ROUTE - October / November 2021

ROUTE THE MAGAZINE THAT CELEBRATES ROAD TRAVEL, VINTAGE AMERICANA AND ROUTE 66

Texola’s Tumbleweed Grill

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LIGHTING THE SHAMROCK NIGHT: THE ICONIC CONOCO STATION ROLLA’S HISTORIC TOTEM POLE TRADING POST

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Oklahoma Route 66 Museum Ready to embark on a multisensory trip through Americana culture? This museum in Clinton pays homage to the history of transportation and the Mother Road. It also contains the world’s largest curio cabinet!

Before you go, order a free Route 66 Guide & Passport at TravelOK.com.

Collect all 66 stamps along the way!

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Mother Road Market

Hungry ... but indecisive? This Tulsa food hall offers an array of local restaurants — from sushi and street tacos to pizza and pancakes!

Ready to rock that road-trip glow?

Browse more Route 66 itineraries that’ll leave you beaming at Travel

Oklahoma History Center

Soar over to Oklahoma City’s history hub, home to this replica of Wiley Post’s famous airplane and more fascinating artifacts.

.com.

Bluebird Inn

Cruisin’ for some snoozin’? Head to Elk City! Each of the three rooms’ charming décor is inspired by a special woman in the owner’s life.

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Chicago

Willowbrook

Romeoville

Joilet

Joilet

Wilmington

Braidwood

Dwight

Pontiac

Pontiac

www.TheFirstHundredMiles.com

In 1889 a shot rang out.

A land run started.

And El Reno, Oklahoma would become the front door to the American West.

Photo courtesy of Canadian County Museum.

Historic El Reno, Oklahoma, where the glamour of Route 66 meets the Old West drama of the Chisholm Trail. Where the world’s largest fried onion hamburger is celebrated, and where you can ride a rail-based trolley through historic downtown. Nearby Fort Reno is home to the colorful U.S. Cavalry Museum, as well as the graves of Buffalo Soldiers, Indian scouts and World War II prisoners of war. For information, visit www.elrenotourism.com.

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CONTENTS

Illinois Route 66 is perfect in the Fall. Photograph by David J. Schwartz – Pics On Route 66.

24 Under the Texan Sky

By Cheryl Eichar Jett Shamrock got lucky when all the stars in the bright Texas sky aligned to bring together an idea, a location, the builders, and the architect in 1936 to produce the Art Deco dream that is the Tower Station and U-Drop Inn. With a $1.7 million restoration and the cafe just reopened, it's one of the most treasured destinations along the Panhandle's stretch of Route 66.

34 The Last Stop

By Jessica Allen Colorfully standing out against the faded ghost town of Texola, a village occupying a small space on the OklahomaTexas border, is the Tumbleweed Grill and Country Store.

Inside the pint-size vintage building, unexpected surprises of warm hospitality and homemade fare are offered by its equally colorful owner, Masel Zimmerman. But how she came upon this old venue is quite the fateful story.

42 A Conversation with Ralph Macchio

By Brennen Matthews From The Outsiders to The Karate Kid, Ralph Macchio’s amazing acting career has entered a new chapter with the hit show Cobra Kai, a reboot series based of the classic The Karate Kid film. We sit down with Ralph Macchio and discuss his hit movies, his thoughts on Middle America, his roles as father and husband, and the success of Cobra Kai.

48 Rolla’s Totem Pole

By JD Mahoney With a rich history of 88 years and three different locations, the Totem Pole Trading Post claims to be the oldest business in continuous operation on Missouri’s winding stretch of Route 66. The Jones family has been welcoming 66ers with open 8 ROUTE Magazine

arms for 64 of those years, and they have a plethora of stories to share and a “hodge-podgery” of merchandise to show you.

60 Mid-Century Charm

By Cherwyn Cole Few businesses can boast 117 years of same-family operation, but Deck’s Drug Store in Girard, Illinois, was legendary. After the Deck brothers retired, Robert and Renae Ernst took over, dubbing it Doc’s Soda Fountain and Deck Pharmacy Museum, offering lunch, dessert, and a display of pharmacy artifacts.

This is a true classic Americana story if there ever was one.

68 Rockin’ Flagstaff

By Holly Riddle The Museum Club has held its one-of-a-kind status as a mustvisit venue in Flagstaff, Arizona, since 1931. Not too many attractions transition from a taxidermy museum and trading post to a live music venue, but that's it’s true story. Today, the building has become a colorful blend of each of its past lives, lending itself as the perfect Arizona road trip stop.

ON THE COVER Route 66 Motel, Barstow, CA. Photograph by Unai Huizi.

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EDITORIAL As I write, the leaves have already started to change from verdant green to bright reds, yellows, and oranges. The air is getting cooler in the mornings and evenings, a certain confirmation that another Summer is behind us, and Fall is at our doorstep.

I was thinking this morning about US road travel and how different the seasons make each experience, even at places that may be more familiar. Route 66 is a dream in the Summer with its blazing sun and impossibly optimistic atmosphere. Summer always creates a euphoric drive for adventure and exploration. The Fall however is oddly comforting. A trip down the Mother Road in Autumn carries a more serious — not somber — feeling. The majority of the people that you meet are residents along the road and businesses that were thriving only weeks earlier are now a little quieter. The road feels a little more authentic. I love the Fall after a busy hot Summer. There is a feeling of starting fresh.

In this issue, we feature a few people and places that understand the idea of needing a new beginning. Each of the featured spots have had multiple lives and starts and are still around to welcome patrons and visitors to join in their journey.

The Totem Pole Trading Post has been moved more than once during its lifetime but has always stood out along Missouri’s picturesque stretch of Route 66. It is an interesting tale that harkens back to the larger-than-life trading posts that used to dot the road. Most are gone now, especially east of New Mexico, but this location still thrives, thanks mostly to one family who has managed to roll with the numerous changes that the decades have brought.

One of the best parts of Illinois’ section of the Mother Road are the numerous small towns that make up the highway through the state. Each one has a vibrant, intriguing history that denotes its simple but important past. And most have a town square with an ornate courthouse, a local coffee shop, and a few quaint little shops that speak to those hankering for a touch of nostalgia. But down in Girard, only 30 minutes south of historic Springfield, stands a business that is unique. Doc’s Soda Fountain offers visitors an opportunity not just for a tasty meal, but for a trip into the past. Discover a less talked about stop in Illinois that has a fascinating story that you will be glad to know.

Sometimes destinations along America’s Main Street are undeniably linked to the people who own them. Down in the little ghost town of Texola, Oklahoma, a short walk from the Texan border, a visit to the Tumbleweed Grill is as much for the food as it is for the woman behind the historic spot, Masel Zimmerman. Little is known about the town’s colorful history and even less about the Last Stop, but culture, art, and history buffs can explore the area and get acquainted with a small piece of Oklahoma’s almost-lost past. Zimmerman’s passion and dedication to the town and Route 66 lend a glimmer of hope to Texola’s future.

These stories and much more fill this issue of ROUTE Magazine. We are delighted to have you with us on the journey and hope that you will spend some time with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, as well. Remember to visit us online. We have a lot of unique content on these platforms too — we don’t want you to miss a single story!

Safe travels, Brennen Matthews Editor

ROUTE PUBLISHER Thin Tread Media EDITOR Brennen Matthews DEPUTY EDITOR Kate Wambui ASSOCIATE EDITOR Cheryl Eichar Jett EDITOR-AT-LARGE Nick Gerlich LEAD EDITORIAL PHOTOGRAPHER David J. Schwartz LAYOUT AND DESIGN Tom Heffron EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Theresa Romano DIGITAL Matheus Alves ILLUSTRATOR Jennifer Mallon CONTRIBUTORS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS Cherwyn Cole Danielle Levitt Dr. T. Lindsay Baker Efren Lopez/Route66Images Holly Riddle JD Mahoney Jessica Allen John Smith Kerrick James Marlow Chamber of Commerce, Marlow, OK Netflix Unai Huizi

Editorial submissions should be sent to brennen@routemagazine.us To subscribe visit www.routemagazine.us.

Advertising inquiries should be sent to advertising@routemagazine.us or call 905 399 9912.

ROUTE is published six times per year by Thin Tread Media.

No part of this publication may be copied or reprinted without the written consent of the publisher.

The views expressed by the contributors are not necessarily those of the publisher, editor or staff. ROUTE does not take any responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or photography.

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CELEBRATE: CARLSBAD, NEW MEXICO Bringing the Farm to the City weekly, Pumpkin Patch family fun every weekend, The 10th annual Winter & Wine Festival and Nightly Christmas on the Pecos boat tours of twinkling lights, Carlsbad has everything you need to celebrate this holiday season.

VISIT CARLSBAD, NEW MEXICO, WHERE CELEBRATIONS ARE ENDLESS! WWW.CHRISTMASONTHEPECOS.COM WWW.CARLSBADNMWINEFESTIVAL.COM

Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce 302 S Canal • Carlsbad, NM 88220 • 575-887-6516 tourism@carlsbadchamber.com Paid in part by Carlsbad lodgers tax.

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here’s gold in Oklahoma City, and it’s right along an old alignment of Route 66. Built in 1958, the Gold Dome is an architectural oddity that stands out not just along the Mother Road, but across the nation.

The 1950s were a period of unbridled optimism in the US. After the Depression of the 1930s, and after nearly four years of involvement in WWII, America was eager to turn the page and start anew. The future was where it was at, not the past.

Car culture took the driver’s seat, soldiers married their sweethearts and started families, the suburbs rose in prominence, and architecture began to reflect this optimism.

Googie architecture, with its whimsical fonts and shapes, saw designers developing buildings with over-the-top boomerangs and batwings, as well as use of the geodesic dome for which the Gold Dome is renowned. While geodesic domes had been invented in the 1940s, it was when futurism took hold that they started to become popular.

In 1948, Citizens State Bank opened on NW23rd Street, in what was a rapidly growing area of town. The bank grew with it, adding on and even building a second structure.

By the mid-1950s, though, it became apparent to the bank’s board that something even bigger was needed. They purchased one city block and commissioned the architectural firm Bailey, Bozalis, Dickinson & Roloff to design something that was very optimistic and future oriented.

They settled on architect Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic dome and went with an anodized aluminum roof topping 625 panels. The gold finish, though, was the icing on the hemisphere, so to speak. Citizens was thrilled with the result and began billing itself as “the bank of tomorrow.”

“Take a look at architect Fuller’s other work and you’ll see what I mean. The Gold Dome dates back to the late 1950s and it still looks like the future,” said Rhys Martin, President of the Oklahoma Route 66 Association. “The structure is stunning and has a deep architectural history.”

But the Gold Dome did not remain a bank forever. It was bought out by Bank One, who decided in 2001 that it wanted to demolish the structure and sell the land to a national drug store chain. Public outcry ensued, and Citizens For The Gold Dome was formed in protest. They were able to forestall demolition.

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After Bank One’s departure, the Gold Dome has provided office space, been an art gallery, and even been a restaurant.

Located along the south side of Oklahoma City’s Asian district, it has long been a favorite of architectural historians and Route 66 fans alike.

Standing on the corner of NW23rd Street and Classen Boulevard, the Dome has a ringside view of where two shortlived alignments of 66 turned northward, one onto Classen toward the famous Milk Bottle store (1926-1930), the other on Western Avenue (1930-1933). It was 23rd Street, though, that got its kicks on 66, one section or another, from 1926 through 1954.

Thus, while the Gold Dome did not come along until four years after 66 had been moved to the much faster Northwest Expressway, it is still remembered as a true Mother Road artifact, a gem that is one of the most distinctive between Chicago and Santa Monica.

In 2012, the building went into receivership and developers were eyeing new uses for what is still a valuable piece of real estate. The Dome, which is highly visible on satellite imagery, had also become a landmark in its own right, part of a neighborhood that has evolved through the years. But whispers of a wrecking ball once again elicited howls of protest on social media and elsewhere and has thus far been effective in saving it.

Now in 2021, a music promoter has his sights on the Gold Dome, with hopes of turning it into a concert venue.

The promoter already has three concert venues in similarly shaped domes across the Mid-South and hopes to expand into Oklahoma City. Mayor David Holt is reportedly cautiously optimistic about the concert venue plans, noting that the process for securing funding could be lengthy. Still, he is dedicated to including public participation in the process in order to help ensure that the landmark is preserved.

Martin is likewise hopeful. “This is not the Gold Dome’s first rodeo when it comes to preservation. With the [Route 66] Centennial coming up and Oklahoma City’s growing attention to their Route 66 corridor, my fingers are crossed that we can finally write a happy ending to this story.”

Words by Nick Gerlich. Image by David J. Schwartz – Pics On Route 66.

Under the Golden Dome

Before Route 66 ran through Illinois, the city of Mt. Olive had its foundation in mining. Even today, as you enter from the northeast and curve around Hagerman Park, you’ll glimpse the Mother Jones Monument, dedicated in memory of a mining activist, just north of the historic route. But not every worker was cut out for the hard labor that dominated the city in the early 1900s, and some sought ways to earn a living outside of it. As you follow Old Route 66’s southward bend and come across the intersection with 1st Street, you’ll find a preserved relic of one such successful effort: the Soulsby Service Station.

Henry Soulsby, a coal miner who gave up the job after sustaining an injury in the mid-1920s, heard about the opening of Route 66 in 1926, and partnered with Ben Fassero — another former miner who ran a gasoline delivery business for Wood River Refinery, owned then by Shell — to create a gas station to service the prospective highway.

“It opened in July of 1926. Henry, Anna, and their son Russell [were] the ones that built it,” said Mike Dragovich, the Soulsbys’ next-door neighbor. “And then they had two other daughters, Velma and Ola. So, it was a family-run business.”

Unfortunately, the Soulsbys miscalculated the trajectory of the yet-to-be-built Mother Road, which projected much further west when it opened in November. Still, the Soulsbys kept up the station, and as luck would have it, Route 66 was rerouted in 1930 and passed directly in front of their aluminum-coated establishment.

The station was not large, even for the time — only 13 by 20 feet, barely enough space for a desk and a stove — but it was homey. By 1937, the Soulsbys had had enough of the cramped space, and they built a 30-by-12-foot extension from the back, while also adding two side doors to accompany the three in front, replacing the stove with a furnace, and changing the aluminum paint to the more on-brand yellow and red. Even with the extra room, however, there was never space for a garage; instead, the Soulsbys serviced vehicles using a steel ramp just south of the building.

Russell served as a communications technician in the Pacific theater during World War II, and when he returned, he used his experience to start a second business in the station where he repaired radios and televisions. This new service proved its worth from the 1950s onward, keeping the local stop relevant, even after Interstate 55 replaced Route 66 in the ‘70s. Henry 14 ROUTE Magazine

died in 1949, but Russell inherited ownership of the building, which he and his sister Ola proudly worked.

Sadly, the effects of age couldn’t be staved off forever, and in 1991, the Soulsbys stopped supplying gas along with their longtime Fassero partners. Auto repairs had also been discontinued since Russell stopped using the ramp outside around 1973. He and Ola still continued to “check oil, sell soda pop, and greet the ever-growing legion of Route 66 tourists” until 1993, when they closed for good. Three years later, Ola died, and in June of 1997, Russell auctioned off the station. “[Former Illinois Route 66 Association President Frank Lozich] was going to try to buy it, and he was bidding against the guy that got it [Dragovich],” said Dorothy McMullan, former board member of the Association. “And we find out after it’s all over that [Dragovich] just wanted to get it so it would be saved and not torn down. Well, that’s all we wanted to do. So, we should have done some talking beforehand, because whoever got it would’ve [gotten it for] cheaper.”

In addition to Dragovich and Lozich, Tom Teague — Route 66 historian and founder of the Soulsby Station Society — also participated.

After the auction, Dragovich agreed to work with the Society as they went forward with their plans to refurbish the station and turn it into a museum. Starting in 2003, the Society and Association worked together to repaint the walls, replace flooring, wire new electricity, and install new locks. Teague filed the station with the National Register of Historic Places just before he unexpectedly passed away in 2004.

Today, the station is in 1926-mint condition, with its pristine paint, five doors, pinewood flooring, and shelves of Shell merchandise — for display only. “People like the fact that [the station is] open and they can go inside and see the original building, because a lot of the other buildings [on Route 66] aren’t original, just kind of like rebuilds of what was there,” said Dragovich.

Russell died in 1999, but Dragovich has taken care of the Soulsby Station ever since, having repaired one of the gas pumps that was damaged as lately as 2019. The pumps were installed in May 2021.

If you’re ever in Mt. Olive, be sure to visit and revel in the legacy of the family that, through their ingenuity, overcame a life in the mines for a life on the Mother Road.

Image by David J. Schwartz – Pics On Route 66.

SOU LSBY STAT ION

WHERE T HE MO T HER ROAD BEGINS

Route 66 defined a remarkable era in our nation’s history – and it lives on today in Illinois’ Route 66’s many roadside attractions, museums, and restaurants – it’s the shining ribbon of blacktop we call ‘The Mother Road’.

SPE N D SOME T IME ON T HE I L L I N O I S R O U T E 6 6 S C E N I C B Y WA Y A N D DI S C OV E R ROU T E 6 6 Start planning your trip now at www.illinoisroute66.org. Request a visitor’s guide by emailing info@illinoisroute66.org and make sure to check out our mobile app by searching for ‘Explore Illinois Route 66’ in the App Store and Google Play, to help with all of your Route 66 Illinois planning.

Tel: (217)-414-9331 • www.illinoisroute66.org ROUTE Magazine 15

M c LE A N COU N T Y M USEU M OF HISTORY

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into a major Midwestern institution.

