Shownotes
In this episode of St. Louis in Tune, hosts Arnold Stricker and Mark Langston engage with Joe Sonderman, a well-known radio personality and expert on Route 66. Joe discusses his new book, 'This Day in St. Louis History,' which encapsulates significant events in the city's past. He shares how he compiled this collection of historical tidbits, inspired by his past work in radio and personal collections.
The conversation delves into unique St. Louis trivia, Route 66 historical routes, and the implications of historical events. Joe's love for Route 66 emerges as he talks about its culture and significance. The hosts and Sonderman discuss the impact of St. Louis city and county separation, Route 66's evolving routes, and engage in light-hearted banter about past events and curiosities. Upcoming book signings and community interactions are highlighted, encouraging the audience to explore history through Joe's book and the iconic route's nostalgic allure.
[00:00] Introduction and Welcome
[00:58] Returning to Civility
[01:54] Route 66 Debate
[02:29] Interview with Joe Sonderman
[03:49] This Day in St. Louis History
[05:46] Historical Anecdotes and Outrageous Facts
[07:38] Significance of Dates in St. Louis History
[12:59] Book Events and Signings
[19:22] Route 66 and Personal Stories
[30:26] Nostalgic Roadside Attractions
[31:04] The Allure of Route 66
[31:55] Route 66: A Journey Through Time
[32:34] The Importance of Slowing Down
[32:55] Route 66: Connecting People
[34:00] The Full Route 66 Experience
[35:55] Route 66 in St. Louis
[38:24] International Fascination with Route 66
[40:00] Route 66 Tourism and Local Economies
[44:23] The Beatles and Route 66
[47:55] Fun Facts and Anecdotes
[54:41] Closing Remarks and Farewell
Presentation and Book Signings
- October 12, 11-3pm: Barnes & Noble in Fenton
- October 22, 6-8pm: St. Charles County Library Spencer Branch
- November 4, 6-7pm: Kirkwood Public Library
- November 19, 6-7pm: Warrenton Public Library
This is Season 7! For more episodes, go to stlintune.com
Links referenced in this episode:
Transcripts
Do you know what you did on this day five years ago? About ten years ago? One year ago? What happened on this day in St. Louis? History? We're going to find out more about that on St. Louis in tune.
Welcome to St. Louis in tune and thank you for joining us.
For fresh perspectives on issues and events with experts, community leaders, and everyday people who make a difference in shaping our society and world, I'm Arnold Stricker, along with Mark Langston. Good morning to you, Mark.
Mark Langston:Good morning, Arnold. I know you were talking about, where were you on this? What'd you say?
Arnold Stricker:Where were you five years ago?
Mark Langston:Okay. I don't know what I had for breakfast, though.
Arnold Stricker:No kidding.
Mark Langston:I know. So where are we?
Joe Sonderman:Who are you?
Mark Langston:I don't know. Oh, don't start. I know. We're of that age.
Arnold Stricker:We are of that age. So here's something to remember, folks, as we return to civility.
When at lunch or dinner and you're seated with your back to the speaker, turn your chair around to face the speaker. That way you won't be twisting around during the speech or turning your back on the person seated next to you.
I know a lot of people, when they get to a banquet type setting, they'll grab those seats so they don't have to turn around. They do on the round table.
Mark Langston:And I always get the one where my back's to the speaker.
Arnold Stricker:I do, too.
Mark Langston:But I turn around.
Arnold Stricker:I do, too. I turn that chair completely around.
Mark Langston:Heck, yeah.
Arnold Stricker:When they're having the big shindig going.
Mark Langston:And then I try to get in the way of the people behind me.
Joe Sonderman:Try to move your head back there.
Mark Langston:Early rights. I'm kidding. It's a joke.
Arnold Stricker:Mark's partially returning to civility there.
Mark Langston:No.
Arnold Stricker:When you're at a lunch or dinner meeting and seated with your back to the speaker, turn your chair around and face the speaker. That's just being civil, folks. And we have a, we're always facing this particular speaker because he's, he is like an expert in Route 66 or Route 66.
However you want to. However you want to say it, say route. I do, too.
Mark Langston:And I think the dictionary says root. And I've had spirited discussions with friends about whether it's route or route. And we'll have to ask Joe.
Arnold Stricker:We'll have to ask him.
Mark Langston:Joe probably. Joe's the expert on if it's route or route.
Arnold Stricker:Yeah, he is.
Mark Langston:Because he also does traffic reporting, so he would know. You would think. I bet he calls it route. Route. I bet he call it.
Arnold Stricker:We'll ask him Joe Sonderman. He's been a radio personality and traffic reporter for almost 40 years. Born and raised in Missouri, in St. Louis.
. He's got a:Louis Bridges and highways and roads. He's got an extensive Route 66 postcard collection. And I guess my favorite is this 57 Chevy Bel air that's like this turquoise.
Oh, it's great looking. Joe. Welcome to St. Lucien Toon.
Joe Sonderman:Great to be here. It's root, by the way.
Mark Langston:Yes.
Joe Sonderman:And you know why? Because it. Because that's the song. Get your kicks on roof to be kicked.
Arnold Stricker:That's right.
Joe Sonderman:You gotta stay, Ruth, because of the thought. We'll go with that. We'll go with Bruce.
Arnold Stricker:I'm with him on what was one of the. Cookie? Was one of the guys on that show cookie?
Mark Langston:No. Is it cookie? Yeah. And I'm with Joe on that cause. And when I get in those spirited conversations, I always say it's Route 66.
