Small Business

Stories of Route 66

Get Your Kicks on Route 66

Photo: Sindre Ellingsen | Photographer's Choice | Getty Images

On maps, it starts in Chicago and ends, about 2,400 miles later, in Santa Monica, Calif. But as an idea, Route 66 runs through the heart of American pop culture. Synonymous with the adventure of the open road, the old federal highway has been immortalized in song, on TV, in books, and in movies.

The route has been decertified as a highway, but its still identified as Route 66 in many towns along its original course. And while there might be faster ways to get from Chicago to Santa Monica and points in between, there are still travelers who prefer to explore the small towns and Main Streets of America by sticking to the old road.

Part of the draw for these travelers, says David Listokin, a professor at Rutgers University, is the unique businesses that line the old route. In 2011, Listokin co-authored a study with the National Park Service about the economic opportunities for businesses along the road. “It’s America the way it used to be,” said Listokin. “The restaurants are individually owned, they’re not chains. People can speak to the proprietor. The small business aspect is one of the distinguishing features of Route 66, and why people travel it. Otherwise, why not just take the interstate?”

Those visitors to America’s Main Streets are spending nearly $132 million annually, and support about 2,400 jobs. In some cases, these route-side businesses are what keep the town on the map. In others, they have been the linchpin to a Main Street revival.Click ahead to read about some of the unique businesses that have survived — or been revived on — Route 66.

By Patricia Orsini
Posted 3 July 2012

Palms Grill

Located: Atlanta, Illinois

William Thomas has lived in Atlanta, Ill., for 27 years and still calls himself a newcomer in this town of 1,464 people. But Thomas, who is treasurer of the Atlanta Library Board, and sits on the board of the Atlanta Betterment Fund, is as dedicated to the town as any old-timer. Once a bustling center of commerce, Atlanta declined after Interstate 55 took traffic east of town.

Twelve years ago Thomas sketched out a plan to create a tourist economy in Atlanta based on its association with Route 66. With funds he helped raise, the 30s’-era Palms Grill Café, a casualty of the interstate, was restored and reopened in 2009. “People want an experience of what it was really like to travel the road,” says Thomas. “I said, ‘We need to restore the grill so when people walk into the door, they are transported back to 1936.’” The menu at the Palms includes grilled spam, fried bologna, homemade gooseberry pie and blue-plate specials.

Today, a Route 66 gift shop has opened across the street from the café, and an artisans’ collective and a candy company have set up shop two doors down. The Atlanta Museum next door has also seen a spike in visitors. For the months of April through August – the town’s busiest time of year – sales tax revenue has increased 43 percent from 2008 to 2011.

Ariston Café

Photos: Denis Macdonald | Photolibrary | Getty Images

Located: Litchfield, Illinois

There are 14 fast-food restaurants within a mile of the Ariston Café,but the family-owned restaurant, which has been operating continually since it opened in 1929, holds its own, serving between 2,000 and 2,500 people a week.

That’s enough to keep owner Nick Adams, 73, and his 25 employees busy. Adams, who followed his father into the business, is so dedicated that he has never traveled very far on “the Hard Road,” as Route 66 was called when it became the first paved road through Litchfield, a town located 50 miles from St. Louis and 42 miles from Springfield, Ill.

“I’ve never done Route 66,” said Adams. “But it’s on my bucket list.”

In the meantime, Adams is content to greet his customers, both townies and travelers. His guest book has signatures of visitors from 38 foreign countries in the past year, including first-timers from Bosnia and the Czech Republic. Visitors come by car, motorcycle, even tandem bike, he said. For many, he says, it’s a chance to experience one-of-a-kind places and businesses.

“Where else are you going to see a great slice of Americana?” said Adams. “Deserts, small towns, big towns – you get to see a bit of everything. You can’t go to New York or Chicago and say you saw America. But if you travel on Route 66, you’ve seen America.”

Kan-O-Tex Station

Source: Kansastravel.org

Located: Galena, Kansas

Renee Charles grew up watching foreign travelers getting their picture taken by Galena’s Route 66 sign, wondering what the fuss was about. It wasn’t until she was living in Germany that a friend there said, “You live on Route 66? That’s like going to Disneyworld.”

Charles came back to Galena with an understanding of what Route 66 meant to travelers, and what the former mining town could mean to them. She became a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and soon opened a farmer’s market in a former Kan-O-Tex gaswith three other women. “It took off like crazy,” said Charles, who points out that there is no grocery store for miles. Pretty soon, they added a snack bar and gift shop to keep business going year-round. In the first two years, more than 2,000 foreign visitors signed their guest book.

Kan-O-Tex, also known as “Four Women on the Route,” sells Route 66 memorabilia and local crafts as well as items from the Disney movie “Cars.” An old truck, an inspiration for the “Tow Mater” character in the movie, sits out in front of the building.

The Four Women has led to many more businesses on the route, said Charles. “A coffee shop, a T-shirt shop, a Chinese restaurant and a candy shop have all opened since we’ve opened,” she said. And an events space is in the process of being refurbished. “Last year, we had 3,000 visitors,” she said. The lesson? “If you don’t take care of Main Street, it’s not really a town,” says Charles.

Pops

Source: Route66.com

Located: Arcadia, Oklahoma

Popsmay be one of the newest businesses on Route 66 – it was built in 2007 – but it is a loving tribute to the road.