Greg Koos, a Union Institute and University graduate, began in 1977 as the archivist and site manager for the Society, which was by then located at the McBarnes Memorial Building, a half-mile from the courthouse. Koos organized and indexed decades’ worth of archival collections and branched out to manage restoration projects, including the Miller-Davis Building, which had served as a meeting place for lawyers, including Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas, and the Patton Settlers’ Cabin in nearby Lexington.

In 1988, Koos was moved up to the position of executive director of the historical society, which formed a partnership with the McLean County Board to preserve the courthouse along with the county’s history. Koos led the transition in 1991 to the museum’s appropriate permanent home — back inside the courthouse where the society had first met almost 90 years before. There, he curated numerous exhibits and worked with McLean County facilities manager Jack Moody on the restoration of the courthouse dome — including its original copper shade — which earned the prestigious Landmarks Illinois Richard H. Dreihaus Award in 2005.

Next, a huge project and major change to the edifice in 2015 caught the attention of Route 66 enthusiasts. “Cruisin’ With Lincoln on 66 is a Route 66 and Abraham Lincoln-themed Visitors Center and Gift Shop that celebrates Bloomington-Normal’s rich, historical connection to both Route 66 and Abraham Lincoln through an interpretive exhibit,” explained Woodard.

With the acknowledgement of the Mother Road’s place in McLean County history and the change of visitor ingress and egress to flow through the Visitor Center, the McLean County Museum of History had truly come full circle into the 21st Century. At that juncture, Koos was ready to retire in 2016, write a county history, and hand the reins over to his Development Director and executive successor, Beth Whisman.

“This educational institution is dedicated to telling the rich story of [all of] McLean County through programs which serve people of all ages,” Woodard said. “The museum features seven exhibit galleries, preserves more than 20,000 objects, makes available more than 15,000 rare and hard-tofind books on local history and genealogy, and manages 2,000 feet of historical papers and images in its archives.”

That’s a lot of history to stand guard over, but there’s no doubt that this lovely domed edifice will be standing sentinel over its collections for a long, long time.

Image by David J. Schwartz – Pics On Route 66.

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he McLean County Courthouse’s over-100-yearold copper dome rises more than 100 feet over Bloomington’s square, symbolically standing guard over the county’s long, rich history. It’s a fitting symbolism for this magnificent courthouse, the fourth to inhabit this site, because the building actually serves as the museum and archives of the largest (by land) county in the state of Illinois.

“The McLean County Museum of History traces its roots back to 1892, the year the McLean County Historical Society was founded. It is [now] a nationally-accredited, awardwinning museum with five permanent exhibit galleries and two rotating galleries,” said Jeffery Woodard, Director of Marketing and Community Relations for the museum. The Society held its first meeting there on December 5, 1903, in a room designated specifically for its use.

The county’s first courthouse was a rudimentary structure built in 1831 from whip-sawn cherry and black walnut. It was replaced just four years later by a Federal style two-story building (the second courthouse), in which Abraham Lincoln and other Eighth Judicial Circuit attorneys practiced law. The first structure was ignominiously hauled to a farm for use as a hog shed.

A devastating fire in 1900 severely damaged the grand (third) courthouse, which had been constructed in Italian Renaissance style in 1868. That same fire also destroyed a half-dozen city blocks just north and east of the square.

Luckily, most Lincoln-related sites were spared and the area was quickly rebuilt with designs from local architects.

The fourth and current courthouse was designed and rebuilt in the American Renaissance style on the same site in 1903 by a Peoria firm, Reeves and Baillie. The plans were intended to evoke a positive feel to McLean County residents, offering identical entrances on all four sides to give a sense of equal welcome. The building’s four stories were constructed in quadrants, with a grand rotunda rising in the center, and classical proportions gracing the exterior. Its three courtrooms are preserved for various uses to this day.

After World War I, the Society began to collect objects from the era and utilize veterans as museum staff. As the decades of the 1900s piled up, so too did the collections. A major recataloging project took place in the ‘30s, but as the collections grew throughout the Mid-Century, sufficient space and resources were needed. Clearly, the Society’s museum was just awaiting the arrival of the right person to help transform it

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T H E M A R L OW B OY S

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bout an hour southwest of Oklahoma City stands a pink granite marker commemorating five brothers known as the men who refused to be lynched.

Visitors find it at one side of Redbud Park in little Marlow, Oklahoma, which takes its name from their family.

Williamson Marlow and wife Martha Jane made their way from Tennessee via Missouri to Texas and Oklahoma in the early 1870s. For a time in the early 1880s the family lived on high ground between Rush Creek and Hell Roaring Creek where the little Oklahoma town named after them would later spring up. With five sons aged from their teens to late twenties, Boone, George, Alfred, Charles, and Lewellyn, they lived alongside the old Chisholm Trail, which during this time still carried a few cattle northward from Texas. In addition to farming, the sons collected loose cattle and horses that strayed from the passing herds, leading a number of their neighbors to wonder whether some of the livestock might have been stolen.

By 1885, the family again moved south across the Red River into Texas, settling around Graham, the rough-and-tumble seat of Young County. There the newly arrived sons with questionable reputations found themselves accused of horse and cattle theft back in Oklahoma, and in 1888, four of them were jailed in Graham to be tried in U.S. district court (which had jurisdiction for crimes perpetrated in the Oklahoma Territory).

While detained there, a mob of locals threatened to pull the newcomers out of the calaboose and hang them for their purported crimes, for which no clear evidence was ever presented.

Ostensibly to protect George, Alfred, Charles, and Lewellyn from the threatening crowd, the local sheriff ordered them, with two other federal prisoners, to be transferred the night of January 19, 1889, to the lock-up in the neighboring county. Deputies leg-ironed the six men together in pairs to deter their escaping from the open wagon. The move in reality was no more than a ruse to expose the brothers again to members of the lynch party.

At Rock Creek, two miles outside of town, locals with guns attacked the wagonload of six prisoners and their “protectors.” At the first gunshots the guards bailed out of the wagon, dropping their firearms in their haste, while the other two prisoners did the same. This left the Marlows on their own.

The four brothers, though chained together in pairs, took up abandoned weapons and returned fire. As skilled 18 ROUTE Magazine

marksmen even in the dark, they killed three of the lynch mob and drove the others away, wounding several of them.

Rarely did any victims of lynch mobs ever successfully defend themselves from such attacks. In the process, Alfred and Lewellyn lost their lives, leaving George and Charles each chained to a dead brother. George found a knife on the body of one of the assailants and used it to disjoint the ankles of his two dead brothers and thereby to slip off the shackles.

Though grievously wounded, the two surviving brothers managed to coerce the other two prisoners to drive the team and wagon in the dark twenty-five miles to the family cabin.

Authorities rearrested George and Charles Marlow on their original federal charges, but the trumped-up charges were never proved. During this same time, Brother Boone, who had been indicted as well, was poisoned by a conniver in Oklahoma who had hopes of receiving a reward. The remaining two Marlow brothers in time relocated to Colorado, where near Ridgeway they both became successful farmers, stock raisers, and lawmen. As deputy US marshals, their reputations from Young County daunted all but the boldest miscreants.

Back in Texas the tables turned. The members of the lynch mob found themselves indicted for conspiring to injure prisoners legally under the protection of the federal courts. The cases dragged on for years until most of the accused assassins died or became enfeebled.

In the meantime, the surviving two brothers passed middle age and moved to live with their children in California and Denver. There they became respected elder members of their communities.

Federal Judge A.P. McCormick in 1891 likely summarized the events on Rock Creek in 1889 best when he declared: “This is the first time in the annals of history where unarmed prisoners, shackled together, ever repelled a mob. Such cool courage that preferred to fight against such great odds and die, if at all, in glorious battle rather than die ignominiously… deserves to be commemorated in song and story.”

The Marlow Brothers’ audacity in facing down the mob indeed entered the lore of the West. Millions saw it fictionalized in the 1965 film, The Sons of Katie Elder, starring John Wayne and Dean Martin. And still, people drive to little Marlow, Oklahoma, to ponder the monument to the five brothers on horseback, and the Sooner State’s undeniable place in the Old West.

Image courtesy of the Marlow Chamber of Commerce, Marlow, OK.

By Dr. T. Lindsay Baker

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DEVILS ELBOW, MO

Today 10:18 AM

“Taking off now.

Have some stops to make!”

CLEAR YOUR SCHEDULE. GET TO PULASKI COUNTY, MO!

Ready for a road trip of breathtaking twists and turns that will take you back in time? Take your pick of drives down Route 66, through historic Fort Leonard Wood, and along the Frisco Railroad line. Then, fill up at unique (and oh so tasty) diners before heading off to uncover even more rare finds at countless antique shops. So, book your stay and get ready to play on a road that you’ll always remember.

Plan your trip, complete with downloadable turn-by-turn directions, at pulaskicountyusa.com.

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THE THEATRE BEAUTIFUL nce pegged as the most elaborate theatre between Dallas and Kansas City, the Coleman Theatre Beautiful is beloved not only by its Miami, Oklahoma, community, but also by tourists around the world — its guestbook reads like a geography record.

Even more impressive is that from its opening date of April 18, 1929, to the present day, the theater has never once closed.

Its story is the epitome of perseverance and dedication for a Route 66 attraction.

The Coleman Theatre was conceived by George L. Coleman Sr., a magnate who became a multimillionaire from his zinc and lead mines in Miami. “Mr. Coleman was traveling all over the place because he loved the vaudeville circuit back in those days, but he was aging — 70 years old — and ended up asking the circuit to move closer to him, here in Oklahoma, and they said, ‘You need your own circuit.’ So, he decided to make that investment and use some of his family’s fortune and build the theater,” explained Amanda Davis, Executive Director of the Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau.

With the help of the Boller Brothers architectural firm and Rucks-Brandt Construction Company, Mr. Coleman built the theater in 330 days — right when the vaudeville touring company was due to visit. Some corners were cut — the original design included a grand ballroom on the second floor, but it went uncompleted and unused except by the local Masonic lodge, which Coleman — a Mason himself — allowed access after their original headquarters burned down. After the Masons departed in 1961, Charles Banks Wilson used the ballroom space to paint the murals that are now displayed in the Oklahoma State Capitol Building.

The theater opened to critical acclaim, filling all 1,600 seats the first night. Among the building’s highlights were the Spanish Mission Revival exterior juxtaposed with its Louis XV interior, complete with gold leaf, silk damask, stained glass, mahogany staircases, and a 2,000-pound chandelier. Coleman even commissioned his own custom-built Mighty Wurlitzer organ.

Sadly, no establishment as long-lived as the Coleman goes without its share of hardships. “After [Mr. Coleman] passed away in 1945, his family turned the theater over to various 22 ROUTE Magazine

partners who ran it for years, and then, in the ‘80s, the tenants decided that they didn’t want to do that anymore, and it went back to the Coleman family, and then in 1989, the Coleman family reached out to the City of Miami and basically gifted it to the city,” said Davis.

Although the theater never “went dark”, poor maintenance left it in terrible condition — leaking walls and a sagging balcony were among its many faults. The city initially saw no point in saving it, but the community thought differently and formed the Friends of the Coleman in the early 1990s to take on the task of restoring it.

They started by clearing the ballroom space, and among the trash they found molds for the gold leaf trim that had been taken down by the tenants in an effort to “modernize” the theater. They also tracked down the molds for the chandelier, which had also disappeared, and created an exact replica. The quest led the Friends to the Missouri Theatre in Columbia, another Boller Brothers design, and there they got into contact with the original seating company to replace the seats, at the small cost of reducing the seat count to 1,100 in exchange for widening them to modern standards.

Another task the Friends undertook was finding the theater’s Mighty Wurlitzer, which had been sold during the ‘70s. “We spent 10 years trying to find that organ,” said Danny Dillon, Managing Director of the Coleman Theatre, “and finally we found a man, the late Jim Peterson, who keeps up these organs that left their original home. A lady from the City of Miami called him and mentioned the Coleman Theatre, and said, ‘Would you happen to know where our Mighty Wurlitzer is?’

A long pause on the phone, and he said, ‘Well, I’m looking at it.’

He had purchased our organ himself.”

After working out a deal, the J. T. Peterson Organ Company reinstalled the organ, which is now one of only about 20 Mighty Wurlitzers still on their original site in the world.

Finally, the ballroom at last saw completion in 2011, and a year later, the Celebrity Park was opened on the north side of the building, featuring a fountain and plaques of famous Miamians. The Friends still work to maintain the theater today, but few can doubt that the place has once again achieved the luster that originally earned the theater its name “Beautiful”.

Image by David J. Schwartz – Pics On Route 66.

O

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Miami, Oklahoma

The gateway to Oklahoma on Historic Route 66

DELUXE INN Miami, OK

visitmiamiok @miamioktourism @visitmiamioklahoma

UNDER THE

By Cheryl Eichar Jett Photographs by David J. Schwartz - Pics On Route 66

24 ROUTE Magazine

TEXAN SKY

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T

he northern counties of Texas are known by several names — the Panhandle Plains, the Golden Spread, the Llano Estacado or Staked Plains — and are famous for a short list of big attractions — Cadillac Ranch, Palo Duro Canyon, the 72-ounce steak at the Big Texan Restaurant, Amarillo’s Sixth Street shop-filled stretch of Route 66, and the giant Helium Monument at the Don Harrington Discovery Center, also in Amarillo. This mostly-barren and arid southern end of America’s Great Plains is also known for its wind; it is actually the windiest area of the entire US, as evidenced by abundant wind farms, the modern-day windmills spinning their graceful arcs against the big blue Texas sky.

But aside from the splendid architecture of note in downtown Amarillo, one thing that the Panhandle Plains’ string of small towns is not noted for is examples of particularly creative and exquisite Art Deco-style architecture.

Except for one. That would be the conjoined Tower Station and U-Drop Inn in the unexpectedly-named town of Shamrock, just across the Oklahoma-Texas border and a hundred miles from Amarillo.

Lucky Town Shamrock had been the largest town in Wheeler County in the late 1800s when George and Dora Nickel volunteered their dugout as the town post office. George, holding fast to his mother’s belief that a shamrock would bring you luck, named the village accordingly. The town achieved its peak population of 3,778 in 1930 after the discovery of oil and natural gas in the ‘20s.

Maybe that shamrock made the little oil town lucky. At the least, it was a fortunate day for Shamrock when a local man, John Nunn, knelt in the dust of the Crossroads Motor Court’s driveway (his parents’-in-law lodging) — or his yard — whichever story you believe. Nunn picked up an old nail and scratched his idea for a fanciful station-cafe combination to be built on the piece of land just across the highway to the north.

That lot, and Nunn’s vision, sat squarely at the major intersection of east-west US Highway 66 and north-south US Highway 83. And that piece of land, and the other three that sat at the corners of the intersection, had been owned by “Lack” Randall, who had recently passed away. Randall had owned the only gas station at that intersection, and had entertained no offers to buy the other corners. But investor and businessman J. M. Tindall thought that Mrs. Randall, Lack’s widow, would sell. That’s when Tindall told Nunn he’d construct a building for him — and Nunn picked up the nail.

Well-known Amarillo architect J. C. Berry was brought in to design the plans, and Tindall and R. C. Lewis became the builders of Nunn’s vision of an Art Deco station, cafe, and store.

The stunning complex was constructed of concrete at a cost of $23,000 in 1936. The Conoco Station, built nearest to the 26 ROUTE Magazine

intersection, featured a four-sided classic Art Deco obelisk, with the letters C-O-N-O-C-O spelled out vertically, rising from the flat roof.

A stylized metal tulip crowned the top of the obelisk. The builders thoughtfully added two canopies — one facing each highway — each with three gas pumps beneath.

Complimented by green glazed tiles, the light-colored exterior gleamed in the bright Texas sun. The Tower Service Station’s first operators were Bennie Schlegel and G. W. Tennison.

The middle section of the building became an overflow seating area (and occasional ballroom) instead of a store. The right-hand section was billed as the U-Drop Inn — a misnomer since there was no lodging — after a ten-year-old schoolboy won $50 in a local naming contest with that entry. The cafe was also topped by a tower, shorter but no less beautiful than the station’s, cradling at its peak an orb, a common Art Deco decorative element. Opening on April 1, 1936, the complex was known locally as the Lewis-Tindall Building on “Highway 66 and North Main.”

And Nunn, the man with the idea, and his wife, Bebe, were, of course, the first cafe owner-operators.

Bebe Nunn was said to have noted that, across the treeless plains, the building “shone so bright [at night] that you could see it from way past McLean” — about 20 miles away.

And then in 1937, out in front of it all ran newly-paved and newlydesignated Route 66, after several unpaved dirt roads across the eastern Panhandle had carried the highway for the previous five or so years.

Changes By the ‘40s, a decline in the oil industry hurt Shamrock, but its location half-way between Weatherford, Oklahoma, and Amarillo, Texas, plus its abundant travel services, kept the town afloat. Jack D. Rittenhouse, in his 1946 A Guide Book to Highway 66, described Shamrock as a town having a population of 3,123, a hotel, five tourist courts, two garages, and plenty of cafes, with a main business section just off US 66.

Rittenhouse also made note of the petroleum product plants.

In 1950, John Nunn, who had sold the cafe just a couple years before, repurchased it, renaming the eatery “Nunn’s Cafe.” But just seven years later, Nunn died at the age of 55, having failed to recover from surgery a few months earlier.

Nunn’s wife Bebe sold the cafe to Grace Brunner in 1960, who renamed the eatery the Tower Cafe and convinced

Inside the Tower Station and U-Drop Inn Cafe.

