Route 66 Art

Introducing

2014-01-06T08:44:00.000-08:00

My name is Willem Bor and I’m from the Netherlands. And now I hear you thinking, why a guy from the Netherlands makes a blog named Route 66 Art? My wife (Monique) and I fell in love with the Route 66 on our first visit in 2005. Since that time we visited the Mother Road several times. One of my hobby’s is photography and I’m so glad that it’s digital now because I make so many pictures along the Route 66! There are so many nice old buildings, hotels, service stations and not to mention, all the beautiful (neon)signs. I started this blog because I want to share some of my photos with others.

Another hobby is to make scale models of all kinds of things. In 2008 I’ve started my own business after the company I worked for, went bankrupt. In 2008 the business went very well. In 2009 the recession started and business slowed down. In 2010 it’s even worse and I’ve got a lot of spare time. What to do….!

I started to make Lucille’s Roadhouse (1927) in Hydro OK (scale 1:25). The next project is a scale model of a renovated 66 Super Service Station (1930) in Alanreed TX (scale 1:25). There’s still no work at all so my next project is the Little Juarez diner (1950s) in the ghost town of Glenrio TX (scale 1:25). On the picture we made, it seems as if there is another name on the sign under the name that we can read and I’ve mailed to some Route 66 Associations if they know what the name of the diner was. And then we got an email from Judy….!!

Judy Wallmark, Treasure Hunter for the Route 66 Museum in Lebanon MO, mailed that there is an incomplete diorama in the museum and asked me if I was interested to complete the diorama! What an honor!! But I make models in scale 1:25 and after a lot of emails, I found out that this model is a lot smaller (scale 1:100)! In between I made another Route 66 icon, the Twin Arrows Trading Post (1955) near Winona AZ (scale 1:25).

After receiving a lot of pictures and the measurements of the diorama spaces the work began! Shopping for materials, wood, glue, paint and some tools. It took a lot of hours re-building the Nelson Tavern (1930). There were only some old postcards and pictures and mostly from the front. So…. how was the back of the Tavern looking? But after a lot of thinking, cutting, sawing, painting etc. the Tavern started to look like how it was on the pictures. In June 2010 me and Monique brought the Nelson Tavern personally to Lebanon and there was an official unveiling. We were celebs for a day!!!

Also in 2010 we were on the site of the burned-down Riviera Roadhouse (1928) in Gardner IL. It was burned down two weeks earlier. At home I’ve searched the internet for pictures and John Weiss (Route 66 Association of Illinois) send me some too. And I make a scale model of the Riviera Roadhouse and the Streetcar (scale 1:100). HELP, I need a bigger house……..!!

The Riviera is followed by another place that is closed unfortunately. It’s a place in Villa Ridge MO, the Diamonds, the biggest Roadside Restaurant in the world. Joe Sonderman made some pictures for me and took some measurements. That one I had to make scale 1:100 because else it’s too big. Now I’m working on a model of a Standard Oil Gasoline Station in Odell IL (1932) (scale 1:25). As I said before…..I need a bigger house because I can’t stop making scale models!!

Odell Station in miniature

2012-02-18T02:50:00.000-08:00

Route 66 News

Posted by Ron Warnick in Art, Gas stations.

Willem Bor, a resident of the Netherlands who has created miniature versions of Route 66 landmarks, has finished a new one — the historic Odell Station in Odell, Ill., in 1/25th scale. Bor even made a miniature of the travel trailer that sits next to it.

More of Bor’s work can be seen here, here, and here.
Also, Bor’s Route 66 Art blog shows more of his work.

(Photos courtesy of Willem Bor)

Source: Route 66 News

Somewhere on the Route 66...

2012-02-17T08:07:00.008-08:00

Click on the picture...

Scale Models, Standard Oil Co.

2012-01-29T07:23:00.000-08:00

Odell, Illinois

This beautiful old gas station was built in 1932 and served travelers on Route 66 until the mid 1960s when it stopped selling gas. This station then was used as a body shop until it closed its doors in 1975. Years of neglect took their toll on this old Standard station. The station would have disappeared if it had not been for the preservation efforts of the Illinois Route 66 Association and their Preservation Committee. A total of $55,000, from grants, matching funds and donations was raised to restore this station to its former glory - not bad for a grass roots effort.

