3600 miles behind the wheel of a 1929 Model A on Route 66

The Model A in Oatman, Arizona.

Phillip Thomas
Hagerty Media

Context is everything, right? For modern traffic, Route 66 is a slow, constricted highway, especially when compared to the interstate highway system. For a 1929 Model A, Route 66 is just the right speed.

Just as time and technology ditched the horse for the horseless carriage, those forces eventually bypassed Route 66 for interstate highways. Communities built along the highway withered while the traffic flow was diverted sometimes hundreds of miles away to newly-built freeways. Priorities for infrastructure had changed and no longer supported aging mining towns and farming communities; instead, Eisenhower and his administration sought to funnel the masses and their goods between metropolises with military efficiency.

Among the forsaken, recession-plagued byways of America, Route 66 became a martyr. Its meandering pavement is synonymous with the mystique of the open road, drawing those who crave an unpredictable journey and delight in driving for driving’s sake. One such scenic traveler is Ryan Tebo, who has been rattling and rumbling across from coast to coast in his 1929 Ford Model A for the past two weeks.

I caught up with Tebo at the Cool Springs Station in western Arizona, a kitschy rest stop on the eastern side of the Black Mountains. The Model A puttered off the road into the parking lot and I leaned on the window frame of the Model A to introduce myself. Tebo had covered 3200 miles thus far, and his attention was fixed on the three-thousand foot pass just ahead. He had been on the road for 11 days, and the push from Gallup, New Mexico to Needles, California, had been among his toughest yet. The temperature highs through the Southwest hovered above 115 degrees, pushing the Model A’s nearly 100-year-old cooling system to its limits. The 30-year-old New Hampshire native behind the wheel was feeling the strain himself: “I have no idea how you guys live out here!”

Well, we drink lots of water. The Model A seemed to agree with this strategy; as we wound up Sitgreaves Pass into Oatman, Arizona, it demanded several stops to refill the radiator, which was constantly boiling over.

In the past month, Tebo’s developed an entirely unexpected cult following in the automotive community. He was nearly two weeks into his road trip when a Facebook page he made for his friends and family to track his trip picked up serious momentum. More and more people began living vicariously through his updates and photos logging each day’s trip and the challenges it brought.

“The people really surprised me—how outgoing they are, and how willing they are to help. I’ve gotten hundreds of messages from the United States and all over the world [from] people that are watching,” he explains.

The story began with his search for a daily-driver early Ford, as Tebo has owned quite a few over the years and had several projects already. He scoured the internet until he stumbled upon this ’29 Model A on Facebook Marketplace.

The Model A had been restored decades prior and served as an older couple’s runabout for several years before it was parked roughly 10 years ago. The flathead four had been rebuilt with a counter-weighted crankshaft, slightly healthier Touring cam, and a higher-compression Brumfield head, which helps it burn today’s higher octane pump gas. Beyond a few other minor tweaks, the ol’ Model A was practically as pure as God and Henry Ford intended. It still had a three-speed manual, drum brakes, and no EFI. Ironically, its sole modern concession, the electronic distributor, represented Tebo’s only real complaint on his cross-country trek; its built-in timing curve isn’t ideal for that particular motor, and it removes the driver’s manual timing controls from the steering wheel.

“I was looking for one that I could just leave outside, not worry about, was pretty good mechanically … and that’s really why I bought this one originally,” Tebo recalls. “It’s a good driver, which is what I look for—I like them pretty much original. I won’t buy one that’s been chopped or anything like that, but I’m not so crazy that it has the right spark plugs in it for the period.”

Even though the idea of taking the Model A cross-country had flitted across his mind, Tebo could never have anticipated the circumstances that would create the opportunity for his cross-continental trek. His primary objective for the Model A was getting it sorted for trips around the Northeast to shows and swap meets; he’d never been beyond Pennsylvania, and he figured the Ford was a great foundation for a road warrior. Once the COVID-19 pandemic cleared his schedule of those planned events, he found himself with a fistful of vacation time and a road-ready Model A.

He spent the first few days getting from New Hampshire to Route 66’s eastern branch, which starts in Chicago. “I was pretty comfortable there because I had driven a different Model A to Hershey, Pennsylvania last year to a swap meet,” Tebo says. “I really didn’t have any part of that section that I hadn’t been on before, but I had to fix the carburetor on the second day.”

The base plate of the carburetor, an aluminum component, had warped and begun to leak between the intake and carb. Tebo managed to use a file and flatten it enough for the time being, “but I didn’t make it too far and I could smell something burning and hear a flapping noise—I lost the fan belt and grabbed the fan belt that I had brought, which was too big … pure stupidity on my part to not double-check beforehand!” After a little self-ribbing, he put the ravaged belt back onto the Model A and limped the car to a parts store in rural Ohio.

Tebo managed to find a suitable replacement at another store, and he decided to stop at Snyder’s Antique Auto Parts to pick up a rebuilt Zenith unit before the old one warped again. On the bright side, Tebo says: “I’ve dealt with [the shop] for years, so it was kinda cool to make the personal connection and go down there.”

The Model A griped only once more, when the exhaust gaskets failed. Tebo managed to replace the upper gaskets, but the lower collector gasket eventually blew out too. There was no chance in hell—or at least, in Staunton, Illinois—of finding another, so he folded aluminum foil until it was thick enough to become a gasket. “I check the exhaust clamp’s tightness every morning now to keep it in check,” he laughs.

From there, the trip westward continued with only minor complaints from the Model A, mostly regarding cooling as it entered the desert mountains. Though the Ford tolerated 55-mph speeds when it had to—specifically, when interstates overlapped with the original route—it was most at home on Route 66’s lower speed limits, which rarely break 45 mph.

As he pulled through each Route 66 town, word began to spread among the shop owners and historians dotting the old highway about this crazy dude driving cross-country in the middle of the summer … in a prewar Ford. With COVID-19 largely reducing tourist travel, this year has been especially tough on the Route 66 community, so the excitement spread quickly.

“I’m from a small town where the main route used to go through our downtown until the interstate came along. Once you lose your traffic, you lose your restaurants, your gas stations—so even though this happened before my time, I guess I feel for the people,” Tebo explains. “I kind of have an understanding of what they go through.”

Tebo managed to complete Route 66 this past weekend, entering Santa Monica with 3600 miles on the odometer. “I was driving through Los Angeles traffic, so I didn’t have a lot of time to think about it, but it felt good that I had made it,” he says. “And it really was bittersweet—not because the trip is over yet, but because I had enjoyed the people on Route 66 and that whole experience.”

Tebo turned north after Santa Monica to chase the Pacific Coast Highway before heading back east along the Oregon Trail—which is where you can catch him now.

Even if you can’t break free of responsibility to tackle thousands of miles of pavement yourself, his trip serves as a reminder of what the fractured two-lane blacktops of yore can teach us. There’s more to the world than what you see on the internet and from the comfort of the interstate. You’ve got to get out there and experience it for yourself. “You watch the news and you think America’s really in a bad spot,” Tebo says. “If I go off what I’ve seen so far, I don’t know where the news is getting their information from.”

The coast-to-coast road before it was called Route 66

History buff and author Mark Landis stands on a section of National Old Trails Road, which became the famous Route 66, a part of the original highway system of San Bernardino (Paul Prado)

Paul Prado
Highland Community News

Last week, local history buff Mark Landis provided a history of the Santa Fe and Salt Lake Monument at the Interstate 15 north and Highway 138 junction at Wagon Train Road.

The small stretch of asphalt road that runs along the hillside past McDonald’s has a history unto itself.

“This piece of road is now called Wagon Train Road,” Landis said. “Prior to being Route 66, it was called National Old Trails Road. National Old Trails Road was the very first ocean-to-ocean highway.”

It was opened in 1914.

“It was barely a two-lane dirt road which went across the country from east to west,” said Landis.

There were sections that were paved as it went through cities and towns, but for the most part the National Old Trails Road was a dirt road through the rural sections.

In 1926, the National Old Trails Road became the famous Route 66, which ran from Santa Monica through Chicago, according to Landis.

“Route 66 came through the Cajon Pass by the Interstate 15 north and Highway 138 junction and passed through to San Bernardino,” said Landis.

“It was a major thoroughfare, and a lot of the businesses that grew up in San Bernardino were there to support travel on Route 66, as people traveled through to the west coast,” said Landis.

At a present-day Pacific Crest Trail trailhead, remnants of the National Old Trails Road steel truss bridge rest on both sides of a narrow ravine, called Crowder Creek.

The 12-foot high concrete abutments stand as a reminder of the rugged history of San Bernardino’s original highway system.

