist in his own right, known for his painted mosaics. However, that’s not what generally brings visitors flocking to his gallery — but more on that in a minute.

Croc was a late bloomer when finding his artistic voice as an abstract expressionist. He hadn’t so much as touched a paintbrush until he was 28. However, in 1967 he met George “Dord” Fitz, a university-trained artist and teacher who founded the Dord Fritz School of Art in Amarillo in 1953. “He taught me art for 21 years, until he passed away,” said Croc. “He told me, ‘You have a penchant for the creative. You need to claim your creative heritage. Everyone does.’ Most people go to their grave with their song still in them.” Croc traveled with Fitz to Greece, Egypt, and Italy. Together, they led tours in Flagstaff and Santa Fe with a class of 40 people, spending a week painting with a well-known artist. Every year throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s, the two men traveled to New York City to visit artists and museums.

In the late ‘80s, Croc acquired his nickname while volunteering as a scout master for the Boy Scouts. From December 30, 1987, to January 7, 1988, he accompanied 36 young men to the 16th

World Scout Jamboree in Australia. On the trip, he met a boy named Charles who owned a copy of the children’s book, Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile. “I [had] never heard of it, but he started calling me Crocodile Lile. So as a lark, I sent postcards home and signed them ‘Crocodile’ Lile,” Croc said. “I owned a Ford dealership, and the lady who did my radio ads said it was a natural. So, we did spots on the radio, and I’ve been Crocodile Lile ever since. Most people on Route 66 call me Croc.”

Besides his unforgettable nickname, Croc’s canine companions are also a draw that pulls people in off the street. Lady Lile is a beautiful, gentle Australian Shepherd — a natural as a greeter for the gallery for ten-and-a-half of her 14 years. The second eldest is Croc’s “guard dog,” Zeek, a two-yearold rescue Border Collie mix. The newest addition is Trooper, a one-year-old 20-pound mix. What’s he a combination of? Nobody knows, but he’s training to be a greeter, too. Whether Croc is working in his office or assisting patrons of the gallery, the trio of dogs is always present and gives the place a homey and playful atmosphere.

But the gallery’s true star is Croc’s Cadilite jewelry. In 2014, Croc happened upon an artist online who made Fordite jewelry from the remains of old car paint in the auto plants of Detroit. Inspired by the polished lacquer paint designs, Croc took some paint chips that he acquired from the graffiti at Cadillac Ranch, as is the custom with visitors at the attraction, and he got to work. This wasn’t the first time he made art out of the blocks of paint; he used them in the 26 mosaics that he created, but this was a different process. “It took me three months to work on my first piece because I’m not a jeweler and I had no idea what I was doing,” he said. “I’ve gotten better at it now, but I quit about 15 times. My wife encouraged me to keep going, and that was eight years ago.” He initially used a Grinnell tool and wet sanding to get the result that he wanted, but he switched to a flat-top lapidary machine with a diamond disc with water to keep it cool. The method change resulted in hundreds of hours saved to get the desired designs that are all one-of-a-kind and idiosyncratic in style. The pieces are set in sterling silver bracelets, necklaces, bolo ties, and other items.

The Cadilite jewelry has given Lile Art Gallery a constant stream of new customers from a seemingly endless material supply. He’s sold pieces worldwide, including to customers from Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and China, thanks to his website and Facebook page. As of 2022, he’s sold jewelry to customers in every state of the U.S. Seven days a week, eight hours a day, Croc is at his shop, dividing his time at the gallery between working on new pieces of jewelry, often multiple at once, and talking to customers who just may have been lured in by Lady “saying hello” at the door.

“I’ve been real fortunate to have an art gallery in Amarillo for 14 years, to be on 66, and to be involved with all the people I know,” Croc said. “Some wonderful people are making a living on Route 66, and I’m lucky to know most of them.”

So, the next time you’re in Amarillo, after you’ve sprayed some vintage vehicles and filled up on the wonderful adventure that the Big Texan offers, head on down to Sixth Avenue and pay a visit to the Lile Art Gallery. He’ll be glad you came, and so will you.

