July 5 2024

What to See on Route 66 – Illinois – Part 1 (Chicago to Pontiac)

Jen Illinois, National Parks, Route 66, Travel By State

GETTING STARTED - CHICAGO

As we wound our way downtown Chicago on one way streets, with delivery trucks parked 2 wide in the travel lanes, pedestrians jaywalking everywhere, potholes wanting to consume the front end of your car, plus all the other drivers on the road dodging the same obstacles…we were off on our first mother road adventure: getting the “Begin Route 66” sign! Who knew a sign would be so hard to get? Plus, once you circle the block a few times and get a decent picture you are swept up in the rat race and its hard to get pics of anything else. We’ve visited Chicago before and have done the Willis Tower and the big museums so we didn’t spend any additional time here exploring. We had 1 job – take a picture of the sign.

: Begin Route 66 Sign - Chicago

: Begin sign - there is no parking for cars but this bike snagged a spot (we may see him later)

CICERO, IL

Cicero is the first suburb of Chicago you go through on Route 66 and its under 6 square miles but has a population of almost 90,000 people (and it felt like it, too)! We snagged a drive-by pic Henry’s Hot Dogs Drive-In which retains its original signage from when it opened in the 1950’s. They are said to have the best Chicago-style hot dogs in the area along with other delicious meals.

: Henry's Hot Dogs

BERWYN, IL

Right next to Cicero is Berwyn where I (eventually) found the first of the “giants” on the route. It stands atop Stripes BBQ and its hard to see from the road! The GPS told me we had arrived but I had a heck of a time finding it…until I looked up! Stripes isn’t original to the route but is part of the revival. I love their crazy mural and the first of the Muffler Man giants we saw. This giant was created by Mark Cline in 2022, using a mold made from a 1960s Muffler Man, and then customized with a cigar, chicken wing, and hot sauce. The Frankenstein’s monster stitches in his head may be a tribute to “Svengoolie,” a Chicago-area TV horror movie host who often used Berwyn as a running gag on his show.

: Muffler Man with a cigar, chicken wing and hot sauce

McCOOK, IL

McCook is where we found the famous sign fashioned after the Las Vegas landmark sign. It is in front of the Steak N Egger restaurant which has been open since 1955. Before that, it was the site of Snuffy’s Restaurant that opened in 1926. The exterior of the building was built of Joliet limestone quarried less than a mile away. On a side note, do you recognize the red motorcycle?

: Welcome to McCook Sign

JOLIET, IL

Joliet was a great little town and we wished we could have enjoyed it more. When we went through, the roads were under heavy construction and there were lots of detours. What we could see didn’t disappoint though!

Dick’s Towing Service had a lot of antique cars around the shop.
There was a unique statue on a column that was all mosaic tiles.
The Rich & Creamy ice cream stand has the dancing Blues Brothers on top. They are wrapped in neon so at night they look like they are dancing.
The Rialto Square Theatre – opened on May 24, 1926 as a vaudeville movie palace. The palatial European styled architecture is the work of Eugene Romeo, a Sicilian immigrant. The inner lobby was inspired by the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles in France. The arch between the esplanade and rotunda was designed to mimic the Arc De Triomphe in Paris. There are more than one hundred Czechoslovakian crystal chandeliers and light fixtures throughout the theater. The chandelier in the center of the Rotunda is called “The Duchess.” It is one of the largest crystal chandeliers in the United States. It weighs over 2 1/2 tons and is nearly 22 feet long!
On the outskirts of town we came across the Blues Brothers car high in the air at the Food and Fuel.

: Joliet Route 66 sign

: Smurf-vette at a Route 66 sign next to the Rich & Creamy

: Rich & Creamy w/Blues Brothers dancing on top

: Statue w/mosaic column pedestal

: The Rialto Square Theatre

: Rialto Square Theatre peek behind the columns

: Rialto Theatre - you can see the intricate artwork in the stone and the inner dome

: Rialto Theatre mural

: Blues Brothers car at the Food and Fuel

ELWOOD, IL

Elwood was a farming town but the threat of war in 1940 turned it into a munitions manufacturing hub. The War Department acquired 40,000 acres and built two massive plants to assemble bombs and shells. These factories employed more than 20,000 people who drove Route 66 from nearby towns to get to work and the highway was used as a corridor for shipments. Women entered the workforce during this time in unprecedented numbers and was when “Rosie the Riveter” debuted as a fictional icon representing female factory workers. Unfortunately, one of the factories experienced a deadly blast. In 1993 the land was established as a National Tallgrass Prairie and the Lincoln National Cemetery and the land is “healing.”