Don't you remember the tv show? Of course. There's a lot of folks that go, what? What tv show?
Arnold Stricker:Yeah. And I think a lot of it's where you were raised at, what part of the state or the country. That's how they identify that.
Joe's not here to talk about that. He's talking about his new book, this day in St. Louis history. The remarkable, the outrageous, the spectacular, and everything in between.
I went immediately to the date of my birth, Joe, as I'm sure everybody does, and saw what was going on that particular time. What was the impetus behind getting this book together?
Joe Sonderman:It's funny, because I've been collecting this stuff for years. It started when I was at KLOU, and we were an oldie station at the time. And I wanted to do a this day in history thing.
And this day in history, if you're a radio host, is always a good way to kill five or ten minutes.
And we started collecting, and when I was a kid, remember, the old globe Democrat used to publish this day of history, and I used to clip those out, and I saved those. And so I put all that in the database, and then I started adding the rock and roll stuff, started adding all the route 66 stuff.
And before you know it, I had this big database. So it made a great morning show feature. And then I decided, let's do a book. And so here we are today with the book on this day in St. Louis history.
Arnold Stricker:I was wondering, and you answered the question, was it difficult to find something going on every single day in St. Louis history in the calendar?
Joe Sonderman:It wasn't, as a matter of fact, there's so much that I could easily have done, have doubled the number of things that I put in there. As it is, I only have room for one, two, maybe three things per day. And I could easily, I have a Facebook page called Vintage St. Louis.
And I bet you there are ten to twelve things every single day. That's how historic St. Louis is and how much cool stuff there is.
Arnold Stricker:So obviously a lot of historical things. You have also some outrageous thing. What, what is one outrageous thing that people would be like? What?
Joe Sonderman:I think there, there was so much that I learned.
I think the thing that I liked learning the most is where all our place names come from and who all these people were that our road names were named from, who our communities are named after. Who was Ferguson? Who was William Ferguson? The guy who settled there. Who was James Kirkwood? Who was Pierre Ledoux?
Who are all these people named after?
So I think some of the, and of course, there's the outrageous stuff, there's the crime, and there's the sensational stuff, there's the disasters, the tornado was that sort of thing. And it's hard to pick one or two things because there was just so much.
You can just pick today, for example, you just pull September 24 and you've got a cool civil war item where Major James Morgan, Utt Paul Hughes and three other conspirators were captured at Clayton and Ballast Road. They were carrying contraband medicines. Rebels near Manchester. Do you recognize the name Hughes from that?
And they became well known for their auto dealerships. And the funny thing is, they hung major us and they pardoned major fugues.
So if they hadn't pardoned him, we might not have these auto dealerships that we have today. And that's just today. So you can just, it's like throwing a dartboard calendar.
l's very first tenant plan on:And today is also the anniversary of Ho Deo Kendo putting on the catcher's garganous against New York. And he secret weapon, we called it. He became the first National League player in 70 years to play all nine physicians in a single season.
So that is just today called at random. And like you mentioned, a lot of people go to their birthday.
Mark Langston:Oh, yeah.
Joe Sonderman:And whatever. And you can guarantee you can find clear or even four things that are interesting on any given day.
Arnold Stricker:So do you have a favorite date of all of these ones that are going on, or multiple stories?
Joe Sonderman:I get asked that, and I do have a favorite date. It's April 30.
Mark Langston:That's your birthday? Is that your birthday?
Joe Sonderman:That is not my birthday.
ry, but it's the day that the:The route. The route between Chicago and Los Angeles. It was originally supposed to be us 60, and they changed that to 66.
What happened was the fellow who, one of the people on the committee that laid out the route numbers on the United States highway system, they were supposed to give the important route numbers ending in zero. And he managed to get Route 60 and routed past his gas station at Tulsa and got number 60. His name was Pirate daybreak.
We call him the father of Route 66. But what happened was the governor of Kentucky intervened.
He got mad because he said, fix these, made the transcontinental highway, and it could go through my state. And he held up the whole thing, and so angry. Telegram flew.
There was a chance that the whole federal highway system wouldn't pass, and they wouldn't get anything done and they wouldn't get anything numbered until Missouri's highway department engineer noticed that no one was using 66. That don't sell. That's khaki. And that's good, because get your kicks on Route 60 suck. Nobody would. That was terrible song.
Mark Langston:Yeah.
Joe Sonderman:And nobody's gonna buy Philip 60 gaff. And so it's a good thing they settled all that. So that's. All of that is on April 30.
Arnold Stricker:That's amazing.
Mark Langston:Yeah. I just love listening to these stories, Joe. These are fantastic.
Joe Sonderman:You can pick a date. You can pull up any date, and there's at least one thing like that. That's the amazing thing.
That's, I think, the most amazing fact that I found out when writing this book is just how much stuff there is and just how much interesting stuff there is in St. Louis. And I tried to focus on our lifetimes so there would be things we remembered.
And I tried to really focus on a lot of pop culture stuff, on a lot of movie, television, radio, and that sort of thing. So it would be things that people remembered, like the choral court and all that stuff.
Mark Langston:Now when I brought the book home, you're right. The first thing I did was turn to my birthday. And then I went, oh, wait a minute. What about my wedding anniversary day? What about my mom's birthday?
I caught myself going to all the dates that meant something to me. And then I put it down, and my son Michael came in and he went, oh, what is this?
And he started, he's sitting there for 15 or 20 minutes going through the book, reading stuff, and it just triggers so much. It's a fun book. That's what I want to.
Joe Sonderman:That's good to be here.