Landis believes that the steel truss bridge was used until the 1930s.

“The road that wound around the hill was only narrow enough for one car to travel,” said Landis. “There were only a couple of areas on the road were vehicles could pull over and pass each other.

“The road swung around the bend by the, now, Pacific Crest Trail sign and traversed the land down to San Bernardino.”

The National Old Trails Road went north from the Pacific Crest Trail sign through Crowder Canyon and meandered toward the upper toll house, according to Landis.

“You can see how narrow the road used to be,” said Landis, as he stood on the Pacific Crest Trail. “The folks that traveled it, pretty much, had to stay on the road. They couldn’t bypass the toll house.”

Landis is passionate about the history of the area.

Next week, we will learn how all of this is connected to the famous short-lived Camp Cajon.

To see the concrete remnants of the steel truss bridge of the National Old Trails road, you can go to the Pacific Crest Trail trailhead at 3396, 2800 Wagon Train Road, in Phelan.

Museum explores cultural significance of Route 66

A view of Route 66 in Arizona, circa 1960. HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES

Associated Press

Tens of thousands of people visit the Arizona Route 66 Museum each year, aiming to get a feel for what it was like to take the old highway route that crossed eight states to connect Chicago to the West Coast.

Visitors to the Kingman museum spend hours looking at displays, photographs and life-size dioramas of the groups and events that depict the evolution of the highway that came to fame in the mid-20th century, the Kingman Daily Miner reported.

In his four years volunteering with the museum, T.R. Srigley said he sees just as many foreign tourists as Americans. The diverse appeal of the museum is evidenced by shelves of brochures, which describes the more than 20 exhibits in six different languages.

"It seems to me like a lot of people are from China and Europe. There's an awful lot of them," Srigley said. "They know a lot about Route 66; it's pretty amazing. They know more about Route 66 than the Great Wall of China."

Visitors can see a 1950 Studebaker Champion, originally priced at $1,487. Another exhibit features a rusty old Ford truck loaded with pots and pans, furniture and other worldly belongings of an Oklahoma family fleeing the Dust Bowl, emblematic of the Joad family in John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath."

The museum, operated by the Mohave Pioneers Historical Society, opened in 2001 and draws about 50,000 visitors each year.

"This really is the museum that helps explain the significance of Route 66 to our culture through the ages," said Josh Noble, Kingman's director of tourism.

The museum is located in the former Kingman Powerhouse, which once lighted the way for early Route 66 travelers, said Shannon Rossiter, director of the Mohave Museum of History and Arts.

The historic building was constructed between 1907 and 1911 to produce power for mines. The facility was mothballed following the construction of the Hoover Dam. It was restored and reopened as a visitors' center in 1997.

Signs of the past to help make Kingman historical today

The “Entering El Trovatore” sign has reappeared on Route 66 in Kingman. (Photo: SCOTT DUNTON)

By Hubble Ray Smith
Kingman Daily Miner

KINGMAN – For the first time since the 1940s, the “Entering El Trovatore” sign is casting a bluish glow on Route 66, one of several sign restoration projects funded by Route 66 Association of Kingman to give visitors a sense of the town’s place in history.

It once stood on Chadwick Drive, which carried traffic on the National Old Trails Highway from 1921 to 1926. The new roadway was cut through El Trovatore Hill and the sign was installed around 1936.

It’s now displayed on Andy Devine Avenue, just east of the city’s famous water tanks.

Route 66 Association of Kingman accepted the sign as a donation from the Mohave Museum of History and Arts.

It also acquired the mid-1950s Brandin’ Iron Motel sign, an old Conoco gas station sign and a Desert Drug sign from around 1935, which are next on the installation list.

The signs have been refurbished in partnership with Legacy Signs.

The Route 66 group assists local businesses with sign restoration, art projects, facade renovations and graffiti removal.

“We have done these in conjunction with property owners, the museum, the city,” said Scott Dunton, local businessman and president of Route 66 Association of Kingman. “They pay part, we pay part personally.

“The museum and city pitched in all in an effort to make Kingman beautiful and something we will all be proud of.”

Established in 1994, Route 66 Association of Kingman has more than 130 members who are passionate about leading a revitalization effort in the downtown business district and along the famous highway.

“We need a historic city, all of Kingman, not just downtown, that people want to come to weekly,” Dunton said. “And come to stay and see the wonderful things you can (see) driving to and from Kingman.”

Recent projects include refurbishment of signage and murals at Mohave Museum of History and Arts, restoration of symbols and lettering on the historic Masonic Lodge, and restoration of a circa 1914 street lamp at the 1903 Elks Lodge.

A sign designed by Scott McCoy, listing the cities noted in the song, “Get Your Kicks on Route 66,” was created and donated to the City of Kingman with assistance from Laron Engineering.

Route 66 Association of Kingman hosts a monthly mixer at member businesses in partnership with the Promote Kingman initiative.

It also sets up receptions and special events for tours led by Japanese, German, Dutch, Brazilian, Canadian and Czech Route 66 associations.

Dunton is playing up Kingman’s ties to the historic highway. His father, Roy, began working at Gold Road garage on Route 66 in 1938.

Roy Dunton’s uncle, N.R. Dunton, owned the garage and built Cool Springs in late 1926. The family established Dunton Motors, now a classic vehicle dealership and restoration business, in 1946. Roy is the “D” in Mr. D’z Route 66 Diner.

The Route 66 Chronicles: Unraveling mysteries

Camp Beale's Springs, Kingman, Arizona. Photo by D.P. Flanders, 1873. (Courtesy, Mohave Museum of History and Arts)

By Jim Hinckley
Kingman Daily Miner

History is a lot like a good pot of stew. If we merely skim the surface, we miss the meat and potatoes at the bottom. This leaves the impression that the stew is a bit thin and without a great deal of flavor. Then we tell folks that the stew wasn’t very good and the story is repeated until it becomes fact.

With the passing of time, even photos are not always enough to separate myth from fact. Recently, the Route 66 Association of Kingman initiated an ambitious plan to partner with property owners in the historic business district to restore facades, as well as historic signage.

One of these projects was the Old Trails Garage owned by the Graves family. As historic research is something I engage in regularly, I was asked to assist in determining the date of construction and to find images of the garage that would allow for a more accurate recreation.

The earliest view of the garage was a postcard from about 1918 in the possession of the Mohave Museum of History & Arts. However, something did not seem right as the garage was supposed to have been built in 1912 or 1914, and I didn’t see the Brunswick Hotel that was built in 1909. This was accredited to a bit of photo editing, common in many early post cards. Then, with assistance from Steve Rider, a prolific collector of National Old Trails Highway era postcards, a similar postcard was discovered, but this one indicated a Needles, California location.

Even though the owners have decided that the facade renovation of the Kingman garage will mimic its 1940 appearance, complete with towering neon Packard sign from about 1930, it was interesting to have a more complete photo record of the facility’s evolution.

As the association’s initiative progresses, I am confident that further adventures in historic research will take place. In fact, I am currently in search of a mystery contractor that added a unique signature to his work – the use of white quartz to frame windows and doors.

To date, I have documented this signature at the Siesta Motel, 1929; the recently razed Bell Motel, 1946; the Assembly of God church, 1939; a circa-1930 cafe, and the last remnant of the pre-1937 Richards Auto Court. Perhaps the most intriguing of these buildings is the old church, as stones with Native American petroglyphs were used in the construction!

A few days ago I delved into the new Facebook live and posted several early morning discussions. A regular morning broadcast is something I may do in the near future. To have direct interaction with followers and Route 66 enthusiasts from throughout the world was a most interesting experience.

In the most recent of these I noted that a video from the site of Camp Beale, a mid-19th century military outpost on the Beale Wagon Road and Mohave Prescott Toll Road, would be shared. Recently, I went live with this short video and in the coming days will post a more detailed video on the Jim Hinckley’s YouTube channel.

This historic site is another location where the passing of time has greatly obscured its actual location, size, and even years of operation. The Mohave Museum of History & Arts has created some superb then-and-now photos that have resolved a few of these mysteries. The area is another gem in the Kingman region as the springs, a veritable desert oasis, and the miles of trails for hiking or mountain biking in the Cerbat foothills.

In school we may have been given the impression that history is as dull and boring as a three-day insurance seminar. Nothing could be further from the truth. Unraveling mysteries, chasing ghosts, and discovering tangible links to the dreams and vision of people long passed empower us to look toward the future with eager anticipation.

Until we meet again on the road in Jim Hinckley’s America, adios mi amigos.