: Smurf-vette with Rosie the Riveter

: Informational sign

WILMINGTON, IL

Wilmington was supposed to be my next giant Muffler Man with the Gemini Giant (who wore a green suit, a space hat and held a rocket). Unfortunately for us, but good for the Gemini Giant, he was removed from the site in March and is currently undergoing restoration. When he is complete he will be put back on the route for others to enjoy. We did get to see what was originally a Sinclair gas station that opened in 1963 that has the famous green dinosaur still displayed on the roof even though its now a brake and tire shop. We also saw Nelly’s Restaurant which is a route 66 icon.

: A Sinclair Dinosaur

: Nelly's Restaurant

: Welcome to Wilmington mural

: Wilmington information sign

GARDNER, IL

Gardner was a small town with a big story to tell!

The Shop – a highly recommended gift shop and museum (was closed when we were there)
2 Cell Jail – Built in 1906 of dressed stone. It never held any hardened criminals, only the town drunk or hobos caught riding the rails. (This was the first of several tiny jails we saw on our journey)
On the jail grounds is a memorial to Reverend Christian Christiansen who is credited with supplying vital information to the WWII Allies which led to the destruction of a heavy water facility and the crippling of Germany’s atomic bomb development program.
Riviera Restaurant – This diner began life as a Kankakee streetcar. After being removed from service it was moved to Gardner in 1932 and converted into a diner. In 1937 it was again transformed, this time into a cottage. It later served as a playhouse and was moved behind the Riviera restaurant in 1955. It was restored back to its restaurant days by the Route 66 Association of Illinois and inducted into the Route 66 Hall of Fame in 2001.

: Welcome to Gardner

: The Shop

: The Shop

: 2 Cell Jail

: 2 Cell Jail

: Inside 2 Cell Jail

: Inside 2 Cell Jail

: Antique radio in 2 Cell Jail

: Tribute to Christian Christiansen

: Riviera Restaurant Streetcar

: Riviera Restaurant sign

: Route 66 owl carving

DWIGHT, IL

Dwight has a nicely restored Texaco gas station that is also a museum (closed when we were there…but I was able to peek in the windows) as well as the Old R66 Family Restaurant which used to be the Starks Restaurant. Smurf-vette also found another photo op.

: Restored Texaco

: Inside the Texaco - old fire engine

: Texaco museum

: Old R66 Family Restaurant

: Old R66 - had great murals

: Smurf-vette at the Texaco station

: Dwight Route 66 sign park

: Dwight informational sign

: Dwight informational sign

ODELL, IL

Odell also had a nicely restored gas station – this one was a 1932 Standard Oil station. This was a project of the Route 66 Association of Illinois Preservation Committee and was identified in 1997 on the National Register of Historic Places.

PONTIAC, IL

I’ve been to Pontiac several years ago and was bummed when they had the mural park closed to have a street fair (the nerve!). Smurf-vette couldn’t get her photo op then, but, it was on our bucket list and Pontiac didn’t let us down this time.

Twenty murals were painted in 2009 in a span of 4 days.
Original Wishing Well Motel sign and well are in the mural square. This display honors just one of the many mom & pop businesses that served weary travelers on the mother road. At it’s original location, many thousands of people from around the world stopped to make a wish at this famous well. Even though it has been moved, the magic remains. “Yes, dreams do come true on Route 66. All you have to do is believe!”
Waldmire Land Yacht. Waldmire was born near Springfield in 1945. His prolonged passion for Route 66 begn in 1962 when his parents took the entire family on a motoring trip to California via Route 66. During that trip, Bob fell in love with the Mother Road and all that it offered. Bob then spent the rest of his life traveling along Route 66 in either this school bus mobile home, a 1964 Mustang, or his 1972 Volkswagen van. Bob supported his nomadic and eclectic lifestyle by painting and drawing for clients along the Mother Road. His art works are famous world-wide. The bus looks as it did when Bob passed away in 2009. It had solar panels, a rain water collection system, a comfortable back porch, a storage loft, a working toilet and shower, along with a bed, kitchen and work area.