Table of Contents
What We've Been Up To
To all of you who have been reading about Route 66 in your newspapers, and seeing some
of it on TV, we bring you greetings and … Ta-DAH!!
The California Historic Route 66 Association can now be listed with the other
States' Route 66 Associations and WANTS YOU TO JOIN US and help us get organized. If you
have a business, will you consider running an ad in our newsletter?
Most everyone would agree with our objective being preservation and promotion, but most
of all we want to have fun, share good times, and some memories with you, again, on Route
66. We plan to have tours, and Fun Runs, meetings, get-togethers - you name it, and we'll
do it!
A nucleus group of three people have been meeting since June 2, 1990, and at a meeting
exactly one month later, July 2, 1990, we formally declared our intention to form
California's Route 66 Association. At a meeting on July 23rd our group increased by one
more person and within a month our application to the Secretary of the State of California
for forming our nonprofit association was received from Sacramento. A meeting August 23rd
added a fourth person eager to work with us.
Appointed officers, bylaws, membership application forms, membership cards, corporation
address, bank account, news release, this first newsletter proclaiming our new association
to our own California Route 66 towns and the other seven Route 66 states - are concluded!
TRIP TO CA ALMOST DERAILED BY SPRING FLOOD!
Delivering a new car purchased in Chicago for a client in California in March, 1943, we
were stopped by flooded waters in Neosho Creek just outside Miami, Oklahoma. It was 7:00
in the morning. We were the 13th car waiting in line, with two Greyhound buses among the
13 cars ahead of us. Knowing we would just have to wait until the waters receded it wasn't
long before the friendly gathering at the waters' edge found some card games and a game of
checkers, etc., to pass the time. It was around four in the afternoon when the locals
declared it safe enough to cross the little bridge. A farmer appeared with his tractor,
offering to pull anyone through for $5. Thinking the new car we were delivering for
someone else deserved safer treatment than that, and not having the extra $5, we waited
awhile longer. When we finally attempted it, we found it to be very frightening. The
current in the middle was much stronger than anticipated - you couldn't see any bridge let
alone the middle of it, and the water lapping higher than the bottom of the doors was very
intimidating. We could only follow the car ahead of us and pray. We finally made it, no
harm done, and adding one more memory of driving to California on Route 66. Do you have a
Route 66 memory we can print? Please send it to California Historic Route 66 Association,
2127 Foothill Blvd, Suite 66, La Verne, CA 91750. 714/593-4046
TWO CALIFORNIA RTE 66 TOWNS MAKE HEADLINES
Two California towns on Route 66 were recently in the news for celebrating Route 66. In
July, Azusa hosted a Route 66 party honoring the author, Michael Wallis, whose new book,
"Route 66, The Mother Road", is now selling in all the bookstores. Wallis drove
the entire Route 66 in a 60s Corvette from Lake Michigan to the Pacific. Stopping in each
town, one of the highlights of the drive was the spectacular party put on by the citizens
of Azusa, so proud of their historical heritage because Route 66 goes through the heart of
their town. The party was held in the gazebo behind Azusa's City Hall, admidst banners,
balloons, Route 66 shield signs, and was attended by a crowd of citizens who have fond
memories of driving the historical route. Monrovia, not to be outdone, also proud to claim
historical ties to Route 66, celebrated their pride by the Monrovia Historical Society
entering a spectacular booth in the Los Angeles County Fair proclaiming they are indeed,
on Route 66. Their booth featured an enormous map depicting the entire route as a backdrop
to an antique Model T Ford driven by two mannequins dressed in the attire of the times.
Are there any other Route 66 towns that have been in the news lately? Let us hear from
you! (Followed by cut out blank membership application and membership card.)