John and Lenore Weiss were the driving force behind this restoration. These two, along with the dedicated volunteers from the Preservation Committee, did what others said couldn't be done. Hampton Inn® even donated $10,000 for this worth while project. In fact it could be said that the Odell Station preservation project was the start of Hampton's interest in Route 66 with their Save-A-Landmark® project. Now this station has been restored to its former glory. The Odell Station may not sell gas anymore, but it has become a Mecca for the Route 66 road wanderer and is the focus of many car rallies and motorcycle tours.

Quote from: The Road Wanderer

Almost ready...

Standard Oil Co., Odell (1:25)

Scale Models, Riviera Roadhouse

2012-01-14T16:33:00.000-08:00

Gardner, Illinois

Gardner's Gangster's Hangout

The Riviera Roadhouse in Gardner has a fascinating history. Jack Rittenhouse mentions it in his guide book as a cafe at the intersection of the road into Gardner and Route 66. The Riviera Restaurant and Tavern was built in 1928. James Girot, a South Wilmington businessman, moved buildings from Gardner and South Wilmington and put them all together to form the Riviera structure as it stands today. The Riviera is a true roadhouse! Once movie legends Gene Kelly and Tom Mix regularly stopped here. This was a favorite haunt of Al Capone and was known as a gangster hangout too. Slot machines and booze were offered to the discrete customer during prohibition. In fact, there's a freezer in the basement with a heavy iron door that was used to hide booze and gambling machines in case of a raid.

Today the Riviera still serves the traveler a good home cooked meal and a stop at the Riviera is to step back in time to the 1930s and 1940s. Speaking of stepping back, while at the Riviera make sure to step out back and see the old Streetcar Diner. The Streetcar Diner is a preservation project of the Illinois Route 66 Association. The Preservation Committee rescued it from destruction and are in the process of restoring it now.

The streetcar is over one hundred years old and yes it truly was a horse drawn streetcar at one time. In 1932 George Kaldem purchased it with the intention of converting it into a roadside diner and moved the streetcar to Gardner. This was a no-frills operation, simple and to the point. A small sign on the exterior identified it as a diner, and its reputation for good food soon brought in the customers. For a while it was even used as an unofficial bus stop for the Greyhound line. The diner closed in 1939 but its history was not complete yet. Over the years it became a summer cottage, a children’s playhouse and rental property for workers at the Joliet Arsenal in W.W. II. In 1955 Gordon Gunderson who had married the daughter of Jim Girot, original owner of the Riviera Restaurant purchased the streetcar, and the streetcar was moved once more to its present location behind the Riviera.

It was used as a place for family reunions, picnics, lodging for fisherman and eventually a storage shed. Over the years the diner fell into disrepair until John Weiss, the President of the Illinois Route 66 Preservation Committee discovered it. Restoration then began on this historic streetcar and diner from the early days of Route 66. The dinner is not quite complete yet, but knowing the Illinois crew it will be soon! Thanks guys for preserving a part of our past in Gardner.

Quote from: The Road Wanderer

Scale Model Riviera Roadhouse (1:100)

Fire destroys Riviera Restaurant

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

GARDNER — Much history went up in smoke Tuesday when flames leveled the Riviera Restaurant on Old Route 66, a reputed favorite hangout of Chicago mobster Al Capone. Authorities were not saying earlier today if arson was involved. However, investigators were checking the smoking embers this morning, and Gardner Fire Chief Randy Wilkey said the site is currently being treated as a crime scene. Oddly enough, the front wall of the restaurant, still bearing the name, Riviera, remained standing while flames gutted the rest of the building Tuesday night. The wall was still in place earlier today, noted passerby Jim Serena, who was the second on the scene when the Gardner Fire Department was dispatched at 7:04 p.m. Tuesday to the site.

Built in 1928, the Riviera was 50 percent engulfed in flames when Gardner firefighters arrived. The restaurant is four to five miles north of the village on the “Mother Road,” as Old Route 66 is known. “Because of the structure of the building and its layout, the fire spread pretty rapidly”, Wilkey said today. “We set up a defense attack, and saved what we could save”. The Riviera has been closed, and no one was in the restaurant, nor the living quarters at the back of the structure, at the time of the blaze. “It had been closed down, and had gone back to the original owners”, Wilkey said. “There was a leasee who was leasing the building, and he had backed out of his lease. The building was unoccupied. Both the residential and commercial sections of the building were unoccupied”.