Greyhound to use it as a bus terminal. Grace had been born in Oklahoma, but had been living in the Shamrock area with her husband Sam Brunner since at least 1930. Her children raised, the 49-year-old Grace was ready to take on the cafe and make a success of it. Her addition of the Greyhound service guaranteed a half-dozen busloads of potential customers every day, in addition to the locals and motorists who patronized the cafe. Her husband Sam, an oil well tool dresser by trade, was a dozen years older than Grace and was likely retired by the time that Grace opened. He became a familiar sight as Grace operated the cafe at least throughout the ‘60s. “[Grace’s] husband Sam worked up here [at the cafe] with Grace. He did all kinds of work around here at the Greyhound station and at the cafe,” Oleta Hawley Stone, Docent at the Tower Station, explained. “You know, I worked for Grace. I washed dishes in the back when I was in eighth

grade and I started waiting tables, and I did that until I got married in ‘65. My mama [Minnie Hawley] was a cook and a waitress in there from the late ‘50s to the late ‘60s. I met my husband here, at the U-Drop Inn. We got married and moved away and then we didn’t come back until the late ‘80s.”

Meanwhile, station operators and gasoline brands changed periodically, including a Fina-branded phase in the mid-1970s.

The station’s original colors disappeared under the new Fina color scheme of red, white, and blue paint.

The Decline About that same time, Interstate 40 began its relentless march across the Texas Panhandle, luring motorists to get from Point A to Point B faster. The allure of speed and efficiency enticed enough drivers to stay on the interstate that ROUTE Magazine 27

the City of Shamrock found that they did not need all their hospitality services anymore. Jobs and population began to shrink.

In the early 1980s, James Tindall Sr., son of J. M. Tindall, the original financier for the building’s construction, purchased the entire property and restored the original color scheme (from the Fina red, white, and blue). Tindall also reopened the cafe, bringing back the name U-Drop Inn. But despite Tindall’s efforts, the complex closed in 1995, with the last cafe operators being Wayne and Mary Pierce. Route 66 had been completely decommissioned ten years earlier, and the full effect of the interstate system rerouting traffic was complete.

As the entire complex sat empty during the late 1990s, the Board of Directors of the First National Bank noticed that their town’s most significant historical building was noticeably deteriorating, but definitely worth saving. Through the board’s efforts, the Tower Station and the U-Drop Inn were listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 18, 1997. James Tindall Sr. was listed as the property owner on the document.

A New Era In June 1999, the First National Bank of Shamrock purchased the entire property and gifted it to the City of Shamrock, beginning a new era for what the National Park Service called “one of the most imposing and architecturally creative buildings along the length of the road [Route 66].”

Interestingly, the complex has traditionally held two separate businesses, which have consistently been the same kinds of businesses — a gas station/garage and a cafe — that it was originally constructed for.

The city was able to fully restore the building using a Federal Transportation Enhancements Grant of $1.7 million dollars in addition to local fundraising efforts. Phillips Swager Associates of Dallas, a firm specializing in historical renovation, not only restored the building, but adapted it for use as a museum of its own history, visitors’ center, gift shop, and offices. The restoration process used a pinkish beige color with green-painted trim to simulate the original appearance.

The six original gas pumps, three under each canopy, are long gone; five pumps from the ‘60s remained when the bank acquired it in 1999. Now, four Conoco pumps cast an authentic air to the station.

Besides its National Register of Historic Places status (one of only four in Wheeler County), it has also been designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark (RTHL), which is not only a legal designation, but also the highest honor that the state bestows on a historic structure.

Sometimes called “the Taj Mahal of Texas,” the historic complex at 101 East 12th Street at the intersection of US Highway 83 and Historic Route 66 reopened in 2001, operating not only as a visitors center, but as headquarters for the Shamrock Chamber of Commerce. Looking into the future as well as the past, forward-thinking management opened a Tesla supercharger on the site in 2014 — on St. Patrick’s Day, of course.

The Tower Station and U-Drop Inn was the inspiration for Ramone’s House of Body Art in the mythical town of Radiator Springs in the Pixar movie Cars in 2006. The unique building is portrayed in the film as an automotive body shop owned by the character Ramone, who happens to be 28 ROUTE Magazine

a Chevrolet Impala lowrider. The plethora of neon tubing on the building that helped inspire Cars also attracts tourists and travelers by the carload, especially after sunset. Approximately 508 linear feet of what is now LED, which replaced the neon, lights up the night on Shamrock’s main drag at night. Hail storm damage and other problems with the neon prompted the replacement in 2014. The station’s original neon was in place from the 1940s through the ‘60s, outlining the two towers and both main facades.

“The Tower Station’s visitor’s center and small gift shop in the common area has helped with the upkeep and utilities of the building,” said Crystal Hermesmeyer, Shamrock Economic Development Corporation Director. “Tourism in the last year has been a roller coaster. Last year, we could hardly keep up with the utility bills.”

But this year, summer events that were planned around the Tower Station and the U-Drop Inn, such as ‘Night Under the Neon’ and a nighttime farmers market, have broken records. The community’s Economic Development Corporation has been working hard to offer more to attract tourists to stop and stay longer.

“Right before the pandemic, we had a hard hit with the oil crash, with the loss of 184 jobs in the area due to the bust in the industry,” Hermesmeyer added. “[Then we] had to cancel St. Patrick’s Day, an event that had [previously] only been cancelled twice — during the Korean War and World War II. Through all of that the [Tower Station and the] U-Drop Inn were still bringing people in off the interstate. Travelers were either charging their Tesla or taking their family on a trip that they had more control over. [The pandemic] really brought people back to [traveling] the way things used to be.”

The Cafe Reopens After 26 Years Annually, 10,000 visitors from all over the US and hailing from over 70 other countries come to the Tower Station and U-Drop Inn. And, for the first time in 26 years, the complex has a working cafe — the U-Drop Inn Cafe.

Long-time Shamrock resident Baldo de Leon is leasing the restaurant for one year from the City of Shamrock.

De Leon grew up in the restaurant business, as his parents have operated El Sombrero restaurant in Shamrock for 24 years. “[The city asked], ‘Would you be interested in doing this?

It’s something we want to do to bring in the travelers.’ And

A magical Texas sky as a storm approaches.

I [said], ‘That’s like a dream job. And even just three days in [since opening], I still can’t believe it,” said de Leon. “In three days, we’ve had people from Atlanta, Ohio, Los Angeles.

There’s a couple that work in Saudi Arabia, and they were going back to Los Angeles.”

“We have wanted to do something with the diner for a long time but had to wait until our ten-year period was up for our historical grant we received, to make any changes,” said Hermesmeyer. “Baldo de Leon [the new lessee] has been very mindful of the work we have put into the building, and has plans to offer a menu that has low impact to the building.”

De Leon has taken the request to offer a low-impact menu to heart, avoiding the use of fryers and cooking grease which could damage antiques. In so doing, he has created a classic soda shop — sandwiches, ice cream, and carbonated drinks. But he has also carefully planned his menu to include time-honored sandwich choices popular through the years alongside newer recipes.

“It’s a big undertaking, but I feel humbled and grateful for even being offered the chance. There’s pressure starting up

everything, but all the pressure just kind of melts away when you step in the building,” de Leon added.

Today, the Tower Station and U-Drop Inn Cafe complex is often touted as the most significant and most recognized roadside architecture on all of Route 66, as well as an international icon. On a beautiful night, tourists and photographers dot the sidewalks. “We [have] people come through trying to recreate vacations they had taken as a kid on Route 66. We are so fortunate to have a piece of American history that brings good memories to people,” said Hermesmeyer.

Whether you thank the architect, the builders, the landowner, the man with the idea and the nail, the local bank that saved it, or Shamrock’s actual piece of Blarney stone from County Cork, Ireland, the Tower Station and U-Drop Inn do seem to be charmed. It’s a lucky thing that this unlikely and amazing edifice rose right here from the arid Texas soil, as if it landed here by accident, spirited away from a big city block somewhere. And it’s an even luckier thing for Route 66 (and Cars) fans that it’s still there.

ROUTE Magazine 29

ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHS

September 6, 2021 5AM at the beautiful Campbell Hotel in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

My eyes are spring loaded. I wake from a comfortable sleep in a historic hotel and I’m raring to go! The excitement of the possibilities of adventure that lie ahead on Route 66 is always too much for me to bear, so I don’t linger long, I’m on the road!

When traveling Route 66, I make it a point to see the sunrise. It’s part of my morning ritual to set the intention of the day and put my head into a calm, curious, and creative space. This particular day, I’ve chosen Buck Atom’s Cosmic Curios as the place of my morning ritual. The city is still asleep; its quiet and peaceful as I watch the dark of night phase to the blue of morning, and then lighten up to gold of the new day. It’s a warm, partly cloudy start of the day in Tulsa, the shadows are long and sharp. I compose and capture several frames of Buck Atom’s glowing in the golden hour light as “Space Cowboy” by Steve Miller rocks on as an anthem in my head. With the shoot wrapped, I set my sights on The Conoco Tower Station in Shamrock, Texas, and I’m off.

The drive though the Oklahoma 66 countryside transports my mind to a vibe of a simpler time, as I pass though Stroud, Chandler, and Arcadia. Driving into western Oklahoma, old 66 keeps a rhythmic heartbeat with each passing seam in the old Portland cement. Finally pushing through Texola, and across the Texas state line, I come into Shamrock.

30 ROUTE Magazine

I check into my room at the Western Motel and gaze out of my second story window. It overlooks The Conoco Tower Station, and I can see that off in the distance, a storm is approaching across the Texas Panhandle. Little time to waste, I pick up my camera bag and tripod and head down to the station to ready myself for what looks like the culmination of a day’s journey. I select a few angles and mark them off with pennies before taking a seat on one of the benches to wait for the action.

I sit in anticipation watching the large billowy storm clouds as they roll in, the sky grows darker, providing an amazing contrast rarely seen between subject and sky, the ambient light coming from the east with light from above defining the outline of each cloud. Just then the station comes to life, like someone has just put in a coin and selected a song on an old jukebox. The neon begins to light up, one section at a time, and the station becomes vibrant and aglow. The textured dark, stormy sky provides a dramatic backdrop.

The air is electric and surreal. The wind begins to pick up.

Dust from the dry Texas plains begins flying everywhere.

As I prepare to make a run for it, I commit a few final frames to my memory card as the sky opens up and the rain comes tumbling down, dousing me and all my gear from bone dry to soaking wet in a moment’s notice.

—David J. Schwartz

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T

ake a quirky neighborhood drive-in, the best footlong hot dog in town, some great neon signage, and for good measure throw in two blockbuster TV series filming there — and you’ve got one of the hottest attractions in town. When Jesse Pinkman and Walter White showed up at the Dog House in 2008 in AMC’s Breaking Bad, the little drive-in with the dachshund neon sign on top soared from Duke City local legend to worldwide iconic status. Pinkman and White’s antics in the “Breaking Bad” neighborhood of Albuquerque cemented the little eatery’s iconic status in the hearts (and stomachs) of worldwide fans, while AMC’s Better Call Saul and its characters Jimmy McGill and Kim Wexler only added to the romance.

All top-dog jokes aside, a loyal local fan base knew that the long-time fixture on Central Avenue was a hit long before Breaking Bad crashed the scene. The then-tiny drivein was founded in 1948 by Frank and Viola Meade at 10 th Street and Central Avenue, the life-blood east-west corridor of Albuquerque long before I-40 paralleled it. A simple structure faced with knotty pine boards held on its flat roof, a painted wooden sign, nearly as wide as the little building itself, with the words ‘The Dog House’ on top of a dachshund with a string of sausages.

The Meades operated the drive-in until 1962. Sources seem to agree that the wooden sign was replaced with the neon sign, currently still in use, sometime in the ‘50s; it’s likely that it was made by one of five or so neon sign companies in business in Albuquerque between 1955 and 1970.

In 1967, Jimmie Hartley purchased the business and moved it two blocks west on Central, where it’s still located, but in a slightly larger brick building. Near the western edge of Albuquerque’s Downtown neighborhood, it’s also close to the touristy Old Town — the city’s historic original site — and to the Huning Castle neighborhood — fine older homes (including the one “occupied” by Jesse Pinkman) and newer luxury apartments. Typical of Albuquerque’s many years of piecemeal handling of urban growth, the area around the Dog House, which includes motels and rental units, seems like a collision of varied neighborhoods, ironically providing a large and diverse clientele.

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Jimmie Hartley, still the owner after 54 years of the diner’s nearly-three-quarters-of-a-century existence, is retired, but checks in periodically. “I bought it in 1967 and it was about 25 years old [then], so it’s been around for a long time, one of the first fast-food restaurants where they had car hops back in the ‘50s. It was kind of a thing from the West Coast,” said Hartley. “I think I was the third owner. I don’t know how long anyone else had had it, but we’ve had it for a long time — over fifty years.”

“I’m not [active in the business]. I’m 85 years old and my kids are more or less running it now. I just get the money and run,” Hartley laughed. “I’ve got three [children], two daughters and a son. My son [Van] is not active in it right now because he’s got [health issues]. But my daughters [Vicki and Vonni] and my daughter-in-law go down and open up and fill in if a crew member doesn’t show up for work.”

As one of the Duke City’s first drive-ins, things haven’t changed much. Car hops and a smattering of indoor seating (when open) try to keep up with customers.

The chili recipe, beloved by locals and adopted by visitors, is said to be the same used for the last 73 years.

“We sell a ton of them. I don’t have a clue [how many],” Hartley said.

Visitors seek out the Breaking Bad site with its neon dachshund, but locals keep the business solvent. “I imagine about 99% of it is local,” said Hartley. “We have a lot of people come in to take pictures, they watch Breaking Bad. I don’t know that there’s that many that come to eat, they just come by and take pictures of the sign.”

The website People.com partnered with the editors of Food & Wine in 2018 to find the best hot dogs in every state and named the eatery as the restaurant in New Mexico with the best dog. Just one of numerous recognitions gathered in recent years, this place is undeniably an institution along Albuquerque’s storied neon-spangled stretch of Route 66. While the hit show Breaking Bad aired its last episode back in 2013 and Walter White and Jesse Pinkman are long gone, Albuquerque’s Dog House remains a star attraction. In a city known for its vibrant and diverse dining scene, the humble foot-long remains “doggone” cool.

Image by David J. Schwartz – Pics On Route 66.

A L BUQU E RQU E CH IC

Experience outdoor fun, incredible attractions, historic Route 66, and so much more. www.experiencewilliams.com ROUTE Magazine 33

THE LA 34 ROUTE Magazine

AST STOP

By Jessica Allen Photographs by David J. Schwartz - Pics On Route 66

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D

riving through the small town of Texola, Oklahoma, is much like stepping back into a longgone period of American history: a time before the ubiquity of cell phones and social media, when life was less complicated in many ways, and face-to-face interactions with neighbors were the norm. Now a silent and almost secluded Oklahoma ghost town, foliage overgrows the shoulder of the Mother Road that was once filled with farmers, making their way west, following the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

A single-cell stone jailhouse, abandoned and dilapidated, sits quietly off to the side of the road. A stone slab, engraved with the names of 1938 high school seniors rests, like a tombstone, in front of the building. As you make your way through the town, which is just a half-mile from the Oklahoma–Texas border, derelict and graffiti-laden structures stand as noiseless echoes of a more prominent past, including the remnants of a 1930 Magnolia Service station, probably the last station that travelers could buy gas from, before crossing into the Lone Star state. Then, you come to one of the few buildings in Texola that shows any signs of life, the Tumbleweed Grill and Country Store — the self-proclaimed oldest building on Route 66 still operating as a restaurant.

One half of the building is painted a bright cornflower blue that stands out starkly against the drab backdrop of the faded town. Its facade features an old west mural of a cowboy and his horse in front of a striking mountain range with the words ‘Water Hole #2’. The other half of the building, a newer addition, is a natural tan shade with deep green trim with signs proclaiming, ‘Ice Cold Beer’ and ‘FOOD’. A delicious aroma wafts out to the road, beckoning you to step into the Tumbleweed and experience a home-cooked meal, complete with captivating stories from the owner herself, Masel Zimmerman.

By Any Other Name Texola is a unique town as it is located on the 100th Meridian Line, the longitudinal line, drawn by American geologist and explorer John Wesley Powell, that identified the border between the eastern United States and the Western plains. This divide cuts straight through six US states, including Texas and Oklahoma where it spurred many surveys being conducted, disputing the boundary line between the two states. Many of the early residents lived in both Oklahoma and Texas without ever moving house, as the state line shifted back and forth. This inherently affected the naming of the town which resulted in three different names, combinations of Texas and Oklahoma: Texoma, and then Texokla, and finally Texola.

The town came into existence with the coming of the Rock Island Railroad when a line was chartered to be built from Texola to Amarillo in 1901. Then came an agricultural boom 36 ROUTE Magazine

with mostly wheat and then cotton farming. The town thrived, and as it grew, the expected bank, grocery and mercantile stores, cafes, and cotton gins opened. It even had a school to house the growing population of children, its own local newspaper, a hotel, and several churches. The town experienced another boost with the establishment of Route 66, which ran right through the center of town.

New businesses opened and farming families bought their first automobiles.

Texola reached its peak population of 581 people in 1930, which is when a beer parlor, christened Water Hole #2, first opened, serving those traveling along Route 66. But then, commodity prices sadly crashed, incessant drought led to failed crops, and the tiny town found itself in the heart of the Dust Bowl. Many of Texola’s farmers could no longer make payments on their land, so they simply left. These displaced farmers — from across the Great Plains — made their way down Route 66 toward California. Texola was even featured in the 1940 film The Grapes of Wrath.

“The party from The Grapes of Wrath, they came right down this road.

You [could] see ‘em comin’ down Texola,” said Masel Zimmerman, artist and current owner of the Tumbleweed Grill. “And the little gas station that was here and all that, you can see it.”

Since then, Texola’s population has continued to dwindle.

“When you look at the annual census figures, you can’t believe what happened,” said Dr. T. Lindsay Baker, a history professor and respected author. “The rural population of the Great Plains absolutely evaporated. Had it not been for the highway and the railroad, Texola would have disappeared altogether.”