Mark Langston:Yeah, it's a really fun book. And we were in the kitchen just sitting around, just talking about these dates. And then we would trigger things.
We were talking about the world's fair. I think we actually came across it. Cause we started talking about the world's fair fence that ran along Forest Parkway.
Forest Park Parkway that they just recently, I say recently, but they took down and then put a replica of it up. But we talked. It started a lot of conversations. What a fun book, though.
Joe Sonderman:And it takes you down rabbit hole.
Mark Langston:Oh, yes.
Arnold Stricker:Yeah.
Joe Sonderman:You might start about one thing next. You know, you're off on another tangent.
Mark Langston:Exactly.
Arnold Stricker:That's the show we do. We stay focused, but we go down rabbit holes.
Mark Langston:Yeah, Arnold has big ears. He has big ears on the little furry tail mark.
Arnold Stricker:What you said was. Is really true. It spurs conversations in families that you don't have to urge things on. They develop amongst themselves.
Mark Langston:Yeah, it was a lot of fun.
Arnold Stricker:Joe brought it home. Something that was so humorous that you started laughing when you found it out.
Like occasionally, like, I read something, I started laughing, and it's not even a joke. But seriously, what was that?
Joe Sonderman:I lied. I wonder. I found out. Gosh, it's so hard to pick one thing, especially since I don't actually have the book in front of me at this particular moment.
But I think some of the things I laughed at, for example, is who Plaza Frontenac named after. Why do we have a frontenac? Missouri. Why? It's named after the Count de Frontenac.
And I laughed because I thought that why the frontenac, it would be named after a count. And the fellow who laid out the subdivision in Frontenac named it after a count. So I laughed stuff like that.
I laughed about where the name, what the Flores would mean, for example. And it's French uneville, florissant or flourishing valley. Who was James Kirkwood? Who was the fellow. He was an engineer for the railroad.
And they laid out of it was the first planned community in the United States. Pierre Ledoux, I mentioned him. He was the fellow who had a farm and the road ran to his farm.
And so we have Ledoux, but that road also ran by family by the name of McCall. And so you just learn all that stuff. And like I said, it's extremely hard to narrow down what I. Wow.
Arnold Stricker:We're talking to Joe Sonderman. He is the author of the new book this day in St. Louis history, and it's available through Reedy Press.
And Joe, you've got, my gosh, a lot of book events coming up, book signings, book presentations that some that have already occurred, but you still have some coming up.
One is at the Carondelet Historical Society on the 29 September, October 5 at the Missouri History Museum, the 6th at the Missouri Botanical Garden, the 12 October at Barnes and Noble in Fenton, October 22 at St. Charles County Library at the Spencer branch, and then November 4 at the Kirkwood Public Library. And that's a Monday.
And my gosh, I guess you're just going to keep getting these dates going and going like the Energizer bunny.
Joe Sonderman:I appreciate you mentioning them, too, especially that ones at Barnes and Noble, because that's where, the one where I really hope people show up, because you know how authors are. We have a nightmare of sitting at a table at a Barnes and noble, said, no one around.
Arnold Stricker:You mean you don't pay people to come give them a cup of coffee or something if they're lucky?
Joe Sonderman:If you come to the library presentations, I will give a presentation. And so we talk about what I do at these presentations as we talk about what I think are the ten most significant dates in St. Louis history.
And the number one one is controversial. So I like to the pot a little bit when I say, what are the most significant days in St. Louis history?
And we also talk about what I think are the most important days in St. Louis history. And then we talk about things we did just for the pure hell of it, just for the fun of it.
Fun events like the first Beatles concert here and first Rolling Stone concert and Elvis playing here and the Forest Park island fire and so on and so forth. Fun thing.
Arnold Stricker:So tease our audience a little bit. I'm not going to ask you what the number one one was, but.
Joe Sonderman:Oh, I'll tell you.
Arnold Stricker:Okay, so this will help get some folks to these events, and we will post those on the podcast page when we get done. And we'll also repeat those again. But again, Arnold strick with Mark Langston of St.
Louis in tune talking to Joe Sonderman about his book, this day in St. Louis history. Folks, you need to get this book. It's a great family.
What I would, I'm going to quote Mark, it spurs conversation with the family members. And Joe's got all these signings coming up. Go ahead, Joe.
Joe Sonderman:No, I was going to say that I think the most significant day in Fable's history is what we call the great divorce. And that's going to trigger a conversation. Do you know what the great divorce is?
Mark Langston:No.
Arnold Stricker:Yes, we do. I do.
Mark Langston:Do you?
Arnold Stricker:Yes, you do?
Mark Langston:Yes. It wasn't my practice wife.
Arnold Stricker:Maybe it was for you, dark.
Joe Sonderman:Maybe it was. Yes, that's the place. The day that St. Louis city and county were separate, and I argue that the day St.
Louis city and county were separated is the most important because that's where a lot of our recent problems come from.
Arnold Stricker:No kidding.
Joe Sonderman:Where we have all the fragmentation because we have so many municipalities and because we, the city and county are at odds all the time and a lot of people in the county to blame for a lot of our problems. And people always come up to me afterwards.
How can you say that's more important than the day the city was founded, day the bridge opened or the day that Charles Lindbergh made his first flight? And again, I just argue that impactfully. And also it's just an excuse to stir the pot a little.
Arnold Stricker:Okay. So one time that said, you want to see two things before you die? And one was the Blues win the Stanley cup. And they did.
And the other one was the city and county get back together. How long are you going to live, man?