The building’s history was known throughout the state, and had spread as far as Europe, Wilkey said, recalling the many Europeans who have regularly stopped at the Gardner Fire Station, local police department and other establishments through the years for directions to the site“. They were fascinated”, he said.
More than 23 area fire departments were at the scene Tuesday. Due to some miscommunication with a couple of police dispatch centers, some fire departments were delayed in their response.“Whether the dispatch centers were overwhelmed, I can’t answer that question”, Wilkey said. “All I know is, we had some area departments that should have been there that were not dispatched to be there”.

Article from: Morris Daily Herald

Scale Models, Lucille's

2012-01-07T12:24:00.000-08:00

Hydro, Oklahoma

This classic old gas station is only one of two out-thrust porch/live over style stations left on Oklahoma's Route 66 today. It is also the childhood home of my very good friend Cheryl Nowka. She's the daughter of Lucille Hamons ~ the Mother of the Mother Road. Lucille's was established right on Route 66 in 1941 and a nation on the move has passed right by this old station. Cheryl has told me stories of her childhood growing up above the gas pumps and for me this was a special stop. I could imagine a young Cheryl Nowka around getting into all sorts of mischief here. The more I travel up and down Route 66 the more I realize that the Mother Road community is one big family ~ sometimes dysfunctional ~ but one big family non-the-less.

Quote from: The Road Wanderer

Lucille's, Hydro (1:25)

Scale Models, Super Service Station

2012-01-06T12:30:00.000-08:00

Alanreed, Texas

Just a few miles west of McLean is the old Route 66 town of Alanreed. The glory days are over for this Mother Road Town - the Interstate brought those days to an end. Now it is a quiet little spot on the old highway. There is a nicely restored gas station though thanks to the efforts of the Historic Route 66 Association of Texas. Perhaps part of Alanreed's fascinating Route 66 history has to do with one of the most treacherous sections of Route 66 ~ the infamous Jericho Gap.

Quote from: The Road Wanderer

Super Service Station, Alanreed (1:25)

Scale Models, Little Juarez Diner

2012-01-06T04:08:00.000-08:00

Glenrio, Texas

The quaint cafe is silent too, its paint peeled and sandblasted by the elements. The gas stations are mere shells of their former selves, and the post office hasn't received mail in decades. Glenrio is dead, except for the lonely dogs that wander its silent streets. Photo opportunities abound in this highway ghost town and it is a fine place to stop and explore, to reflect on the passing of time, and wonder what the future holds for this silent sentinel of Route 66.

Quote from: The Road Wanderer

Little Juarez Diner, Glenrio (1:25)

Scale Models, Nelson Tavern

2012-01-05T07:28:00.000-08:00

Lebanon, Missouri

Nelson Tavern, Lebanon (1:100)

Scale Models: Twin Arrows

2012-01-05T05:02:00.000-08:00

Twin Arrows, Arizona

Another casualty of the Interstate is located a few miles east of Winona where old Route 66 started to climb into the wooded foothills of the Colorado Plateau. Twin Arrows Trading Post, just recently closed, with the price of gas frozen at $1.39 a gallon, and the last hamburger sold.

Quote from: The Road Wanderer

Valentine Diner, Twin Arrows (1:25)

Scale Models: Phillips 66 Station

2012-01-03T16:07:00.000-08:00

Phillips 66 station, Red Oak

A couple of miles northeast of Carthage, Missouri and just off Route 66 is Red Oak II – a ghost town, but not really. But, it has authentic old buildings, and an old cemetery, and it looks like a ghost town. Well, it is and it isn’t.

Red Oak II was actually the brainchild of artist Lowell Davis who grew up in the "real” Red Oak, Missouri, about 18 miles northwest of the "new” Red Oak II. The original Red Oak, like many other rural agricultural towns across the country, started to fade sometime after World War II, when people began to move to the cities in earnest.

After Davis had left the area for a number of years, he returned in the 1970’s to find his home town had become a ghost town.

In 1987, Davis was living on a farm near Carthage that was little more than an empty cornfield. His creative inspiration soon led him to turn his acreage into a tribute to his home town and before long Red Oak II was born. He began to buy homes and businesses from the original townsite and other rural ghost towns, painstakingly moving them to the new site and restoring them to their original "grandeur.”Referred to as the "Norman Rockwell of Rural Art," Davis has a love for the simpler times of the past that are reflected, not only in his "new" town, but also in his paintings and sculptures. Of his re-created town, he said: "Red Oak II is a combination of a painting and a sculpture, and it is just made from things that someone else threw away."