After nearly fading into obscurity, Route 66 celebrates 90th birthday

Williams was a popular stop-over during the 60 years Route 66 passed through the town. The above photo shows the downtown area in the 1940s.

By Wendy Howell
Williams News

WILLIAMS, Ariz. — In several respects, the automobile was one of the most significant inventions of the twentieth century, but often overlooked and equally significant is the development of the roads those automobiles traveled upon.

Route 66 was not the first cross-country road nor is it the oldest road, but the highway has lodged itself into the imagination of travelers and became one of the best known and most identified roads in the world.
It was a highway created by the demands of a rapidly changing America. For some, it represents freedom of the road, to others a path to a better life. Route 66 celebrates its ninetieth birthday this month and despite being made obsolete obsolete by Interstate 40 in the 1980s, it remains a beloved icon and memory for many who traveled its path.

Creation

Route 66 was created in 1926 when the Bureau of Roads launched the nation’s first Federal highway system. It cobbled together and linked local, state and national roads. The U.S. Highway Association actively promoted the road and it quickly became popular as the shortest, most scenic route from Chicago to Los Angeles.

Many of the sections of Route 66 began as wagon roads and Native American trade routes from the Great Plains to coastal California. Several of these sections were natural routes across easy terrain and many were near water sources. Route 66 in northern Arizona utilized the Beale Road and the National Old Trails Highway in many sections.

Edward F. Beale, a retired Navy lieutenant, was chosen to chart a road across the southwest to open the area following the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848. Early railroad engineers also followed the Beale Road and towns and settlements soon grew up along the tracks and roads were created to link those towns’ main streets.

Despite the Beale Road, between 1863 and 1912, Arizona did not have much of a road system. As the automobile became popular in the early 1920s, road-building became important and a boom in road construction occurred throughout the state.

The Federal Aid Road Act, passed in 1916, gave money for The National Old Trails Highway across northern Arizona, which became part of the nation’s first system of Federal highways, eventually becoming part of U.S. Route 66 in 1926. Most of the 400 miles of the Old Trails Highway was not paved.

Early Years

The Federal Highway Act of 1921 mapped and provided signage to existing roads and during that time Highways Association President Cyrus Avery pushed for a road through Tulsa, Oklahoma that would originate in Chicago.

Most highways prior to Route 66 went east-west or north-south. Route 66 would be a diagonal route that linked several rural communities in the Midwest to Chicago. It became an important route for the trucking industry despite not being completely paved until the mid-1930s.

Depression

During the Great Depression (1929-1939), Route 66 became a popular route for thousands of hopeful Midwesterners trying to find their way to California to seek a better life.
Researchers estimate that 65 percent of America’s westbound traffic and 50 percent of eastbound traffic followed Route 66 during the 1930s. These seasoned travelers were largely dependent on camping for their overnight lodging.. The highway managed to keep several small towns alive during the Great Depression. It is estimated that 210,000 travelers came to California during the Depression years.

The plight of those stuck in the Great Depression was immortalized in John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” in 1939. Many connected the plight of the people with the road itself.

Steinbeck’s referral to Route 66 as the “Mother Road” stuck and helped symbolize the route as the road to opportunity.

Wartime

In 1926, only 800 miles of designed Route 66 were paved. In the late 1930s, many unemployed youth found jobs as laborers on road gangs, and as a result of this monumental effort, the entire route was reported as continuously paved in 1938.

The completion of the paving was significant to the nation’s war effort during World War II. The country needed improved highways for rapid mobilization. The War Department utilized the west as a military training ground due to its wide-open isolation and dry weather.

The federal government put together $70 billion in capital projects in California, which created thousands of jobs in many entirely new industries. The resulting mass migration moved 1 million people from the northeast to California, Oregon and Washington between 1940 and 1943. The population increased almost 40 percent in those states.

Postwar

The economy improved near the end of the war and Americans began to take more vacations by automobile. Route 66 held many scenic wonders nearby, with Arizona offering attractions such as the Grand Canyon and Petrified Forest.

Following the war, soldiers, sailors, and other military men who had experienced California, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas during military training abandoned the harsh winters of the northeast for the sunny west. Route 66 facilitated their relocation.

One such former soldier was Robert William Troup, Jr., who traveled Route 66 following the war and penned the now famous tune “Get Your Kicks on Route 66,” which became a catch phrase for countless motorists who traveled the route between Chicago and the Pacific Coast.

Just as the New Deal provided employment on the road at the end of the Great Depression, numerous tourist courts, garages, gas stations and diners popped up and spurred economic growth after the road’s completion. The demands of this new tourism gave rise to competition among owners who used neon signs, gimmicks and over the top antics to draw travelers to their facilities.

Vacation

Travel increased following the war as rationing and travel restrictions were lifted. Automobile ownership grew dramatically over the next 10 years.

Tourist facilities evolved during this time with many travelers staying in motels. Motels evolved from auto camps. Auto camps developed as town residents roped off areas travelers could stay for the night. The owners would provide water, wood, toilets, showers and laundry facilities for the travelers.

Eventually, auto camps and cabin camps became motor courts where all the rooms were under a single roof. Motor courts offered additional amenities, such as adjoining restaurants, souvenir shops, and swimming pools.

Many other townspeople thrived with the development of service stations. Most buildings were unique but often associated with a gasoline company. Many expanded to include multiple pumps, service bays and tire repair.

During the 1960s, Route 66 was further immortalized with the television series, “Route 66,” starring Martin Milner and George Maharis. The show helped bring Americans back to the route looking for new adventure.

Demise

Postwar travel and the revival of the automobile industry took its toll on the condition of Route 66. In the mid-1950’s, support grew for a safer more reliable interstate system. It was further fueled by Dwight D. Eisenhower, who witnessed the strategic value of Germany’s Autobahn.

Congress responded to the president by passing the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, which underwrote the cost of a national interstate system.

Due to this passage, nearly all segments of original Route 66 were bypassed in 1970 by a modern four-lane highway.

The crumbling and outdated remains of Route 66 completely fell out of the federal interstate system in October 1984, when the final section of the route was bypassed by Interstate 40 in Williams, Arizona.

Preservation

Route 66 was largely abandoned following the completion of the interstate system, although several stretches are still in use today. Several grassroots organizations spurred a resurgence of nostalgia for the old road and an effort is being made now to preserve what remains of the road and businesses of historic Route 66.

Dozens of cities along the old route have also found a niche by recreating what life was like on old Route 66.

Williams is one of those cities. Several retail stores, motels and restaurants cater to those seeking to rekindle their romance with the road.

Nearby Road Segments

Those seeking to experience Route 66 firsthand can find several sections of the road in the area. Pittman Valley to Parks has a portion of Route 66 that is well maintained and used regularly by local residents.

Several unmaintained road segments are located in the Ash Fork area. One section of Route 66 lies just north of I-40 and another lies southwest of Ash Fork. West of Ash Fork travelers can drive maintained Route 66 through Seligman, Peach Springs and end in Kingman.

Travelers can also drive Route 66 through the Williams Historic Business District and Urban Route 66 in downtown Williams, which were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 and 1989, respectively.

Feds To Pick Up $1.66M Of $1.88M Cost To Replace Old Hwy 66 Amboy Bridge

The Dola Ditch and Lanzit Ditch bridges on old Route 66 near Amboy are two of 127 historic timber-trestle bridges to be replaced by San Bernardino County. (Google)

San Bernardino County Sentinel

The San Bernardino County Public Works Department will defray 88.5 percent of the cost of replacing the Lanzit Ditch Bridge on old Route 66 in the Amboy area with federal funds.

This week, the county board of supervisors complied with county public works director Gerry Newcombe’s recommendation that the county apply $1,663,645 in federal Highway Bridge Program funds administered through the State of California Department of Transportation and then utilize local matching funds, in this case $215,544 in gasoline taxes, for the construction phase of the National Trails Highway renovation project at Lanzit Ditch near Amboy where a long-existing bridge is on the brink of failure.

This defined project is one of several the county is undertaking along what was historically the primary roadway into California, U.S. Route 66, which in the 1920s was converted from the National Trails Highway. Route 66 was officially removed from the United States Highway System in 1985 but remains a far lesser used alternative route to Interstates 10 & 15 & 40.

According to Newcombe, “The Lanzit Ditch Bridge is located in San Bernardino County, approximately 2.77 miles east of Kelbaker Road near the unincorporated community of Amboy. This project is one of several ongoing efforts to replace bridges on National Trails Highway that have exceeded their design lifespan. This item meets the county and chief executive officer’s goals by working with Caltrans to ensure that the necessary agreements are processed in accordance with Caltrans guidelines in order to receive federal funds as reimbursement for project costs.”