Joe Sonderman:Yeah, I don't think I'm, I don't think that one's going to happen.
But, but I tell you what, the regions that are kicking our ass, Kansas city, Indianapolis, Louisville and all that, they all each other right now, they are killing us because they work for one common goal, and that is to promote their area.
But if you tell that to some people, it's just not a very popular point of view because they'll argue that I'm living out here in high state Hazelwood. And how does what happens in the city of St. Louis affect me? What does, because when you, when CEO's from out of town read about St.
Charles and the city of St. Louis, it's all one to them. They say, I'm not going to relocate my headquarters to St. Louis because it has so many problems.
Because look at all the stories about crime and look at all these stories about the problems that the city have. And people don't like to hear that. But it's the absolute truth. If you live in St. Charles, by golly, it does affect you.
And blight spread and the problems of the city are eventually going to reach St. Charles. And you can put your head in the fan and say, that's not going to happen, but it is.
Arnold Stricker:And that's very similar to. I will even. I'll just go ahead and say this like Chesterfield saying we're going to part ways with St. Louis county and keep the money.
And we don't want to have it spread out to pine lawn or up to Calverton park or anything like that, to those areas that are in need. Because this is our money. We raised it and understand it's this attitude that is, hey, it's mine.
Rather than yes, we need to help the entire region grow and the entire region reach a minimum level of living. And it's a selfish attitude.
Joe Sonderman:That's the very truth. That's the truth. So this is the very conversation that getting up there and saying that spurs.
You can argue that the world fair was the most significant bay in St. Louis history because this. But I think we focused too much on the world fair because we got.
Mark Langston:Hot dogs out of the world's fairs. That's.
Joe Sonderman:We got. Well, that's upset.
Mark Langston:I'm sorry. I know.
Joe Sonderman:Well, yeah, you got hot dogs and ice cream cones and doctor pepper and all that stuff popularized at the world fair.
Arnold Stricker:How do people respond when you engage in those conversations with them and are you able to. And it's not meant to try to convince someone. It's just try to help people think and start a conversation.
Joe Sonderman:Yeah. And you answered the question the way I would. It's not an effort to convince them. It's an effort to.
It's not an effort to make them see my point of view. It's just an effort to spur the conversation. I think it's a conversation we just need to have about the region and everything.
And I know that I'm beating my head up against the wall thinking city and the county or ever going to get back together that dilly. But I still like to have the conversation to get people to think about it.
Arnold Stricker:So let's take a little off ramp for a minute. And how'd you get that 57 Chevy?
Joe Sonderman: ve had this car since the mid: I had it restored in the late: , since the mid:There was, you could get parts.
You could go down to Taylor's salvage yard on the rock road or the old Olympic drive in was, and you could take in a fox and they charge you $5 for the box full of parts. Now you can't do that anymore, but back then, you certainly could.
Arnold Stricker:Do you go to these old car shows and that are in various locations and they pop the hood and everything. Do you go to those things and show off the car?
Joe Sonderman:I do some, but it was a driver for so many years, not a high point show car. You can't drive those vehicles.
And I know, I love people who have them and who can spend $100,000 on a frame off restoration, but they're a lot of those people. You can't get car shows. You have to compete against cars that were brought there on a trailer and everything.
And the other thing, too, after a while with car shows is you win trophies at car shows. What do you do with all those, what do you do with all those.
Mark Langston:Box in the basement?
Joe Sonderman:In the basement along with the old soccer trophies and the old Boy Scout trophies and the old things like that? I don't show it as much as I used to, but I still do occasionally.
I'm going to do the Tin Rock bridge car show, which is coming up in October, just because I just love that out on the bridge and just feel the breath and talk to people and meet people and like you said, have conversations. Everything I do is about having conversations.
Arnold Stricker:Now, is that an automatic, the 57.
Joe Sonderman: at automatic transmissions in:So the fastest things in the world. It's not a fast vehicle if it has an automatic trick.
Arnold Stricker:Yeah. I don't know if it was three on the tree or is it like push button start or is it like footstart or is it a key start? It's a footstep.
Joe Sonderman:It's a key start. And it's funny that you mentioned the three on the trick is my first one. What?
And how many people now can even drive a 3ft on the column like that in this day and age? Those cars would be steel proof. No one would be able to steal them because they wouldn't know how to drive.
Mark Langston:That's true.
Joe Sonderman:But V eight were. The V eight were usually, usually automatic. So it's a 283. So it.
Arnold Stricker:Wow.
Joe Sonderman: y'd made that motor until the:I love talking about seven Chevy.
Mark Langston:I love it. And I like what he said. They were affordable.
Arnold Stricker:Yep, yep.
Joe Sonderman:Yeah. They were affordable. And they were. It's a Chevrolet. It was the great diplomatic car, the great american and the 57.
I'm sorry, but for all the modern vehicles, there's nothing on the road today that can even touch a 57 Chevy. From design, from look, from dependability, there's.
Arnold Stricker:Nothing that's like, no, they're coming back with the looks, but maybe not the dependability.
Joe Sonderman:No, no, no.
Arnold Stricker:And they were tanks too.
Mark Langston:Yeah.
Joe Sonderman:Yeah. That vehicle, it's a tank. Every now and again I have to pick it. Every now and again. I might have to pull a Subaru out of the grill.
Arnold Stricker:We're going to take a break here and we'll be right back. For our next segment, you're listening to St. Louis in tune with Arnold Stricker and Mark Langston on the us radio network.
This is Arnold Stricker of St. Louis in tune on behalf of the Dred Scott Heritage foundation.