ALL OUR

HERITAGE

By Heide Brandes

Images courtesy of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum

he history of the American West fills volumes of fact and legend and left behind tens of thousands of photographs, freezing in time a huge array of both posed and authentic moments. A central figure in that history was the cowboy, a figure who lived on in dime novels, newspaper accounts, and legend itself. There is perhaps nowhere else on American soil that tells this saga more thoroughly than the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, a huge facility that is delightfully perched on a quiet hill in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Not just an “Oklahoma museum,” it was intended to be America’s first and most encompassing institution of Western history, art, and culture. When it was founded in 1955, the museum was imagined to be the most thorough collection and homage to Western art and artifacts available in the country while also creating educational programs to preserve interest in the enduring legacy of the American West. It has proved itself to be just that — a Western heritage museum for the nation and for the world — with its own story of stumbling blocks, fortunate coincidences, and incredible generosity to back it up.

“That Needs to Happen”

Chester Reynolds, president of the Lee Jeans company in Kansas City, Missouri, had once been a cowboy himself before working his way up through the ranks in a Lee Jeans factory. Concerned about the disappearing sense of western and cowboy heritage, he visited the Will Rogers Memorial Museum in Claremore, Oklahoma. He came away so impressed that the idea to create a national museum to celebrate the American Cowboy took root in his mind.

“In 1953, he made an announcement of his intention to explore this idea at Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo up in Wyoming,” explained Michael Grauer, McCasland Chair of Cowboy Culture & Curator of Cowboy Collections and Western Art at the museum. “All the cattlemen, cowboys, politicians, western performers, rodeo contestants, rodeo producers, and just everyone said, ‘Yeah! That needs to happen.’”

With support generated for a memorial, Reynolds hosted a meeting in January 1955 at the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver, Colorado. Representatives from 17 western states joined ranchers, rodeo organizers, western performers, and others to brainstorm how to create such an homage to Western heritage. By mid-February, the group sought bids from 46 cities interested in becoming the host city. Eventually, 10 finalists were chosen, including Oklahoma City.

“So these 10 sites rolled out the red carpet and brought in prominent people. Oklahoma City was one of the cities, but there were also cities in Texas, Wyoming, Kansas, Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, Arizona, and South Dakota,” Grauer said. “The tours took place in March, and by April, they

Twhittled it down to three finalists — Dodge City, Colorado Springs, and Oklahoma City.”

Reynolds wanted to ensure that the National Cowboy Hall of Fame (the original name for the museum) would be geographically prominent, preferably atop a hill. Oklahoma City’s Persimmon Hill, where the museum ultimately was constructed, also had Route 66 skirting right beside it. That famous Mother Road also checked Reynolds’ box to have the new museum accessible by all travel means, including car, train, and airline travel. Oklahoma City also offered tax or financial incentives to build there, but ultimately could not deliver on them.

The site on Persimmon Hill was dedicated in November 1955 to an optimistic crowd. That initial year, the city and the board held the first induction ceremony before a single building was even built. As dirt was symbolically turned, the board inducted cattleman Charles Goodnight, cowboy philosopher Will Rogers, Western artist Charlie Russell, and rodeo innovator Jake McClure. And they were just beginning. It was an exciting time.

“That set the stage for the future of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame to include a cattleman, an entertainer, a public figure, an artist, and a rodeo guy, because rodeo has been essential to us,” Grauer said. “That same year in 1955, we established the National Rodeo Hall of Fame alongside the National Cowboy Hall of Fame.”

A Ten-Year Opening

Despite its shotgun start, funding, building, and growing the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum was rife with difficulties, taking 10 years to finish construction. “The museum was always envisioned as a national institution, not just belonging to Oklahoma. It belongs to the country and, ultimately, the world. With that in mind, [they] put out an appeal nationwide for people to donate,” Grauer said. When the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) began in 1959, the museum organizers immediately saw the potential of a partnership. “They said, ‘We gotta get these two together.’ When the NFR finally came to Oklahoma City in 1965, the museum was a sponsor. We are hand in glove with the National Professional Rodeo.”

A national design search, orchestrated by Oklahoma firm Sorey Hill Sorey, was conducted, and a Michigan architectural firm, Begrow & Barn, was awarded the contract with Sorey Hill Sorey as associate architect. The 80,000-square-foot museum officially opened on June 26, 1965, to great fanfare. Legendary Western screen star John Wayne acted as Master of Ceremonies, riding a horse through the streets of Oklahoma City to cut the ribbon and officially open the doors of the new institution.