Newcombe said “Discretionary general funding has been authorized to prepare plans to address all of the 127 bridges in priority groups as part of the county’s ongoing efforts to rehabilitate or replace 1930s era timber trestle bridges on National Trails Highway. This project began prior to the discretionary general funding availability and the department has budgeted gasoline tax funds as the local match for this project, so no portion of the authorized discretionary general funding will be used at this time on the project. Those funds remain authorized to be used toward future costs associated with the 127 bridges along National Trails Highway. Receiving $1,663,645 of Highway Bridge Program funds will assist in funding the project’s construction costs.”

Women's contributions on Route 66 remembered

Katrina Parks, project director for the Women on Route 66 project, listens in as Chris Ervin speaks during the panel at the end of the special presentation. Ervin is with the Mojave Desert Archives. The presentation focused on oral histories about women’s experiences on Route 66.

By JENNIFER DENEVAN
Needles Desert Star

NEEDLES — Those interested in a bit of a history lesson heard some interesting tales from various women who knew what it was like to travel and live along the Mother Road.

The presentation of “The Women on the Mother Road in Southern California: Route 66 Oral Histories and Screening and Discussion Program” focused on learning how women played major roles in life on the historic roadway. While Needles wasn’t directly discussed, Andrea Arizaga Limon, who has many local ties, is one of several women Katrina Parks interviewed and is part of the project. Her story was included in the presentation at the El Garces on Sept. 23.

Parks, project director, used a couple of quotes to explain why she focused her project on women. The quotes discussed how history tends to focus on men such as Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady motoring along Route 66; but women also did a lot to contribute to the stories.

Parks said women are frequently sidebars in historical works. When researching, there are unconscious biases and the tendency is to look up information on men instead of women and so certain assumptions are made, she continued.

While it may appear that women didn’t own property or were adventurers or contribute much, Parks said, when someone digs in, the experience by women is more complex and varied than led to believe.

Parks discussed some of the women she’s talked to or has researched about for her project. She pointed out how some of the women experienced various hardships such as discrimination for being women. Some faced racial discrimination and segregation, abuses and despite obstacles saw many successes as business women, entertainers and more.

Some of the presentation included Parks’ work with other individuals also working on similar projects and how it connected to her own. Parks’ part of the presentation included three of her finished interviews, including Arizaga Limon’s, for the audience to hear.

Chris Ervin, of Mojave Desert Archives, shared some human interest stories focused on a particular woman who lived in Ludlow. Her name was Venus Pendergast.

Many of the stories shared by Ervin and Parks brought some laughter and insight to an era gone by. While some of the stories are better known, such as Bobby Troup’s “Get Your Kicks on Route 66,” the fact his first wife, Cynthia, was the one who came up with that particular line is not as well known.

Parks provided thanks to those who’ve supported her project and to Jan Jernigan, of the Needles Downtown Business Alliance, for helping making the local presentation happen.

A panel at the end allowed members of the audience to talk about their own experiences and what life in Needles, in particular, has been like through the decades.

Traveling a forgotten road in the Cajon Pass

Crowder Canyon Bridge, then and now.

By Cliff Bandringa
Victor Valley Daily Press

There is a forgotten road in the Cajon Pass that was originally a wagon toll road built in 1861 and, later, was used by many early Route 66 travelers. There are no signs to point out this historic road or to tell you about its connection to the Mother Road but there is still evidence of where it once existed.

Early automobile travelers used this steep, narrow and hazardous road as a short cut when traveling Route 66 (although it was never used as an alignment for Route 66). Unlike old segments of 66 in the upper Cajon Pass, sections of this road can still be traveled on today.

Our trip begins at the Summit Inn located at the Cajon Summit and ends next to the truck scales located halfway through the Cajon Pass. Half of the trip is on dirt road with the other half on pavement and it can be traveled in either direction.

Even though most of the dirt road is maintained by the Forestry Service, it is still subject to deep ruts and bumps that make it difficult for normal vehicles. We have seen plenty of standard cars on this road but we don’t recommend it. A high-clearance vehicle, such as a truck or SUV, is best.

The historical Summit Inn (off the Oak Hills Road exit), is a favorite spot of tourists for breakfast or lunch. One of its most famous patrons was Elvis Presley. The story goes that Elvis wasn’t fond of flying to his frequent shows in Las Vegas so he and his entourage traveled by car. They would usually take up the one large booth in this roadside cafe.

As you leave Summit Inn, turn right onto the frontage road and head south. The pavement ends in half a mile but this short distance of pavement was the alignment of Route 66. The alignment then turned right, crossed the northbound lanes of I-15 and continued down the middle of I-15.

For our trip, continue on the dirt road (when the pavement ends) as it makes a quick left and then heads south. You will quickly see how rough the road is. At a 90-degree left turn there’s a great viewpoint of the Cajon Pass on the right.

Past the viewpoint, the road twists and turns and a road intersection is reached. Turn right here to pass through the obvious road cut. This road cut was originally dug for the Brown Toll Road and probably hand excavated in 1861, which is when the American Civil War started.

One of the first cross-country roads built in the USA was the National Old Trails Road. For the road’s alignment through the Cajon Pass, the toll road was still usable and it was logical to use the same alignment. However, because this section was steep and treacherous, the new road was realigned in 1918 to where I-15 is today. Thrill-seeking Route 66 travelers still used it, though.

Continue steeply down the old road south as it crosses four railroad tracks. Beyond the tracks, you might spot faint patches of pavement from the original road build in 1914.

Turn right onto Highway 138. Here, the new highway was built on top of the old road. Just before 138 turns into four lanes, the old road veered off to the left. We will see the other side of that road in a moment.

To walk on the old road, drive past the McDonalds on the frontage road next to I-15. At the end of the road, you’ll see a monument. Park here and walk to the end of the road to find a hiking trail. This is part of the Pacific Crest Trail. Walk up into what is called Crowder Canyon. Soon, you’ll be walking past an old bridge foundation and on old pavement from 1914, which was the first auto route through the Cajon.

Read an expanded version of this article at www.BackRoadsWest.com/blog/forgotten-path-route-66. Along with driving directions, you’ll find a YouTube video and an interactive map.

Reconnection of Route 66 in Cajon Pass will be done by mid-2016

Old Route 66 roadway in Cajon Pass, San Bernardino County, California.

Ron Warnick
Route 66 News

A massive interchange project at Interstates 15 and 215 that will reconnect old Route 66 in San Bernardino County is ahead of schedule for its projected completion of mid-2016, according to Construction Equipment Guide.

According to previous reporting, about two miles of old Route 66 in the Cajon Pass will be reopened to traffic for the first time in decades.

Commuters driving on Route 66 near the interchange will no longer face a gap in the historic roadway from Kenwood Avenue to Devore Road. Motorists should find less congestion along the old Route 66.

“Motorists will find continuous access where Route 66 turns into Cajon Boulevard,” Prunty said. “That will have a major impact on area commuters.”

John Harrington, vice president of Atkinson Construction’s Southern California office, confirms the project is on track and will likely complete ahead of schedule.

If construction continues to go as projected, that means those two miles of Route 66 will be open to traffic by spring — the beginning of tourism season.

The California Department of Transportation is overseeing the $324 million project, which seeks to improve one of the state’s worst bottlenecks. More than 1 million vehicles go through it each week.

Caltrans isn’t reconnecting old Route 66 entirely out of the good of its heart. The road will serve as an alternate route for when the freeway is closed because of an accident.

Oatman History: A trip into the past

Author Jackie Rowland-Murray, president of the Oatman Historical Society and vice president of the Arizona Historical Route 66 Association, gave a talk highlighting some of Oatman’s most colorful historic moments on Saturday at the Laughlin Library. “I’ve spent so much time researching the area’s history, I’d feel bad if I didn’t use what I’ve learned,” Rowland-Murray said. “I enjoy all of it.” (DK McDONALD/The Daily News)

By DK McDONALD
Mohave Valley Daily News

LAUGHLIN — For some, history is the chronicle of a society’s evolution. For others, history is blueprint for the future.

“I get upset when schools don’t teach history,” said historian and author Jackie Rowland-Murray. “If you don’t know what the history is, it is going to repeat big-time and not in a good way.”

President of the Oatman Historical Society and vice president of the Arizona Historical Route 66 Association,
Rowland-Murray spoke on some of Oatman’s most colorful historic moments Saturday at the Laughlin Library.

