European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 21, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The Road West is shattered the myth lives on by Paul Dean los Angeles times. Mood makers have wrung every requiem from route 66. They have filmed its Blind boarded cafes and Gas stations scarred by neglect. They have written of entire towns that became corpses and mourned for romantic stretches of two Lane America now entombed beneath interstates some witnesses to this history say that when . Highway 66 a which turns 66 this month a was de certified and its familiar Shields clattered Down in 1984, it reprised the mood of the Day John f. Kennedy was assassinated. Little town .a. Was stilled. Traffic stopped. Something essential died in millions of us. What did no to die was route 66. Because say those who have denied the Detour and continue impatient campaigns to recover the Road you can t kill America. Nor they insist should this country be in any hurry to lose those Days when people gave everyone the time of Day and urgent travellers did t have to buy gasoline to use the restroom. Of the 2,448 original Miles of route 66 meandering from Chicago to los Angeles almost 2,000 survive As frontage roads business loops and predesignated local highways. Many Wear Quot historic route 66&Quot markers raised by preservation associations in every state laced by the famed Diagonal. The longest continuous remaining stretch is a 158-mile arc through Northwest Arizona this lonely typical colourful magnificently restored portion has been declared an Arizona historical Monument. Two years ago the route 66 study act authorized the National Park service to determine what s left poke into Public interest and evaluate the route As a possible historical Trail. And this years 66th anniversary celebrated by Rand Mcnally with a new map of the old Highway has been an endless Eclectic Road show. Charles Kuralt journeyed this Road for lbs while Emilio Estevez and Paula Abdul drove it on vacation. Last month two Chicago newlyweds in a 65 Buick convertible Rode route 66 to arizonans Oatman hotel where Clark Gable and Carole Lombard spent their 1939 honeymoon while a pair of los Angeles journalists pursued similar soul mood and ancient adventures in a Canary Bright Chevrolet Corvette. Decay plagues this romantic old wriggle across eight states and three time zones. Yet most of route 66, although a Little awry junkyard Dautar Doug Smith relaxes on the Rusty body of a car left behind by a route 66 Driver who could t afford the coat of repairs. Remains a kick. You can still eat Buffalo burgers at the Bagdad cafe in Newberry Springs Calif., find a Fly swatter at the Long Horn trading Post on the Texas Panhandle or buy moccasins for the whole family at meteor City Ariz. Some say that when americans got the fast uncluttered travel that they demanded from superhighways they also discovered the penalty of Zero Contact with Rural life a and the yawning boredom of vast stretches Between interstate exits and microwave diesel burgers. Now they Are reconnecting with an America where motels remain tourist courts or stucco wigwams from the 40s, and a portion of cafe pie is still a full Quarter. There is an indelible mysticism to route 66 because it was made a legend through the High talents of those who travelled it. John Steinbeck chronicler of labor migrations and poverty knew the route As an escape Road for okies fleeing the dust bowl during the depression. So grapes of Wrath and the Joad family became burned into our guilt. So were Steinbeck s phrases for route 66 Quot the Mother Road the Road of  in 1946, a Young composer and jazz Loi Anyalai time survivors Welcome return of the 2-Lane Days for 53 years at their Fleck in the Mojave desert Buster Burris and roys Motel cafe have held out against drought Gas embargoes triple digit Summers the economic oscillations of three wars a and the dismantling of route 66. In 1952, Burris had 100 people working 24-hour Days on food lodging and engine changes at the station in Amboy Calif Quot they would go until exhausted sleep a few hours and come Back on duty a said a lined Sun dried Burris 83. Quot this was the busiest place Quot Between the California towns of Needles and Barstow. Then interstate 40 looped around Amboy and now there s just Burris and wife Beth no Mechanic on duty and Only two dozen lunches served on a Good Day. Burris said that too Many people look Back on route 66 the Way men recall military service Only remembering the Good limes. Quot on route 66 they fell in love with the adventure and 1 Hope to Tell you it was an  Burris explained. Quot i remember the Model a a Model t s and Early Plymouth with water bags hanging All Over Mem and big holes in tires that weren t built to handle the desert. Quot to get Here some spent two weeks on the Road covering Only 20 Miles a Day. Nine out of 10 would Stop to get