“We opened to the public in 1965, but we didn’t own anything. We were a museum with nothing in it,” Grauer said. “All the effort was put into building the place, but not stocking the shelves, not populating it with artifacts.”

Reynolds, the original dreamer of the museum, did not live to see the National Cowboy Hall of Fame & Western Heritage Center open in 1965. He remained involved in the planning, construction and fundraising after Oklahoma City

won the site competition until his ill health forced him to step aside in 1957. He passed away on December 11, 1958, but his memory lives on within the building’s walls. Named in honor of Reynolds, the “Chester A. Reynolds Memorial Award” is awarded each year during the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum’s Western Heritage Awards.

Populating it With Artifacts

Ironically, one of the most important pieces — and surely one of the most recognizable — that the museum would acquire arrived in the late 1960s. That was the massive “End of the Trail’’ sculpture by James Earle Fraser, who spent much of his childhood growing up in South Dakota and observing American Indian culture. After attending the Art Institute in Chicago and working on the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, Fraser was inspired to create the impactful “End of the Trail” in 1894. He would note in his memoir that he recalled an old Dakota fur trapper telling him, ‘The Indians will someday be pushed into the Pacific Ocean.’ A large plaster version of the now famous statue was completed and shown in 1915 and moved in 1919 to Mooney Grove Park in Visalia, California. It was finally moved to the museum in 1968 and lovingly restored.

Slowly, the collection grew. One of the first exhibitions at the museum were art objects by renowned Western artists Frederick Remington and Charlie Russell, but everything was borrowed from either commercial galleries in New York or from other institutions, like the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa.

The rodeo exhibits were borrowed from contestants, who loaned out saddles, trophies, and gear.

“People started donating, but not in any sort of systematic or large-scale way. So our first few years were about putting on exhibits of mostly borrowed stuff,” Grauer said. “The second year, in 1966, we started hosting the annual exhibition of the newly formed Cowboy Artists of America. The partnership with the CAA created, by way of commission on sales, a revenue stream to fund the museum.”

The Cowboy Artists of America show moved on, but the annual exhibition eventually evolved into the National Academy of Western Art, which in turn evolved into what’s now called the Prix de West art show, which funds the museum operations. (Today, as a longstanding tradition, the museum purchases one piece of art each year, known as the Prix de West Purchase Award Winner.)

Through the ‘80s and ‘90s, several major collections were donated to the museum. First, in the ‘80s, the museum acquired a several-hundred-piece Gaucho collection from Uruguay and Argentina, allowing for a major museum-wide installation on the gauchos of the Pampas.

Then in 1991, the museum acquired the Joe Ruiz Grandee collection, a move that Grauer said put the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum on the map. “Grandee collected things to help him with his paintings, but he also went beyond that to collect probably the finest material culture collection on the American West anywhere. He had items from mountain men, fur trappers, Plains Indians, the frontier army, and working cowboy materials. With that

The Jack and Phoebe Cooke American Cowboy Gallery.

acquisition, we can tell the cowboy story far better and with far more depth than any institution in the world.”

Also in the 1990s, the museum acquired the collection of Oklahoma City natives Arthur and Shifra Silberman, who founded the Native American Painting Reference Library in 1975 to collect and preserve the history of Native American art. In addition to the extensive archival materials, there is also a significant collection of artwork and books.

“They created probably the finest collection of Native American, two-dimensional art in the country, if not the world. Because not only is the quality of the work and the volume there, they were also very interested in archival materials related to these Native American artists,” Grauer said. “That allowed us to tell the Native American story in a much broader and much better way.”

Also in the 1990s, the museum changed its name to The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, but that move came with some controversy. Some of the directors felt the word “cowboy” should be removed; others, like Oklahoma philanthropist and media mogul Eddie Gaylord, insisted that the word “cowboy” remain in the title. “The Rodeo Collection continued to grow largely through loans and some donations of artifacts. That working cowboy story was difficult to tell because we didn’t have the breadth and depth that you needed to tell that story. That’s why this place started to be seen as an art museum,” said Grauer. “It’s not an art museum. It’s a history museum with a spectacular art collection. Nevertheless, it is still a history museum because that’s the bulk of the artifacts.”