Rowland-Murray’s 90-minute presentation traced Oatman’s history from the first known contact with Native people by Spanish Franciscan friar Francisco Garces, to its birth in the early 1800s to the present day. With emphasis on events such as the Oatman Massacre and the kidnapping of Olive Oatman, Rowland-Murray also related stories of the Rose-Bailey Massacre, Beale’s road expedition on the 35th Parallel and the region’s gold mines that produced $40 million in gold.

“I’ve heard her speak before,” said Elsie Needles, president of the Colorado River Historical Society and Museum. “She wrote a great book on the history of Oatman. She is so knowledgeable and a really good speaker.”

The public history lesson was presented in partnership with the Colorado River Historical Society and Museum. Rowland-Murray, the author of “Oatman: History, Recipes & Ghost Stories,” said she enjoys sharing history for its own sake.

“I’ve spent so much time researching the area’s history, I’d feel bad if I didn’t use what I’ve learned,” she said. “It’s information that just begs to be shared.”

Rowland-Murray‘s research has resulted in a variety of subjects to present, she said. Including the Oatman history lecture, she offers presentations on how women lived in the 1800s, on Olive Oatman’s life, and two presentations on the “Strong women of the Colorado River,” split between women from Yuma to this area of Mohave County, and northern women, covering women from the Grand Canyon to the northern state line.

“I also have a presentation solely on mining,” said Rowland-Murray. “That one made me nervous, because the first time I presented it was to a room full of prospectors.”

The mining stories are her favorite to relate, she said.

“Mining in Oatman is a real interesting story,” Rowland-Murray said. “It had huge effects on the area, the state and the whole world.”

The presentation didn’t stop with the camels, the burros, the gold or the massacres. Rowland-Murray made the connections between Oatman’s history and the present day.

“Oatman sees more than 400,000 visitors every year, some tracing the history of Route 66 and some who want to see a bit of the Old West,” Rowland-Murray said. “Oatman has never legally been designated a town, although during its heyday it boasted a population between 8,000 and 10,000 people. Oatman is classified as a roadside attraction which makes it difficult to get some things done.”

The 2000 census found 128 residents in Oatman.

“We’re different,” Rowland-Murray said. “It’s a small and quiet community. There is no grocery store. There is no school. There’s no gas station, either, although a couple guys keep extra 5-gallon cans in their backyards in case of an emergency. We like to say, ‘If you need it, we don’t have it.’ But people are drawn here. It has a rich history. It’s interesting.”

Field trip explores Cajon Pass “Gateway into the San Bernardino Valley”

A field trip—Exploring the Cajon Pass: Gateway into the San Bernardino Valley—will explore historic trails and roads along the Cajon Pass inlcuding the site of the Cajon Pass Monument dedication in 1913. (Photo/Nick Cataldo – San Bernardino Historical Society)

By Yazmin Alvarez
Inland Empire Community Newspapers

A one-day field trip along the trails and paths traveled by mountain men and American explorers is being offered March 21 through Cal State San Bernardino’s Office of Extended Education.

The drive-and-stop course—”Exploring the Cajon Pass: Gateway into the San Bernardino Valley”— will be taught by local historian Nick Cataldo and focus on what he refers to as “the gateway into the Southern Valley” following in the footsteps of Jedediah Smith and Kit Carson, the Mormon Battalion and passing through wagon roads.

“The Cajon Pass has played a prominent role in the San Bernardino Valley since prehistoric times. Indians, explorers, trappers, loggers, settlers, land speculators, rail passengers, the military and early motorists have all passed through the Cajon Pass on their way to or from the desert, making this an important gateway in Southern California”.

As part of the hands-on field trip, guests will trek along historic routes including the Old Spanish Trail dating back to the 1830’s, the National Old Trails Road, John Brown’s Toll Road and a portion of the infamous Route 66. Day trippers will also visit the grounds of an old Serrano Indian campsite. Each stop will include lessons on the historical sites along with stories and opportunities for discussions.

The course—which has a fee of $83 for no credit and $140 for one unit credit— will run from 8 a.m.. to 4:30 p.m. There will be an optional no-host breakfast at 7 a.m. at the Summit Inn, 5960 Mariposa Road in Oak Hills prior to the start of the day’s trek.

Nick Cataldo, second from right, leads a group up the old route of travel in Crowder Canyon. (Photo/Nick Cataldo – San Bernardino Historical Society)

Field-trippers are encouraged to bring good hiking shoes, a camera, a walking stick, lunch, water, pencil or pen and clothing suitable for both warm and cold weather.

Walking trips of no more than two miles are required during the excursion. Children seven and older are welcome. Those interested in driving their own vehicle can do so, but clearance is required as part of the route is on bumpy dirt roads and small ravines.

Plans underway to preserve historic High Desert stretch of Route 66

A car passes through Amboy on historic U.S. Route 66., Thursday, July 31, 2014. (John Valenzuela)

By Joe Nelson
The San Bernardino Sun

America’s love affair with Route 66 endures.

Songs have been written about it. A television show was named after it. It played a prominent role in John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” as the route taken by the Joad family from Oklahoma to California to escape the Dust Bowl.

And for nearly a quarter of a century, the city of San Bernardino paid tribute to it with its annual Route 66 Rendezvous, a weekend street faire for classic car enthusiasts.

And now, plans are underway to preserve and enhance a 150-mile stretch of the two-lane historic highway from Needles to Barstow, creating roadside kiosks and mobile apps, among other things, to attract visitors and keep its memory alive.

“I’m convinced the route will get busier and busier because of tourism and the baby boomers retiring,” said Albert Okura, owner of the historic roadside Roy’s Motel and Cafe in Amboy, one of the mainstay attractions along the dusty desert stretch of Historic Route 66.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the California Historic Route 66 Association released their Route 66 Draft Corridor Management Plan.

A 30-day public comment period on the plan is now underway. A webcast is scheduled for Feb. 19. The webcast, as well as a digital copy of the plan, can be accessed at http://cmp.route66ca.org.

Hard copies are also available for review at the BLM California Desert District Office in Moreno Valley, the BLM’s Barstow and Needles field offices, the Barstow Chamber of Commerce, the Barstow Public Library, the Needles Chamber of Commerce, and the Needles Public Library.

A limited number of black-and-white hard copies of the plan may be requested via email at cahistoricrt66@aol.com, with “CMP Hard Copy Request” entered in the subject line of the email.

The long-term plan includes the most comprehensive strategy to date on the preservation and marketing of the highway stretch. Once the plan is complete, the BLM and California Historic Route 66 Association will push to get it designated as a National Scenic Byway by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The targeted audience includes Route 66 enthusiasts, historians, multi-generational travelers and travel groups, photographers and railway enthusiasts.

“It represents a great chance to introduce people to the Mojave Desert,” said Jim Klein, the project’s lead planner.

He said several gateway centers with kiosks are planned for Barstow, Needles, Amboy, Essex, Goffs and Ludlow. An interactive mobile app would allow travelers to see then-and-now photos of the many stopovers and other geographic points of interest along the highway, he said.

“When you’re trying to draw people toward Barstow, you need to create something for them to see and do,” Klein said. “There are a lot of great old photographs of all these communities. Some of them are no longer there.”

Building new infrastructure along the highway stretch and refurbishing many, if not all, of the 128 timber trestle bridges dotting the historic route is also a top priority, Klein said. He said the stretch of Route 66 from Needles to Barstow has most of the antiquated wooden bridges, which were built in the 1920s during construction of the highway.

Written comments on the draft plan will be accepted through Feb. 28, and may be submitted by mail to Lardner/Klein Landscape Architects, 815 N. Royal St., Suite 200, attn: Route 66 CMP, Alexandria, VA 22314. Comments can also be sent via email to cart66cmp@lardnerklein.com.

A Chicken Magnate's Quest to Revive a Desert Ghost Town

Photo from "The Silence and the Sun" by Joe De Kehoe, courtesy of Martha Burnau and Sally Carlos.

by Matt Blitz
Curbed Network

In the middle of October, the Mojave Desert is cool by desert standards. The wind is so strong it's hard to stand up straight. The air is so dry that thirst is a constant. Dust, rock, and sand get into every crevice. Few brave living here.

Eighty years ago, though, this desert was alive with trains, people, stores, cars, gas stations, and cafes. Many of those buildings are still here, but only a few are occupied. By the mid-20th century, there was no longer enough to live here for. Not enough trains or cars passing through. Not enough commerce to sustain a community. Not enough committed citizens to reinvent the towns. The buildings were left as they were, as if the former occupants had every intention of coming back. The mostly-wooden structures still stand, swaying with the wind, baking in the heat, and collecting dust.

