AND HERE WE GO AGAIN
Route 66 has served as inspiration for several generations of deep thinking artistic souls. Perhaps the most notable manifestation of the power this highway has to unleash the creative spirit is the classic song by Bobby Troup.
Well, we can now add the name Cort Stevens to the list of those transformed by a grand adventure on the old double six. After traveling the highway this past fall, Cort was inspired to write an evolving short story (book?).
I am quite honoroed to host his endeavors on the companion website, Route 66 Info Center. Cort’s Grand Adventure. This link is to the travel center page of the site and Cort’s initial artistic renderings are found immediately below the first Route 66 Detour profiling Chloride in Arizona.
I should note that Cort was also inspired to chronicle his adventure with more than 1,000 photographs. He is currently building a series on Piccassa and when that becomes available a link will accompany the unfolding story.
Now, as promised its on to our Route 66 trivia items of the day. Both are ghost town related and stem from my on going research to document the history of forgotten places on Route 66.
We start with Bagdad in California, now an obscure historical footnote with little more than sand covered concrete foundations remaining as silent monuments to its existence. I knew this was once a rather bustling little community and that its origins predated the commissioning of Route 66 by almost a half century.
What I did not know is that it was once home to a Harvey House restaurant. I was also unaware that its population once numbered in the hundreds or that remnants of a cemetery supposedly remain. Searching for the latter is now item number sixty on the planning list for the forthcoming California Route 66 expedition.
Our next trivia note pertains to Dagggett, I was aware of the market that dates to 1908 and the Stone Hotel. However, I did not know the hotel was once two stories tall with an impressive, very expensive glass dome over the lobby. Nor did I know the hotel has an association with John Muir, Wyatt Earp, and Tom Mix.
Now that we are up to date in our quest for 66 days of Route 66 trivia its time for a book plug. In the process of gathering research material for Ghost Towns of Route 66, I stumbled on the WPA guide books written in the 1930s.
In essence these books are summaries and profiles of communities in the state, a snap shot if you will. Some are being reproduced while others are quite rare. At this point my association has only been with The WPA Guide to California