Into the 21st Century

Another important addition to the collections arrived in 2008 — the enormous popular culture collection of Glen Shirley from Tulsa, retired policeman and historian of the West, especially of lawmen and outlaws. Throughout the years, the museum grew to become the first-class Western heritage museum and gallery it is today. With 12 galleries ranging from Native American art and culture to firearms and the Museum of the Frontier West, The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum boasts more than 28,000 Western and American Indian artworks and artifacts in its collection. And the Dickinson Research Center provides access to the Museum’s archival and library collections, including more than 80,000 historical photographs.

Two staff members, with an enormous amount of collective knowledge and experience, brought on board in 2018 (Michael Grauer) and in 2022 (Pat Fitzgerald), might be considered two of the museum’s most significant acquisitions. Grauer is as passionate about cowboy culture as they come — his office

walls are covered in Western art, and cowboy hats lounge about the space. He holds two bachelors and two masters degrees and has written three books. Although he began his career at the Smithsonian Art Museum, when a position opened at the museum, he fit the saddle perfectly. Fitzgerald, an Oklahoma native, returned to his home state from California in 2016, after holding lead roles at Campbell Soup, Citibank, Disney, and Apple iTunes. But he has fond memories of the museum both from his childhood and bringing his own family here years later.

For Fitzgerald, the future of the museum is about guest experience and making the West come alive in visceral ways for all generations. He wants guests to experience the West, not just “look at it.”

“I want to make this bigger than Oklahoma and get involved with the national education piece,” said Fitzgerald. “How do we take this brand that we have, which is the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, and reach out into a global sphere?”

For Fitzgerald, storytelling and giving guests a chance to be a part of the museum will be the focus for the future. “We want to tell these rich and important stories. There are stories that are not fun, but these are important stories of our heritage and of our culture and of the past. We want to learn from the mistakes of the past, because the past isn’t always rosy,” he said. “It’s not always great how we did things, you know, so we want to learn from that.”

New partnerships are also on board, specifically with the new First Americans Museum (FAM) in Oklahoma City, which tells the collective stories of Oklahoma’s 39 recognized Native American tribes. “The Native American tribes here are outstanding and the FAM museum is outstanding. The Chickasaw Nation and several of the tribes are also big investors in our museum and donors here,” Fitzgerald said. “So, we work hand-in-hand together to tell the stories. They make sure that our stories are not forgotten, and that they are relevant and experienced by people of all ages.”

Today, The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum is a private non-profit organization. It receives no federal, state, county, or city monies, but instead, survives on the love of the Old West in the form of donations, support and visitors.

What started as a big dream with few actual artifacts and a dearth of funding has now become one of the nation’s most impressive museums. Since its opening, more than 10 million visitors from around the world have explored the American West through the museum’s collection of classic and contemporary Western art, including works by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell, as well as sculptor James Earle Fraser’s unforgettable sculpture, The End of the Trail. The exhibition wing houses a turn-of-the-century town and interactive history galleries that focus on the American cowboy, rodeos, Native American culture, Victorian firearms, frontier military, and Western performers.

The American West isn’t just a thing of the past. It’s not dusty and forgotten like an old pair of boots, but a living, breathing, and constantly evolving culture that still exists in today’s modern world, just as much as in the days of carriages, cattle drives, and frontier towns. It’s also changing too, and in the future, the past and the present will lasso together more dynamic exhibitions, educational opportunities, and artwork that keeps the American cowboy and the Western legacy alive and well — just as Chester A. Reynolds intended.

The Williams Companies Western Performers Gallery.

GIANTS IN

THE FIELD

Photograph by Brennen Matthews

Route 66 is home to a great many reasons to slow down and pull off the tarmac. Many of these have been featured in books and magazines, on television shows and a plethora of online sites, but sometimes it is the more subtle, unexpected places that really delight us as they appear magically on the horizon without expectation. Down in quiet Calumet, a farming area in Western Oklahoma, about 45 miles west of Oklahoma City, stand a few characters who seem to rise out of the lonely dry fields as a welcome to the region.

As travelers placidly head along the old road, perhaps lost in the never-ending fields and immense blue sky, three figures — a whopping 18-feet-tall each — suddenly appear. Twodimensional in stature, they are wooden cutouts, a tribute to muffler men giants that harken travelers back to the 1960s: Paul Bunyan, Uniroyal Gal, and a Gas Station Attendant doing the twist, each smile and wave, beaming in the warmth of the day, delighting passing motorists. And the crazy thing is that, while a little under the radar, they’ve been there since 2019. Molded fiberglass sculptures — muffler men — were created chiefly between 1963 and 1972 by International Fiberglass, a company in Venice, California, and were intended to be roadside attractions that would catch the attention of motorists as they traveled here and there. They were a larger-than-life business card if you will. Most have since vanished, with the changing of time — there are currently fewer than 200 that are still standing — but one of them was thankfully seen by muralist and self-proclaimed “Giant Cut-Out Artist” John Cerney. The result? A brandnew Mother Road attraction in the most unlikely of places.

