Eddie Owens Martin led what was perhaps one of the strangest lives we’ve come across on our journeys. In the 1930s, after years of living on the streets of New York, he came down with a severe case of pneumonia.
Despite being a California State Landmark, this folk art environment was dismantled. Luckily, some of the pieces were saved and can be seen in the California Route 66 Museum: “Hula Ville – Twentieth Century Folk Art”.
If you find yourself in town for one of the many basketball tourneys in the next weeks, and need a respite from the squeaky-sneakers-on-wooden-courts, you may want to check out some of the venues with good tunes.
This jaw-dropping sculpture park is located on the the South Dakota Drift Prairie, with more than fifty industrial art sculptures. All created by Wayne Porter with scrap metal, old farm equipment, or railroad tie plates.
This Route 66 historian and artist has his gallery just barely a block off of the Mother Road. You can call ahead, or just take your chance and drop in. He would be happy to sign your copy of the Map Series or EZ 66 Guide (plus give you the latest updates). He also sells his original artwork.
Located on Pier 45 at the Fisherman’s Wharf, there are over 300 vintage and novel coin operated machines, collected by the late Edward Galland Zelinsky, who started his collection at the ripe old age of 11.
It’s a jackalope two-fer! Outside is the fiberglass beauty, and the jack inside the Exxon Country Store…ohhhh, it’s a big one and fur-covered.
This gorgeous garden of grottos was built to honor Our Lady of Czestochowa, who came to be known as the Black Madonna because of the way she appeared in early paintings. Brother Bronislaus Luszcz literally did all the building here, using rocks, broken glass, and castoff jewelry to add to the splendor.
Luigi’s is an Akron institution which features a giant pizza made by PR “Grizzled Wizard” Miller on the outside. Luigi’s is also known for a 1949 Mechanical Bandbox above the front door that comes to life when the jukebox is played.
Rich in unusual tombstones, this small-town burial ground has a rolltop desk gravestone and a marker shaped like a law book.