The first McDonald’s Museum: San Bernardino, CA

This is a private Museum to all things McDonald’s located on the property that HAD been the location of the first McDonald’s. It is NOT owned or operated by McD’s corporate. The actual building had been destroyed in the late 70s — and this building doesn’t even look like that one did… but it is on the original property of the burger joint owned by Dick and Mac McDonald, who essentially invented the fast food model… that Ray Kroc took international — AND the sign out front includes elements of the original sign.

The museum was created by Albert Okura, who owns both a chicken processing empire and a string of chicken restaurants in the California, who bought the property and created this museum. Okura is a philanthropist who has invested a LOT of money into revitalizing sites along Route 66 — in addition to this one he OWNS the town of Amboy where Roy’s Motel is located and is responsible for its renovation and upkeep.

I came here as part of my Route 66 road trip. I have to admit I was kind of let down. The website I found this one did NOT make it clear that this was not the original building.

And then, I was kind of irritated to discover that the collection is completely un-curated. When you walk in what you see is a collection of display cabinets chock-a-block full of stuff… as though it were a store selling collectibles rather than a museum of them

Less is more people!

Even the big stuff you can’t really look at cause its just sort of all shoved in there

Essentially… They built the building they put some stuff in it and then over the years people have been bringing and/or sending them stuff to add to the collection… so that at this point they have McD’s related stuff from all around the world. Only they completely lack the space to display it in any sort of meaningful way.

THESE were my favorite items because we used to have them at our house. I have a feeling my brother ended up with them, which makes me sad… but that’s why G-d made eBay… apparently you can get the full set for like $20

My 2nd Wigwam Motel (#6); Holbrook, Arizona

This motel is a classic Route 66 experience … but that said, DEAR LORD!!! What a dump!! That said I am SO glad that my first experience with WigWam Motels (all three of which are registered on the National Register of Historic Places) was in San Bernardino, CA and not this one in Holbrook. That one made me very happy, this one pissed me off so badly by comparison that after I inspected the room and checked the wifi, I asked for a refund and a found a MUCH nicer room for $10 less someplace else in town.

I’m willing to bet this owner spends on classic cars to park on his property what the other owner in California spends on repair and upkeep of the rooms.

In a way I got lucky. Normally I would check in, unpack my stuff, get into the bed, fire up my computer and THEN check into the wifi. This time, just as I was checking in a nice Chinese guy (I ran into him again at a restaurant) who was booked into one of the other TeePee’s came into the office complaining that he couldn’t connect to the wifi. He said it worked fine in the office — the woman had told him to connect there first, THEN go back to the room… but counter to what she’d told him… not in the room. So I logged in, walked outside and towards my room… and sure enough the wifi died. She said “well you need to go INTO the teepee cause those are concrete and we have extenders in each room.” Ok fine… I go into my room and see there is in fact a wifi modem there… try to log in and get “wrong password” — even checked the bottom of the thing to see if listed a different one… but no… that and I looked around the room and it clearly had NOT been kept up with the same loving care I’d seen in San Bernardino.

While it has a nice coverlet, there’s no art on the walls

While I didn’t take any photos in the bathroom, the tile was cracked, the shower had a dinky curtain (the CA one had installed a class door) and compared to the one in CA looked worn (exact same layout as you can see) AND, of course, the WiFi if it did work was inaccessible and WORST of all, the woman working the desk didn’t seem to care.

Note all the classic cars parked out front, THATS where this owner puts his money, not the rooms

I met my neighbors and they too were all complaining about the WiFi. You could connect in the office but when you tried to connect in the rooms either it said wrong password OR, from the one woman who HAD been able to log in, it was insanely slow.

Like I said the woman running the joint didn’t care so since I’d not unpacked or even sat on the bed, I asked for a refund and booked at the local Travel Lodge which had unusually high reviews for $10 a night less… got there to find it was clean, no bed bugs and 34 Mbps downloads and 20 Mbps uploads… (a bit small and cramped, but like I said, well-kept up, blazing fast wifi, and nice caring people working the front desk).

I did however come back the next day for more pictures because the BEST part of this hotel is the experience you have OUTSIDE of the rooms… which is free. And just like the other Wigwam, this one was reflexive of the Disney/Pixar Movie “Cars” — a cartoon you SHOULD know if only because it was nominated for two Academy Awards including Best Animated Feature and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film. Anyone who’s seen it KNOWS that it’s animators were clearly influenced by many of the iconic Route 66 locations in the Southwest, which include either this motel, or the one other Teepee motel located in Holbrook, Arizona (where I’m also going to be sleeping in about a week) in the creation of the Cozy Cone Motel in the movie

From what I read, because the Radiator Springs in the movie is supposedly limited to Route 66 locations from Kansas to Arizona, THIS WigWam lays claim to being the inspiration for the Cozy Cone Motel in the movie and at Disneyland.

