What Was in That Mud?

Just last week, I was telling a friend an interesting story about an incident that “happened in the 1980’s in the town of um… well… It was somewhere past Sunland and Tujunga. It was before Pasadena and Burbank. It was near Alta Dena and La Canada.”

Oh, I gave up with trying to figure it out, so I just got out my California map. The town I was trying to recall was La Crescenta.

Now if you’ll stay with me, I’ll tell you what happened. That year during the mid 80’s, the area flooded so bad that there were mudslides on the sides of the hills of La Crescenta. Along with the mud, were bodies from an old cemetery washing down the road. At one time, caskets did not have to be buried within a concrete box as they do in many areas now. They didn’t even use coffins or even plain old wooden boxes for that matter. They just placed the body in the mud, and when the mudslides came, so did the bodies or shall I say skeletons of the deceased who were buried there.

The heavens have opened up and poured its waters upon Tulsa throughout the month of May. In fact, depending on what it does tomorrow, May could very well be a record breaking May as far as inches of rainfall for the month.

The cemetery in front of our house was flooded with streams of water rushing into the street and that is why I told Pete the story about the bodies floating down the hillside. I took photos of the rushing waters because I have lived in this neighborhood for fifteen years and have never seen it so bad.

      

Anyway, my whole reason for telling this story is because yesterday, in the Tulsa World, there was an article entitled, “Erosion Exposes Human Remains.”

The subtitle is, “Heavy water drainage has washed away the banks of a creek at Rose Hill Memorial Cemetery.”

It turns out that on the very day I was telling my friend about the La Crescenta story, the remains of three bodies turned up floating in the creek at Rose Hill. They believe the bodies were buried about ninety years ago.

And so..

You’re probably wondering why the story of floating bodies is on a blog about the Mother Road.

Rose Hill Cemetery is located on the corner of Admiral and Yale in Tulsa, Oklahoma which was Route 66 at one time. The sign in front of the cemetery reads, “Route 66, 1926-1932.”

**NOTE**
I’m glad one of the bodies didn’t get washed up into my front yard.

A Harley Ride

A Harley Ride Through Amboy

According to Wikipedia, “In 1938 Roy Crowl opened “Roy’s” as a service station on Route 66 in Amboy. Roy, together with his wife Velma owned the town.”

Here are some great photos my sister took during their recent Harley trip. Two of the photos were taken in front of the Roy’s Cafe Sign. Notice the Route 66 emblem on the sign.

   

Wig Wam Motel Photos

These photos were borrowed from a yahoo group called, “Rialto 50’s and 60’s.” Since I just posted a little story from my own life regarding the wig wams, I thought it would be nice to post some photos.

The Wig Wam Motel is actually located on Foothill Blvd (Route 66) right at the borderline of Rialto and San Bernardino. I don’t really know the people in the photos, but they were having some sort of reunion called, “Memories Of The 1950’s at RJHS.” Although I went to RJH, I’m too young to go to a 50’s reunion.

Anyway, these photos will remain until someone tells me I can’t use them.

Route 66 – Rose Bowl Tulsa

This is a Photo of the Rose Bowl Bowling alley located on 11th street (Route 66) in Tulsa, Oklahoma. After the bowling alley sold a few years back, the new owner painted it these ugly colors. It’s doors were closed on March 12, 2005 and the contents sold at auction.

It was originally pink, but I actually liked the pink better than the red, white, and blue.

On August 3, 2004, Michael (Mickey) K. Sparks was arrested and booked into the Tulsa County Jail for setting fire to the Rose Bowl which he had previously owned. At the time of the fire, Sparks owned another bowling facility at the Eastland Mall. Sparks claimed he did it because “his business was suffering from competition with the Rose Bowl Bowling Alley.”

Altogether, attempts to burn down the Rose Bowl were made three times.

In the late 1990’s, my grandson bowled on a league for children for two bowling seasons. It saddens my heart that so much misery has come from such a great Tulsa Icon.

The name of the building was originally the “Rose Bowl” but as it changed ownership, the name became “AMF Rose Lanes.”

Route 66 – Meadowgold Sign Photos

The Meadowgold Milk and Ice Cream sign was constructed in 1934 and was located on the corner of 11th street (Route 66) and Lewis in Tulsa.

The dismantling process began June 16, 2004 and was complete on June 17, 2004. I wanted to photograph the sign before dismantling began but was unable to find the time. I did manage to get there to photograph the sign while the work was in progress though.

Here are two photos taken during the dismantling process. They were both taken with a Canon Rebel 2000 but were slightly underexposed. A little saturation with Adobe Photoshop was added.

They were taken on June 17, 2004. I took some photos on June 16, 2004, but it began to rain and dismantling was halted. I returned the following day and that is when these were taken. I can tell because of the bright sky.

Route 66 Photos – Blue Whale

This post has been transfered from Bette L. Hall’s Running Journal as a means of compartmentalizing information.

The Blue Whale is one of the most recognizable attractions on old Route 66 in Oklahoma. Hugh Davis built it in the early 1970’s as an anniversary gift to his wife Zelta loved whales and had a whale figurine collection. The Blue Whale and its pond became a favorite stop and swimming hole for both locals and travelers alike. Over the years this park became a destination in itself.

Hugh’s property not only included this fanciful blue whale, but picnic tables, concessions, a couple of boats and a wonderful zoo housed in a wooden ark. The Blue Whale, pond, and zoo were closed in the late 1980’s and fell into disrepair. A decade after the Blue Whale was closed citizens of Catoosa along with Hampton Inn employees cleaned up the grounds and gave the whale a fresh coat of paint. Today the Blue Whale lives again as an attraction worth seeing.

In the full view of the whale, two of my grandchildren are on the whale, but it’s so far away you can’t really see them unless you know they are there. Jeremy is on the ladder and Melissa is on the whale’s back. In the other photo you can see Jeremy in the whale’s nostril.

These were taken during the summer of 2004. Jeremy is 17 now and he has taken several road trips with us (me and my husband). When he was little I gave him lessons about the “Mother Road” while we were in the car for long periods of time. I also took both Melissa and Jeremy to the Route 66 Festival in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The National Historic Route 66 Federation selected Tulsa, OK as the site for the 2004 International Route 66 Festival held Jun 10 – 13, 2004.

Route 66 Festival and 5K Run 2004

This photo of Melissa running was taken on Route 66 at 11th street near Lewis. Jeremy and Melissa (two of my eight grandchildren) run with me at many of the local races and they both ran the Route 66 CPA 5K at the time of the Route 66 Festival in 2004. Most recently Jeremy ran the Tulsa Run.

This is a photo of Jeremy at the Route 66 Festival held in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was 15 years old at the time and Melissa was 12. They are first cousins.

Below is a photo taken on 11th street during the Route 66 CPA 5k Run. The people in the photo are unknown. If you look close enough, you can see the Meadow Gold sign in the background.