Quote from: Legends of America

Phillips 66 station, Red Oak (1:25)

Scale Models: The Diamonds Restaurant

2012-01-02T05:33:00.000-08:00

Villa Ridge, Missouri

The original Diamonds is located two miles away in Villa Ridge and is the Tri-Country Restaurant and Truck Stop now. The Diamonds Restaurant was started by Spencer Groof to service the early Route 66 traveler. Once it was the place to stop on Route 66 and was billed as the "World’s Largest Roadside Restaurant." The Diamonds was originally built in 1927 then again in 1948 after a fire destroyed the original building. The building was built in the shape of a baseball diamond hence the name.

Quote from: The Road Wanderer


The Diamonds Restaurant (1:100)

Somewhere on the Route 66...

2012-01-01T09:00:00.000-08:00

Click on the picture to see the slideshow...

Motel 66 sign

2011-01-08T08:51:00.000-08:00

Route 66, Illinois

2011-01-07T16:00:00.000-08:00

Click on the picture to see the slideshow...

Route 66, Missouri

2011-01-05T15:00:00.000-08:00

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Route 66, Kansas

2011-01-04T14:00:00.000-08:00

Click on the picture to see the slideshow...

Route 66, Oklahoma

2011-01-02T12:56:00.000-08:00

Click on the picture to see the slideshow...

Display (Munger Moss style)

2011-01-01T08:48:00.000-08:00

Phillips 66 gas pump or...

2011-01-01T08:17:00.000-08:00

Show me Route 66

2010-08-27T15:02:00.000-07:00

Volume 20, number 2, 2010

Show Me Route 66

2010-08-27T11:42:00.000-07:00

Volume 16, number 4, 2010

Click on the picture to enlarge...

Route 66 weer compleet

2010-04-02T15:17:00.000-07:00

Streekblad

Route 66 weer compleet: Zoetermeerder maakt schaalmodel voor Amerikaans Museum

Door: Nelly Luitwieler

Willem Bor bekijkt trots zijn zelfvervaardigde schaalmodel.

Foto: Nelly Luitwieler

ZOETERMEER - Route 66. Door velen bezongen en beschreven. Het is de eerste echte wegverbinding van het oosten naar het westen in de Verenigde Staten. Route 66 kreeg zijn naam op 11 november 1926. In 1938 is de totale route geasfalteerd en verschillende keren aangepast. Sinds 1985 is de route opgeheven nadat er een aantal vervangende snelwegen waren aangelegd. Nog steeds spreekt de oude “Mother Road” enorm tot de verbeelding. Mensen bezoeken hem per auto, motor of camper. Zo ook Willem en Monique Bor uit Zoetermeer. “Wij hebben hem nooit helemaal gereden, hij is 3940 km lang en loopt van Chicago naar Los Angelos. We proberen ieder jaar een paar staten te doen. Altijd van oost naar west,” vertelt Willem. Juni van dit jaar is het echtpaar te gast in het museum van Lebanon (Missouri), waar zij een door Willem gemaakt schaalmodel van de Nelson Tavern zullen brengen. “Mijn hobby is het gevolg van de recessie.

Lees meer: Streekblad

More Route 66 in miniature

2010-02-15T14:40:00.000-08:00

Route 66 News

Posted by Ron Warnick in Art, Restaurants.
trackback

Here is Willem Bor’s latest Route 66 miniature creation — the Little Juarez diner in the ghost town of Glenrio, Texas. It is in 1/25 scale.

You can read more about Bor’s creations here.

Source: Route 66 News

Route 66 in miniature

2010-01-31T14:31:00.000-08:00

Route 66 News

Posted by Ron Warnick in Art, Attractions, Businesses, Gas stations.
trackback

Willem Bor of the Netherlands is a big Route 66 fan, and has decided to make models of landmarks along the Mother Road. The models are in 1/25 scale.
Here’s one of Lucille’s near Hydro, Okla.:

Here’s one of the 66 Super Service Station near Alanreed, Texas:

These amazingly intricate and accurate models are not for sale. Bor says he’s doing them for his own amusement.
Bor is finishing a model of the Little Juarez diner in the ghost town of Glenrio, Texas. If you know any history about that diner, please explain in the comments portion of this post.
Each model, he said, is made of painted balsa wood and cardboard.
Possible future projects include the Blue Swallow Motel of Tucumcari, N.M.; the 66 Diner in Albuquerque; the Nelson Tavern and old water tower Nelson Dream Village water fountain in Lebanon, Mo.

Source: Route 66 News