From the 1940s to the late 1960s, Texola enjoyed a mostly quiet existence. Gas stations, cafes, and lodgings continued to serve motorists making their way through the small town on Highway 66, delaying the town’s eventual demise. But even in such a small town, there were still a couple of noteworthy events throughout the years; most memorable perhaps were the speed traps of the 1930s and ‘40s. “The marshal stopped and gave citations exclusively to non-local drivers,” said Dr. Baker. “The typical speeding fine was $6.50, which, with inflation, comes out to a hefty sum of $127 today. For a

Masel Zimmerman outside of the Tumbleweed Grill and Country Store.

number of months, the two of them [the mayor and city marshal] ran a speed trap that became pretty well-known up and down the highway in Texola until February of 1941, when the state attorney general ruled that they violated the 1933 Speed Trap Law.” In the early 1970s everything changed when Interstate 40 bypassed Texola — as it would all Route 66 towns — and much of the traffic that used to travel along America’s Main Street now moved along I-40 instead. The town’s grappling economy ultimately dried up.

“The population dropped in every census from 1930 to 1990, when at 45 people, it possessed only seven percent of the figure it had sixty years before,” continued Dr. Baker. “For all intents and purposes, the former community became a ghost town filled with mostly empty and unwanted buildings.”

The exact history of Water Hole #2 between its founding in the ‘30s and Zimmerman’s purchase of the building in 2009 is not clearly known or documented. As with several businesses

along Route 66, the history of these establishments has been lost, perhaps forever, as people have passed or moved on.

What we do know is that Water Hole #2 went through several owners and the building remains one of the oldest on the Mother Road still operating as an eatery. Thankfully, Texola has retained a small group of residents who refuse to let it die.

“I like history, I like to preserve it,” said Zimmerman. But the people of 1930s Texola “didn’t have cameras, they didn’t take a lot of photographs like we do now. They took it for granted.”

Journey to Texola Masel Zimmerman was born in Roanoke, Virginia, in 1953.

As a young girl, she developed a fascination with the idea of moving west. “I loved cowboys and Indians. I watched The Lone Ranger and Roy Rogers and all of that. I wanted to be a cowboy. I would ride a stick all around the yard. Mama ROUTE Magazine 37

Zimmerman’s beautiful artwork.

or Daddy would holler out, ‘Where are you going?’ ‘I’m going to California! I’m going out west!’”

Zimmerman’s childhood was one filled with imagination and creativity. She was the baby of the family, with her closest sibling being a sister just over 11 years older than her. “I was basically raised by myself as a child, and with older people.

So, I always thought different, but I would entertain myself by drawing [at] the kitchen table. In order to entertain us, my mother would sit us [in the] kitchen, at that same little porcelain table that I drew on, and she would light a candle.

And then she’d ball up a piece of paper and she would tell each one of us, ‘Draw what you see from the light coming from the candle making the shadow on your paper.’ I just thought that was the coolest thing. That’s what got me into drawing; that gave me a little inspiration [and] creativity.”

At the age of 15, Masel was introduced to a family friend who was recently back from Vietnam. Wounded in the war by a landmine, “Jimmy” Zimmerman had known Masel’s family for some time, and now back Stateside, decided to pay them a visit. He was instantly smitten with young Masel and pursued her until they were married in 1970, just shy of her 17th birthday. The couple made Virginia their home but often traveled to different parts of the country during the winter months. “I grew up in Virginia, and then I got married. I wanted to travel, and we traveled all around,” said Masel. On one of their trips, while visiting their son in sunny Las Vegas, Nevada, Masel liked it so much that they ended up staying and making the city their home.

In January 1998, Masel, who was then a private art teacher, embarked on a sizable art project that would take them all 38 ROUTE Magazine

over the United States.

By the time the artwork was completed in October of 1999, it was a 16-by -30 foot giant painting of the crucifixion of Jesus, which Masel had created with the goal of being in the Guinness Book of World Records as the World’s Largest Mobile Canvas Painting.

The painting was indeed documented in 2000 but was not published due to concerns that the subject matter might be controversial. And so, with a special trailer that her husband built, they traveled, displaying it across the country.

Then, on one cold windy winter day, in February 2007, on their way to Memphis, Tennessee, to show the painting, the couple happened to stop in Texola. “We stopped to see a friend that owned the store up there [and] to fill up with diesel. We filled it up and the thing would not start.” The couple soon found out that one of the fuel pumps on their motorhome had gone out and that it would take about two weeks to get the part.

As they waited for the repairs to be done, Masel and her husband took to exploring the town, taking in the sights and sounds, when they stumbled upon a nondescript, decrepit building. “We came over and looked at this little store. And it was just closed up, a run-down building. People had been shooting at the building, you know, just tearing it up. When I walked in it, of course it was abandoned and dilapidated, but when we walked in there, it just... I don’t know how to explain it, except that I just connected with it somehow.

It had such character and it just felt like I belonged there.”

The building was the historic Water Hole #2, the future Tumbleweed Grill and Country Store.

By the time that their motorhome was up and running, reports of a bad storm heading right towards Memphis — where the Zimmermans were bound for — started coming through. They had a decision to make. “I hated this place. It was cold, windy, and it was not where I wanted to be,” said Masel. But “Jimmy”, who had already fallen in love with the tiny town and the hunting opportunities it offered, suggested that they wait out the storm in Texola. “Well, he says, ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this, leaving this little place. Let’s stay here until it’s a little bit warmer, because this storm looks pretty bad,’” Masel explained. “Well, I said, ‘Okay.’ ” They remained in town and Masel has never left.

“It all boils down to fate. I think back to things like that and I think, you know, it was just meant for me to be here.” mused Masel.

The Transformation of Water Hole #2 Although she had unexpectedly made her way to Texola, there was still a long road ahead before she would be able to take ownership of Water Hole #2. Masel was able to contact the woman who owned the building, but she wasn’t interested in selling it, even though it had been shut down for nearly a dozen years.

So, she moved on and began working at a nearby gas station. One day, the daughter of the woman who owned Water Hole #2 came in and asked if she could hang something on the bulletin board. “And so, when she left, I walked around, and I read what it said. She was wanting to sell the building. So, that’s how I got it. We ended up fixing it up, and the rest is history.”

Zimmerman purchased Water Hole #2 in 2009, and for the next three years, she and her husband worked tirelessly to transform it into the homey, welcoming cafe she’d envisioned from the start. “It was a labor of love. I just tell people that I have an arm and a leg in it, because it cost quite a bit of money. We did a lot of work ourselves to cut corners. We used recycled boards from houses… It saved lots of money but [the] time involved, the sweat, the blood, and all that, you know, it was a lot.”

The decision to change the building’s name from Water Hole #2 to the Tumbleweed Grill and Country Store was a simple one for her. “I wanted to name it different. I didn’t want to answer the phone ‘Water Hole #2’ because [a watering hole] is actually like a bar-type thing,” whereas Zimmerman envisioned more of a cafe and dining area. But she did decide to keep the name Water Hole #2 on the outside of the building: “I got to thinking, the Water Hole #2, that’s already established on the internet. And if I keep that name, when they type that in, it’ll come up. So, I kept Tumbleweed, Water Hole #2.”

just been, like I said, a labor of love and inspiration from people.”

“What makes it worth the visit is Masel Zimmerman,” said Rhys Martin, President of the Route 66 Association of Oklahoma. “She thought, ‘You know what? I’m going to make this someplace special.’ And you feel that — from the plants that she has outside to the little menagerie of animals that tend to gather in their little seating area. And you walk in, and it’s surrounded by art she’s made herself. So, you not only get a meal, but you get a story from her, and you get to feel like you’re part of something special. And you are.”

2020 and Beyond Unfortunately, the Tumbleweed Grill and Country Store wasn’t immune to the economic hurdles caused by the coronavirus pandemic. “It shut me down. Normally, there’s hundreds and hundreds of motorcycles coming down here a day, a week. This year, I bet you I could count six motorcycles that have come through. There’s just no traffic. I could go and lay out on the road.”

Still, Zimmerman holds out hope that she’ll be able to reopen the Tumbleweed Grill and Country Store in 2022.

With only 15 people left in Texola by Zimmerman’s count, it’s more important to her than ever to preserve the history of the Mother Road. “The young people need to be aware of the history of Route 66. It was the livelihood, the backbone of America.” And what became of the giant painting that started it all? It sits quietly, tucked away in storage in Texola.

There is something truly special that demands to be preserved in these simple, almost forgotten towns. The people and history behind towns like Texola and little businesses like the Tumbleweed Grill are a unique part of what makes Route 66 and America so special.

The Tumbleweed Experience The Tumbleweed Grill and Country Store, which officially opened in November of 2012, is truly a one-woman operation. “I do the cooking, the waitressing, the cleaning, the yard work… I’ve made my own T-shirts and pins and my own stickers, and I got into the souvenirtype stuff. I do all my own cooking, baking, homemade soups… I have breakfast all the time. I serve everything from steak to hot dogs.

[Even] my ordinary hamburger buns turned into something special.”

Zimmerman decorates them with the Route 66 shield. “Everything has

Zimmerman posing beside the store’s vintage arrow sign.

ROUTE Magazine 39

entral Illinois is known, for good reason, as the Land of Lincoln. And although they coexist from different eras — Lincoln’s life ending in 1865, and Route 66’s not officially beginning until 1926 — the stories of the 16th US President and the Mother Road overlap.

Lincoln, a railroad advocate, witnessed the construction of the Chicago and Alton Railroad in the 1850s. Seventy years later, Illinois began paving its new Route 4 atop the old Pontiac Trail, which carried horse-drawn traffic alongside the railroad line. Of course, that road became US Highway 66 a few years later. All of these led to Springfield, which had become the Illinois capital due to Lincoln’s and other legislators’ efforts.

“Lincoln grew up in Kentucky and Indiana, on small farms.

His father was a subsistence farmer,” said Olivia Partlow, director of the Lincoln Heritage Museum in Lincoln. “In 1860, [when he] was running for president, some of his friends from Illinois concocted [his] campaign strategy. They had a bunch of splinters of wood, and they claimed that Abraham Lincoln split this rail in the 1830s. And then they gave away pieces of that rail during the meeting.”

Dubbed “The Railsplitter” candidate by his campaigners, the new nickname appealed to many of his supporters who shared the ideals of self sufficiency and hard work.

On November 6, 1860, Lincoln won the election to become the 16th President of the United States.

Just 35 miles north of Springfield along Route 66 stands the only city named for Lincoln during his lifetime.

There, one can stand on the spot where Honest Abe himself is said to have christened the town in 1853 with the juice of a watermelon. Of course, this small city is steeped in Lincoln lore and aptly-named institutions; Lincoln College supports the Lincoln Heritage Museum, and the Postville Courthouse, a 1953 reproduction of the courthouse in which Lincoln worked, is located on old Route 66. But just off the Mother Road in Lincoln, is a quirkier, giant attraction that honors Route 66 as well as Lincoln, the Railsplitter Covered Wagon.

“I’d been in the military, and then I was a police officer until 2012. I grew up in Illinois, so I figured I was an Illinois boy and a Railsplitter. And then 9/11 happened, and I needed to do something patriotic. And then I had heart surgery and needed a recovery and rehab project. Everything just came together, and so I built that wagon in November 2001, just 40 ROUTE Magazine

after 9/11,” explained retired law enforcement officer David Bentley. Using his time recovering from his surgery, Bentley created and built the wagon out of Illinois oak and steel.

Geoff Ladd was the Executive Director of the Abraham Lincoln Tourism Bureau of Logan County when he got a phone call from Bentley in 2007. “It was on display in his hometown of Divernon [but] he wanted to sell it to a Route 66 community with Lincoln history, and we were fortunate to be the first call on his list,” Ladd explained. “Our tourism bureau had a tight budget, [but] we contacted local philanthropist Larry Van Bibber, who donated $15,000 to purchase the wagon and cover the moving costs. Bentley’s team moved the carriage, the wheels, and the 13-foot-tall fiberglass Abe Lincoln in a caravan of vehicles along I-55 to Lincoln.” The Railsplitter Wagon was given to the Logan County Tourism Bureau and was prominently placed on the front lawn of the Best Western Motel on the 1940-1977 alignment of Route 66. “[The wagon] was built [at the right time] to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Route 66,” said Morgan Gleason, recent Executive Director of the Logan County Tourism Board. “[It] stands 25 feet tall, and it’s 40 feet long.” On it sits the 350-pound Abraham Lincoln statue, complete with signature beard, black suit, and stovepipe hat. He reads a book with the word “Law” on its cover, depicting the young farmhand as he studied to become a lawyer.

Severe storms mangled the wagon in 2014 and 2017. “The wheels had moved in the rock. It didn’t completely fall, but it was leaning pretty bad. So, they had to put these metal pieces under the wagon to keep it held upright and the cover had to be re-sewn,” Gleason said.

Repaired, restored, and still occupying its honored spot, the Railsplitter Wagon, which celebrates its 20th anniversary in November 2021, has achieved Guinness Book of World Records status as the world’s largest covered wagon, and has previously been voted the #1 Roadside Attraction in America by Reader’s Digest. Fiberglass Abe still perches on his wagon, ready to roll down the road — that’s Route 66, of course.

Whether remembered as the young railsplitter, the lawyer riding the circuit, or the Great Emancipator, there’s no denying that Abraham Lincoln is well honored in the Prairie State.

Image by David J. Schwartz – Pics On Route 66.

THE RAILSPLITTER C

42 ROUTE Magazine

A CONVERSATION WITH

Ralph Macchio

By Brennen Matthews

Images by Danielle Levitt/Netflix

ROUTE Magazine 43

I

was ten years old in the summer of 1984. The movie theaters were on fire that year with major films like Ghostbusters and Gremlins. It was an amazing time to be a kid on the verge of adolescence. My best friend Robbie was turning ten as well and his mother wanted to take us to the movies in honor of his birthday.

He suggested a tiny film that I had never heard of called The Karate Kid. I vividly remember asking Robbie if we could see something different. I wasn’t interested in a karate movie.

But he insisted and off we went to the buzzing movie theater.

As the lights dimmed and the picture started, I was not prepared for a film that would emotionally impact me deeply.

I left the theater with an admiration for karate and a bad crush on a young Elizabeth Shue. Ralph Macchio, the young actor who brought Daniel LaRusso, the karate kid, to life, was also not prepared for how the film would alter his relaxed professional and personal trajectory. Now, 37 years later, back in the role of LaRusso, an older, more mature Macchio has entered act three in his career, and is excited, in his relaxed manner, to ride the wave all the way.

Everything between Los Angeles and New York is commonly referred to as flyover country. There’s an assumption that there’s nothing there, in Middle America.

When did you start to appreciate the differences and diversity that America really offers?

I think that The Outsiders (in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is where that was born for me. I did do some traveling before then with my family, but we always traveled abroad. We were never the family, my parents and my brother and I, to get in an RV. I’m more about wanting to do that now. Phyllis and I actually talk about that.

In the preparation and research work for The Outsiders and the rehearsal period, the two weeks before we actually started shooting, we’d go out into town and talk to people.

We’d grab an ice cream at a local spot. We’d sit in some diner where you’d spin the chairs, you know? There’s a great shot of me, Matt Dillon, and C. Thomas Howell having ice cream sitting on the edge of a car from the late fifties. That was us during the rehearsal process. Coppola had us walk in the streets. We’d walk into a luncheonette with a dollar and have to figure out how to get three ice creams out of it. We had theater school for those two weeks. And that was sort of my inroads to those [places] in our country.

The character of Johnny Cade really resonated with you.

But he’s a tortured teenager who came from a broken home and a lot of abuse. You came from a pretty stable home. What did you relate to in the character?

I was always the smallest in my class. I wasn’t the guy picked last in gym, but I was never the guy picked first. I had a runtof-the-litter element about me, because I look very young for my age, which I’m still working on. (Laughs) I connected to the inferiority that he felt and [how] he needed that group (Greasers) around him.

What were the dynamics like during the auditioning for The Outsiders?

The casting of that film was unlike any other experience I’ve had before or since. Francis Ford Coppola had all of us on a 44 ROUTE Magazine

soundstage at his Zoetrope Studio, and every actor was in the room watching every other actor try out.

Also, the Socs and the Greasers... we were kept separate.

Coppola did that. You know, I think about it as a filmmaker; when you have young actors, you try to set up as much of this being real... the Socs were getting chateaubriand and we were getting leftover fried chicken. They got leather-bound script and we’d basically got, there was like a paperclip holding the pages together. (Laughs)

Did you have any inkling, as you were all filming, that you would all go on to have big film careers?

You know, we [were] all on that side of it. We were working with Francis Ford Coppola, one of the greatest storytellers in American cinema, the godfather of filmmaking. And we were in a book that was a classic at the time, that everybody wanted to be in. Actually, we all thought that the movie was going to be bigger than it actually turned out to be. But over time it’s found its place.

So, I think there was an element where we felt, well, this is not going to end now. We’re just getting started. I remember Cruise’s room was right next to mine. We were all on the sixth floor of the Tulsa Excelsior Hotel. One day he told me, ‘I’m supposed to get a package with a script. And if you see it, just throw it in my room or hang on to it and give it to me later.’

That was for Risky Business.

I always joke in my own mind’s eye, what if I kept it?

(Laughs) But I had my day in the sun as well.

When you heard that somebody was investing money and time to turn The Outsiders house into a museum, what did you think?

I was happy to hear it. When I heard that Danny [Boy O’Connor] was going to buy the house... I remember being there in 2007 I think, for the complete novel release. And I remember seeing that house and seeing how it was in disarray, and it was on its way to being unlivable. I almost wish I was smart enough to have done it, you know, but it’s cooler to have someone else do it and let me participate.

I just love it. I mean, I was there two years ago with my family.

