Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27754 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Review
"The marvelous visual and descriptive vintage postcards, historic prints, and present-day photographs, along with maps and the author's capsule history of the sites featured, comprise a unique return to the heyday of America's Main Street." --Route 66 Magazine, Winter 2008-09

"This quality book does it all: takes you on a magical memory trip along what was once the main east-west artery of the nation stretching from Chicago to Los Angeles, tells the stories of the filling stations, small towns, motor courts, cafes, honky-tonks and other traveler services along the fabled Route 66 and show you what remains....This would be a fabulous gift for anyone who ever traveled Route 66 especially for highway history, vintage car or classic RV buffs. Imagine parking outside a restored 1940's-era motor court in our 1949 Ford. Sounds like fun." -- --Escapees, Nov/Dec 2008

Review
"Author Russell A. Olsen has been exploring and photographing Route 66 since 1995. After collecting postcards and archival photos of route 66 landmarks in their heyday, he traveled along the route, recording what is there now. The result is a remarkable contribution to the history of Route 66." --

"This quality book does it all: takes you on a magical memory trip along what was once the main east-west artery of the nation stretching from Chicago to Los Angeles, tells the stories of the filling stations, small towns, motor courts, cafes, honky-tonks and other traveler services along the fabled Route 66 and show you what remains....This would be a fabulous gift for anyone who ever traveled Route 66 especially for highway history, vintage car or classic RV buffs. Imagine parking outside a restored 1940's-era motor court in our 1949 Ford. Sounds like fun."

About the Author

Customer Reviews

A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE
Well, I have to admit that I have a soft spot in my heart for old Route 66. When I was growing up, back when the earth was young, my family took vacations. Our vacations consisted of our father seeing just how many miles he could drive on each of the days of our trip. As we lived in the Midwest, Route 66 was a major part of our "vacation" experience. With the exception of extreme Southern California, I have at one time or another traveled ever mile of this highway of highways. At present, living here in Missouri, I travel sections of this once great road at least once a week. Many of the old buildings are still standing and the old route is still marked by special signs.

This particular work by Russell A. Olsen is certainly a trip down memory lane for many of us, and should be a glimpse into the forgotten past by the younger generation. The author as used the "then and now" format and used it quite effectively. Each page, or I should say double page, features a business (and yes, this particular work does address businesses; gas stations, motels, and restraints for the most part), showing the business as it was in its hay day, and then a picture of what exists today. These photographs are both in black and white and some in color. It is interesting to note that some of these old places are still doing quite well even to this day. I often stop at several of the old eating establishments and do on a regular basis. Of course others, most in fact, are long gone.

It is rather amazing that some of the buildings are still standing and are completely recognizable for what they were. On the other hand, there are times when we see a photograph of "then" showing a neat café or restraint and when we see a "now" photograph... alas, only a barren field or pile of rubble. Each set of photographs is accompanied by several paragraphs telling us of the business, its history, ownership, impact upon the local area and eventual fate. The photographs date back to the 1920s with the majority being 1930s and 1940s. The quality of each photograph is quite good, with some being more detailed than others, but all quite nicely done. Meticulous care has been taken with the "now" photographs in presenting them at the same angle as the "then" photograph and it would appear that the same time of day was even used. Of course this was not always possible, but the author has certainly given it a good try.

I cannot say that things were better way back then. Let's face it, staying over night in a small, and I mean really small, single room motel in Kansas in the middle of August with no air conditioning and a very slow working fan, was not the most comfortable night ever spent. Some of the eating establishments were absolutely great, but on the other hand, many of them were playing roulette with botulism and vying for your vitals with the local roaches. Of course, some of the littlest and dirtiest places had the best tasting food around.

I am giving this one five stars rather than four simply because it addressed a nostalgic spot. I would have enjoyed more narrative, more history, but I suppose this book accomplishes what it was meant for. This is one that you might want to check out from the library.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

A Nostalgic Then-And-Now
Dubbed the "Mother Road" by John Steinbeck in The Grapes of Wrath, US Highway 66 stretches from Chicago to Los Angeles, passing through eight states. Russell Olsen, a longtime Route 66 enthusiast, has collected a fascinating now-and-then in this volume, combining photos from vintage postcards with his own current photographs of the same locations.

The book focuses on the businesses that grew up along Route 66, and Olsen has meticulously researched the stories of the triumphs and failures of generations of roadside businessmen and businesswomen served the millions of travelers passing along the road.

The stories are rich with nostalgic detail, and the endings are as varied as the landscape. Some of the businesses continue to thrive. Many more are long gone, often lost when the interstate highways bypassed entire towns in the 1960s and 1970s. Some have fallen into decay, and of others, hardly a trace remains.

The old photos that Olsen has collected show vintage Texaco gas stations, Indian souvenir shops, and motor-court hotels, originally built in the old style with carports or garages for each hotel unit. There are neon signs, classic cars, camping cabins, whiskey bars, and hamburger stands.

During my recent road trip out to Arizona, we traveled along much of what was once Route 66 (the highway was officially decomissioned and it is no longer possible to actually drive the old route; only fragments remain scattered across eight states). I became interested in the roadside curiosities like the concrete and fiberglass dinosaurs and the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, and this book proved to be a great source for learning some of the stories behind the relics and ruins.

This book is actually a combined volume of two previously released books on Route 66, so the format is slightly odd. It is divided up by state, moving east to west along the route. However, halfway through, the book resets back in Chicago and the tour begins anew, with different locations featured. I think the book might have been a smoother read if it was edited together into a more cohesive format, but the author and editors might have preferred to let each of the previous volumes stand as a unit.

The old photos are fun, and the recent photos provide some interesting contrast. As the author points out, it was not always possible to photograph the exact same location at the same angle, but you still get an excellent idea of how the landscape has changed with time.

The stories are presented in wonderful detail, and there are plenty of glimpses of tragedies and intrigues, and of movie stars and celebrities who passed through this town or that while traveling the Mother Road.

One of my favorite tales involved Kay Aldridge, who played the lead in Republic's classic Perils of Nyoka serial in the 1940s, and went on to purchase the Green Spot Motel in Victorville CA in the early 80s. She sold it to a couple who came to a bad end, the wife sent to jail for the murder of her husband in the mid-nineties, a few months after Aldridge passed away. A plaque on the entrance arch reads "Nyoka's Hideaway", and the motel is still in business for weekly and monthly rentals under a new owner.

If you have an interest in Route 66 nostalgia, this book is a great starting point for your own explorations. You will even find some recommendations for lodging and restaurants that are still open for business. It's still possible to "get your kicks" along Route 66, and this book will teach you some history while you're at it.

A must have for nostalgia buffs!
As a person who grew up in a "recent" era, most of the places listed here were before my time. However, the nostalgia of these long forgotten places lives on in this book. Anyone who's driven down Route 66 has no doubt passed some of these places never really giving that crumbling building on the side of the road much thought. This book gives those crumbling buildings a history for those of us who weren't around during their hayday. I've bought 3 of these books, one for myself, and two for gifts. They've been a huge hits.