The Mojave Desert is filled with these ghost towns, places like Essex, Baghdad, Ludlow, Chubbuck, and Goffs, all teetering on the edge of existence. They inspire questions about our responsibility to abandoned buildings. Do we just let them rot away? Do we continue to hope that people will come back? Is preserving the past a noble cause or a fool's errand?

Amboy, one of the many wind-blown towns of the Mojave left to fade away in the sun, has changed ownership numerous times with no one able or willing to put in the work to revive it. In 2003, Amboy was listed on Ebay for $1.9 million. There were no takers and the property entered foreclosure. In 2005, at a much-discounted price, it finally landed in the hands of a Southern California chicken magnate, Albert Okura, who committed to reviving the town. Nine years have passed and Okura remains steadfast in his commitment. But the future of Amboy is up in the air, swirling around with the dust and sand.

Amboy's official birth year was 1883, but it was actually settled in 1858, when prospectors came to claim the hills' iron ore. According to an 1877 map (right) drawn up by Lieutenant J.C. Mallery of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a road established in these years connected Amboy to the Dale mining district.

It is not exactly clear why the settlement was named "Amboy." As the railroad established water stops in California, the communities were named in alphabetical order from west to east, stopping at the Arizona state line. Amboy was the first.

Seven years later, in 1865, the Southern Pacific Railroad Company was founded with the goal of establishing rail service from San Francisco to San Diego. The company did just that, but its goals were much loftier. Beginning in 1862, the Pacific Railway Acts promoted the construction of a transcontinental railway through land grants and government bonds. The Southern Pacific Railroad Company took full advantage of these government handouts. By 1884, through land grants, bonds, company consolidation, and leasing of other railroads, the "mighty" Southern Pacific reached New Orleans (a route nicknamed "the Sunset Route").

Southern Pacific promised to build at least twenty miles of rail per year beginning in 1870. Construction fell behind, but on June 22nd, 1883, the Southern Pacific Railroad finished its 223 miles of rail connecting the Mojave Desert to Needles, California, allowing the giant steel beasts known as locomotives to pass through the desert.

At first, Amboy was nothing more than a water and repair stop for the trains. Amboy didn't have a bank or a fire department, though a two-room wooden schoolhouse was built in 1903. (Western railroad towns, in general, tended to be unimaginative in design and created for the sole purpose of catering to the railroad worker and self-sufficiency.)

Other communities in the Mojave, like Ludlow or Essex, were different from Amboy. They became 'blow-off' towns for the thirsty, recreation-starved miners who had to deal with alcohol-free mining camps. With their abundance of pool halls, saloons, and brothels, communities like these lived off of workers' vices. Amboy, though, got a boost from the discovery of a natural resource. This resource wasn't found in the mountains, but at the bottom of Bristol Lake.

That resource was salt, or calcium chloride. Drilling a water well in 1910, the railroad company had discovered that the water contained 10 times as much salt as the ocean. The Pacific Cement Plaster Company had already built a mill in Amboy in 1904 to process the gypsum at the bottom of Bristol Lake, and the salt offered another revenue stream. By 1914, mining in Bristol Lake for both salt and gypsum was at its height. Mills, worker residences, and even saloons were hastily built in the nearby town of Amboy. But like all booms, this one was short-lived. Over-mining and discovery of other salt deposits in easier-to-reach places forced all the mills to close by 1924. Amboy began to deteriorate, just like the other towns of the Mojave Desert.

Other problems followed. On October 29th, 1929, "Black Tuesday," the stock market lost nearly thirteen percent of its value. The subsequent Great Depression decimated the railroads. The Tonopah and Tidewater and the Ludlow and Southern line, other famed desert railroads, were ripped up by 1935. The mighty Southern Pacific, bigger and more financially solvent than its competitors, continued to operate and was still turning a profit until the late 1940s, but the end was nearing for even the strongest of the locomotives.

But the invention that came next, the automobile, revolutionized the way Americans traveled and breathed new life into Amboy.

In 1927, Cyrus Avery (right) and the newly formed US Highway 66 Association convinced Congress to establish a well-maintained, easily passable interstate highway from Chicago to Los Angeles. Construction began on US 66 that same year and all 2,448 miles were paved by 1938. Route 66 was built specifically to follow the railroad, which had carved a clear path, both in infrastructure and notoriety, through the southwest. The road was built nearly parallel to both the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe railroads. For this reason, Amboy was included on the route.

During the mid-1930s, with the Depression at its height and the dust storms wrecking havoc across the Midwest, thousands of people traveled the newly-built Route 66 in search of a better life elsewhere. As immortalized by John Steinbeck in The Grapes of Wrath, Route 66 was "the path for people in flight, refugees from the dust."

Amboy flourished, hitting its peak right when the Depression was at its worst. The permanent population jumped to nearly 200 people. Three gas stations, two cafes, three motor courts, four garages, a post office, a church, and a school were built, all with colorful signs and enticing offers (air conditioning!) to lure in visitors.

If Amboy was an oasis in the middle of the desert, then Roy Crowl was mainly responsible for its reemergence. Working as a railroad line operator a few miles down the road in Saltus, he noticed the rise of car traffic and decided it was time to go where the people were. He moved to Amboy and built Roy's Garage. The desert roads were rough on cars and thus made Roy's the busiest place in town. Soon, Roy realized that waiting customers got hungry, so he built a café. Auto parts weren't always available, so travelers had to wait, sometimes overnight. Luckily, Roy also built a motel.

Roy's Motel & Café has since become a Route 66 legend. Opened in 1938 by Roy and his wife Betty, along with their son-in-law Buster Burris, the motel has five cabins with a café next door. Roy did so well with his properties that he was able to buy Betty, a trained pilot, a runway left over from the 1920s. Propeller planes still land on this runway (in fact, Harrison Ford made an unscheduled stop there in the mid-2000s). Roy and Betty retired in 1959, leaving Roy's in Buster's name. Buster traveled to Los Angeles for design ideas and renovated Roy's in the style he observed there. The Roy's sign still stands over the town of Amboy, its retro-future look harking back to another era.

On June 29th, 1956, Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law the Federal-Aid Highway Act. He called it "the greatest public works project in the history of the world." It is said that a cross-country trip that would have taken twenty days in 1950 would now only take four.

For Amboy, it was another death sentence. Route 66, with its twisty, turning road and lower speed limits, would become obsolete. And so would the small towns that populated the road. By 1964, the concrete had been poured for the new super highway, Interstate 40, and cars were bypassing Amboy and the other Mojave towns. Life again screeched to a halt in the desert.

Today, Amboy feels more forgotten than dead. The landscape is still dotted with rubble, but there are signs of life. A dog barks in the near distance. Some of the houses are lived in. RVs and trailers along the side of the road provide traveling homes for a few. An estimated 15 to 20 people live here year-round. On nice days, like this one in October, cars pass through, stopping for a picture of the most photographed sign in the world. The trains still huff and puff occasionally on the outskirts of the town.

But Amboy is still very much on the mind of Albert Okura. In 2005, Okura bought the town of Amboy from Buster Burris' ninety-year-old widow for $425,000. She had better offers, but Okura had cash and a promise. Okura explained over the phone, "I told her I am going to keep it pure."

Okura grew up in Wilmington, only a few miles from Long Beach on the coast of southern California. His first job was at a Burger King in 1970. Fourteen years later, Okura opened his own fast-food restaurant with an uncle in San Bernardino County (about 55 miles from Wilmington)—a Mexican rotisserie chicken place called Juan Pollo. Today, there are 27 locations throughout Southern California. Okura purchased the site of the very first McDonald's in San Bernardino County in 1998, which was run by the McDonald brothers in the 1940s before Ray Kroc bought out their company. He turned the site into the corporate offices of Juan Pollo on one side and a McDonald's museum on the other. On the surface, the McDonald's site purchase makes more sense than Okura's decision to buy Amboy, but Taylor Louden, a preservation architect who helped Okura with Amboy, describes Albert as a benevolent collector. "Things just find their way to him. He's sort of a one-man orphanage."

When Amboy appeared on Ebay in 2003, a friend who knew of his tendency toward collecting alerted Okura. The price was too high, but Okura, believing it was "his destiny" to own Amboy, kept checking in until the number came down. Okura immediately went to work cleaning, repainting, and preserving the town. In the nine years he has owned it, he hasn't knocked anything down, and the only thing he's built is a small storage shed. He has simply tried to keep the town afloat. Okura reopened Roy's, not as a motel or café, but as a gift shop with hopes of turning it into "an authentic Route 66 diner" someday. Okura hired a few people living in town to work shifts at Roy's. He was able to bring back gas to two pumps (a third was already functional). Okura and Louden even gave Amboy a clever nickname, "the ghost town that ain't dead yet," in hopes of attracting tourists. Despite all of this hard work, Okura admits the task is tougher than he thought. Okura explains he never had any delusions of making money off of Amboy itself; the value for him was promotional, "if I keep it pure, functional, historically accurate, than me and my company…get recognition."