I put my hands in cement and signed ‘Johnny Cade.’ It’s kind of hallowed ground for me. It’s so bittersweet because it’s almost like watching those movies. You remember that time in your life and it’s nostalgic, it’s fresh. Success in film is determined over time and with a film like The Outsiders, and new generations watching it today, and getting to embrace those characters and story… It stands the test of time. And to share that with my kids who are now in their twenties… they’re older than I was when I made the movie. It’s a real rich reward to share it.

You didn’t like the title for The Karate Kid in the beginning.

You thought that it was a little cheesy?

Yeah, it sounded like a bad after-school special. Anytime I would say it to someone, they would think that I said The Cruddy Kid. They didn’t know what it was. The Karate Kid, it sounded like a cartoon. I thought it was a placeholder. I thought, in the back of my mind, if this thing ever hits, I’m gonna have to carry it around for the rest of my life. But I remember Jerry Weintraub, our producer, saying, ‘It’s a terrible title, which makes it a great title.’ And it stuck.

Major names like Robert Downey Jr. and Nicholas Cage were interested in the role of Daniel as well. When you read for the part, did you know it was yours or did you need to fight for it?

I did not have to fight to get the role. I read the script; it was sent over to me. I went into New York City with the one scene and did my first cold reading in John Avildsen’s apartment. And when he clicked off the cam, he said, ‘Good’.

And then after that, he started talking to me about taking karate lessons. I saw and felt his enthusiasm, and then he gave me his number; that doesn’t normally happen. By the time I was out on the street, I remember, I didn’t know where to go. It was just so exciting.

I had to wait a little while, but then I was flown out to Los Angeles, and then it was a three-picture-option deal.

The only person I saw around Weintraub’s bungalow and Columbia Pictures a lot was Charlie Sheen. I knew Charlie through Emilio. But I was like, why is Charlie here, he doesn’t look like a scrawny kid from New Jersey?

It was such a wonderful movie, even to this day. It is about human connection and relationships. The story of Daniel LaRusso was one that many people can relate to.

Daniel had no business winning anything. And the fact that he did; that wish fulfillment and the aspirational element of it, that could be me. He’s every kid next door. And then we all longed for a human Yoda in our lives as we navigated adolescence. And Mr. Miyagi was just that beautifully written piece of cinema, perfectly cast and portrayed by Pat Morita.

I mean, that’s instantly a classic character, and it works on a human level. All the heightened reality and all the fight scenes and all this stuff came in second place to the human element where it worked. And it is still working to this day.

Were you surprised that Pat had to fight so hard to get that role?

No. I wasn’t on team anti-Pat, but I was more... Arnold from Happy Days, really? You know, we all did that, and it’s ironic to me because I got some of that in my career, like, Ralph, the karate kid, really?

Once he came, once we met, it was instantaneous, there was nothing to do, except just let us interact. It was kissed and blessed somewhere. And it was magic. It really was. I think that the ease of which we worked was where that chemistry was. And that’s a wonderful thing. And credit John Avildsen who fought for him, the studio and the producer didn’t even want to see him.

How did your life change once The Karate Kid hit theaters and became such a big hit? You became a household name and face. How did you handle the attention?

There’s that seductive part of it, you know, and everybody tries to see through what’s altruistic versus fantasy. Listen, it was… I don’t know how they do it today. Once again, with technology, there’s no escape. I didn’t have that. I just went back home to New York, with my family. Sort of, Ralph’s back home.

With The Karate Kid II, I was on Broadway with Robert DeNiro [in] Cuba and His Teddy Bear at the Longacre Theatre

and [the film] was playing across the street. That was sort of my Beatles at Shea Stadium time. I mean, that’s when I’d come out of the theater and have to be rushed into the car. That window was the most like what you’re talking about. Outside of that, I just kind of stayed home and did my own thing.

I was not in Los Angeles unless I was working. When I wasn’t shooting, I was basically back home on Long Island.

But at the time, when I was doing the play, that was the crazy summer where it felt like that. But I think it’s partly how my parents raised me, and to me being grounded and always keeping one foot in and one foot out. And the other part is, maybe I was just too chicken to take advantage of stuff more.

I was reading an interview where you said that there’s not been a day that’s gone by where somebody hasn’t made some reference to The Karate Kid. To be so connected to a project in the mind of others can be a curse as well as a blessing. Does that ever get a little frustrating?

Yeah, I mean, I was exaggerating for effect that not a day goes by because there are plenty of days that go by, but it’s certainly common. What’s funny now is it’s more like, ‘Hey, don’t you play the dad on that show?’ (Laughs) But yes, it gets frustrating, more so 10 years ago than now. That’s for sure.

But I don’t recall ever being like, why did this happen to me?

I just think that’s so short-sighted and ridiculous because the movie and the Daniel LaRusso character were so positive. That’s a privilege in a world that is so divided and negative. To represent a piece of joy is a great thing. And I’m blessed to have that.

But certainly, when I look at other films… I mean, obviously My Cousin Vinny is a film that stands on its own, and I hear a lot of compliments about that film. And being involved with The Outsiders, doing a play like Cuba. Crossroads was a film that was very respected in the music world. And, so, I ROUTE Magazine 45

had those pieces, but I was always looking for what would sort of balance… there’s a Miyagiism for you, to balance the dominance of Daniel LaRusso and my career life. I am probably not going to change that in my lifetime, especially with this massive success of Cobra Kai, which is just more of a gift that keeps on giving. So, I choose to embrace it.

You went from one big film, The Outsiders, into The Karate Kid franchise, then My Cousin Vinny was huge… but then after that, things got a bit quiet for you. Was that a choice?

It was not completely by design. My Cousin Vinny was a tough role to get. The studio didn’t want me. It was like, ‘You don’t want him, he’s the karate kid.’ And Jonathan Lynn, our director said, ‘Well, why wouldn’t I?’ He hadn’t seen The Karate Kid film. And then he saw the film and said, ‘Why wouldn’t we want this guy? He’s good.’

It was interesting because Will Smith and Ben Stiller were two guys on the way up at the time, and I had sort of plateaued. But they were talking about names like those. We had to fight to get in the room. But by the time I left the room, and they called; I had the part.

What happened after My Cousin Vinny, I was already feeling it. The Karate Kid III was not a very good movie. As far as Daniel LaRusso, the character did not progress forward.

A lot of people love it for, you know, the campy reasons, and it also informs a lot of what is successful with Cobra Kai, but at that point, I was starting to feel the “tougher to get the roles” type scenario.

[Also] my wife became pregnant with my daughter. That was amazing. That production is way better than those productions right now. And so, I was a hands-on dad during all that time, with both my kids, doing work in between here, there, but the big stuff eluded me. And by then I was really off that list.

When I look at it now, my kids are in their twenties, and I was a part of that. It’s almost like I designed it perfectly.

I took a hiatus to raise my family. I had success there, and now look what’s happening. And the beauty of that for me, which is something I didn’t expect with Cobra Kai, is how much my kids take ownership and love that show.

So something so big, a part of my younger life, is now a big part of our whole family. It’s pretty unique and rare and kind of spectacular. But I’m still digging and fighting against the current for other conceptual ideas that I would love to do.

It must have been a shock to discover Will Smith’s interest in the Karate Kid franchise.

He called me when they were remaking The Karate Kid with his son and Jackie Chan. He said, ‘I know I’m messing with your baby, but I want to do the right thing. I think there’s more meat on the bones.’ He was very cool. I told him the My Cousin Vinny prospective story because he came into audition when I was there that day. I made a joke that it was the only time, the first and last time, that I got the part, and he didn’t.

We laughed.

What did Phyllis think about you going back to work full time on a series?

She was like, ‘Get out of the house, go do something!’

For Cobra Kai, anytime someone had a successful reboot, she would say, ‘This movie is so beloved, there has got to 46 ROUTE Magazine

be a smart way back into that world.’ And the challenge for me was always Daniel LaRusso. Pat Morita was no longer here. So, we didn’t have the Miyagi element. Daniel LaRusso, married guy? Well, maybe he’s divorced now. Maybe he’s gotten in trouble and there was never… I would get pitches all the time which would just be really ridiculous. I could never find a story to tell. It was just too precious to me. And then some smart super fans came up with an idea for a way back in.

You’ve been married for 34 years. That is amazing. What do you and Phyllis attribute your success in marriage to?

Well, she’s not in the entertainment industry, so that’s a big, big piece of the secret sauce. She’s a nurse practitioner, she’s out there working at the hospital right now. It would be challenging to both be in the industry. I don’t know how people pull that off. There are some, and that is really commendable. Listen, any relationship is work. There are ups and downs. There are good days and tougher days and banner years and challenging years. I’ve always believed in the foundation of our relationship and our connection, you know? There’s no one that could convince me that she is not the woman I need to be spending my life with. And she feels that same way. If I leave the toilet seat up or the cap off the toothpaste that changes for about an hour. (Laughs) For us, it’s about believing and our commitment to each other, and to that end game, which has always felt, you know, kind of destined to be right.

You are in your late 50s, the kids are grown and have left the nest so to speak. It seems that Cobra Kai and its success came at the perfect time for you. How have you navigated the getting older season of your life?

You know, Phyllis and I talk about that now, because my parents, and her mom — ­ who are still here — we lost her dad a little over a year ago… but you’re seeing that generation, and I remember when my dad turned 50, I’ll never forget it. I had a big video camera. He came in, it was a surprise.

And I remember holding the video camera, taking in his reaction to everyone in the family room, yelling ‘Surprise, happy birthday!’ And I remember saying, ‘That’s 50! I’m like a million years from that!’ as I’m holding this big video VHS tape camera, and I shattered that nine and a half years ago!

So now I’m looking at this third act and I’m seeing what my parents are going through. I’m long-term planning, enjoying, and figuring out that chapter, and that’s weird. I’m still not settled with it. It’s always been like everything’s a million miles away.

So having the success of Cobra Kai and its resurgence, this big embrace, if you will, is a supreme luxury and a joy to have.

There is something warm and wonderful when I get an eightor 10-year-old kid coming up to me at a sporting event or... I was out and… this kid comes up to me with his brother and sister and says, ‘Wait, don’t you play Samantha LaRusso’s dad on Cobra Kai?’ And it’s just kind of the most wonderful thing that he’s not saying, ‘Wait, aren’t you The Karate Kid? Show me the crane kick.’ It’s like another generation, another perspective.

And then you have his parents come over and they grew up doing the crane kick on the street.

It’s a pretty special and unique existence, and I consider it a privilege.

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ROUTE Magazine 47

ROLLA’S TOT 48 ROUTE Magazine

TEM POLE

By JD Mahoney Photographs by David J. Schwartz - Pics On Route 66 ROUTE Magazine 49

T

he Mother Road giveth and the Mother Road taketh away. Motorization of the public since the 1920s created the need for highways which, in turn, brought expansion to the communities through which they passed. Knifing through eight states between Chicago and Santa Monica, Route 66 provided a steady stream of travelers that sustained businesses along the newly established corridor of commerce. Tourist traps inevitably, alluring and irresistible, sprang up alongside the roadside cafes, gas stations, and motor courts.

As the traffic patterns and the alignments along Route 66 changed though the years to expedite travel through — or around — growing communities, the capricious strand of highway held the power to expand, modify, or abandon the towns that were created to serve it. Small, ruggedly independent enterprises that relied upon the arterial flow of travelers either thrived or died — or were forced to move.

In some instances, the unpredictable main street had simply been re-routed to the rear of an existing row of businesses from the front. Easily remedied by switching signage to face the new alignment, those owners could consider themselves among the fortunate. In a few cases, property owners resorted to the extreme length of jacking up an entire building and rotating it to face the route’s newly designated path.

Floundering businesses often realized that even though the new alignment of the highway was nearby, tapping into the route’s life-giving support demanded relocation. The most unfortunate lot of the entrepreneurs found that the re-routed highway would simply crash through the middle of their enterprises, seizing their property through eminent domain. Forced to relocate twice over the decades, the Totem Pole Trading Post, a victim of the route’s more devastating evolutionary scenarios, somehow continues to survive.

A Tale of Three Trading Posts Located in the middle of everywhere — Rolla, Missouri, that is — the Totem Pole Trading Post is said to be the oldest business in continuous operation on the stretch of Route 66 that bisects the Show-Me state. While the Trading Post does not pre-date or coincide with the commissioning of Route 66 in 1926, it has exceeded the decommissioning of America’s Main Street in 1985 by 36 years. Surviving through two relocations blamed squarely on interstate construction, boom-and-bust economic cycles, and the recent pandemic, a single family has held the entity for 64 years of its 88-year existence.

Travelers alert enough to stop by the historic business find themselves greeted with an enthusiastic salutation of “Hi! C’mon in. Welcome to the Totem Pole!” from its loquacious long-time owner. Sporting a silver mustache and goatee, the host is a rather cherubic incarnation of a southern colonel famous for selling buckets of fried chicken. Part historian, 50 ROUTE Magazine

part tour guide, and always enthusiastic entertainer, owner Tim Jones is never at a loss for an interesting tale to tell. “I’m a barefooted pilgrim and a holdover from the ‘60s,” Tim modestly describes himself, an admitted relic in today’s digital world.

With 17 full guest books that chronicle the Trading Post’s visitors just over the last nine years, Jones has captivated travelers that venture into his multi-generational, family-owned, and admittedly varied enterprise from as far away as Zimbabwe.

“I love it! I think it’s so cool because it’s just one of those places that’s iconic to Route 66.

Especially when it’s one of the longest-running businesses. A lot of Route 66 businesses just aren’t around anymore. It’s just a really cool eclectic place to get your Route 66 souvenirs and collect some old stories along the way,” said Aimee Campbell, Director of Tourism for the Rolla Chamber of Commerce.

Totem Pole # 1 — Baskets and Fireworks Opened in 1933, a mere seven years after the establishment of the Mother Road, Harry Cochran and his wife Edna opened the Totem Pole near Arlington, just west of Rolla, Missouri, on the narrow band of highway that connected America’s heartland with the West Coast. Perched up above both the doorway and “The Totem Pole” sign, midway along the roof of the small log building, stood the business’s namesake, a colorfully painted, 12-foot-tall hand-carved totem pole. Festooned with racks of pottery and baskets at street level and decorated with colorful strings of banners beckoning to motorists from a distance, the roof held the crowning touch, the rather garish totem pole, topped by a pelican with spread wings.

However, aware that Route 66 was going to be re-routed in the future, in the mid ‘50s, Cochran put the established business up for sale.

“My mom and my dad looked at it several times,” said Tim Jones, Ralph and Catherine Jones’ son. “He’d been looking for anything… everything. He looked at motels all over the state and he stumbled on to the Totem Pole. You know, Route 66 was hotter than a firecracker back then!”

With the Jones couple swapping a property that they owned near St. Louis for partial payment, Cochran extended financing for the balance of the purchase in 1957. Ralph and Catherine bought Cochran’s business, home, and land, then owning six log cabins, a restaurant, the gift shop, Standard Oil gas with the old-style pumps, and the first coin-operated laundromat in Phelps County.

Tim Jones inside the Totem Pole Trading Post.

“My dad was a hard worker; always was! When he bought the Totem Pole, the buildings were in bad, bad repair. My dad came in and went to town,” said Tim. Never renting out the cabins, after laboriously caulking all of the logs and repairing their leaky roofs, Tim’s father used them instead to store inventory — one cabin full of fireworks, one cabin full of baskets, and so on. Handmade white oak baskets, a strong-selling item, were crafted by a local couple, Clarence and Ruth Wells. Learning from the pair how to select only second growth north-facing white oak trees to hand strip the strands from and then how to weave the baskets, Tim developed a profound respect for the dying art. The Wells couple made 39 different styles of handmade baskets. Tim recalled his dad buying an abundance of baskets, even when he didn’t need more inventory, because he knew that someday, the pair would no longer be making baskets.

The Totem Pole’s proximity to a military basic training base provided an unexpected bonus. Soldiers at Fort Leonard Wood often headed for Rolla just twelve miles away on their weekend pass. There, they discovered that the Totem Pole served bottled beer. In the aisles of the Totem Pole shop and its accompanying motorists’ services,

soldiers, travelers, and locals bumped into each other in a diverse mix rivaled only by the disparate array of souvenirs and trinkets arranged on the shop’s eclectic shelves.

On 66, Bigger is Better Looking to improve and expand his business, Ralph Jones, an experienced horseman, closed the restaurant and opened a saddle shop, basically stocking anything and everything for both the horse and rider. Inventory soon included several dozen saddles, bridles and halters, horseshoes, and horseshoe nails. For the rider, there were western hats and clothing, including Lee Riders jeans.

“They [the Lee company] gave my dad a pair of these giant blue jeans. He made a cowboy [out of wood] that fit inside of them. People used to stop there all day long taking pictures of the cowboy and this large, large pair of blue jeans. It was like the Cadillac Ranch.” Although the colossal plywood cowboy is long gone now, Tim added, “I still have the jeans hangin’ here in the store!” On Route 66, bigger is always better to attract attention.

The saddle shop turned out to be a natural choice for Ralph Jones, drawing upon his experience training mounted troops ROUTE Magazine 51

in the 124th Calvary during World War II, not to mention his stint as a performing acrobat in a 15-man traveling Wild West show.

Ralph’s colorful past included ten years working for an actor, carnival boxer, and horseman named Victor McLaglen, who traveled all over the United States with a Live Horse Troupe. A favorite among their trick-riding repertoire was the human pyramid on horseback, with three horses abreast at a full gallop around the arena. Three men stood on horseback with two men standing on their shoulders, with Jones standing at the top of the pyramid with his hands on his hips.

Jones, striving to improve the visual appeal of the business, initiated a full remodel of the building, which was completed in 1961. “Robert Ferraro Sr. did the design, and his son, Bob Jr. did the carpentry work. They did a whole renovation and pulled all the buildings together into one big building.”