water eat or spend some time in the Shade. We used to say that one mattress on lop of the car meant a poor Oakie two mattresses was a  Burris wont leave roys Motel cafe. He said new reverence for route 66 has business looking up. Some motorists Ore tugged by a sense of history. Others know police usually patrol interstate 40 for speeders leaving route 66 free for 100-Mph cruising. His worst of times Quot before the Road was striped i d go out to three wrecks a Day mostly cars that collided on narrow wooden Bridges. Id carry a saw in the truck to Cut people out from right by eight Redwood  Buster Burris Quot on route 66 they fell in love with  his Best of times Quot people i met As they headed West who took the trouble to come Bock years later to Tell me Well i made it now with new interest in route 66, we re being visited by their  a Paul Dean the Call of the Highway sirens first the music. Quot it was Sunset and i was sitting in the swing on my front porch like i often do watching the cars go by Quot recalled Diane Patterson whose Brick doll House in Winslow Ariz., fronts on route 66. Quot that s when i heard the old Glenn Miller tune string of pearls coming from the elks  a then the Road started singing to her. Quot next Day i got the record brought it Here got my map out looked at route 66 and All its towns and said my god it is a string of  Quot just at that time Tom Snyder was coming through town for the first time researching route 66 for his guide and we met and Quot and Patterson 47, a Jill of All trades ranging from artist s Model Mother of two Diane Patterson the Road shows me what to do she guides  local historian and expert dry Waller grabbed the serendipity and ran with it. As a Champion of bringing Public attention and funding to the preservation of route 66, Patterson is a member of the National route 66 association and All eight stale organizations. She has planned and promoted the Road s sock hops and Rock Tours miss route 66 pageants and restoration of Winslow a buildings along the Highway and roadworks her Little company makes the prettiest four color commemorative to shirts anywhere along the route. The Road she believes is her guru Quot she just shows me what to do. She guides me its almost As if she is  in return Patterson will continue to Servo the Highway and its history. Quot right now i d like to form a foundation to convert la Posada Winslow s Dormoi route 66 Harvey House into a mall with restaurants a bar boutiques Quot she said Quot i want to gel the band shall Back i want music up there and that a my ultimate goal i o bring the music Back to route 60 Quot you know Hie Way the world is today this might be a Good time to go Back and relive those  a Paul Dean continued on Page 16 Page 14 the stars and stripes a map to the past of the 2,448 original mites of route 66 meandering from Chicago to los Angeles about 2,000 survive As frontage roads business loops and predesignated local highways. Saturday november 21,1992 Bagdad cafe helps revive Greasy spoon even a romantic curious adventuring irishman like shanty Devlin was t fully aware of the history he had encountered. He knew when he leased the abandoned sidewinder cafe in Newberry Springs Calif on route 66 that he was signing to operate a chunk of �?T40s folklore. But Devlin a former teacher of hotel and restaurant management undertook running a Roadside Greasy spoon As Little More than a retirement pastime. Enter a traveler from another desert Hollywood a the Man wandered to Tittle cafe at Formica and bottomless Coffee pots examining its angles and sniffing for some apparent essence beyond the Aroma of Buffalo Stew. Quot he was going crazy about my place and said he had Berra my student and had written a thesis on something called the Bagdad cafe which had been filmed Here Quot Devlin said. Quot id never heard of the  but Devlin found a Dusty copy in a local video store a Quot everything else was renting for $3i got this one for $1&Quot a and settled in to see what All the enthusiasm was about Quot i knew Jack Palance was in it and thought it would be a big action picture about mercenaries. I waited for something to happen for about 30 minutes then fell  Devlin came wide awake in the following months. Letters came from Europe. More tourists visited. The Bagdad cafe of the 1987 movie clearly was arousing much More interest than the sidewinder cafe of route 66. Six months ago Devlin changed the name to Bagdad cafe. Quot i would soy 30 percent of my business is from the movie Quot he said. Quot another 10 percent of the business is in Bagdad cafe to shirts although i Don t know Why the hell anybody would buy a to she to advertise  route 66 is 66 years old shanty Devlin Quot i m not sure if All the Celebration is Tor the Highway or  so is shanty Delm to not sure it All the Celebration u Tor the Highway or me Quot he added a Paul Dean the stars and stripes Page 15