Again, I was at Disney during Halloween, so ignore the spooky extras, they’re temporary

P.S…..

Normally I don’t do post scripts but this was too funny. When I was in Santa Fe visiting with an old friend from grade school who lives there, I was talking about my trip and mentioned my two WigWam bookings… how much I loved the one in San Bernardino and then as I mentioned this one in Holbrook my friend’s girlfriend jumped in with, “That place is a DUMP!” to which I agreed whole heartedly. She’s never stayed in the CA one, but went on at length about how much she’d hated her stay here.

Stand’in On The Corner in Winslow Arizona

This park on Route 66 in the heart of downtown Winslow, Arizona, contains a brilliant bit of publicly funded art that is an intentional tourist draw, via a tribute to a song called “Take It Easy” — or more to the point, it’s a tribute to the fact that at one point the name of the town is mentioned in that song. Because what does a small town that is essentially dying do when it’s been mentioned in a hit song? Memorialize it in a way that draws tourism off of the highway into the town! (Essentially, therefore, this sort of falls into my “big things” category) But really, there’s something kind of fun and silly about this bit of public art, that people just love.

But the town was already were memorialized in “Get you’re kick’s on Route 66” you say… shouldn’t that be enough?

[That said, I’m from a suburb of Chicago called Winnetka and there’s a song called “Big Noise from Winnetka” which was a HUGE hit in the 1930’s and 40’s and is still played regularly by marching bands and jazz groups, which my affluent upper-crust town pretty much ignored like the plague … but hey]

IF you can’t just by looking at the picture above identify the song in question, it is called”Take It Easy” and was written by Jackson Browne&Glenn Frey, and performed by the Eagles (note the eagle in the mural that’s sitting on the window sill)

One of the interesting things was that all the shops directly adjacent to the park were promoting fund raising actives to pay for the parks restoration and upkeep

Kiddy corner from the wall — which as this picture shows was built SOLEY to put the mural on — is this, along side a store called the “Standing on the corner” gifts shop

Burnt Earth: Amboy Crater in Amboy California & Pisgah Crater in Newberry Springs, CA

When you drive through this part of the country, be it on Route 66 or even on 40, you can’t help but notice the sudden appearance of pitch black rocks everywhere that look like giant bits of coal, or chunks of burnt wood.

The first time I drove through here it was with a friend from university who has been a geology major, and he explained to me how these rocks were the result of lava rivers… but ones that exist well below the ground, but close enough to the surface that the heat from them had in fact burnt the ground above it. So it’s not lava but actually burn rocks (or at least I think that’s what he said… this was like 20 years ago)

You can see how the ground looks sort of burnt and cracked, like really badly burned wood, or food. Well within in this general area are TWO craters that rise well above the ground, and are actually evidence of Volcanic activity, i.e., those underground rivers of lava actually making it to the surface and trying to create mini volcanos —- or at least that’s how I sort of understand it… I’m no geologist.

Driving east on route 66 the first of these that you will pass is the Pisgah Crater

The other crater is the Amboy Crater… not much farther east (maybe another half hour…)

I didn’t have time nor did I feel comfortable approaching these craters alone. I would LOVE at some point in the future to go there… but I would want to do either with a guide, or at the very least a friend. Being stuck out in the middle of no-where, in the heat of the desert… all alone… did not appeal to me (should the car get stuck, or blow a tire or something)

Roy’s Motel & Cafe; Ambroy, CA

Roy’s Motel and cafe located in Amboy California isn’t actually something that, if it were located anywhere else, you might look twice at…

…. at least for that fact that it’s location against the stark beauty of the Mojave Desert makes it somewhat wondrous when you first see it.

According to Wikipedia the “historic site is an example of roadside Mid-Century Modern Googie architecture” and is under the stewardship of a private conservationist — Albert Okura, the same guy who owns and runs the Original McDonald’s in San Bernardino, California which I also visited … well it would half to be. I doubt it’s highly profitable.

The moon in the night sky, Kingman Arizona

I took these photos of the moon as I was driving back on route 66 to my hotel… this was my 2nd day in Kingman while I was backtracking to pick up some of what I had lost the day before (the route from Needles California to Kingman Arizona).