Still, he tells me that he spends upwards of $5,000 a month on staffing, keeping gas flowing, and general maintenance. It took two years to get electricity because "Buster, the great man that he was, did his own electric work and it wasn't up to county codes." Okura says he loses money on his investment on a yearly basis.

Despite Okura's best intentions, Amboy sits in a state of suspended life. The old cabins that still stand off to the side of the former café have a decently fresh coat of paint but are a mess inside. A "Keep Out" sign blocks off visitors from the rest of the cabins behind Roy's. The giant white church down the road (built about the same time as the new school) is empty inside, save for a single ghostly chair delicately placed at a piano, as if waiting for someone to play it one more time.

Amboy illustrates the difficulty of preserving the past. Towns like Amboy must adapt or die in a kind of Ghost Town Darwinism. Although Okura has no plans to demolish any buildings in Amboy, perhaps that should be an option. If no one wants to live there or turn it into a useful property, why expend energy and resources preserving something that provides very little, if any, value back?

Before I leave Amboy, I wander into Roy's. Thirsty from the Mojave, I pick up a bottle of water and approach the man at the cash register, whose name is Kevin. I ask him how business is today ("Not bad. A guy and his girlfriend on a motorcycle was just here about twenty minutes ago."), tourism in general ("We get a lot more people from Europe and Asia, than Americans"), and if he lives in town (he does, in a room inside of the café). And then I ask Kevin the question: is Amboy a ghost town? His answer: "I live here and I'm alive. So, this town ain't dead yet." But for how long?

Project examining Route 66 effect on Native Americans

A van with a tour group passes through Route 66 in San Bernardino County. (Kurt Miller)

by David Olson
Riverside Press-Enterprise

Route 66 is probably the most iconic road in the nation, but few of the tourists and other travelers who drive it likely know very much about the original residents of the land they’re passing through.

A new initiative from the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association aims to change that with a guidebook that will steer visitors toward Native American cultural sites and educate them about Route 66’s effect on American Indian life.

Route 66 passes through San Bernardino County in its 2,400-mile journey from Chicago to Los Angeles, and a meeting with Southern California tribes on their possible involvement in the project is expected in January 2015, said Rachel Cromer, a spokeswoman for the tourism association.

“This is a part of the Route 66 story that hasn’t been told yet,” Cromer said. “We hope this will draw new visitors and allow people who have traveled Route 66 to experience it in a new way.”

The National Park Service is helping fund the project.

Many Americans and foreign tourists have a Hollywood-movie view of Indians as living in teepees, wearing headdresses and riding horses, said Virginia Salazar-Halfmoon, coordinator of the project.

Here in the Inland area, among the best-known Route 66 attractions is the Wigwam Motel in San Bernardino, which features teepee-shaped rooms.

Yet Southern California Indians did not live in teepees, which were used by some Plains Indians.

Salazar-Halfmoon said the guidebook will help dispel the teepee myth and other stereotypes and generalizations.

“There are 27-plus tribes that exist along Route 66, and many people don’t realize they have distinct cultural heritages that they hold on to tenaciously,” she said. “If people knew more about the tribes, they would be more aware of the distinct cultural heritages that exist and would probably have a more enriched experience on Route 66.”

Route 66 had a major impact on Native Americans’ lives, Salazar-Halfmoon said. For example, the road was used to transport many Native American kids to Indian boarding schools, she said. The federal government set up the schools, which were aimed not only at teaching educational basics to Indian children but also at eradicating Indian culture.

Route 66 also had positive effects on tribes, Salazar-Halfmoon said. The road created a larger market for Indian arts and crafts and exposed more people to Native American culture, she said. Artisans set up stands and trading posts at the side of Route 66 to sell their goods.

“Because of Route 66, they didn’t have to leave home” to sell their products, she said.

Stamp mills highlight museum celebration

Hugh Brown, left, current director of the Mojave Desert Heritage and Cultural Association, stands with former director Dennis Casebier on the upper level of the association's recently renovated stamp mill. (MARK MUCKENFUSS, STAFF THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE)

BY MARK MUCKENFUSS
Press-Enterprise

Dennis Casebier has learned that you don’t have to build it to get them to come; you just have to have the materials on hand.

Casebier, a desert historian and former head of the Mojave Desert Heritage and Cultural Association, found himself standing in a salvage yard in the high desert town of Rosamond in 1996, looking at pieces of a large, ore-crushing machine. He had a vision of reconstructing the monstrous piece of equipment on the grounds of the association’s museum in Goffs, about 30 miles northwest of Needles.

Originally, the material was headed for Disneyland, which had been collecting antique Western props for its parks in the 1980s, Casebier said. The Rosamond dealer “got one 10-stamp mill too many,” he said.
Casebier bought the mill and some other material for $15,000. It took a year to haul everything back to Goffs. And there it sat for 14 years.

This Sunday, visitors to the Goffs museum will not only be able to see the 20-foot-high, 15-foot-wide reconstructed American Boy 10-stamp mill but also will get to watch it run. Casebier said it is the only operational 10-stamp mill in California that he knows of. The nearest is in Arizona.

The same man put both machines together.

Casebier said Charlie Connell came looking for him, which was a good thing. Otherwise, the mill, which weighs more than 30 tons, probably still would be sitting in pieces.

“I had no idea where to start,” said Casebier, a physicist who worked for three decades on weapons systems at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Norco. “We’ve learned patience out here. Sooner or later, somebody will come along who’s interested.”

Connell, of Phoenix, heard through the grapevine that Goffs had a stamp mill.

“He’s a nut about stamp mills,” Casebier said. “He has a little team of guys (including his wife, Kathy) and they just love working on stamp mills. He lets them know he’s coming out and somehow they show up from as far away as Colorado.”

It took Connell and his crew three years of work – an estimated 4,100 man hours – to put the mill back together using original and newly made parts. They turned on the machine for the first time in March, using a diesel motor. Originally, the mill would have been powered by a steam engine.

It is the sixth mill that Connell, a retired nuclear plant worker, has constructed. He also helped get the Goffs museum’s smaller two-stamp mill operating.

An amateur gold prospector, he was volunteering at the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum when he learned about an abandoned stamp mill in the desert. He didn’t know what a stamp mill was at the time, but when he saw the dilapidated remains, it got the better of his tinkering nature – he’d rebuilt a Model A in earlier years – and he decided he had to put the stamp mill back together.

“I like to see things run,” Connell said.

It has become an avocation. Besides the ones he has rebuilt in Arizona and California, Connell said he has consulted on stamp mill reconstructions as far away as Colorado. Last summer, he spent two weeks on a road trip that took him through several Western states looking for stamp mill parts. He even traveled to Australia and New Zealand to look at stamp mills there.

Thanks to Connell and his crew, both stamp mills will be operating Sunday. And although the machines may draw the most attention, Casebier hopes visitors also will check out the rest of the museum he spent more than 20 years putting together.

The project started in 1990, when he and his wife bought the Goffs Schoolhouse and restored it to its original condition. The school is now on the National Register of Historic Places. Sunday’s event is a celebration of the schoolhouse’s 100th anniversary.

The Casebier’s and some museum staff are pretty much Goffs only residents these days. At its peak in the 1920s, 200-300 people lived in the town. Route 66, local mining and the railroad kept it alive for many years.

In addition to the schoolhouse, the museum also has an archival library on historical materials related to the Mojave Desert.

Casebier – a transplanted Kansan, fell in love with the desert during a two-year stint in Twentynine Palms when he was in the Marines. He started exploring and researching the Mojave Desert not long after he started his civilian job with the Navy, then in Corona, in 1960.

His work often took him to Washington, D.C.

“I’d spend my evenings in the National Archives,” he said, delving into desert history. “I did that for 30 years.”

The Goff’s museum has a 10,000-volume library, a collection of more than 100,000 photographs and 6,000 maps. But what Casebier values most is the material from his oral history project. The archive holds recordings from interviews with 1,300 people. Casebier did most of the interviews himself.

“If there was only one thing we could get on the ark, that would be it,” he said. “That is a national treasure.”

Much of the archive is housed in the recently completed Goffs Depot, a reconstruction of the original train station that sat just a short distance away. Tours of the building will be part of Sunday’s activities, along with games for kids, a book sale and lunch for visitors. In addition, there are the museum’s wide array of historical objects and equipment, many related to the local mining industry.

