sign, and while the 50’s music was playing, and while everyone was mingling around the sign and talking to one another, we had to make sure this was going to go without a hitch. This would be the final challenge of the project. Well, Murphy’s Law has a funny way of playing a joke on you, and he was there front and center! With the countdown, a ‘flick of the switch’ and the sign lit up – well, most of it. The MOTEL part of the sign lit up, but the ‘66’ neon didn’t seem to want to cooperate. After looking around we realized the transformer which lit up the 6’s was acting temperamental. I jumped into the bucket and was lifted up to the sign and started resetting the transformer and viola! The sign was now lit for the first time in over 15 years. It looked like it did in the 50’s and 60’s and even the 70’s. It was an event I was proud out be part of, and it was a small part of saving the route. While the sign lights up every night, it is still suffering from a bug or two. The MOTEL lights up on both sides as well as the yellow bulbs inside the 6’s, but the neon around the 6’s are still causing a problem. We believe it is a grounding issue and the City of Needles has taken the mission to get it reground so the sign lights up for all the travelers who are heading west on Route 66. This was truly the first project I took on myself, as I have been a ‘hired gun’ with all the other ones. It was training which I do not think I could have received anywhere else. It was a lot of work, a lot of sweat, and even some blood as I kept cutting my hands on the metal of the sign! But again, it was all worth it. To see the owners face as it lit up – something she really didn’t think she would see again for some time, and seeing the town folk coming together to see a piece of their past come to life. That was the reward all in itself. I have said it before and I will say it again: It was the people of the route who pulled this off. I asked simply to help with funds and the world responded. They know the importance of keeping things like this alive. There is one person who was as instrumental to this project as anyone was. Her name is 26
November / December 2012
Linda Fitzpatrick and she spent many a year living in Needles. Now she is on a mission to grow and save Route 66 which runs through Needles. It is her who I talked to about coming into town and seeing what we can do with an old gas station which lead to restoring the sign, it is her and a few other folks who have taken it upon themselves to help Needles by working on two gas station in town by repainting them and bringing them back to how they looked ‘back in the day’. It is her who sees the importance of the route and the business and tourist dollars it can bring. She has been my biggest cheerleader and she also has been the route’s biggest cheerleader – and with that, I say ‘Thank you to her. I am looking for a few other projects to work on. I enjoy doing this and find a lot of people really want to help as they are looking to ‘give back’ to the road which brings us all together. Ed Klein is the owner of Route 66 World (www.route66world.com). It is a website dedicated to the education, preservation and information for Route 66. He lived in Chicago for most of his life and moved to Scottsdale AZ a few years ago. Keeping an eye on the NM, AZ, and CA corridor Continued on page 27
Don’t forget to stop at the Historic Seligman Sundries on your travels through Seligman!