One day, in 2018, while traveling to Los Angeles on a mural assignment, Cerney unexpectedly passed by a giant: the Porsche Muffler Man (Previously “Golf Guy” and, as of 2020, “Porsche Drive Coach”) just outside the Porsche Experience Center in Carson, California. Having remembered the twenty-foot-tall figure carrying a golf club outside a previous business, Dominguez Hills Golf Course, back in 1983, Cerney was inspired to make one (or three) of his own. However, knowing that he would have trouble finding a benefactor — it can be an expensive process to construct a giant, of course — Cerney decided to develop and donate the project himself.

The artist quickly got to work developing this passion project. But this was not his first rodeo. Cerney, famed for his roadside art, got his start with wall murals before delving further into the field and is perhaps most famous for his awesome roadside cutouts of James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor down in Marfa, Texas, a tribute to the iconic film, Giant .

Aware that he would need some help, Cerney hired Scott Farmer of Sculpture Island to create 3D sculptures of the muffler men, which Cerney used as a reference to paint the cutouts. He chose Paul Bunyan because he was the original muffler man; he went with Uniroyal Gal to have some diversity in the group and not have them all be men; she was also modeled after Nitro Girl in New Jersey, and he selected

a gas station attendant, but as a nod to Chubby Checker and perhaps the times, the gent is smiling and doing the twist. The reason behind his dancing was to break away from the strict pose that the muffler men often have.

The art installation was completed on November 14, 2019, and only took Cerney about three weeks to complete, roughly one week per figure. With each cutout completed, it only became a matter of where to put them. But this wasn’t an unusual task for Cerney. Once he creates his murals, part of the joy is deciding where to put them.

“I like them to be a surprise. Preferably at the edge of town, not in the middle of it. I want people to drive from point A to B, come across this thing I’ve made, and have it affect their day for a few minutes. The surprise is what makes it fun.”

He asked around and tried to find a great place to plant them. Strategically, he got help from Joel Baker of American Giants to scout for locations — American Giants is written on Bunyan’s axe as a thank you — and in September 2019 he put out a call for suggestions on the Phlash Phelps Sirius XM Show. Lucky for him, Mary Beth Babcock, owner of Buck Atom’s Cosmic Curios on Route 66, in Tulsa, was listening to the show and attempted to aid him in finding a location. From there, she contacted Rhys Martin, President of the Oklahoma Route 66 Association, who called Lt. Governor Matt Pinnell, who had a friend, David Von Tungeln, who agreed to host the cutouts on his farm, and even helped dig the holes via his farm tractor. It all came down to knowing a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy. After that, it was just a matter of getting the cutouts from Salinas, California, to Calumet, Oklahoma, and installing them with a six-person team.

After a three-day drive from much warmer California, the installation took two days. The team worked in 18-degree weather and 40-mile-per-hour winds on the first day. It warmed to a blistering 30 degrees on the second day. And the total cost, well, that came to around $18,000, but Cerney wasn’t in it for the money. He was simply excited to create the wonderful cutouts and offer his simple but effective tribute to muffler men giants and Route 66.

“I make my living with commissions from businesses and private citizens, but I constantly get the itch to create my own projects that no one is asking for, but that I think deserve a place to be seen. I didn’t have much of a connection with Route 66, other than stretches in California growing up, but it was the romantic images of travel, the TV show from the 1960s, and the Nat King Cole song that left the idea of Route 66 on my mind.”

As a result of all of the hard work, the trio are there now, a perfect addition to an everchanging highway. If you think about it, the entire process was as Route 66 as can be. A motorist happened upon a muffler man giant — a beacon from almost 50 years before — and was so taken by its unique allure that he is driven to recreate its magic and add his own stamp upon a road that has always welcomed change. A road that continues to attract visitors on the hunt for the perfect quirky roadside attraction.