If you’re traveling through Arcadia, look for a 66-foot-tall soda bottle – or pop, as soft drinks are called in this part of the country. The structure isn’t just an eye catcher; a major draw to the diner-style restaurant is the 600 types of soda it serves. Out back, 66 trees were planted to commemorate the route.

Our business is here because of Route 66,” says Marty Doepke, general manager of Pops. “People forget how important Route 66 was, before it was replaced by the major highway system.”

Doepke says Pops is a big draw for tourists, and the city of 300 draws visitors from Oklahoma City, just 17 miles away, along with those traveling the old highway. And, even though it’s close to the big city, it’s still “the heartland, a piece of America,” said Doepke.

The Round Barn, just down the road on Route 66 and the only farm building like it in Oklahoma, has been an attraction since its restoration in 1992. Since Pops opened, the Round Barn has seen an increase in visitors. “Pops has had a huge impact on the amount of revenue coming into the town,” said Doepke. “The Round Barn sends folks to us, and we send folks to them. We’ve even named a pop after them: Round Barn Root Beer.”

Rock Café

Source: Rockcafert66.com

Located: Stroud, Oklahoma

Dawn Welch had traveled the world for Caribbean Cruise lines for four years. Then, on a trip back home to her native Oklahoma in 1993, she was presented with the opportunity to purchase The Rock Café.She hasn’t looked back.

Not all visitors to The Rock Café eat there; some come just to see its façade of sandstone rocks excavated during the construction of Route 66. The restaurant opened in 1939. “People still love to make discoveries on their own,” says Welch, 42. “They may come to town to see the café, and then will go look to experience something else in the town. Does that help me? Not always, but it helps the community. In a little town like this, we are looking for all the promotion we can get.”

Welch — who inspired the character of “Sally” in the Disney Pixar movie “Cars,” — helps promote the café, as well as Route 66, by creating backstories that help visitors feel a connection to the place. “Why are people going to come to The Rock Café rather than someplace else?” she asks. “Because we’ve got a grill that has cooked over 5 million burgers,” she says of Betsy, the restaurant’s 73-year-old grill. “That was the only thing to survive a fire that gutted the place.” The grill cooked food, she says “served to veterans who just stepped off the Greyhound bus after returning from World War II.”

Welch says her tales are a necessary part of her success. “It helps that we’re on Route 66, but I’m always looking for fresh stories to tell,” she says.

Vickery Station

Located: Tulsa, Oklahoma

Michael Sager says he purchased Tulsa’s abandoned Vickery Phillips 66 Stationin 2002 because he considered it a work of art, albeit one in need of repair and restoration. “I bought it, and then I was wondering what to do with this tiny postage stamp-size building.”

Sager was still trying to determine what to do when he received a call from Avis, asking him if he would consider putting a rental office in the building. “Avis wanted to embrace an historic artifact related to transportation,” says Sager. “All of a sudden I had a tenant and Avis had a historic location.”

The building, located in what had been a derelict area of Tulsa, is now an anchor for the revitalized Blue Dome Historic District, says Sager. With the addition of a bike shop and bowling alley nearby, as well as several retail shops, “the lights are now on at night, and people can rent a car without going to the airport,” says Sager. “It’s all coming from a series of neglected buildings on Route 66 that nobody had wanted.”

The Blue Swallow Motel

Located: Tucumcari, NM

Kevin Mueller had seen the sign for the Blue Swallow Motelin guide books and on the cover of coffee table books about Route 66, but he had no idea how treasured the motor court was until he and his wife bought the place in 2011. “The first day we were here, there was a stream of people coming, not staying, but taking photos, and asking us to sign their guidebooks.”

Mueller and his wife invested in the Blue Swallow, located halfway between Amarillo and Albuquerque, after he lost his job in the auto service industry and his wife lost her real estate job. They moved from Michigan last year. “We needed employment, and this place had a lot of appeal because of the historic significance.”

The Blue Swallow is a shrine to life on the road. Each of the 11 rooms has its own garage, one of which is usually occupied by Mueller’s 1951 Pontiac, which he brought with him from Michigan. “We felt like we stepped back in time,” said Mueller. “This place has changed so little; there are very few places that can say they have been operating the same way for 70 years,” he says.

During the busy summer months, as many as 100 people will stop at The Blue Swallow, just to get their photo taken under the iconic sign. “The sign gets people into town to see what else is here,” says Mueller. “I feel like we’re ambassadors for the town, and for Route 66. It’s our opportunity to talk about the town, and educate people about Route 66.”

La Posada Hotel

Located: Winslow, Arizona

Until the 1950s, Winslow was the biggest city in Arizona, a railroad town, and La Posada was a destination resort hotel. During the city’s long decline, many downtown buildings, including La Posada,were boarded up.

In 1997, Allan Affeldt, an entrepreneur, bought the storied hotel, which once hosted Charles Lindbergh, John Wayne, Howard Hughes, and Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour.

Affeldt, with his wife and another partner, began to painstakingly restore La Posada. They opened with five rooms in November 1997, and little by little opened more. The hotel currently has 43 rooms available which, according to Affeldt, are almost always full. And La Posada’s Turquoise Room restaurant has garnered positive reviews from magazines such as Conde Nast Traveler and National Geographic Traveler.

“It’s become an odd destination in this little railroad town,” says Affeldt. “But it’s a success story for Winslow. We have 50 employees, and many other old buildings have been purchased by locals. The old theater, the church, have been restored. Buildings that would have continued to rot have been reclaimed. No one could imagine there would be tourists coming to downtown Winslow.”