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Arnold Stricker:Welcome back to St. Louis in tune with Arnold Stricker and Mark Langston. We are talking to Joe Sonderman about his new book, this day in St. Louis history.
And Mark, I was looking at January 1.
Mark Langston:Oh, oh, okay.
Arnold Stricker: ,: pany. The name was changed in: Until:Doolittle, leader of the famous bombing raid on Tokyo during World War two, worked here and was in charge of the company's aviation department. Joe, you just blew my mind there. In just that one day, I've learned three different things I never knew before.
Joe Sonderman:Three isn't that, and that's wild. And you can just pick at random, pick a day. And I love reading about things like that. And I love reading about the Ferris wheel of world there.
And controversy over it, whether the hacker was buried in forest park or not. Was it not the crying out loud?
Mark Langston:What? What? Come on.
Joe Sonderman:Yeah.
Mark Langston:I've been out there with a metal detector looking for it for his whole life.
Joe Sonderman:He's been doing, yeah, you want to start, you want to start an argument? St. Louis mentioned that. Or mention that the ice cream cone wasn't really invented at the World fair, and you're going to start an argument?
Mark Langston:These are hot buttons.
Joe Sonderman: n a cone patented as early as: ast Brown game, which were in: Park Inn opening coming up in: Mark Langston:No, I'm not either. I'm with you on this, Joe.
Arnold Stricker:Speaking of dates, September 29, Joe is going to be at the Carondelet Historical Society on October 5. He's going to be at the Missouri History Museum. October 6 at the Missouri Botanical Garden. And this is, if you missed those, here's the one.
You need to go to Barnes and Noble down in Fenton on Saturday, October 12. You need to show up for that one, folks. That's a big one.
Mark Langston:Do you have an address on that?
Arnold Stricker:Where that is at Barnes and Noble. That's 721 Gravoy Road. Oh, that's down by the Gravoy Mills shopping area down there.
Mark Langston:Okay.
Arnold Stricker:Also, October 22, St. Charles County Library, Spencer branch. November 4 at the Kirkwood Public Library. And then November 19 at the Wharton Public Library.
They call it Wharton. It's Warrenton. Yeah, Wharton Public Library. So you gotta go check those out, folks.
Listen to Joe talk about the book, get the book signed, especially the one down at Barnes and Noble.
Mark Langston:That's quite a list of stuff.
Arnold Stricker:He's busy. He's a busy guy.
Joe Sonderman:It keeps me out of trouble. It keeps me off the, out of the, you know.
Arnold Stricker:Oh, okay. So here's a question. Uh oh. When did you become interested in Route 66? At what time in your life?
Joe Sonderman:You know, it's a funny story. I was raised by a man who wouldn't, who, on family vacations, wouldn't stop if the bath was on fire and britches were catching. He wouldn't stop.
He wouldn't stop for anything. Like my dad stopped when he. Yeah, exactly. And again, everybody can relate to this story.
We stopped when he needed a cigarette or he had to go to the bathroom. And it was all about getting there as quickly as possible. And I made a promise to myself.
These were on journey to the lake of the Ozark has a roadside culture of its own. And I made a promise to myself that when I got older, I was going to stop at every two bit deer farm, snake pit, souvenir stand turret crap.
I was going to see every one of those that I could that I missed as a kid. Dog patch at the lake of the Ozarks, that sort of thing. And I've done it. And I had a stressful job that again, dates back to Klau day.
I was working with someone who was very difficult. And one day I just got enough. And I had read a book by Michael Wallach called Route 66, the mother Road. And he's our Yoda. His riding is incredible.
And I got so frustrated, I threw the headphones down, walked out of the studio, got in the car and I headed whack. And I didn't stop until I got pulled over by the highway patrol. And somebody said, joe, there's a missing person poured out on you.
People would like to know where the hell you are.
Mark Langston:Oh my.
Joe Sonderman:That's how interested in 66. I ended up at double Delvo, Missouri, the first place where I ended up.
ght, geez, what are the other:A lot of people look at route 66 and they see all these old abandoned buildings, and they see the things that are derelict and they see blight. And I look at that and I see a story of a family who made their living alongside the road and who were doing quite well.
And then one day the interstate came and took them away from. Took all that away from them. And it realized. It makes you recognize that time, life pressure.
And that if you dont slow down occasionally, life will pass you by. And dont get me wrong, we still have to have the interstate. We have to have it.
You cant imagine commerce or business or the volume of traffic on I 44 today going down that little narrow two leg road. But every now and again when youre in the mood to slow down and youre not in a hurry, take the time, get off on the Tulane.
And what happens is 66 goes through the town and you meet the people in the town.
This country, we are so polarized now because all we do is sit in front of our computers and we yell at each other at all camps because you didn't vote for the same crook that I did. And we become disconnected from society.
And when you get out on Route 66, you realize there's this whole great big world out there where people still talk to each other. You meet people on Route 66 you wouldn't have a conversation with in St. Louis or paragraph your home, well, he's a trumper.
But then you start to realize you have more in common than you do indifferences. And that's why Route 66 is very important to me, because they're still out there pumping your gas.
And the wait, Trish is still out there with the coffee pot welding through her finger and she still caught cracks of gum and calls you hun. And all of that is still out there waiting for you. Just slow down a little bit of and get off the interstate.
Arnold Stricker:Now. Chicago to LA.
Joe Sonderman:Los Angeles. Yep, Santa Monica.
Arnold Stricker:Okay, now, have you done the entire route?