With a high-backed western facade and a porch supported by large cedar posts that ran the full length of the structure, the Trading Post took on a decidedly wild west feel. “Very picturesque, back in the day,” Tim added. “Mom and dad put everything they had in it. [They] worked so hard to put it on top and really made something out of it. They were doing better than Harry [Cochran] did with it. They were a booming business.”

However, perhaps an omen that change would soon bring destruction, the totem pole was removed from the roof to facilitate the remodel. Then, unable to find accommodation inside the remodeled Trading Post with its low interior ceilings, the 12-foot totem pole simply languished in storage until its next move.

Totem Pole # 2 — Just One Out of 20 The late ’60s brought the new and improved four-lane Interstate 44, a modern proxy of old Route 66, rolling through Missouri. Acquired by the state through eminent domain, the land that had been home to the original Totem Pole Trading Post for 34 years was used to construct a service road, forcing out a row of businesses.

“In 1967, the interstate went right through the middle of our buildings. My father had two choices, either go out of business or start all over,” Tim recalled. “There were 19 businesses other than ours that it affected, and my dad was the only one of 20 to start over. Dad bought new property [between Doolittle and Rolla]. He and I built a whole new store from the ground up.”

Re-emerging from storage, the original totem pole was once again on display, exhibited inside the new store for the next ten years. However, finally ready for retirement, Ralph sold the business to two of his sons, Tim and his younger brother Bill. The partnership lasted about two years before Tim and his wife Alice took over the entire operation.

Interstate expansion once again threatened the very existence of the business in 1967. “Out in front of the store was four-lane Route 66 and behind our store was the twolane Route 66. They brought in the bulldozers and dug our driveways up and put us out of business a second time. I didn’t get two quarters to rub together. I got nothin’. Just put out of business,” said Tim. Still standing three miles west of the business’ present location, their old building now fronting two-lane Route 66 serves as an auction house with no direct access to Interstate 44.

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Totem Pole #3 — Something for Everyone Unwilling to fight the massive interstate highway system, Tim and Alice elected to buy an existing Shell gas station at the western edge of Rolla that was positioned with easy access to Exit 184, servicing I-44. Repurposing the two telescoping metal sign poles that once supported the station’s brand name, a new beacon was designed to entice interstate travelers away from the constant flow of traffic through Rolla.

“We had a one-ton Chevrolet truck with a stake rack on it. We hauled 26 loads from the Totem Pole number two to where I am [now],” Tim said, recalling the arduous process of packing up a business for the second time and moving to a new location. “This was a Shell service station when we bought it. We bought the land and the building, and we started to work it the day we moved in.”

Closing the station’s service bays, a loft was constructed over them to expand the sales floor. While his wife Alice ran the store, Tim, along with the help of his oldest son, Scott, and carpenter, Clarence Wiese, remodeled the entire station.

Adding a gabled, steep-pitched roof to include a second floor over the office, service bays and pump islands more than tripled the square footage of the building. Utilizing the extra space created, Tim and Alice incorporated their shared passion for collecting antiques and relics to create additional store inventory.

Building a thriving antique business, the couple would hook up the trailer, take to the road, and search out unique heirlooms to resell. Situated on the doorstep of the Ozarks, there was an abundant supply of folk art, vintage accessories, and forgotten petroliana in close proximity to Rolla. “We did everything together! We raised our boys right here. We didn’t get a babysitter or anything. We were heavy in the antique business for 35 years. She bought all the glass and all the furniture. I bought all the gas pumps and globes. We loved it.

We dearly loved it!”

Displayed among its contemporary gas-pump cousins decorated with modern-day Route 66 globes, a 100-yearold ten-foot-tall Gilbert & Barker model 67 visible gas pump is the photo op that attracts visitors to stop in and explore these days. From hanging Native American tom toms and a feathered headdress to souvenir shot glasses and key chains, every inch of the store is a visual smorgasbord.

Proudly displayed above the sales counter is a photographic retrospective from 1933 through 1994 of the past Totem Pole

Inside the trading post is a host of unique treasures.

Trading Post elevations and locations. An engaging host, Tim is quick to inform inquisitive visitors of the history, challenges, and longevity of the business that has adjusted to the evolving Route over the decades.

A combination roadside museum mixed with a cornucopia of Route 66 mementos, plus the staples of a convenience store, today’s trading post on Martin Springs Drive (Route 66) has something for everyone — including “Roamin’ Rich” Dinkela, President of the Missouri Route 66 Association.

“The Trading Post is one thing, the owner is another. Tim’s a great guy! He has always had some unique diverse offerings from the area. He used to sell handmade baskets, fireworks, all sorts of stuff. I was on a Route 66 trip with my wife, I bought a grab bag of stuff, books, t-shirts, trinkets — all sorts of stuff,” said Dinkela. “It’s kind of a hodge-podgery. If I had to make up a word, that’s it. It’s a hodge-podgery of stuff.”

For 44 years, the huge outdoor sign has featured the profile of two bald eagles facing each other with wings drawn to their

backs that tout the Totem Pole as Missouri’s “oldest since 1933” Route 66 business. In addition to antiques, fireworks, t-shirts, and the promise of cold beer, moccasins are also prominently advertised. One of the first vendors of the legendary Minnetonka brand, the Totem Pole has carried a full inventory of the Native American footwear for the last 74 years.

The Mystery of the Totem Pole Symbolizing guardian spirits and representing mythological creatures, the origin of the Trading Post’s hand-carved, finely decorated totem pole still remains somewhat of a puzzle.

Appropriately enough, the totem pole’s pelican topper has been interpreted to symbolize the bird’s unique traits of survival and adaptation to any situation. Hoping to uncover the history of the conspicuously displayed vertical icon, Tim has quizzed many of the old-timers in the area, but no one seems to have any information.

ROUTE Magazine 53

Jones posing beside the historic trading post sign.

“Several years back, [an older man with the last name of Ross] came into the store and he told me who he was.

I didn’t get to spend but a couple minutes with him and he gave me his email address. He told me that he and his sonin-law carved it.” Although in a hurry to leave for a doctor’s appointment that day, Tim also learned that the man, now residing in Florida, built the cabins and had owned the property behind the original Trading Post location.

Intending to make contact at a later date, the paper containing the email became irretrievably lost in the shuffle of the store’s voluminous paperwork. Acting upon the property ownership lead, Tim went to the courthouse and scoured the huge leather-bound county property ledgers.

Identifying the owner of the parcel adjacent to the original location, he hoped to finally make contact with the totem’s creator. After several investigative phone calls to locate him, the man’s widow answered and sadly informed him, “You’re too late. He passed away about two weeks ago.” It was a lost opportunity. “Everything he had, all the knowledge of everything, he took it to the grave with him.”

The Defiance of a Survivor Persevering through the growth and decline of America’s Main Street, the Totem Pole Trading Post has provided well for the two generations of the Jones family that have presided over the landmark for 64 years. However, Alice, severely injured in an auto accident 11 years ago, is no longer physically able to help with the business. The long 16-hour workdays of the past have been trimmed to a leaner 10 AM – 5 PM shift in order to allow Tim to care for his wife in the evenings.

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The paint on the huge trademark sign has begun to fade and peel, but the iconic landmark is still a magical draw to many, both local and from abroad.

“The building is a direct reflection of Tim: a little worn.

He’s done his time,” said Dinkela.

With Tim contemplating retirement to devote his full attention to his “bride of 56 years,” the future of the Totem Pole Trading Post is uncertain. Tim’s two sons are involved in successful small business enterprises of their own and have expressed little interest in carrying on the family business.

“The Mule [Trading Post, dating to 1946] has closed for good and, I fear that the same fate awaits the Totem Pole when Tim hangs up his spurs,” said Mark Stauter, President of the Phelps County Historical Society, referencing the 2020 closing of another Route 66 icon local to Rolla. “[There are] 321 miles to Route 66 across Missouri and I’m the oldest one left,” said Tim with the defiance of a survivor.

When the day does come to retire, it will be a bittersweet moment for the 72-year-old man who has invested his days on the Mother Road. “I’ve devoted my life to this place, and it is my life.” After moving the location and starting over twice, the Jones family has certainly endured all of the hard kicks that Route 66 has dealt over the decades.

Meanwhile, as Jones weighs his options, the diverse inventory within quietly awaits the next lucky traveler. Gas pumps and memorabilia stand ready for the next camera whose prescient owner senses that these treasures could be gone in the future. Every day is precious as the evolution of the old highway spins ever onward. It’s the Mother Road.

TH E BI RTH PL ACE O F RO UTE 66

R A IL H AV EN MOTEL

Experience history in comfort and style at the Best Western Rail Haven Motel, located in the birthplace of Route 66, Springfield, Missouri. Just a short distance from the city’s vibrant downtown, you’ve got the classic neon of the Mother Road right at your door and the heart of the Ozarks right at your fi ngertips.

Built in 1937 and welcoming visitors since, come and experience Route 66 at the motel that defi nes the warmth and hospitality that a trip down America’s Main Street has always been known to offer.

2 0 3 S . G l e n s t o n e A v e , S p r i n g f i e l d , M O 6 5 8 0 2 • Te l : ( 417 ) 8 6 6 -19 6 3 • w w w. b w r a i l h a v e n . c o m

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New Mexico has more than 600 miles of vintage Route 66 to be driven, thanks to various alignments that have shifted over the years. Along some of those forgotten byways are ghost towns that were once thriving communities, when Mother Road travelers were busy riding the wings of hope and chasing their dreams. The Land of Enchantment is packed with such spots, but Endee, located only five miles west of the Texas state line at Glenrio — perhaps Texas’ most famous ghost town — may be the most memorable. Today it sits empty and forgotten, a relic of a more prosperous time. Now, once again, only the local bird and insect life call it home.

Located along the earliest alignment of 66, Endee is an oft-overlooked destination, if only because it is on a dirt road that can become a quagmire during even light seasonal rains. But that’s not how it always was. By the 1930s, Route 66 through these parts was actually fully paved. It was only after a newer alignment to the north as well as the coming of the interstate, that the pavement was sadly pulled up.

Founded in 1882, with a post office coming four years later, the town was named for the ND Ranch, whose owners were John and George Day, and a Mr. Norris. The letters, which also formed their cattle brand, were simply spelled phonetically. With time, Endee became renowned for its cowboys and gunfights.

“Endee has actually had three different locations in its history,” said Johnnie Meier, New Mexico 66 historian. “It all depended on transportation, where the railroad and highway were located.”

When the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway came to town around 1903, it became imperative to locate near the railroad tracks. The Ozark Trail, which cut its way through the area since about 1913, mirrored the railroad and became Route 66 in 1926. Later, though, when a new alignment was built in 1952, north of town, they pulled up stakes again. That alignment ultimately became the corridor for I-40.

It was from the 1920s thru early-1950s, during the middle location’s era with the railroad, Ozark Trail, and later 66, that Endee prospered most. While the train provided farmers 56 ROUTE Magazine

and ranchers with the means of getting crops and livestock to market, the highway brought paying travelers.

Thus arose the need for the three pillars of tourism: gas, food, and lodging. A small motor court and store were built on the north side of 66, where NM 93 does a dogleg.

Wellington Johnson owned the local grocery and sold food and auto parts. The new enterprise was strategically located to capture traffic coming and going.

The three-room motor court and a small stone building that housed the water well still stand not far from the foundations of the store. The most iconic, though, is a small structure with two bathrooms. Stenciled across the west wall in large block letters it proclaims, “Modern Rest Rooms.” While it is a popular photo spot, its origins are shrouded in mystery, as no one recalls when those letters were painted.

There are a few other structures on NM 93, along with several long-abandoned vehicles. A cemetery is still accessible about a mile north on 93, via a ranch. A couple of miles west along 66 is the wooden Cypress Bridge, a narrow timber span measuring 302 feet. It is still passable today.

Jack Rittenhouse, in his 1946 travelogue, reported that Endee, at the time, had 110 residents as well as basic retail amenities. Population peaked at about 150 in the early-1950s, but that was when the town moved one last time. It lost a fair number of residents in the process, and the Post Office closed in 1955. The town was on its last leg.

Only the ghosts of Endee haunt the area nowadays; the sounds of the wind rustling through the tall grasses, and the chirp of a million crickets and local birdlife are the life song that fill the air. But the mood in the ghost town is alive and present. Endee is largely shielded from the noise of modernity, providing a brief respite to reflect on those who once called it home, and those who traveled this once-mighty road.

It’s not difficult to imagine what the Day Brothers and Mr. Norris were thinking when they arrived in these parts.

Aside from a few crumbling ruins, Endee looks much the same as in 1882. The cowboys and travelers have all gone, but their determined adventurous spirits remain.

Image by David J. Schwartz – Pics On Route 66.

The GHOST TOWN of ENDEE

DID YOU KNOW?

VISITTUCUMCARINM.COM #tucumcariproud

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issouri is known for its many large and quirky Route 66 treasures, from the sweet and whimsical Red Oak II village to the pun-packed Uranus tourist attraction. From a giant rocking chair in Fanning to a half-scale Stonehenge in Rolla, and from the Frog Rock in Pulaski County to the giant Hillbilly Sign, travelers are lured by these marvels of the Ozark state’s awesome array of Americana.

Although they loom large over the Missouri landscape, the twin water towers of the city of St. Clair don’t quite hold the destination status that some of the other landmarks rightfully claim. But rising out of the lush green forest surrounding St. Clair, they are in full view from I-44. And so, from the interstate or from historic Route 66 winding through the small, sleepy city, they have been the subject of more than one tourist’s camera lens.

You see, in this quiet spot along the Mother Road, visitors discover that its twin water towers boldly feature the words ‘Hot’ and ‘Cold’ in big red and blue lettering, respectively, just like your old-fashioned kitchen sink faucets.

Perfectly at home on America’s Main Street, it’s still an unexpected sight as they come into view of the unexpecting traveler. The towers anchor this Mother Road town of 4,700 residents, hinting at other interesting Route 66 sites to check out.

“We still have about 20 buildings in town that are original to 66, [though] they’re repurposed [and] being used for other things.

The old bus stop is still in existence, and we have several of the old Route 66 motel buildings,” said Jo Schaper, treasurer of the St. Clair Historical Museum.

“Now, Route 66 is not the main street, and never has been.

But I will tell you one thing that actually just came up this spring. A local bank [the Bank of Sullivan], moved a branch into our town, and the building is actually on Route 66. Their lobby is decorated in old 66 postcards that have been blown up, and entirely done in Route 66 memorabilia.” Nevertheless, the City of St. Clair knows what its main attraction is; the city seal features a line drawing of the two towers rising up out of an I-44 highway shield.

Though perhaps slightly understated, the town’s history with the Mother Road actually runs deep. When Route 66 was being constructed in 1926, the highway went through St. Clair. “I have a Missouri state highway map, made in 58 ROUTE Magazine

1926, that shows Route 66 going through town on a gravel road, and it says, ‘to be paved soon,’” said Schaper. “The first way Route 66 went through town is now North Commercial Avenue. It was the major route through town, from 1826 to 1951.” As the town grew, Route 66, or what is now I-44, was moved west.

The ‘Hot’ water tower was built in the 1970s, but it wasn’t enough for the town with a capacity of only 250,000 gallons.

In 1983, the second water tank was built. “As the city was growing, I think there was need for extra storage capacity,” said Jason Ivy, the Public Works Director for St. Clair, “for providing drinking water and also fire flow for the city, so the ‘Cold’ tank is a 300,000-gallon tank.”

It would be the mid-1980s, when the water towers were painted with the iconic ‘Hot’ and ‘Cold’. “The mayor at the time just thought that it would be a fun idea, since they were side by side,” said Ivy. “Similar to the faucets in your house, he thought it would be just a fun idea to do since they are visible from Interstate 44.”

Clearly, turning your town’s water towers, if you happen to have two of them, into gigantic faux faucets is quite a bit of fun. Although the St. Clair hot-and-cold towers are the only ones on Route 66, apparently this has been a “fun enough” idea that several U.S. towns have their own set of ‘hot and cold’ water towers — Pratt, Kansas (begun in the 1950s by a practical joker who climbed the towers armed with paint and brush); Canton, Kansas; and Granger, Iowa. There used to be a twin set in Eveleth, Minnesota, but the older one was demolished.

Meanwhile, St. Clair still pays homage to Route 66 by keeping the spirit of the Mother Road alive. In 2017, St. Clair was in the path of totality for the solar eclipse, so the event was named “Get Your Eclipse on Route 66.” During which, this sleepy town saw over 20,000 people attend! America’s Main Street is blessed with a plethora of unique and colorful attractions, but only one destination boasts of being the home to two oddly unique towers.

Today, there’s no eclipse guaranteed, but travelers can enjoy the twin water towers from either I-44 or North Commercial Avenue, which carried Route 66. Don’t let the labels fool you, however — St. Clair’s water comes from city wells, and both the tanks contain the exact same water.

Image by David J. Schwartz – Pics On Route 66.

A Tale of Two Towers M

MID-CENTUR

By Cherwyn Cole Photographs by Efren Lopez/Route66Images

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RY CHARM

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O

nce upon a time in small-town America, the mom-and-pop business was a way of life. And everyone had a specialty. Just like the children’s rhyme — “the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker” — the main streets of America were lined with the shops and stores of merchants and craftspeople who each knew their niche. Local citizens shopped according to their needs — a birthday cake from the bakery or a typewriter ribbon from the office supply store or pork chops from the butcher’s shop. And travelers and visitors in town were the icing on someone’s cake, shopping for what they forgot from back home, or a gift for their hosts, or a souvenir to remember the place.

