Entering Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, from the west, the 148-acre Route 66 Park is located on the west shoreline of Lake Overholser. The Park contains an amphitheater, picnic shelters, a large playground, three ponds with fishing and boating, walking trails with interpretive signage, boardwalks, and bridges. On the day I visited the park, the Cyrus Avery Observation Tower was not open, but I was able to walk around the Route 66 Plaza, which featured an oversized Route Map from its inception in Chicago to its terminus at the Pacific Ocean in California.
Also located in the Plaza was a statue of Cherokee Indian Andy Payne, winner of the 1928 Transcontinental Footrace. The footrace started in Los Angeles and ended 3,400 miles later in New York City, with 2,400 miles of the route along the new Route 66. To promote the race, traveling ahead of the runners was a sideshow with the embalmed remains of Elmer McCurdy, Oklahoma Outlaw, a 5-legged pig, and a dog that talked with its ears.
Payne signed up for the race because he loved to run and wanted the $25,000 first-place prize money to save his family's farm and to marry his girlfriend. He had graduated from Foyil High School in Foyil, Oklahoma, in 1927, and ran 5 miles to school every school day.
On March 4, 1928, 275 runners started the race, but by the third day, over half had dropped out. Before the race was over, most of the runners had dropped out due to injuries, exhaustion, and one was even hit by a car that sped away without stopping.
When Payne crossed the finish line at Madison Square Garden, he had covered 3,423.5 miles in 537 hours, 4 minutes, and 34 seconds. He averaged 6 miles an hour.
After collecting the $25,000 prize money, Payne returned to Oklahoma, saved the farm, and married his girlfriend.
Located adjacent to the Route 66 Park is the Route 66 Alternative Sports Park, which features a popular skate park.
Following Route 66 into Oklahoma City, the road passes a number of historic establishments, including the Western Motel that offers Air Conditioning and Color TV.
The International Pentecostal Holiness Church has a facility along Route 66 on the west side of Oklahoma City, and just a short distance away is Southern Nazarene University.
I do not watch much TV, so when I saw a "Farmtruck" sign on a building, along with a lot of "collectables" scattered around the yard, it didn't mean anything to me. After taking a few pictures outside, I went inside and visited with a young lady at the counter. I told her I was confused by so many different items that mostly seemed automotive-related, so I asked her what business they were in. She replied, "Well, I guess you could say we are in the merchandising business." I then learned that Farmtruck and Azn (two guys) were featured on the Discovery Channel series called "Street Outlaws," which is no longer being filmed. The retail store and parts of the building were used during filming, and many items in and around the store were used as props from the show.
Uptown 23rd District is an upscale area of Oklahoma City (OKC) known for its classical houses, major cultural hub, and nightlife district.
In 1903, the first mansion was built by Henry Overholser, "the father of Oklahoma City." Soon, other mansions were built by major figures, and the area became known as home to Oklahoma City's "elite" citizens.
Then, in 1926, NW 23rd Street was designated as part of Route 66, and in 1936, the Tower Theatre was constructed and quickly became a major hub for arts in the city. Soon, the area around the theatre was developed with other businesses, markets, high-end restaurants, and shopping. The area became known as a "second downtown."
During the late 1900s and early 2000s, the area saw a massive decline, only to enter a major revitalization movement in the 2010s. The Tower Theatre, which had been closed, was renovated and reopened in 2014. It has since become one of Oklahoma City's biggest and most famous music venues. The NW 23rd Street area is once again considered Oklahoma City's nightlife hub.
Visitors to the Uptown 23rd District are now greeted by RT-19, an eight-foot-tall retro-style robot that is located directly across the street from the Tower Theatre. RT-19 is a replica of a tin toy sold in the 1950s, the glory days of Route 66.
The Beacon of Hope is an 8-foot-diameter, 100-foot-tall steel columnar monument in the Oklahoma City Innovation District near the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. I visited the monument during the day, but I was told that at night, a 1-billion-candlepower beam of light is projected upward for 5,498 feet from within the monument. The light symbolizes the healing nature of the nearby health center.
Located on the same property is a painted buffalo, but I could not find any information on what it represents.
One of the anchors from the USS Oklahoma, a Nevada-Class Battleship during WW II, is on display in Campbell Park in Oklahoma City.
On December 7, 1941, during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, 3 torpedoes hit the Oklahoma. The sailors could not return fire because the AA gun firing locks were in the armory. Within 11 minutes, the ship rolled over, trapping part of the crew underwater. Holes were cut in the hull to rescue as many people as possible, but 429 crew members died.
It was determined that the ship was too badly damaged to be repaired, so it was refloated, stripped of its armament, anchors, ship's bell, and anything that was salvageable. The Oklahoma was then sold to a salvage company in California. While being towed to California by two tugboats, a bad storm was encountered, and the Oklahoma sank somewhere between Hawaii and San Francisco. The final resting place of Oklahoma has never been discovered.
Oklahomans apparently love Transformers because they seem to be everywhere. I stopped by the Iron Gate Garage to take pictures of Bumble Bee and Optimus Prime that were standing along the south side of Route 66. (Known as NW 39th Street at this location.)