A TASTE OF

Photograph by David J. Schwartz - Pics On Route 66

CULTURE

Route 66 is home to a bountiful share of amazing dining experiences, there is no doubt of that. And the diversity of food selection is just as great, but it would have to be. The historic highway cuts through eight distinct states that each boast of their own history and culture and of course, culinary delights. But down in Tulsa, Oklahoma, among the many choices in the “Oil Capital of the World,” a local family-owned eatery, nestled in between downtown and mid-town Tulsa, stands apart. Right on Route 66, the El Rancho Grande, housed in a 1920s era red brick building, with its iconic neon sign of a colorful vaquero, spotting a sombrero, lassoing the eatery’s name, while forming the letters ‘EL’, has been feeding both locals and travelers at this location for 70 years.

First opened in 1950 by Spanish national Ruby Almendares Rodrigues, the original location of the venue started off at 621 S. Boulder Avenue near the Holy Family Cathedral, a little ways from the then-busy Mother Road. Rodrigues had immigrated to Tulsa from Sonora state in Mexico and her new venture was considered the first Latino-Latina-operated restaurant in the city, serving authentic Mexican food. A few years later in 1953, in a move that would ultimately pay off, Rodrigues relocated the eatery to a building at 1629 E. 11th Street, aka Route 66. This was the time when Tulsa was growing into a thriving metropolis, when the Golden Driller statue was created and displayed at the International Petroleum Exposition and when the Mother Road was a magical stretch of mom-andpop stores, gas stations, motels, and diners. The El Rancho Grande fit right in.

The eatery’s new home, a picturesque two-story building, was originally built and operated by John J. Leyh and his wife, Maude, in 1921. Leyh had his grocery store on the first floor and apartments above. It then became the Theo Wilkes barbershop, followed by a restaurant — House a Plenty — before finally becoming home to El Rancho Grande. The location couldn’t have been more perfect; as the first Mexican restaurant that motorists heading West on Route 66 would encounter in Tulsa, it became a pivotal opportunity for travelers to sample Tex-Mex cuisine for the first time. With the help of the late Inez “Larry” Lara, a San Antonio native who became the main cook, the El Rancho Grande became a local and traveler must stop, and one of Tulsa’s most respected eateries.

The early 1970s saw a lot happening in the Rodrigues family. Rodrigues’ husband, Francisco, a railroad worker by profession, sadly passed away in 1971, and Rodrigues retired, leaving her two daughters and Larry to carry on the businesses. In her retirement, Rodrigues devoted much of her time to volunteer work with churches, before she herself passed in 2005 at age 96. It was during these early 1970s that Jeff Walden Sr., businessman and a petroleum engineer who would start his own company, Walden Oil Co. in 1980, bought the old Leyh building.

“My dad bought the building in the mid-70s as a real estate investment,” said current co-owner John Walden. “He rented out the four upstairs apartments and rented the restaurant to the Rodrigues family. On occasion, I would collect the rent from Mrs. Rodrigues.”

By this time, the star on Route 66 had been falling fast. The interstate system diverted traffic from the old road and

many businesses on that stretch and all along the Mother Road went into decline. Tulsa’s 11th Street became a sort of Red-Light District. By 1982, the El Rancho Grande, the onetime Route 66 icon, had closed, seemingly for good. That is until Walden Sr. decided to buy the restaurant which had gone into auction. In 1984, Jeff Walden Sr., together with his wife Ann, moved his oil company’s office upstairs, and reopened the El Rancho Grande on the first floor, carrying on its tradition of serving great Mexican food fare.

“When my dad transitioned as the owner of the restaurant in 1984, everyone in our family worked there on and off during different periods of time. My brother, Jeff Walden Jr., and I took on the challenge of ownership in 2006. We always knew the potential of this business, with its history, food, and people,” explained Walden.

The Waldens attempted to retain as many of the original employees as possible through the transition, with one in particular remaining a significant factor in the restaurant’s popularity. Salvador Gomez’s welcoming attitude and ability to greet customers by name made him incredibly popular with the regulars. “He retired in 2018, after 41 years of amazing service,” said Walden. “He is a great man, and we are so honored that he dedicated his career to El Rancho Grande. That is really unheard of today, in any field, especially in restaurants.”