Joe Sonderman:It's funny you, it's funny you asked me that. I've only done that one because it's so mud.
Mark Langston:I bet.
Joe Sonderman:Because it's, I find now that I like doing it in second.
Mark Langston:How long, how long did it take, Joe to drive?
Joe Sonderman:You have to give yourself if you want to do it right and not run. You have to give yourself at least a couple weeks if you're going to do the whole route first.
e only time I did it was in a:You have to allow time to run into people and to have conversations that you didn't expect. We're 66 on the road. It isn't pavement, it's people and it's conversations and it's meeting and it's the unexpected.
That's what it's so cool about, Route 66, because the interstate, everything is franchised. Hamburger. McDonald's and St. Louis taste the same as one in tucum carry, New Mexico or in Needle, California.
But when we were kids, and we were growing up, food changed. It was different in New Mexico, and it's still that way. On Route 66, everything isn't generic. There's a Hampton inn.
And say, there's nothing wrong with Hampton Inn. There's nothing wrong with Walmart. But they're the same at every interstate off ramp.
Every interstate off ramp has the same fast food restaurant clustered there. But when you get into the town, it's unpredictable. You might have the best hamburger you've ever had in your life. Who knows?
It might be a crappy one, too. But there's that element of unpredictability that we want in the country. And again, there's something to be said.
So when you're in a hurry, by golly, there's nothing wrong with McDonald's, bless their heart. But every now and again, you want something different.
Arnold Stricker:Something I've noticed, especially in the St. Louis area, on Manchester and on, gosh, my mind, Chippewa. And then when Chippewa changes names to Watson is because that's the real Route 66 is.
There are signs that say historic Route 66, but it's really okay. Now you're confusing me, because when I was growing up, 66 was Chippewa and Watson. It wasn't Manchester. How does this all kind of.
Is everybody jumping on the bandwagon so they can get their little piece of the pie, Joe? Or what's going on there?
Joe Sonderman: he day it was commissioned in:The original route 66 in St. Louis is Manchester.
Arnold Stricker:Really.
Joe Sonderman:When it was originally laid out, Manchester was really the only approved road west. And also, you might not realize, the only major route out of St. Louis. It doesn't cross a major river.
Arnold Stricker:We knew that on St. Louis. In tune.
Mark Langston:Yeah, that's right.
Joe Sonderman: t would be only one. And from: Arnold Stricker:Okay.
Joe Sonderman:And Watson, Chippewa, what you consider the classic of chicky sticks was city lived chicky thick. What?
The main line of 66 actually used the chain of rock bridge and used Dun Road and Lindbergh to go around the city so people could get through there faster. And so the main line of Thixie thick is actually Dun Road Glenburg, down to what else? So it kept using.
You need a book or something to keep all these alignments straight. And may I suggest Route 66, St. Louis file by Joe Sonderman. That will help you straighten out.
Mark Langston:He's done a couple of books on this thing.
Joe Sonderman:Yeah, it was done a couple of books on the subject. So I really. I delved into it. Probably much more than cared to hear about all the various alignments and stuff. But St.
Louis, out of all the major cities on the roof, St. Louis is probably the hardest one to follow. Because especially in metro east, too, we were always trying to get the hell out of here quicker.
They would move it, so they would change it.
Mark Langston:Now, I heard that Paul McCartney of the Beatles, he, at one point, a few years back, drove route 66. Did you ever.
Joe Sonderman:Yeah, he did.
Mark Langston:Did he?
Joe Sonderman:He did with his girlfriend. And they, they ran into the people at a convenience store here. And he was spotted here for sure. And, yeah, he drove Ruth kick Dick.
The Europeans and the people from overseas that really drive this thing. I would say when I'm traveling route 66, I say better than 50% of the people I meet are from overseas. They are fascinated by it.
And I'll tell you why. There's a couple of reasons why. It symbolizes in America that they admire. And look, this an era then, by golly, we were the greatest nation on earth.
Still not. But we were feared by our enemies, respected by our friends. We put extra chrome on 57 chevrolets. My God.
Because we were America, and we could do it that way. And I think it symbolizes that to them. But the other thing that we have on route 66. Is the sheer amount of room, the fastness of the american west.
When you're in Europe and you drive 8 hours, you've gone to two or three countries here in the United States. You can drive for two days and still be in heck.
Mark Langston:Yeah.
Joe Sonderman:And I think they're enamored by that. And they really drive it.
Plus the bus, the tv series, syndication over there, and particularly the Germans are very interested in route 66 in the United States. And so they drive a lot of the travel over the route.
Arnold Stricker:I'm glad you cleared that up for me, because I was driving down Manchester, through Maplewood, and out in the Brentwood area, and I was like, why is that sign 66? And then what's going on in Watson? And that really clears things up. I never knew about the Dun Road Lindbergh connection.
Mark Langston:I've never heard of that. Yeah, yeah.
Joe Sonderman:And that's actually, that's actually the main route. And a lot of communities now, especially in rural areas, are beginning to realize, can drive tourism.
So anytime there's an alignment, even 56, they even went through town for a couple of years, by golly. They're getting those signs up and they're getting those banners up. They realize it can attract tourism examples in around the St.
Louis area of towns that have really embraced it. I'd say Pacific has really embraced it. Cuba and Missouri has really embraced it. And these small towns realize it drives tourism dollars.
Arnold Stricker:And they need that because even though they're on 44, they're a little disconnected from the main street, Pacific, Main Street, Cuba, they don't go right through that, but 66 went right through there.
