There were few buildings in downtown Scottsdale, Arizona, when the Little Red Schoolhouse was built in 1909. By the 1930s, a blacksmith shop, bank, and a pool hall that doubled as silent movie theater were among the buildings that had sprung up as the city that served the agricultural community experienced a boom. Today many of the old buildings still stand in Old Town Scottsdale but now serve tourists.
For years I worked just down the street from the Gemini Giant that stands on the edge of the Launching Pad parking lot. I frequently ate lunch at the Launching Pad, a now-closed fast-food diner on Route 66 in Wilmington, Illinois, but I never thought about the history of the oversize figure. It turns out he’s one of many Muffler Men, 14- to 25-foot tall fiberglass advertising icons produced by International Fiberglass in Venice, California, from 1962 to 1972. The Gemini Giant was repainted to fit the Launching Pad space theme, the space helmet was added and a rocket placed in his hands.
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in U.S. Long Cuts. We are merging U.S. Long Cuts with Midwest Wanderer, adding a “Beyond the Midwest” menu option.
Dressed in traditional cowboy gear, they sit astride their horses at the ready. At 8 a.m. the Hashknife Pony Express riders are off, galloping from the Holbrook, Arizona, Post Office down the 200 mile trail, handing the mailbag off rider to rider. By 4:45 p.m. the mail makes it to Payson and by noon two days later it reaches Scottsdale, its final destination. Then the celebration begins.
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in U.S. Long Cuts. We are merging U.S. Long Cuts with Midwest Wanderer, adding a “Beyond the Midwest” menu option.
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain–Katharine Lee Bates
During our twenty-day road trip from Chicago to Monterey, California, down to Santa Monica and back across Route 66, my favorite patriotic song, America the Beautiful, came to mind. The topography constantly changed. From mountains, some still with snow, to lush valleys, to the hot, dry desert and ocean views, the landscape painted a beautiful backdrop for our trip. We’re sharing some of the scenic areas that we drove through in this video.
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in U.S. Long Cuts. We are merging U.S. Long Cuts with Midwest Wanderer, adding a “Beyond the Midwest” menu option.
As we step into the small Miss Fitz 260 Café, an elderly Native American gentleman sitting to the side of the entrance tries to sell me a pair of hand-crafted earrings. “I don’t have pierced ears,” I tell him, showing him my earlobes. “That’s okay. I have necklaces, too.” I politely turn him down.
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in U.S. Long Cuts. We are merging U.S. Long Cuts with Midwest Wanderer, adding a “Beyond the Midwest” menu option.
Editor’s Note: Following are links to Route 66 articles that first appeared on our U.S. Long Cuts blog. We are merging U.S. Long Cuts with Midwest Wanderer, adding a “Beyond the Midwest” menu.