Though the ambiance has stayed the same, the building has undergone some renovations. In 2009, the distinctive sign was taken down and the neon removed from it long enough to give the sign some needed work. Repainted and reinstalled, a sign re-lighting celebration was held in August 2009. Being former remodeling contractors, the Walden brothers have done a lot of interior work, removing the dark carpet and paneled walls, laying the floor tile, and chipping away the plaster to expose the original brick walls. Their genuine passion project, however, took place between 2016 and 2017, when they gutted the four apartments above the restaurant to create the upstairs cantina, which can now hold another hundred patrons. The restaurant’s small outdoor patio overlooks midtown in three directions.

What began as a modest establishment in the 1950s has become a true Tulsa institution. In 2019, Tulsa World celebrated the eatery as having the best margarita in Tulsa, in the paper’s “Best in the World” competition. Celebrities including Frank Fritz of American Pickers , Leon Russell, and even Elvis Presley have visited. But that’s not to take away from the locals who stop in weekly, some of whom grew up with El Rancho Grande in the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s, who now bring in their own kids and grandkids, a privilege that is not lost on the owners.

“El Rancho Grande will be celebrating 70 years of service in this same Route 66 location in 2023,” said Walden, “We are proud to continue the Tulsa tradition of true Tex-Mex with friendly service in a great atmosphere. The addition of our upstairs cantina gives Tulsans a whole new reason to come back.”

The restaurant may have gotten a facelift, but its food, service, and reputation as a true family-owned restaurant would make Ruby Rodrigues proud, as her original El Rancho Grande sign continues to glow like a beacon on Route 66.

HISTORICAL SHAMROCK

The town of Shamrock, Texas, a municipality of fewer than 1,800 people, is possibly most well-known for its famous Conoco Tower Station & U-Drop Inn Cafe — so much so that its art deco design was replicated for Ramone’s House of Body Art in the hugely successful Pixar film, Cars. Undeniably, along the Mother Road, it’s a great stop. However, there’s another spot, a small service station less than a mile south of it, that also salutes the town’s wonderful history. Located on the corner of 2nd and Madden Street, the Magnolia Gas Station’s gravity-fed gas pumps no longer fill car tanks, but the site actually predates the U-Drop Inn by seven years and carries the visual splendor of classic Americana in the heydays of Route 66.

The station was developed by the Magnolia Petroleum Company, a company later acquired by Standard Oil of New York. Or, as it’s known today: Mobil. The company had much business in Wheeler County for several years. Because of that, they decided to build a station that was more widely accessible from the community’s business district. Construction began in March 1929 by the Blake brothers, who were local contractors in the area. Per the specifications of Magnolia’s gas stations, the station’s size became 24 by 60 feet, with speckled buff brick and equipped with the latest technology in modern conveniences at the time, such as hydraulic greasing facilities and a wash rack. The station had its grand opening on May 18, 1929, with each customer receiving a “worthwhile” gift — history does not remember what they received — and a service card worth one dollar.

The town’s chamber of commerce rerouted the Postal Highway — designated State Highway No. 75 in 1923, then eventually Route 66 — to go through the city’s business district in 1924. Before this, most tourists would bypass Shamrock because the route was two blocks north of town. “Even though Route 66 was three years old when the Magnolia Station was built, it was still in its infancy, as was its development commercially in Shamrock,” said town historian Mickey Mitchell. “While there was some

development on Route 66, I suspect that many tourists during that time would still take the old postal highway route through the commercial portion of town.” Because of this effort by the chamber of commerce, businesses started moving nearer to the Magnolia Station, including Reynolds Hotel, which would eventually become the Pioneer West Museum. The station was just one block away from Main Street, so it became an ideal location for business.

“The paving, especially of U.S. Highway 66, impacted our community tremendously and continues even today. Many businesses began to locate on Route 66. There were numerous service stations that would spring up on 66. Eventually, at its peak, there were over 25 service stations in our little town, with most of those located on Route 66,” said Mitchell. It’s unknown when the location stopped operating as a service station or when it ceased being company-owned, but it’s estimated to be between 1945 and 1959. By 1959, the building was purchased to be used as an office for E.C. Hunter, the owner of Hunter’s Department Store, who also did business in real estate. The details of the station’s history become fuzzy after that point, but the final owners were Bill and Carolyn Potter, who bought the shop in 1992 and operated it as a tanning business called Carolyn’s European Tan.