Joe Sonderman: ch has been in business since:The Red Cedar Inn has been there since the thirties, and it's no longer an inn or a tavern anymore. It's now a visitor center and a welcome center. But every town in every mile has attractants and it has stories.
Get yourself a book, then find and find your route so you know where you're going and plan out a little bit in advance, but not too far because you want to allow for spontaneity.
Mark Langston:So you could do like a day trip on route 66 around here.
Joe Sonderman:And really that's the best way to do it. Just drive out to Cuba or drive out to Sullivan and check out the little two lane area. That three lane stretch is what business.
Loop 44 outside of Pacific is really cool. That stretch through town, there's a lot to see. And like we mentioned, Cuba and the other towns too. And watch it, though. It's addictive.
Extremely addictive. You also realize it's a different driving experience because if you like to drive the interstate, just blast through obstacles. Okay.
Route 66 goes through the towns. Ice is involved with the land. Respect the land.
It curves around hills and it curves around mountains, and it switch backs up and down where it needs to. And it's not just a straight line. Perth through the desert, like a lot of people might think.
Arnold Stricker:And that's probably those business routes are the old Route 66. Those are the ones to take then.
Joe Sonderman:So it's easy to find in a lot of aspects in a lot of places. It still find very well in Missouri and in Illinois. And you won't have a lot of difficulty without a book.
But I still recommend Jerry McClanahan's easy guide to Route 66, and that'll keep you on the route and help you find where you're headed.
Arnold Stricker:We're really appreciative of your time today, and we know that you've got a busy life and a busy day ahead of you. But folks, you can check out Joe's books on Route 66, but also this one. This is a great book to give as a gift.
It's a great book just to get and have some family discussions on this day in St. Louis history. The remarkable, the outrageous, the spectacular, and everything in between. It's by Reedy Press.
It's a big eight one two by eleven paperback with dozens of pictures and information in there that you will never go wrong with. Also, his book signings that are coming up. I want to highlight the Barnes and Noble book signing on October 12 down in Fenton, 721 Gravoy Road.
But we will post those on the podcast page so you can get those.
Mark Langston:I have an old, speaking of old history, radio history, let's see if I can play this here.
Johnny Rabbit:Jx ok, and Johnny Rabbit are giving away 100 tickets for the Beatles St. Louis engagement August 21 in Busch Memorial Stadium.
To win one of the 100 choice seats, simply listen to the following scrambled Beatle hits, list them on a postcard in their order of appearance, and mail your entry to Beatles, Kxok, St. Louis, 13 Missouri. The first 100 entries with the correct answers in their order of appearance. And now listen carefully.
The first 100 entries to list the titles to those Beatles hits in their order of appearance. Win choice seats to the big Beatles show August 21 in Busch Memorial Stadium. Send your entry on a postcard and mail to Beatles, KxOk, St. Louis, 13.
Mark Langston:Missouri, and that show. Go ahead.
Joe Sonderman:You know, the interesting thing about that concert, I don't know how time you have, is that it was raining that night, if you recall, it was raining cats and dog.
And they actually rushed the Beatles on stage before some of the what were to have been the opening act, which were the circle and the Ronette and Bobby Hebb. And so technically, the Beatles opened for the circle and the Ronette and Bobby.
Arnold Stricker:Wow.
Joe Sonderman:They rushed them on stage to get him. And now Joe was one of the ones that helped convince Paul that they should stop touring.
The other Beatles had been trying to get Paul to stop touring for quite a while, but they had such a terrible experience at Busch Stadia night, and they had played a show at Cincinnati earlier in the day that, that is one of the ones where Paul finally said, we need to think about not touring anymore. And they only played a couple more shows afterwards.
Mark Langston:Ill be darn. See there, Joe. We have to have Joe back soon.
Arnold Stricker:Hes just a wealth of.
Mark Langston:I know hes fun.
Arnold Stricker:I thought he was the one announcing that on that kick solution, but he.
Mark Langston:Was talking about it earlier.
Joe Sonderman: aught at Yoast HTR, which was: Mark Langston:You gotta quit now. Don't tell people this.
Arnold Stricker:He was. He was the voice there.
Joe Sonderman:Bori was the mayor. Bori was a mayor in record.
Mark Langston:I know.
Arnold Stricker:Joe, thanks very much. We really appreciate your time today.
Joe Sonderman:Thank you, guys. And thank you for getting book signings in there. And everyone, please come out, please.
Arnold Stricker:We will encourage that. And you have a great day.
Mark Langston:Take care, Joe.
Joe Sonderman:Thank you, guys. Thank you. Take care.
Mark Langston:Bye bye now. Isn't that great?
Arnold Stricker:What a wealth of information.
Mark Langston:Isn't he fun? He is really fun. We need to bring him back soon.
Arnold Stricker:Oh, yeah. We could just talk about whatever it's.
Mark Langston:Called this day in St. Louis history, the remarkable, the outrageous, the spectacular, and everything in between. Pick your birthday and start there.
Arnold Stricker:I'm showing this off on the video.
Mark Langston:That's the best place to start, isn't it?
Arnold Stricker:Oh, it is. It is.
Mark Langston:How would you not go anywhere? I know. That's what I did. That's what my. That's what we did it around the house when we were looking at it in the kitchen.
Arnold Stricker:So pick. Pick a date. I was wondering if he had February 29 in there, and he does, so let's. I'm going to read that one.
Mark Langston:All right.
Arnold Stricker:Just for.
Mark Langston:Does he really? Yes. Okay.
