Rock Cafe on Route 66 in Stroud OKlahoma, Progress from May Fire

sam — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 02:37:52 +0000

A while back I wrote a post about a road trip across a stretch of Route 66 in Oklahoma. By dumb luck I picked a great stretch of the Mother Road. My drive started in Stroud Oklahoma which is home to the Rock Cafe. Both a Route 66 Roadside Attraction and a National Register Property, the Rock Cafe has some serious credentials as a heritage tourism and Route 66 attraction.

So I had my trip and came back and wrote about it, including a little information about the Rock Cafe. My take on the Rock Cafe then was that not only was the property authentically old and storied, but the way the business was operated was true to an earlier era before national franchises dominated everything related to travel. This place was authentic. I likened it to the provenance of a collectible item.

Imagine my dismay to find out a month later that the Rock Cafe had burned! I don’t know Dawn or her husband and family, but I couldn’t help but feel bad about their loss. The Rock Cafe was operated as a family business, and I imagined the loss was personal for them.

Recently, I found a blog chronicling the clean up and restoration of the Rock Cafe in Stroud Oklahoma. This blog presents such a wonderful first person perspective on the progress of the cleanup and reinvention of the Rock Cafe. I want to share it and some other links, and also present my pictures of the cafe, taken about a month before the fire.

The blog I speak of is: http://rockcafert66.wordpress.com/

Background information on Dawn and the Rock Cafe at the Oklahoma Route 66 Association.

An article on the Edmond Outlook about the Sally side of Dawn.

Last and probably least are my snapshot pictures. Sadly they document the building before the fire. But, it was only the building that burned. It can be rebuilt. The spirit of the place survives via Dawn and her family and employees.

Rock Cafe in Stroud Oklahoma

Oklahoma Route 66 Mini Road Trip

sam — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:28:31 +0000

During a recent trip to Tulsa Oklahoma I ended up with a few hours to spare. Rather than drive the turnpike all the way down to Oklahoma City, I jumped off at Stroud Oklahoma and drove the 40 mile stretch of Historic Route 66 to Arcadia. I could have covered the same distance, on the Turner Turnpike, in less than a half hour. But how much fun would that have been?

This is a great stretch of highway. There are some historic attractions along the way, and plenty of opportunities to stop and look around. Some of the historic attractions have been polished up, but a lot of what I saw was unvarnished. Buildings and places from a bygone era should look old. Kind of like a rare old coin or piece of antique furniture: worth more in its original state. Clean the tarnish from a rare old coin, and its value is diminished. The knocks and dings are part of the provenance of the piece. In other words old stuff looks more authentic if you don’t fix it up too much.

Stroud Oklahoma

Rock Cafe Stroud Oklahoma

I started out in Stroud Oklahoma. The town’s old commercial district is just west of Highway 99 on Route 66. Here you’ll find the Rock Cafe, a Route 66 Roadside Attraction. The business was established in 1939, and constructed with rock unearthed during the original road construction. This is a real sweet place with an old neon sign out front. It’s still a cafe too. Some locals own the place and had their kids waiting tables, the day I was there. I love it when these places are still active businesses. [The Rock Cafe burns May 20, 2008. They intend to rebuild. More]

Stroud Oklahoma Skyliner Motel

Stroud Oklahoma Coke Sign

A little further west on 66, on the same side of the street, was a nice old Coca Cola sign on the side of an old building. Then after that there’s a little park with a gazebo and an vintage water tower behind it. On the corner of Route 66 and Highway 99 was an old motel with a classy neon sign. The Skyliner Motel, that name just reeks of the 1950′s.

Chandler Oklahoma

Chandler Oklahoma Lincoln Motel

Chandler Oklahoma is a few miles further west on Route 66. This town has several roadside attractions worth stopping to check out. The Lincoln Motel is on the main road and you can’t miss it. This is a classic 1930′s motor court. Small wooden cabins each house two rental units. The whole place is finished with dark brown paint or stain. Very rustic! Neon sing out front, too.

Chandler Oklahoma Interpretive Center

A little further down the road is the Chandler Route 66 Interpretive Center, housed in a 1930’s-era armory building on the crossroads of Route 66 and Mickey Clarkson Avenue. They have video presentations that tell the story of Route 66, America’s Mother Road.

Chandler Oklahoma Phillip's 66

In the main commercial district is the historic Phillip’s 66 Station. It’s closed but still interesting to see. On the next block is the Lincoln County Museum of Pioneer History. The museum was closed and I didn’t get to visit, but you should stop in and ask questions.

Chandler Oklahoma St. Cloud Hotel

Across the street is the office of the local news paper. The St Cloud Hotel is a couple buildings down the street. Researching on the Internet, I found little about this property. it’s a National Register property and I found it on a list of endangered Route 66 hotels. Closed and in need of repairs, it has some nice old painted signs.

Chandler Oklahoma Seaba Station

Just a bit out of town is the Seaba Station. It was built in 1924 as a filling station and garage and operated continually until 1996. Today the building is still a work in progress. It houses an antique store and some sort of repair shop. This is another designated Route 66 Roadside Attraction.

Filling Station on Route 66 West of Luther Oklahoma

West of the town of Luther is a 1920′s filling station. it’s just a shell of a building now. A small sign tells the story of the place. It was built in the late Teens or early 1920′s. This was before electricity so gas was sold out of a 50 gallon drum. The building was heated with a fireplace.

Arcadia Oklahoma

Arcadia Oklahoma Round Barn

The next major town is Arcadia. The big attraction in Arcadia, and along this stretch of Route 66, is the Round Barn. This historic barn was built by William Odor in 1898. By 1988 the barn was severely deteriorated and some time after that the roof collapsed. The owners deeded the property to the Arcadia Historical Society. A group known as the over the hill 60′s gang got involved with the restoration and in cooperation with local business and many volunteers the Historic Round Barn in Arcadia was restored.

Even on the day I visited the barn, a local volunteer was busy painting. He showed a real sense of pride in the barn and the work that had been done by the community. According to this fellow, the barn was originally built as a place to have dances and meetings. The ground level of the barn was for livestock and farm business, but the second level of the barn was a place for meetings and dances. The second level of the round barn is still a place to have a party or dance. It can be rented for a reasonable rate. The ground level is a gift shop today.

Cains Ballroom in Tulsa Oklahoma

This was the end of my Route 66 journey. It took 2 or 3 hours to travel the 40 miles from Stroud to Arcadia Oklahoma. I could have easily spent more time exploring, but I needed to be on my way. If you wanted to extend this trip by a few more hours, the ride through Tulsa is interesting. There are several landmark Route 66 attractions in Tulsa. Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa has a rich history. The stretch of the Mother Road from Tulsa to Claremore has plenty of marked attractions and would also make a good extension of the trip I describe here.