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Sapulpa Route 66 Christmas Chute, Rhema Lights final nights

The Route 66 Christmas Chute on Dewey Avenue in downtown Sapulpa, Oklahoma, has just two more nights to run, but it continues to be a popular attraction two months after its opening on November 3, 2022. Ten overhanging steel structures decorated with a variety of themes stand in the...

Posted by Michael Bates on December 31, 2022 12:13 PM

Tales of a 1948 journey down Route 66

Jo Ann Wilburn is writing a novel, Tumbleweed, fictionalizing her family's 1948 journey from Oklahoma to California on Route 66. Her mother recorded her memories of the trip in a diary. Jo Ann has expanded on those memories with a great deal of research. But her publisher thinks she's got...

Posted by Michael Bates on November 27, 2022 8:48 PM

Tulsa in the 1920 Official Automobile Blue Book

Before Eisenhower's Interstate Highway System, before state highway officials collaborated to create a national highway numbering system in 1926, motorists traveling cross-country followed turn-by-turn directions contained in the Official Automobile Blue Book. These books are a time capsule of transportation history, not only mentioning routes, but road conditions, locations of...

Posted by Michael Bates on May 1, 2022 11:12 PM

Crystal City Amusement Park

Crystal City Amusement Park was on Route 66 (Sapulpa Road, now Southwest Blvd) between 41st Street and 33rd West Avenue. The site is now occupied by the Crystal City Shopping Center (whose name was the nemesis of radio announcers). Crystal City was home to a roller coaster named Zingo,...

Posted by Michael Bates on March 5, 2018 12:10 PM

What Tulsa needs to do for Route 66

The City of Tulsa is asking for public to submit ideas for Route 66-themed artwork to be placed at the Admiral and Mingo traffic circle. Tulsa is considering installation of new public art in the Traffic Circle at the intersection of East Admiral Place and North Mingo Road, on the...

Posted by Michael Bates on October 6, 2015 6:09 PM

Blog roundup 2013/01/28

Notes hither and thither: If you're a fan of beautiful cartoon art, you should make at least a weekly visit to Whirled of Kelly, which features the art work of Walt Kelly, most famous for the comic strip Pogo. Blogger Thomas Haller Buchanan has been running a series of Sunday...

Posted by Michael Bates on January 28, 2013 12:14 AM

Tulsa blog roundup, 2012/12/26

Via TashaDoesTulsa, This Land Press's Do What Tulsa has a list of large-scale Christmas light displays in and around Tulsa. See them while you can. Do What also has a list of New Year's Eve events in Tulsa, ranging from casual to fancy. (The Oklahoma Swing Syndicate dance looks like...

Posted by Michael Bates on December 26, 2012 6:05 PM

Blue Whale's 40th Birthday Bash and Blue Tie Affair

When I was in kindergarten (1969-1970) in Mrs. Chambers's class at Catoosa Elementary School , we took a field trip to a place just up on US 66 called Nature's Acres. Mr. Hugh Davis, the owner, showed us alligators in a pond and an actual snake pit. Our assistant principal...

Posted by Michael Bates on September 5, 2012 7:28 AM

Catoosa seeks to buy Blue Whale; ARK to be rebuilt?

Route 66 News reports that the City of Catoosa is applying for a state grant to purchase the Blue Whale and surrounding property from the sole owner, a member of the Hugh Davis family. I was pleased to see that there's talk of rebuilding the ARK -- Animal Reptile Kingdom...

Posted by Michael Bates on January 3, 2011 10:58 PM

Pictures of old Amarillo on Route 66

I was googling for a restaurant sign in an old photo of Bob Wills' tour bus, the restaurant turned out to be the Old Tascosa in Amarillo's Herring Hotel. The Herring Hotel, like Tulsa's Mayo and Oklahoma City's Skirvin, is still standing but has been closed for over 30 years,...

Posted by Michael Bates on October 22, 2009 11:41 PM

Beauty from ashes: Rock Cafe restoration continues

On May 20, 2008, the famed Rock Cafe on US 66 in Stroud was gutted by fire, but the stone walls remained standing. Owner Dawn Welch was determined to rebuild. After some false starts, reconstruction is on track for completion in late spring, according to Dawn's latest update, posted on...

Posted by Michael Bates on February 9, 2009 10:15 PM

Max Campbell building to be restored; will Coburn help?

Just found this, from Tulsa Business Journal's October 27 edition: The Max Campbell building, with its distinctive roof of multicolored clay tiles, is going to be restored as a hotel and retail space. That's the original function of this 1926, block-long building on 11th Street between Birmingham and Columbia. Aaron...

Posted by Michael Bates on November 12, 2008 9:17 PM

<em>Preposterous Papa</em>: Max Meyer's rules for tourist court clerks

In memory of Max Meyer and the natural stone tourist court he built on Route 66 north of Kellyville, an excerpt from Preposterous Papa by Lewis Meyer (pp. 99 - 102, 132-135): Papa was a compulsive builder. He went on building binges the way an alcoholic goes on drinking sprees....

Posted by Michael Bates on April 3, 2007 9:14 PM

66 birthday magic

I started writing this entry last Saturday, November 11. As it was the second Saturday in November, we headed down to the south side of Oklahoma City to Uncle Dan and Aunt Connie's house for an early Thanksgiving celebration with Mom's side of the family. Good food, a chance for...

Posted by Michael Bates on November 14, 2006 11:51 PM

A cruise up 66 and on the Pinafore

NOTE: Started this last week. Wanted to add photos, but it was not to be -- haven't had time to edit them down to a reasonable size. Thursday afternoon (June 17) I took off work and we drove up old 66 to Miami to see Light Opera Oklahoma's road performance...

Posted by Michael Bates on July 1, 2004 10:22 PM