During its half-century as a cross-country highway, Route 66 was the road taken frequently by migrants. In 1933 and ’34, a half-million people drove it to Chicago to see Sally Rand and the World’s Fair. At the same time, a half-million Dust Bowl refugees were driving it west to pursue the American dream. After the […]
Tom Teague
Posted inNews
Crossroads
After a 27-year career in state government, Maynard Crossland quietly cleaned out his desk at the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency and left. With his departure, announced by the agency on Aug. 30, Crossland became the second IHPA director to leave since construction of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum began in 2001. In an […]
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Getting his kicks
Last week in Tulsa, Rochester artist Bob Waldmire won Route 66’s most prestigious honor, the Steinbeck Award. He is the third consecutive winner from Illinois and the fourth overall. The family of John Steinbeck (author of the Grapes of Wrath and other American classics) and the National Historic Route 66 Federation present the award annually […]
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Small town, big dreams
Bill Thomas may make his living on the cutting edge of computer technology, but he treasures small-town life. Most of the staff of his Atlanta, Ill.-based company, Teleologic Learning, live in other states. Thomas communicates with them by e-mail and phone. To see clients, he’s traveled to Tokyo; Washington, D.C.; and Monterey, Calif. Yet he’s […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Hippie’s calendar salutes 40 years of Mustangs
Everyone has his contradictions. Bob Waldmire, for example, is an unreconstructed hippie, as green as Ralph Nader. “Small is beautiful. Slow is beautiful. Old is beautiful,” the itinerant artist intones. Let a hot Mustang drive by, though, and Waldmire’s eyes light up. It’s a reflex that goes back 40 years. Before he embraced and helped […]
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Speaking in plates
Since vibrations first tickled our vocal cords, mankind has been a compulsive communicator. From petroglyphs to DVDs, from Dead Sea scrolls to skywriting, we’ve left no expressive stone unturned in our never-ending quest to say something–anything–more. “Why?” you might ask–and never get a better answer than “Why not?” It’s our nature and we revel in […]
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The Road on the Web
The Internet is a great but often shallow sea. True to its populist and idiosyncratic nature, you find just about anything on it. There just aren’t too many Marianas Trenches of information along the way. Illinois Times advises Route 66 fans and other readers to keep their library cards. You never outgrow your need for […]
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He’s got a million of ’em
Ernie Edwards, longtime proprietor of the Pig Hip Restaurant in Broadwell, is one of Route 66’s most gifted and proficient storytellers. With 54 years in business and a dozen years of retirement, he’s certainly had plenty of practice. The end of a story is never enough for this Murphysboro native. A tale may end on […]
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Barry Friedman’s Downtown Hat Trick
As a 13-year-old goalie for the Springfield Kings, Barry Friedman’s job was to turn people away and deflect their shots. He did it well enough to win a college scholarship. Now, as owner of three of the city’s oldest nightspots–Norb Andy’s, Two Brothers, and the Alamo–the poles have switched. Instead of turning people away, Friedman […]
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War as tradition
My son’s leaving for Iraq this week. I wish him well. For years I’ve told him what his generation needed was a good war. It would be a wonderful character builder. See how it worked for mine? But I meant that more as irony, as paternal joshing, and not as wish. Whatever–Sean is going. And […]
