Route 66 cuts from east Tulsa to west Tulsa. But tourists flocking to the city’s centennial centerpiece later this month may not know it.
The city’s main 100th year celebration is focused on midtown, not on the Mother Road’s eastern and western segments through town.
The Guinness World Record-attempting Route 66 Capital Cruise car parade set for May 30 will stretch 5.5 miles from Tally’s Cafe at 11th Street and Yale, with cars finishing at First Methodist Church at 11th Street and Cheyenne. A tailgate is scheduled for 4 to 8 p.m. May 29 at Expo Square.
Meanwhile, celebrations coming into town are focused in south Tulsa and downtown. The Mustangs on the Mother Road National Show will be in town July 24-26 at the Marriott Tulsa Southern Hills. The Route 66 Road Fest will take place June 27-28 at the SageNet Center.
There have been efforts to include east Tulsa, but they haven’t panned out. Meanwhile, in west Tulsa, locals have taken matters into their own hands and planned a pre-cruise bash featuring a free concert by Red Dirt Rangers for the centennial weekend.
Plans in east Tulsa changed
City Councilor Christian Bengel, who represents the majority of east Tulsa and serves as chairman of the city’s Route 66 Commission, said the original plan called for the classic car parade to stretch the entirety of Tulsa’s 28 miles of Route 66.
The cost for police officers and safety barriers made it too expensive, so they scaled it down to the 5.5-mile route, Bengel said.
People will still find their way to the eastside even though the parade doesn’t stretch that far, he said.
“We’re going to have visitors who come down the eastern corridor … 193rd and 11th Street, which is in my district,” Bengel said. “It’s going to come right through here because you’re going to have tourists that want to drive the route.”
He wants east Tulsans to understand that although they’re not part of this big event, it doesn’t mean they don’t share an equal investment or they’re not proud of their portion of Route 66.
“There are people that are going to be coming to the Global District even if they just make a wrong turn,” he said, referencing the business corridor on 21st and Garnett.
City Councilor Jackie Dutton told the Flyer that she was disappointed that there had been hardly any investment for the 11th Street corridor east of Yale. There’s a lack of lighting in the area, she said.
“Well, (tourists) are going to come here, but it’s not going to be on the east side,” she said.
Investment in east Tulsa, Route 66 sculpture
She had hoped the city would find a way to make Route 66 branding cool for millennials and Gen Z because they’re not as interested in historical significance. The branding was leaning toward an automotive era for that portion of Route 66, although she didn’t necessarily believe it had to be in that specific style.
“And by making it cool, we could have had some development of little niche shops,” she said.
Meanwhile, Dutton said the Route 66 Rising sculpture at East Admiral Place and South Mingo Road in east Tulsa doesn’t have any pedestrian-friendly areas and there are no stores to appeal to the Route 66 tourist niche. That stretch of Route 66 also has roughly six to seven tire shops in a short span, she said.
“I don’t know anybody who’s going to travel Route 66 and decide they’re going to stop at a tire shop and get a tire,” Dutton said. “And so with that kind of business, it doesn’t enhance the route. Not one little bit, and it’s not bringing revenue, unlike the Mother Road Market and everything that goes west of that.”
There are about 100 locations considered Route 66 assets by the City of Tulsa, including the Route 66 Rising sculpture at East Admiral Place and South Mingo Road in east Tulsa.
The City of Tulsa has spent $4,247 each on four historical markers in the eastside:
- McIntyre Airport (6342 E. Admiral Place)
- Original Cyrus Avery property and home to the Route 66 Rising sign (4917 E. Admiral Place)
- Motels (near the 11700 block of E. 11th Street)
- Rose Bowl Lanes (7419 E. 11th St.)
A Route 66 interpretive plaza at 9397 E. 12th St. cost $10,000. The assets show a neon sign at Fire Station 66 (14333 E. 11th St.) at $16,367. There was a streetscaping project on 11th (89th E. Avenue to Garnett) at $725,736.
At one point, Bengel said, there was a request for proposal to repair the sculpture due to some damage. There was an artist identified who was going to do the work and, at a certain point, they stopped responding.
“We gave them an ultimatum to answer by a certain date or we had to move forward,” Bengel said. “So, we’ve literally been in this process for the last couple years of trying to get Route 66 Rising fixed.”
West Tulsa’s part of the Mother Road
City Councilor Anthony Archie, who represents west Tulsa, said he’s proud of the area’s portion of Route 66. Tulsa began on the west side, he said.
The capital cruise doesn’t touch west Tulsa’s portion of Route 66 at all, stopping short of the river. But he encourages people to celebrate along the entirety of the route with the parade and without it as well.
“The centennial is a time of celebration, and so the attitude that I’m taking is one of celebration, not one of grievance,” Archie said. “West Tulsa has been in need of more investment and more attention and every day I’m working to make that happen.”
As a city councilor, his focus is to set small businesses up for success when it comes to the tourists that will come through, he said. He wants economic uplift for those businesses.
“I’ve made it a priority that we at least cut down that tall grass by our assets, by our large monument and up and down the route, which is good,” Archie said.
The building that houses Tulsa’s Route 66 Main Street, an organization supporting preservation and revitalization of Tulsa’s southwest corridor of Route 66, was recently rezoned from residential to commercial to allow for a gift shop to be added.
“So that folks can not only stop and take pictures, but they can buy goods and it can help to support the Main Street there,” Archie said.
Tulsa Route 66 Main Street has been gearing up for the centennial. They planted 18 succulents and added banners across the route.
They’re also planning to add a 66-foot dinosaur sculpture to Howard Park, located at 2510 Southwest Blvd., later this year.
“It’s going to be kind of our Blue Whale to get people over here,” said Teresa Flusche, executive director of the Tulsa Route 66 Main Street.
Creating celebrations for the west side
Route 66 Main Street organizers recently announced a centennial pre-cruise bash featuring a free concert by Red Dirt Rangers. The free event will occur from 4 to 8 p.m. May 29 at the Route 66 Historical Village, 3770 Southwest Blvd., in west Tulsa.
Flusche said she wants visitors to see everything they can along Tulsa’s 28 miles of Route 66 — including her part of town.
“That’s what we’re trying to do is keep people entertained while they’re here, while they’re visiting Tulsa, learn some Tulsa history and have something for them to do that is like a free thing, you know? I mean they’re spending a lot of money to get here,” she said.
Sandi Dittmann is the owner of Cedar Rock Inn in west Tulsa, which sits off Route 66. She has five rooms in her bed and breakfast that are open for tourists for the weekend of the Route 66 Capital Cruise.
As of right now, she’s not sold out for the weekend. The business is short term. So, they’ll usually start with an empty week for the weekend and then in two days she’ll have them all booked.
“We also have spacious parking,” Dittmann said. “So if somebody’s driving their big cars, they can park over there. We do have parking covered parking too.”
With gas prices being high, she feels as if visitors will likely stay in local spots like her inn.
“We feel like that’s going to help our business too, but we’ve got a great summer already,” she said.
This article was produced as part of a partnership between the Tulsa Flyer and La Semana, a Tulsa-based bilingual Spanish-English newspaper serving Latino communities in Oklahoma.
News decisions at the Tulsa Flyer are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