Casebier is hoping a few of those visitors might consider becoming volunteers for the museum site and fall in love with the place the way he did.

“I wanted to go to the desert and I like doing things with things that are neglected,” Casebier said. “This whole place here is a testament to that.”

"Negro Motorist Green Book" Reveals a Different Route 66 Experience

Negro Motorist Green Book cover, 1949 edition

By SETH MULLER
Arizona Sun Daily

Before the Civil Rights Era, there existed a series of travel books called “The Negro Motorist Green Book.” These travel guides existed specifically to help African American travelers navigate the challenges of finding food and accommodations along the highway that would cater to them.

Publisher Victor Green said the book would “give the Negro traveler information that will keep him from running into difficulties, embarrassments and to make his trip more enjoyable.” In learning about a Route 66 version of the “Green Book,” historian Sean Evans found that only a small handful of the businesses in Flagstaff were deemed friendly to African Americans in the late 40s.

Among them was The DuBeau on Phoenix Avenue, the Nackard Inn and another hotel called the Vandervere that was located on Santa Fe Avenue. Only one restaurant was listed—a small café at 111 S. San Francisco St. The travel guide did not offer much else in the mountain town that would be a recommended stop.

And, across Arizona, the choices along Route 66 were generally limited. Evans noted that neither Holbrook nor Winslow had listings in the book, making travel through the region challenging for African American travelers.

“I am pretty schooled in Route 66 and up until four or five years ago, I didn’t even know what that was,” said Evans of the “Green Books.” He has been a longtime 66 booster, historian and frequent traveler and learned of the travel guides through Frank Norris, a historian with the National Park Service. “The shocking thing was there were very few places to stop along 66 … Norris is developing a picture of how different of an experience it would have been for these motorists … They had to plan around where to physically stop for the night.”

Although it is a difficult aspect of history to explore, the “Green Books” reveal yet another aspect of traveling Route 66. It shows a different kind of experience would have existed for different travelers. And it is just part of what is the continued evolution and unearthing of how the famed highway known as the Mother Road is understood.

A look at Juan Pollo founder Albert Okura’s success, big dreams

In 2005 Albert Okura, founder of Juan Pollo restaurants, purchased the small town of Amboy for $425,000 from Bessie Burris. Okura is in the process of restoring the town. (Photo by John Valenzuela — staff photographer)

By Jim Steinberg
The San Bernardino Sun

AMBOY >> It’s 111 degrees in the Mojave Desert, and Albert Okura effortlessly unloads large boxes of drinks and snacks from the back of a van. It’s taken him three hours to drive here in a wildly decorated vehicle topped with a toy motorcycle mounted by a plastic chicken.

Nearby, there are several groups of European foreign visitors at the gas station or inside its adjacent convenience market. Okura could be overheard telling one cluster, “I own this town.”

It’s true. All part of a destiny.

The word destiny is important for Okura, 63, who is marking his 30th year in business as founder of the Juan Pollo restaurant chain, based in San Bernardino but with 28 outlets in Southern California.

Some day, that destiny will include overtaking KFC, in terms of number of chickens sold, he said.

LESSONS LEARNED

Okura is marking this anniversary with a self-published book, “Albert Okura The Chicken Man with a 50 Year Plan.”

“Intellectuals don’t like the book,” he said, “but people who have started their own business do.”

The book is designed, he said, to give “life lessons” to people across the planet who want to get into the restaurant business.

There’s another reason for the book, Okura said.

With outlets in San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Riverside and Orange counties, Okura (who walks briskly and frequently wears running shoes) said,“I’m looking for someone smarter than me” to guide the chain’s future growth.

He’s also looking for an inventor who can bring sophisticated computer technology into the rotisserie chicken cookers to standardize the labor-intensive cooking effort required to turn out the kind of moist, tender and flavorful product Okura said customers have come to expect.

He’s also looking for someone with money to invest in the firm.

“That’s one of the reasons for the book.” Okura said. “So people would understand my philosophy and want to join me.”

The athletic-looking Okura, with an upper torso like a college track team member, said, “I’ve taken the company as far as I can.”

‘WONDERFUL MISSIONS’

Okura owns the original McDonald’s restaurant site in San Bernardino, which is both his corporate headquarters and a museum, and has a small Route 66 Museum adjacent to his San Bernardino restaurant on 5th Street, which at one time was Route 66.

Inside, there are relics that harken to the early days of fast food, and it’s a destination for tourists from around the world.

And then there’s the preserved ghost town of Amboy, west of Needles and east of Ludlow on Route 66.

Owning Amboy is exactly the kind of unconventional endeavor for which Okura has become known.

“Okura goes off on these wonderful missions not tied to the bottom line,” said former San Bernardino Mayor Pat Morris.

“Amboy is a complete hole in the ground...a money pit,” Morris said. “He thought it would be interesting to own a town on historic Route 66 even if it is as dead as doornails. He is interested in the history of the Route and the history of the city...the guy is a giver...he has ways of uniquely giving that are his own.”

DESTINY

When Okura first heard Amboy was for sale in 2003, he hadn’t heard of it.

But a friend told him he needed to buy it and when he saw it, he agreed.

In 1976, when Okura bought his first house, in Torrance, his real estate agent told him that he regretted not buying raw land decades before.

From that moment on, Okura said he believed buying a town would be his “destiny.”

For now the “destiny” of Amboy includes its two dirt landing strips, its 26-unit motel, an abandoned 1950s-era Packard in the parking lot. Roy’s Motel and Café is a Route 66 landmark.

Founded in 1859, the once gold- and silver-driven community met its demise with the completion of Interstate 40 in 1984.

Along with its landing strips and motel, it’s got a church, a functioning post office, four gas pumps and a variety of scattered buildings.

Like many communities across The Mother Road, Amboy had come to rely on tourism. Then the interstate sucked away its lifeblood.

But Okura sees a strengthening interest in Route 66 — domestically as well as internationally, and believes tourism may become a driver.

A DEAL ON A TOWN

Initial efforts to buy Amboy for a $1 million-plus price tag fell through, but he was successful in 2005 for a mere $425,000.

“You see, it was my destiny,” he said, putting emphasis on the “was.”

Amboy hasn’t changed dramatically since Okura purchased it. But delivering a water system has been more complex — and costly — than anticipated. Okura believes he’s close to a working system that could supply water for future town growth.

One of the difficulties has been to find good technicians willing to travel to the remote Mojave location.

The gas station has re-opened, although pumps only work for regular gasoline. Bathrooms have been reopened and inside the station are drinks, snacks and a place to cool off.

There’s still work to do with the water system, but ultimately Okura would like to see a cafe operator come in and reopen the iconic Roy’s Cafe, although he says it would be difficult to make a profit.

“It would have to be a family operation to be successful,” he said.

The same is true for reviving the motel, he said.

Amboy is hot in the summer and cold in the winter, he said. “It’s more about the Amboy charm and the open country.”

The night skies are beautiful, he said. “For people who like the desert, it’s ideal.”

NATURAL-BORN ATTENTION-GETTER

Although he’s no Harvard MBA, Okura is quick to recognize creative people and harness their talents. And he understands how to tap the power of traditional and social media to champion his Juan Pollo brand.

As an example of his showmanship, his numerous vehicles with wildly colorful cartoon characters painted on the sides are fixtures in the region.

But even this eruption of color doesn’t generate the buzz Okura seeks.

So he puts plastic motorcycles on top of some vehicles — using plastic chickens as riders.

On a recent drive on the 15 Freeway, a laborer in the passenger seat of a flatbed truck was seen using a smart phone to photograph Okura’s van as he drove it in the southbound lane near Barstow.

“You should see mothers pointing this vehicle out to their kids,” he said.

Years ago, Okura said, he had a very expensive, high-performance truck. And when he drove that along area freeways, “nobody cared.”

Bad news, too, has brought him attention.

Okura boasts that San Bernardino’s bankruptcy has brought him a lot of media attention, especially among international media outlets.

For most of those, including a television piece that aired across Italy, Okura said he strikes a positive note about how he’s going to focus on his business and prosper, while others, he said, complain about a municipal government that drove the city into financial ruin.

REALIZING HIS DREAMS

Another “destiny” in his life is overtaking Kentucky Fried Chicken.

“That will probably take about 50 years,” said Okura, a Chino resident.

That means, he said, he must live until he’s 113.

Medical science is advancing rapidly, he said, and after all, his father is 98.

Who knows....

Judi Penman, president and CEO of the San Bernardino Area Chamber of Commerce, said of Okura: He “has more than just one dream, and he fulfills them. He is an honorable man with many talents. He digs in and accomplishes things.”