But what seems almost like a fairy tale today still exists here and there, albeit sometimes in the shadows of the big-box stores. Girard, Illinois, has a legacy of being one of those small towns, charmingly complete with a big town square, ringed by two-story red brick storefronts of the early-1900s commercial architecture variety. Stories of its long-time merchants have endured through years and generations. Although the little town itself now suffers from the same afflictions that most small towns across the country endure — empty store buildings and a lack of all the shops and services. But the town’s simple magic and draw still beckon to visitors.

The Deck Pharmacy In 1865, Dr. B.F. Clark established a pharmacy in a storefront on the west side of the Girard square, with a medical office upstairs. Lewis Deck, a 36-year-old local one-room schoolteacher and son of area farmer Jacob Deck, became a partner in the pharmacy in 1884, beginning the Deck family’s 117 years of pharmacy operation in the same location at 133 South Second Street. Lewis Deck bought out Dr. Clark before Clark died in 1895, becoming the sole owner and manager.

From then on, it was known as Deck’s Drug Store, although back in the day, it was nicknamed “the white drug store,” because at the time it was the only white storefront on the square. In addition to medication, the drug store also sold hardware and groceries.

Lewis Deck’s sons, Harry and Wyman, took over the business around 1917, not long before their father’s death in 1918. Wyman installed a soda fountain, a popular feature in many pharmacies, in 1929. Actually, most drug stores across America had a soda fountain by the early ‘20s. This fulfilled the need for a social gathering spot, along with the provision of a beverage, to replace the neighborhood tavern, shuttered by Prohibition beginning in 1919. From teens to seniors, gathering at the local soda fountain was an American tradition through the 1960s, and one that added revenue to a drug store business. “It was a mainstay for kids to get out of school and go up to the soda fountain and have ice cream or sodas,” said Jeanette Earley, President of the Girard Chamber of Commerce.

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Wyman Deck and his wife Naomi had two sons, Bill in 1927 and Bob in 1930. The brothers would eventually take over the business from their father and operate it together.

Bob, a Korean War veteran, was the pharmacist and manager, and Bill, who also served as librarian for the Auburn public schools, was the pharmacy technician. About the time that the brothers took over the operation, a major change in the role of pharmacists occurred nationally. Pharmacists had been allowed to prescribe and dispense any medicine except for narcotics. But a 1951 amendment to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938 restricted pharmacists to dispensing medicines only with a physician’s prescription.

Bill and Bob, reminiscing about the old days in a 2012 video, told how they continued the family tradition of making root beer themselves in kettles in the back room. They recalled selling the root beer for a nickel a glass, and remembered their establishment being the town gathering place for many years, where locals would buy a soda or a root beer and make it last until their conversations were over. Like other pharmacy soda fountains, they offered flavored Cokes, long before Cherry Coke was available in an individual can, by adding lemon, chocolate, orange, or cherry syrup from a gallon jug.

The Deck Boys In the 1980s, Deck’s Drug Store was still percolating through the decade with the two Deck brothers at the helm. The rest of the little downtown was surviving as well, with the local Crown Mine re-opened in 1973. Illinois Route 66 had been decommissioned in 1977, and the Mother Road’s revival would not begin until the ‘90s. Microchips, Nintendo, and cable television contributed to the ever-widening gap between “the present” and the legendary ‘50s, despite efforts to recreate the Mid-Century economic boom. But by 1985, American society had pretty much forgotten the charm and the kitsch of the Mid-Century years.

However, important to our story, something else significant happened in 1985. A young married couple named Robert and Renae Ernst opened a furniture restoration business at their home outside of Girard. “I grew up remodeling houses,” said Robert. “My dad was a schoolteacher. So, after school

Robert and Renae Ernst sitting inside Doc’s Soda Fountain and the Deck Pharmacy Museum.

and during the summer we were actually building and remodeling houses. I blame all this [furniture business] on my dad!”

Renae’s experience was a little different. “My college degree is in biology and chemistry. I was on track to be a medical technologist, [but] after we got married and started the business, that just kind of took over everything.”

The business grew and in 1989 the Ernsts decided to move their operation to a corner building on the west side of Girard’s square. And it was here in downtown Girard that Robert and Renae Ernst met Bob and Bill Deck, the friendly owners of Deck’s Drug Store. “They became close friends, just like family to us, and they would come to Thanksgiving and to Christmas with us, for a long time,” said Renae.

In the 1990s, the Ernsts moved their upholstery and drapery business into what Girard residents knew as the

“old hardware store,” at 145 S. Second Street, where they are still located. Next door to them were two storefronts in use by the Decks — the original home of the pharmacy plus an additional space in between Deck’s Drug Store and the Ernsts’ business. These three storefronts comprised one handsome red brick two-story building of the typical Midwestern brick commercial architecture type, with a row of dentil molding across the top of the facade and nine second-story windows with Italianate-style window arches. It was a fitting home, not only for an 1800s-vintage pharmacy, but also for the Ernsts’ two businesses: The Furniture Doctor and Renae’s Window Fashions.

After Route 66 enthusiasts “discovered” the historic pharmacy around the ‘90s, Bill and Bob Deck had an additional job — besides maintaining their pharmacy clientele, they found themselves in the tourism business.

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Their stories of the “old days” were a big draw to the little-changed drug store, along with the marble-topped soda fountain that their father, Wyman Deck, had installed back in 1929. Ice cream, sodas, and home-made root beer became as popular with tourists as the hometown regulars.

And visitors marveled at the wall of original wooden cabinets and drawers crafted long ago to display or store inventory and drug store supplies. Apothecary and medicine glass bottles once containing plant extracts and inorganic

Inside Doc’s Soda Fountain.

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ingredients, herbals and various pharmaceuticals, lined the shelves, harkening back to the golden era of the American Drugstore.

However, by 2001, the “Deck boys,” as they’re still affectionately known in Girard, decided that it was time to retire. Bill was 74 years old, and Bob was 71, and they were the third and final generation of the Deck family to own and operate the drug store. They ceased operation of the pharmacy and sold their business.

The Rebirth Several operators were in and out over the next half-dozen years, with less-than-ideal results. The store had been left to run down and was in a pretty bad state. Not wanting to see the soda fountain and the tourism draw of the historic drugstore die, the Ernsts stepped in and purchased it.

“But before we bought the drug store, we went to the Decks.

They still owned the middle building — they had an antique

store in it,” said Robert. “We asked them, ‘Would you give us first opportunity when you sell, to buy the middle store?’ and they said ‘yes’ they would. And so, because of that we went ahead and bought the middle store, because we knew we needed it as well.”

That “middle store,” which had most recently been used as an antique shop by Bill and Bob Deck, became, in effect, a small restaurant, with a kitchen installed at the back to prepare sandwiches, salads, and desserts. (The Ernsts declined to fry foods lest the grease settle on the valuable pharmacy antiques.) In front of the kitchen toward the windows, a roomy seating area was added, providing a pleasant, lightfilled space for lunch customers, groups, and occasional programs. A giant world map was attached to one wall of the new dining area, which is by now well covered with colored pins marking visitors’ hometowns. With white-painted walls, red trim and tablecloths, and old-time memorabilia gracing the walls, Renae’s decorative touches turned the old building into an old-fashioned, welcoming lunch room.

Of course, customers could still sit down with their ice cream treats at one of the half-dozen tables in the adjoining Doc’s Soda Fountain itself. Or better still, sit on one of the stools at the soda fountain’s counter for a close-up view of the sweet goodness being dished up.

“We did not take it on intending for it to be a full-fledged restaurant. We started out just with the soda fountain, serving sodas and ice cream,” Renae added.

The Ernsts’ purchase of Deck’s Drug Store plus the “middle store” in between the pharmacy and the Furniture Doctor were finalized in 2007. Robert and Renae meticulously took the pharmacy’s facade back to a classic turn-of-the-lastcentury storefront, and happily, the 1929 soda fountain was mostly intact and ready to be put into service after a good clean-up. To indicate that the business would no longer be operating as a pharmacy, and that its primary appeal would be as an old-fashioned soda fountain, the Ernsts changed the name from Deck’s Drug Store to Doc’s Soda Fountain, also reflecting Robert’s nickname, the “Furniture Doc.” Putting Doc’s Soda Fountain squarely on the Illinois Route 66 map, the Ernsts have thoroughly enjoyed the international, as well as domestic, visitation to their little slice of Americana.

In the now 14 years of their ownership and operation, it’s been a gratifying experience to have preserved both the soda fountain experience and the Deck pharmacy museum.

The pharmacy museum has a collection of old inventory, medicines, homeopathic remedies, and pharmacy tools and supplies that piled up over many decades. “As the business started changing hands, that’s when a lot of the antiques that were upstairs, started being brought down into Doc’s and put on display,” Jeanette recalled.

“The pharmacy museum is the legacy that Bob and Bill left to us. That’s really worth people taking their time and energy to come in and look at. It’s really like stepping back in time from 1884 to 2001. [There was] a lot of [interesting] inventory from the pharmacy that was left over, but they were [products and supplies] that were in common use at that time,” said Renae.

After the Ernsts re-opened the long-time drug store as Doc’s Soda Fountain, both Bob and Bill Deck visited often, eating lunch and telling stories of the “old days” to tourists. As visitors became intrigued with the thousands of pharmacy items on display, the brothers enjoyed explaining the uses of various medicines and equipment. Bill Deck was captured on ROUTE Magazine 65

Getting the shop ready for the day.

video explaining a contraption called a “shock machine” and how it was operated by turning a crank. Bill explained that its purpose was to cure nervous conditions.

Along with the collections and memorabilia, the plaque commemorating the induction of “the Deck Brothers” into the Route 66 Association of Illinois Hall of Fame in 2010 hangs on the wall. Authentic signage from the likes of CocaCola, Lilly Pharmaceuticals and Biologicals, Meadow Gold, and Pears Soap seems to be everywhere. Although now respectfully maintained by the Ernsts, the Deck’s Drug Store’s many decades of cast-offs, flotsam and jetsam, treasures, and valuable antiques are truly a wonder.

Bob Deck passed away in 2013 at the age of 82, and Bill in 2018 at 91. Both brothers are remembered as pillars of their community all across the Route 66 corridor as well as globally. But it was the Girard locals who really knew what a treasure they had in the Deck brothers. Neither Bill nor Bob married, and the love and devotion that they might have channeled toward offspring was lavished on their home community. It’s difficult to talk with anyone local about the brothers without the first comment being, “They really supported Girard. They were always bringing new people to town and encouraging new businesses.”

The Next Chapter Awaits Sometimes life gets in the way of good plans and fun projects, and health issues and livelihood must take 66 ROUTE Magazine

precedence — it’s part of the evolution of Route 66, and its businesses and families. Recently, after 14 years of ownership, Robert and Renae decided to put Doc’s Soda Fountain up for sale.

“The biggest [part of the] decision is me,” said Robert.

“I’ve got a degenerative disease, so we have to concentrate on what our main business is, and it’s too much with Doc’s as well. We sure [have] enjoyed it, [but] we’re trying to get it sold to some other people who realize the value of Route 66. The advantage [for the new owners] will be that our two stores will continue to be next to it, so we can still share stories with people and still help the new owners.

That’s what it’s all about. We think that’s a tremendous advantage for somebody else.”

“It’s our hope that somebody will reopen it as a restaurant, even though it’s got a limited kitchen and menu,” Jeanette said. “It had expanded enough that it was very helpful to people to get lunch in town. It evolved into a nice little restaurant.”

And so, the next chapter of Doc’s Soda Fountain and the Deck Pharmacy Museum awaits. Some special person, maybe waiting in the wings, or not yet having made their appearance, will realize that this business, this building, this legacy, is exactly their mission at this moment.

The Road is Alive

SPRINGFIELD, IL Josh Waldmire – Cozy Dog Drive In

Sam Quais – Maid-Rite

Ron Metzger – Route 66 Motorheads Bar, Grill & Museum

Doug Knight – Knights Action Park & Route 66 Drive-In

John Fulgenzi – Fulgenzi’s Pizza & Pasta

Stacy Grundy – Route History Museum

Don Thompson – Weebles Bar & Grill & The Curve Inn

Michael Higgins – Maldaner’s Restaurant

Meet the local Living Legends of Route 66 making history every day Springfield’s new Living Legends program introduces you to our iconic Route 66 local business owners. Pick up your Explorer Passport, meet the legends face-to-face, snap a pic, get an autograph, and create your own Route 66 story.

#VisitSpringfield

WE’RE

THAN ONE DAY

Get the full picture at visitspringfieldillinois.com/ ExplorerPassports ROUTE Magazine 67

ROCKIN’

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FLAGSTAFF

By Holly Riddle Opening photograph by Kerrick James

ROUTE Magazine 69

I

n the balmy darkness of the Arizona night, neon often lights the sky along Route 66. It is a well-worn path that has welcomed travelers for almost a hundred years. Climbing high into pine country, there is an unexpected, unusual patch of neon though that screams loudly into the evening. A huge sign shaped like an acoustic guitar announces one of the most visited stops along the Mother Road and perhaps Flagstaff’s most popular attraction: The Museum Club.

A solidly-built venue that was designed to resemble an enormous log cabin pulsates with live music, and the energy inside is palpable. It is distinct from the sleepy towns that motorists discover along Route 66 and its wooden floor and furniture provide patrons with an authentic step back in time. It is a true example of American ingenuity and vision, but like all spots along the Main Street of America that still stand open and ready to greet travelers, The Museum Club has a varied and colorful story to tell.

From Museum to Music Venue Built in 1931 as the largest log cabin in the world (later downgraded to “in the nation” and then further downgraded to “in Arizona”), The Museum Club, sometimes lovingly referred to as The Zoo Club, brings together a wide swath of individuals with varying backgrounds in the same way that Route 66 has since its inception. As Route 66 brought traffic to the main streets of towns all over the United States from 1926 onward, travelers and locals mingled, with the former benefitting the latter in a multitude of ways, not least of which was via an economic boost, as Flagstaff can testify.

“I have no doubt that our economy in Flagstaff was driven by a couple of engines, but one of them had to be Route 66.

The railroad went right through town, but unlike every other city, literally, in Northern Arizona, we were the only city that didn’t have a Fred Harvey establishment,” said Sean Evans, archivist at the Cline Library at Northern Arizona University, referencing the Fred Harvey Company’s chain of restaurants and hotels that were prominent throughout the western United States around the turn of the century and well into the mid-20th Century. “Flagstaff wasn’t quite the destination.

We’re called the Gateway to the Grand Canyon, but if you look on the map, that’s really Williams, Arizona. I think Route 66 offset some of that.”

Up until the advent of Route 66, Flagstaff more or less ended at its railroad station. Early Route 66 businesses didn’t even get a street number; they were known by their mileage from downtown, with The Museum Club located about three to four miles from downtown Flagstaff. The challenge for businesses like The Museum Club was getting travelers to stop a while and spend a few dollars, versus heading on to the downtown area, and for that, they needed a unique selling point.

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“A lot of the buildings on [Flagstaff’s Route 66] main drag were restaurants, motels, motor courts, car repair places, gas stations… The Zoo Club was unique because it was, first, a taxidermy-Indian trading post kind of place, and later it becomes a bar and restaurant with tremendous bands going through. The number and types of people who played there is just amazing. So, from that standpoint, it’s a unique place,” said Evans.

Built with the help of unemployed local lumberjacks during the Great Depression, The Museum Club was first launched with lifelong taxidermist Dean Eldredge at the helm — at that time under the name of The Dean Eldredge Museum and Taxidermist. It was done so not only as a spot for Eldredge to display his expansive taxidermy collection but also with an economic goal in mind — it needed that unique selling point

to get travelers off the main drag and the few miles out of downtown.

So, the business also sold moccasins and rugs, pottery and native art — and, of course, offered the opportunity to see more than 30,000 museum items on display, ranging from a six-legged sheep to a two-headed calf. It was, essentially, an original, tried-and-true tourist trap of the best kind and a love letter to roadside Americana. It was, in essence, an example of one of Flagstaff’s economic drivers — Route 66 — taking advantage of a decline in another, the logging industry.

Unfortunately for Eldredge’s dreams, though, The Museum Club in its earliest incarnation didn’t last long. Following Eldredge’s passing from cancer, much of his beloved taxidermy

and artifact collection was sold, with the building being purchased by Doc Williams in 1936.

A Flagstaff saddle maker with an entrepreneurial mindset, Williams saw the end of Prohibition as an opportunity to extend The Museum Club from mere museum and tourist attraction into something more, and created a tavern to much success, a bit of a foreshadowing of what The Museum Club would later come to be. However, beyond Williams’ small blip in The Museum Club’s history, not much of interest occurred over the next few decades and The Museum Club’s reputation waned until 1963, when the venue gained a new owner that would catapult it into the limelight as a premiere spot for live music.

“The tavern was purchased by [Don Scott], one of the Texas Playboys, which was Bob Wills’ band — ­ Bob Wills ROUTE Magazine 71

Image by Efren Lopez/Route66Images.

Inside The Museum Club.

The cool Museum Club sign.

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He was also a key player in bringing attention to Flagstaff’s stretch of Route 66, working hard to restore the original Route 66 name to what had become Flagstaff’s Santa Fe Avenue by the 1990s.

Keepers of the Legend Despite changing hands several times over its existence, and waxing and waning popularity, The Museum Club would not actually shut down completely until 2017, for a brief respite, and then once again, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020.

Currently, the Club is owned by a somewhat secretive group of local residents who call themselves “The Zookeepers,” but who, according to the Arizona Daily Sun, banded together to purchase the venue following the last closure. This air of secrecy lends The Museum Club a certain additional appeal, as if the Zookeepers are just that — keepers of a Flagstaff legend who are content to remain in the shadows, so long as their beloved institution remains in business, just as it has, more or less, for the past 90 years.