The moon was almost full, and because of being out in the middle of nothing, with no electric lights lighting up the sky, it seemed even brighter than I was used to, and the camera in my iPhone was able to actually pick it up in the evening sky

It was take about in this location… but on the other side of I-40 and looking towards away from the highway

Sitgreaves Pass – Rte 66, Kingman Arizona

By the time I got to my 2nd day of Driving down route 66 … well let’s just there are only so many 66 signs you can see before they start to get a little tired of them… and more than a few of the ‘must sees’ you begin to realize would be less exciting if they were anywhere else. This can not be said for little bit of road. It’s the bit of 66 that connects Needles California to Kingman Arizona

Not sure there’s much to say… but so so beautiful… it’s a very twisty pass that route 66 takes up and over a hill, and the wise don’t do it faster than 30 mph… and you wouldn’t want to anyway because every turn takes your breath away

Although, after having driven it you understand why I-40 couldn’t have followed Route 66’s location at this point and had to cut a wide-berth of it

Cool Springs Gas Station; Either Oatman, Golden valley or Kingman, Arizona — depending which site you look at

This historic gas station has an identity problem. If you drive on route 66 from Kingman to Oatman, Arizona you simply can’t miss it… really you can’t… but pretty much ever on-line sites that I’ve found it on things its located in a different area… Some say Oatman, some say Golden valley, some say Kingman, and some just say it’s in Cool Springs… and hence the name.

A wonderful sort of camaraderie tends to form among those of us traveling the route. The pictures of me were taken by a german guy… he had a big fancy camera set up and initially took this photo of me, see below, which was the exact same shot he’d been taking of him and his girlfriend. Then I looked around for good shots, and asked him to please take the photo of me (above)… he at first tried to get close (making me larger in the shot but I shood him back to the spot I’d chosen.)

he ultimately (when we looked at the shots in the camera) saw that I had clearly found a MUCH better shot and we were now bonded by desire to see 66 and our love of photography. (From then on I watched as he was trying to find other shots that included the 66 on the highway.)

What was kind of interesting was everyone who passed felt a sort of obligation to buy something. A sort of general awareness that this place (which is miles from anything) could only stay open and access-able to the next person if they did.

Interestingly… they better be a bit careful as I found the store selling this… and my ‘bullshit’ monitor went off big time…

Bagdad Cafe, Newberry Springs California

Back in the late 1980’s one of my favorite movies was The Bagdad Cafe. It’s a movie about a run down cafe/motel on Route 66, and definitely worth seeing. Anyway, the shooting location, which had been known as the Sidewinder Cafe (before the movie came out) is REAL, although it’s in Newberry Springs (the town of Bagdad which isn’t that far away was leveled after traffic was redirected from Route 66 to I-40, and before traveling the OLD route 66 became a thing) and this week I got to visit it.

As much as I love me some bumper stickers… I don’t like what they’ve done with the interior of the place

The Wigwam Motel (#7) on Route 66, Rialto/San Bernardino California

First opened in 1949, this motel is a classic Route 66 experience that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s the sort of thing they used to build in the late 40’s that they just don’t anymore. Of the seven initially built, only three are still in operation, and this is the only one in California. The price is highly affordable (although there are cheaper places to stay in town) and in my opinion well worth doing — at least once in your life, just so that you can say you did.

Just checked into this historic Wigwam Motel in San Bernardino/Rialto — the address says Rialto but my car’s GPS said San Bernardino and it couldn’t find the street address in Rialto… so be warned. (A mind blower is that GOOGLE has it listed twice, once in Rialto and once in San Bernardino).

That and this is a family owned business and they don’t stay open overnight, so if you’re NOT able to be there by 8pm you MUST call them and give them an ETA, and if it’s NOT at a reasonable hour — OR you don’t call, they might give your room away to someone else.

That said,WOW! The rooms are cute! Granted they’re a lot cuter on the outside than on their insides, but I understand why the association gave them an award, they really have tried to keep the units up to date as much as possible without destroying their charm, and in good repair.

And when I first tested the wifi at around 9pm, it’s was 76.58 Mbps download and 25.57 upload .. that’s BLAZING fast. I don’t know of ANY hotels that offer speeds like that. I tested it a 2nd time at around 11pm and 166.74 download (TWICE as fast) with essentially no change in the upload. That said, the place was built in the 40’s, so there’s no electricity in the bathrooms — this was normal then, water and electricity not being a great mix.

One of the things I found kind of cute (and a bit smart) was how reflexive the place is to the Disney/Pixar Movie “Cars” — a cartoon you SHOULD know if only because it was nominated for two Academy Awards including Best Animated Feature and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film. Anyone who’s seen it KNOWS that it’s animators were clearly influenced by many of the iconic Route 66 locations in the Southwest, which include either this motel, or the one other Teepee motel located in Holbrook, Arizona (where I’m also going to be sleeping in about a week) in the creation of the Cozy Cone Motel in the movie

To ‘promote’ the point, if you will… they’ve parked a bunch of old un-drivable classic cars around the property.

The Cozy Cone can also be found be found in the Pixar “Radiator Springs” section in Disneyland’s California Adventure Park, as I discovered when I was there.

Ignore the jack’o’lantern touches… I was there during the park’s Halloween period, and the black eyes and mouths are all temporary/removable appliqués added for the holiday (along with the black widow spider dropping down from the electric pole.

I found this cool little video about the place back from 2013 that includes an interview with a guy who I assume was the owner at the time.

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