In May 2002, the property became part of the Pioneer West Museum. A restoration followed, led by Donald Vearner, a respected member of the community. To assist with the restoration, Vearner hired local muralist, Tye Thompson, who wanted to be involved after he saw the progress on the building. His contributions included the lettering and the Magnolia red Pegasus. The restoration was completed around 2005.

While no longer in business as a functioning filling station, the Magnolia Gas Station has become a popular attraction among tourists passing through Shamrock. The location acts as a time capsule to show passersbys how much the world has changed in the nearly 100 years since it was built. And yet, in this quiet little corner of Texas, much has also, thankfully, remained the same.

Illustration by Chandler O’Leary.

THE CHASE PARK PLAZA ROYAL SONESTA ST. LOUIS

A historic, 100-year young Landmark Hotel located in the heart of St. Louis’ Central West End neighborhood. Often referred to as a “city within the city,” the hotel features three on-site restaurants, a 5-screen movie theater to enjoy new releases, outdoor heated swimming pool, 18,000+ square foot fitness center, barber shop, and so much more. Discover endless options for dining, shopping and entertainment within steps of the hotel. Across the street is Forest Park, home to three museums and the famous Saint Louis Zoo, all of which are free to enter. Additionally, you can find miles of jogging trails, golf courses, a seasonal ice skating rink, and The Muny amphitheater.

Jennifer MULLINS

Oklahoma is the namesake of a classic Broadway musical, and not many states can say that. The highways and byways could lead a traveler from Great Salt Plains State Park to Centennial Plaza Brick Wall Mural. It’s a state that is filled to the brim with things to see and do, not to mention Historic Route 66, a hotbed of attractions itself. And Oklahoma takes its section of Mother Road very seriously. Oklahoma is in some ways best known for its roadside attractions: the Big Blue Whale in Catoosa, Ed Galloway’s Totem Pole Park in Foyil, two fabulous Route 66 museums, the Round Barn and POPS on 66 in Arcadia, and so much more. And the very capable lady in charge of showcasing it all is none other than Jennifer Mullins.

What is the most memorable place you’ve visited in America?

Point of Rocks in Brewster, MA. Along Route 66? Tulsa Driller. What did you want to be when you grew up? A dancer. Who has caused you to be starstruck? Most recently, Scotty Nguyen. What characteristic do you respect the most in others? Integrity. Dislike in others? “I” mentality. What characteristic do you dislike in yourself? Insecurity. Who would you want to play you in a film based on your life? Sandra Bullock. Talent that you WISH you had? Singing. Best piece of advice you’ve ever received? Keep learning. Best part about getting older? Self-assurance. What would the title of your memoir be? Curious. First music concert ever attended? Jefferson Airplane, age two. What is your greatest extravagance? Travel. What is the weirdest roadside attraction you’ve ever seen? Goldwell Open Air Museum in Rhyolite, NV. Most unexpected attraction in Oklahoma? Robbers Cave State Park. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? I would have unlimited energy. What do you consider your greatest achievement? My desire to keep growing. Most memorable gift you were ever given? Time. What is the secret to a happy life? Don’t compare yourself to others. What breaks your heart? Animal neglect and abuse. What is the last TV show you binge watched? Shining Girls. What is your favorite song?

Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay

What is your favorite musical artist? U2. What is still on your bucket list? Swimming with whale sharks. What do you wish you knew more about? How my son’s brain works. Best coffee shop in Oklahoma City? Any, with a friend or a good book. What is something you think everyone should do at least once in their lives? Cultural immersion in a foreign country. What fad or trend do you hope comes back? Chinese jump rope. Strangest experience while on a road trip? Calf fries. What movie title best describes your life? It’s a Wonderful Life. First celebrity crush? River Phoenix. Ghost town or big city person? Big city. What does a perfect day look like to you? Outdoor adventure with my husband, son, and puppies. Which historical figure — alive or dead — would you most like to meet? Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Where would you like to visit but haven’t yet in Oklahoma? Old West Buffalo. What meal can you not live without?

Pizza. Bizarre talent that you have that most people don’t know about? I’m very flexible. What surprises you most about people? Change apathy. What makes you laugh? Catching my son doing goofy stuff. What do you think is the most important life lesson for someone to learn? Listening with the intent to understand. What is one thing you have always wanted to try, but have been too afraid to? Language immersion study. What do you want to be remembered for? Lifting others up.

Illustration: Jennifer Mallon.

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.®