A Bit of (Un)Living History Any historic property comes with its fair share of ghost stories, but The Museum Club may have more than any other venue in Flagstaff. The Scotts, who gave the club its status as a top-tier live music venue, supposedly still roam the halls following the couples’ tragic deaths: Thorna walking the stairs and showing up at the bar, where sometimes she even sticks around long enough for an unsuspecting patron to buy her a drink, after which she disappears. Another woman, unnamed, supposedly died in a fire in one of the Club’s apartments and remains in place. A cowboy in a black trench coat and black hat makes appearances following his untimely demise in a fatal bar fight.

“I’m a skeptic myself,” cautioned Thompson, “but I have friends of mine, who, two of them for sure got a strong tap on the shoulder. One of them had their shirt pulled on when there was nobody around. My girlfriend actually got kind of an irritating tap on her shoulder, turned around to yell at whoever did it and there was nobody there. There’s a lot of that stuff going on.

We’ve been told there are nine known deaths in [the venue] and 12 spirits were detected by an investigator. But like I said, I’m a skeptic.

But we do have a lot of investigators popping in and [asking], ‘Can you stay open? I want to do

Image by Efren Lopez/Route66Images.

being the king of Texas swing [music] back in the day,” said Mike Thompson, the current booking manager and overseer at The Museum Club. “In the ‘40s and ‘50s, he was a huge name. Don Scott had all the Nashville connections and started bringing Bob Wills in and, throughout the years, Waylon [Jennings] and Willie [Nelson]. There’s been many, many people play [here]. I think that sealed [the Club’s] fate as a classic.”

Scott and his wife, Thorna, would own The Museum Club until their deaths, both tragedies that are still acutely felt by staff and longtime Club-goers. The story goes that, when closing up one night, Thorna climbed the stairs to the second floor, leaving Don on the first floor; she tripped, broke her neck, fell into a coma, and died. Two years later, perhaps unable to overcome his grief, Don committed suicide in front of the Club’s fireplace.

It was not long after, in 1978, that Martin and Staci Zanzucchi purchased the club and continued its legacy of live music. They also added more taxidermy to the walls, as befitting the Club’s colorful history.

A Flagstaff native, Martin was no stranger to the nightlife business, working with relatives to oversee multiple other clubs and lounges. In the 1980s, The Museum Club was seized after two of those relatives were arrested and convicted on charges of possessing and distributing cocaine. For two years, Martin struggled to regain control of The Museum Club, eventually succeeding, but not before the legal issues had already caused some damage. Martin had to work hard to rebuild his and The Museum Club’s reputation. To do so he decided to install the Club’s highlight antique mahogany back bar, one of three bars in the building, which was built in the 1880s. He purchased the bar for $5,000 in 1982 and it was later appraised at $125,000.

But even after rebuilding The Museum Club to some of its former glory, Martin’s work in Flagstaff wasn’t quite done.

a thing after everybody leaves.’ Sometimes we’ll stay open so they can do their walking around with their meters and things do happen.”

The Museum Club’s assistant manager, Bridget Laber, seems to be more of a believer.

“We have experiences weekly,” she said. “I believe it. I’ve seen stuff myself. We just had a paranormal investigator out two weeks ago and we all experienced things while he was here.”

It is said that it is not uncommon to hear walking on the second floor or steps on the staircase, or to see dust falling from the first-floor ceiling from the impact of someone walking on the second floor. The paranormal possibilities only add to the mystery and color of the already quirky historic gathering spot.

New Offerings, Same Flavor Ghosts or no ghosts, today, if you walk into The Museum Club, you’ll still find a wealth of taxidermy that is so old that some pieces are just barely holding together, including some of Eldredge’s originals and the antique mahogany back bar — items that create a vibe described as “a real, old Western town kind of feel” and “old-school honky tonk.” It’s even been thought that The Museum Club might be the only place

in Flagstaff with that certain “real historical feel to it,” which might be true considering a devastating fire that destroyed much of Old Town Flagstaff’s architecture in 1884, and the slow evolution of other attractions from the Club’s era, many of which are now unrecognizable.

But beyond all this, patrons will also find locals, and travelers, and college kids, and a fair mix of everyone, really.

The Museum Club has historically been, and continues to be, a meeting spot for folks from all walks of life.

“Maybe this is what makes it kind of unique,” said Sean Evans. “Locals do go to The Museum Club and tourists do go to The Museum Club. If you think of Route 66 as kind of a pilgrimage for tourists, that’s one of the pilgrimage spots.”

And, as of recently at least, The Museum Club has been putting on more live music than any other venue in Arizona, with four shows per week, and, since reopening in March 2021, according to Thompson, it’s not uncommon to see tourists stopping in the parking lot before the Club opens for the evening, to simply take a photo and then move on.

This year, The Museum Club turns 90, but the love that the venue inspires in patrons young and old is hardly tired and the stalwart club keeps chugging along, despite changing ownership and even a pandemic — and perhaps that’s exactly what Dean Eldredge would have wanted for his beloved museum, even if it does look a little different.

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Image by Efren Lopez/Route66Images.

The Museum Club’s antique mahogany back bar, built in the 1880s.

The beloved ribbon of American road is famous for its quirky grass-roots, boot-strapped creations. All along the Mother Road’s long slash of pavement, visitors flock to one-of-a-kind icons, such as the stone frog, the blue whale, and the green tiki head. And as far as anyone knows, there is only one bent door — the entryway into a little cafe made from a World War IIera control tower in Adrian, Texas.

The old Rock Island Railroad town of Adrian stays on travelers’ radar for a couple things — a mathematicallyconjured attraction consisting of a sign pointing out that 1,139 miles in either direction leads to the eastern or western terminus of said Highway 66. The other thing is the “milehigh” pie at the homey little cafe known as the Mid-Point.

“Our attractions give us an opportunity to tell Oldham County history and a chance to meet people as they travel Route 66. We always enjoy welcoming visitors in our communities,” said Jaci Roberson, Director of the Oldham County Chamber of Commerce.

But there’s another little nook that seems destined for a revered spot in the Mother Road’s pantheon of kitsch — the Bent Door. This piece of recycled goodness began in 1947 with one Robert “Bobby” Harris, who worked at Manuel Loveless’ Kozy Kottage Kamp (next door to where the Bent Door would stand). Harris also farmed, which may have helped to finance his business idea. He purchased a control tower with angled viewing windows and — wait for it — a bent door!

There isn’t total agreement on where this control tower came from, but most sources place it as coming from Dalhart, Texas. Regardless, Harris brought it to Adrian (population 250), parked it on the piece of land that he bought next to the Kozy Kottage Kamp, and incorporated it as one corner of his concrete-block building. “Robert was in the Army Air Corp [in World War II], before [it became the] US Air Force,” said Ramona Kiewert, now owner, along with her husband Roy, of the Bent Door. “He loved planes and found the control tower and door. He built it into the building to be unique and eye catching.”

With his cafe ready for business, he turned the business, known then as the Midway Station, over to his mother and left town. Some people say his mother ran it for a while, while another source states that the cafe never opened until it was 74 ROUTE Magazine

sold to the Loveless family before becoming Tommy’s Cafe in the 1960s (Adrian population up to 258). It apparently prospered as Tommy Loveless’ Tommy’s Cafe until I-40 bulldozed its way by during the Mid-Century. The cafe closed, opened, sold, and fell into disrepair. In 1994, word spread of its imminent demolition, and someone alerted Harris, who was then living in New Mexico. He returned to Adrian in 1995 to redeem the property from non-payment of taxes and bring his dream back to life. But he fell ill and passed away around 2000 at the age of 87.

The Bent Door slept a little longer, until a chance visit brought a family to Adrian to nurture the oddity. Roy Kiewert was a long-haul truck driver from Nacogdoches, Texas. One day in 2006, he pulled into a gas station in town, needing to catch a bit of sleep. The next day, he looked around the tiny village, and, of course, we know what he spotted.

“It was listed with a realtor [and] she took him for a tour.

Roy told her that we wanted to buy it, [but] he had to go deliver that load. It had just gone up for sale that week,” said Ramona Kiewert. “We were coming back, and Roy said, ‘I’ve got a feeling that I need to call her and tell her that we’re coming.’

And she said, ‘You are coming with cash, right?

I have had ten calls about the Bent Door.’”

That was July 2006. The couple purchased the Bent Door Cafe from Harris’ three daughters, and a gradual restoration began.

The couple had big plans: a ‘50s-style diner and a patio out back (just like in Robert’s plans, his daughters remembered), a souvenir shop, and a special spot to honor Harris. But the cafe has never opened. The Kiewerts, both in their mid60s, have faced setbacks: health issues, lack of adequate funding, and even a large tree that fell on the building. But the couple have attracted some income since their purchase in 2016 of the historic Fabulous 40 Motel next door, and time will tell.

Today, Adrian is a quiet little town on the edge of Texas, almost forgotten, but not totally. Travelers who stop in Adrian gaze wistfully at the Bent Door Cafe, curious about the stop’s story and hopeful for an opening in its future. America’s Main Street has a myriad of wonderful things to see and enjoy but there really is only one bent door.

Image by David J. Schwartz – Pics On Route 66.

T H E BE N T D O OR

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DISCOVER CLINTON, OKLAHOMA

WHERE ROUTE 66 TRULY COMES ALIVE!

• HIS TORI C HOTE L S• D IV E RS E D INING• •M OHAW K LOD G E IND IAN S TORE• •THE WATE R ZOO•

www.clintonokla.org ROUTE Magazine 77

I

n 2013, California Route 66 Historic Association member Beth Murray was driving down Cajon Pass on old Route 66 when she spotted it: a seven-foottall orange with pitted sides and a gleaming green stem painted on top. Murray and her husband Barry exchanged delighted looks. The pair were on the tail end of an epic cross-country journey, swept up in the nostalgic magic of the Mother Road. Naturally, they had to stop for an impromptu photo shoot. As Murray laughed and posed in her best 1950s getup, an elderly gentleman with a welcoming smile walked around the side of the giant orange.

“Joe [Bono] walked out and I thought, ‘Oh no, are we not supposed to be here? Are we doing something wrong?’”

Murray said. “He came over and was just so sweet and friendly and as nice as can be. He said, ‘Do you want to see inside the restaurant?’”

Bono ushered them into a cozy building behind the orange with checkered tables and gleaming bottles of Chianti wine hanging from the rafters. Pictures of Bono’s parents Jim and Frances, affectionately known as Papa and Mama Bono, adorned the walls behind a deli case piled high with Italian meats and cheeses. As Bono launched into his tour of the quirky establishment, the Murrays were unknowingly initiated into one of the oldest and most beloved traditions along Fontana’s stretch of America’s Main Street.

In 1936, before families on Route 66 could blast the air conditioning or zip through drive-throughs, there were the orange-shaped juice stands that sprang up among the emerald hills and citrus groves of southern California to help travelers cool off. And before I-15 bypassed Route 66, they all passed

by Bono’s.

“There was all this traffic, people were coming in from the Mojave Desert parched,” said Lynne Miller, President of the California Route 66 Historic Association. “There was no air conditioning in their cars. They came down the Cajon Pass and they saw all these orange groves, they smelled these orange blossoms, and someone came up with the idea of starting an orange juice stand shaped like an orange.”

The restaurant had humble beginnings. Mama Bono opened her produce stand on the side of Route 66 in 1936, selling frosted mugs of orange juice and fresh-picked oranges for a dollar. The families pouring in were eager to enjoy a cool refreshing drink and business exploded. In 1943, the little 78 ROUTE Magazine

restaurant was born, and soon filled with the mouthwatering scent of authentic Italian cuisine.

“The story is that if a traveler came through late at night hungry, Mama Bono would get up at all hours of the evening to make them a meal,” said Miller. “That was one of the reasons her restaurant was so popular. She really went the extra mile to help serve the travelers coming along Route 66.”

However, when the interstate bypassed Bono’s in 1969, the family’s dream, and their historic orange stand, started to show some wear and tear. In the early 1970s, the number of people coming down Cajon Pass with their foot on the brake to marvel at the giant orange and enjoy a picnic in its shade slowed to a trickle. As was the case for so many mom-and-pop shops along Route 66, people stopped showing up to take pictures with the wacky structure and, gradually, it fell into disrepair.

After Mama Bono passed away in 1994, the restaurant was closed to the public, but Joe never stopped fighting to reopen. “Joe Bono always had a dream about opening up the restaurant again,” said Miller. “Every time we’d be there for our [California Route 66 Historic Association] meetings, he’d be like, ‘I’m so excited, I think we’ve found the cook, I think we’re going to open the restaurant again.’ It was such a dream he had, but it never materialized until Pino [Mele] and his family took it over.”

Mele, who belongs to another tight-knit Italian family in the Fontana community, has changed little about the restaurant besides adding some delicious desserts to the big old-fashioned deli case that greets customers. The only thing about Bono’s that has sadly not aged well is its crowning jewel: the orange juice stand. Last year, Murray’s special connection with Bono’s inspired her to change that. “My husband passed away six years ago and that was the last trip we did,” said Murray.

Murray launched a GoFundMe campaign in February 2020 and has thus far managed to raise a thousand dollars to restore the orange. It is a gift to the owners and everyone who passes along this storied section of Route 66. There is undeniably magic left over in the citrus groves from the days when families wound down Cajon Pass and stopped to buy an ice-cold glass of juice and chat with Papa and Mama Bono. The giant orange is the perfect icon to symbolize the innocence of those unforgettable days and to remember California’s wonderful contribution to America’s Main Street.

Image by John Smith.

Bono’s Giant Orange

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PARTING SHOT

Terence CONCANNON What did you want to be when you grew up? Motion Picture Director. Most famous or noteworthy person you have ever met?

Steve Hackett, former guitarist for Genesis, my favorite band, at a meet and greet in Los Angeles. What characteristic do you respect the most in others? Accountabilty. Dislike in others?

Blaming others. What characteristic do you dislike in yourself?

When I’m passionate about something, I talk way too fast.

Who would you want to play you in a film based on your life? Kyle McLachlan. Talent that you WISH you had? To be fluent in French and Spanish. Best piece of advice you’ve ever received? Pick your battles. Best part about getting older? Learning to sweat the small stuff. What would the title of your memoir be? Things I Learned After It Was Too Late. First music concert ever attended? Buddy Rich. What is your greatest extravagance? My music collection of nearly 11,000 CDs, vinyl, and concert posters. What is the weirdest roadside attraction you’ve ever seen? Hat and Boots in Seattle near where I grew up. The gas station was a giant hat and the restrooms were the boots. Coolest bridge in America?

The London Bridge. What else? If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Understand patience at an earlier age. What do you consider your greatest achievement? Educating and empowering young professionals. Most memorable gift you were ever given? A shortwave radio when I was 13. What is the secret to a happy marriage? I’m divorced, so I’m still trying to figure that one out. Most memorable hotel/motel that you have stayed at?

The Empress Hotel in Victoria, BC. Why so?

So much history, surrounded by so much luxury. What breaks your heart? To see a human or animal frightened or suffering in any way. What is the last TV show you binge watched? Tombstone Territory.

What is still on your bucket list? Iceland.

80 ROUTE Magazine

What do you wish you knew more about? Reading music. What is something you think everyone should do at least once in their lives? Travel internationally. What fad or trend do you hope comes back? The Macarena. Strangest experience while on a road trip?

Jerry Garcia passing away while I was driving through San Francisco. The town came to a standstill. What movie title best describes your life? The Incredible Journey. Ghost town or big city person? Big City. Lake or ocean person? Ocean. What does a perfect day look like to you? A lazy day of lunch and ice-cold beers at Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace followed by an evening of live music under the stars. What is your favorite place on Route 66? The Santa Monica Pier. What is the most unexpected surprise about Lake Havasu? When it gets below 80 degrees, we wear sweaters. What would your spirit animal be?

Brown Bear. Which historical figure — alive or dead — would you most like to meet? Ousman Sembene, a Senegalese filmmaker. If you won the lottery, what is the first item you would buy? I would buy two houses: one for my daughter wherever she wants it and one for myself in Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo, Mexico. What meal can you not live without?

Vegetarian Tacos. Bizarre talent that you have that most people don’t know about? Human beat-box. What surprises you most about people? Willful ignorance and bigotry. What makes you laugh? My older brothers. Most unknown (but should be) stop in Arizona? Angel Delgadillo’s Route 66 Giftshop in Seligman.

What do you think is the most important life lesson for someone to learn? Always think of others before you think of yourself. What is one thing you have always wanted to try, but have been too afraid to? Riding a unicycle. What do you want to be remembered for? Being kind, trustworthy and genuine.

Illustration: Jennifer Mallon.

Arizona is often connected to wide open desert skies and scenic landscapes, but the Cactus State is home to much more. Hidden down in eastern Arizona, Lake Havasu is a warm, beautiful, colorful town that regularly draws visitors from far and wide. The town is famous for its picturesque lake of course, but also for its many miniature lighthouses and the Dixie Belle, a restored 68-ton riverboat, but its biggest claim to fame is the actual London Bridge. Behind the town and its innumerable tourism attributes is a man who has been leading the charge since ����. In this issue, meet Terence Concannon.

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.®

The west rim is heart-pounding, soul-searching, bucket-list-checking adrenaline rushes you’ve never felt or seen before, including one of the largest glass bridges in the world that will have you stepping 4,000 feet out over the Grand Canyon floor. Skywalk is just one of the ways you can jolt your senses and ignite your spirit at Grand Canyon West. Plan your adventure today.

SKYWALK + GENERAL ADMISSION IS JUST $59 FOR A LIMITED TIME Get your tickets today.

MORE TO EXPLORE

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Helicopter & Pontoon Tour • Zipline • Whitewater Rafting • Eagle Point • Guano Point Hualapai Tribe Cultural Attractions • Dining • Shopping • Overnight Accommodations