Arnold Stricker:He has the 366th a day. And it's interesting. There's two events he has. John Leonard Roosevelt Martin, kind of known as Pepper Martin, was born in Temple, Oklahoma.
in the:He was also one of the most colorful characters in Redbird history. He formed the Mississippi mudcat Band with other players and entertained fans with. With jug and washboard country music. And also on February 29.
Now that was in: Mark Langston:Oh, it's been around since then.
Arnold Stricker:Yes. Jack Buck hosted the show with Mayor Raymond Tucker as the first guest. Eleanor Roosevelt also appeared on the first show.
The idea of newsmakers taking calls from listeners was given little chance of succeeding. Robert Hyland was so convinced that he ordered the station's record library given away.
Mark Langston:Wow. Give it away.
Arnold Stricker:Wow. That's crazy.
Mark Langston:People do anything to get so.
Arnold Stricker:Stuff like that, folks, that. It's just little tidbits of St. Louis. That's ingrained that we don't even know about.
When we drive around town, when we see signs, when we wonder why things are the way they are. It's a great book. To find out some of those things. The remarkable, outrageous, spectacular and everything in between. Great book. This day in St.
Louis history by Joe Sonderman.
Mark Langston:Wow.
Arnold Stricker:So what's the day of? The day you have, Mark?
Mark Langston:There's always something fun I know going on. Let's see. We have the bluebird of happiness day.
Arnold Stricker:May the bluebird of happiness.
Mark Langston:I know. Where did that come from? Bluebirds are known as the birds of happiness. Who knew? I had no idea.
Arnold Stricker:It's the state bird of Missouri.
Mark Langston:Yes, correct. Oh, my goodness. Yes, that's true. I forgot all about that. National punctuation Day. Every day should be, oh, there's a good one. Yeah. Yeah, I know.
That's national voter Registration Day.
Arnold Stricker:Okay. And that date to register to vote for the November election is coming up. I think it's October 8 or 10th, something like that. Don't quote me on that.
Mark Langston:So don't get. Yeah, do it now and do it. Yeah, do it now.
Arnold Stricker:Go early and vote often.
Mark Langston:Yeah, that's what I always said. Yeah. Yeah. Let's see. We have National Lobster Day. I hear there's becoming a shortage of lobsters.
Arnold Stricker:Really?
Joe Sonderman:Yeah.
Mark Langston:They're harvesting them all and they're just what they've done to the oceans.
Arnold Stricker:Over harvesting. Yeah.
Mark Langston:And all that kind of thing. And I really like, I like them. National Cooking Day. You're the cook in your house, aren't you?
Arnold Stricker:I'm the cook, yes.
Mark Langston:Are you the cook?
Arnold Stricker:Yes.
Mark Langston:National Food Service Workers Day. There's not a whole lot going on. National one hit wonder Day. You did a show. We did a show on one hit wonders.
Arnold Stricker:That was fun. It's amazing.
Mark Langston:Bring that back.
Arnold Stricker:Yeah, we should.
Mark Langston:Before the month is over with. Because that was fun.
Arnold Stricker:Yeah.
Mark Langston:Yeah. National Roadkill Day.
Arnold Stricker:How you want that cooked?
Mark Langston:I don't. World pharmacist Day. You have to love your pharmacist. Hug a pharmacist today. Go to Walgreens or CV's and get.
Arnold Stricker:Arrested when you do that.
Mark Langston:I'll give you one more. There's not much more here, but there really isn't much Johnny Appleseed days coming up in a little bit. We always used to go out and plant trees.
Better. Breakfast day. Are you a breakfast eater?
Arnold Stricker:I am. It depends upon what's going on. And sometimes we'll go on a Saturday to get a bigger kind of more brunch.
Mark Langston:Brunchy?
Arnold Stricker:Yeah.
Mark Langston:Is goody. Okay. All right.
Arnold Stricker:But other than that, nothing brings neighbors together quite like cop cars in front of another neighbor's house. Let's see here. Japanese wisdom.
Mark Langston:Okay.
Arnold Stricker:If it's not yours, don't take it. If it's not right, don't do it. If it's not true, don't say it. If you don't know, shut up. If you can make somebody's day, make my day. Remember that.
If you can make somebody's day, you should.
Mark Langston:Yeah, that's good. I've got more chins than a chinese phone book.
Arnold Stricker:A man who is a master of patience is master of everything else. Once you carry your own water, you will learn the value of every drop. That's a good one.
Mark Langston:That is, it's serious. These are all very serious.
Arnold Stricker:Let's see here.
Mark Langston:These are all very serious.
Arnold Stricker:I don't understand how a cemetery can raise its funeral prices and blame it on the cost of living.
Mark Langston:That's tough. It's a tough room.
Arnold Stricker:My wife called to tell me she saw a fox on the way to work. I asked her how she knew it was on its way to work. She hung up on me.
When your children are teenagers, it's important to have a dog so that someone in the house is happy to see you.
Mark Langston:Yeah, that's about. Yep.
Arnold Stricker:And remember that if you work hard enough at your job, you get to do other people's work, too.
Mark Langston:I'm glad you said that with enthusiasm.
Arnold Stricker:Common sense is worth a lot of money, frankly. But common sense, it's not a gift. It is a punishment, because you have to deal with everyone who doesn't have it.
Mark Langston:Get that horse out of here.
Arnold Stricker:And I live in the south where lightning bugs use their blinkers more than drive.
Mark Langston:I love that. It's that lever on the left.
Arnold Stricker:The National Weather Service, they just published an instruction book on how to bake a lasagna in your mailbox. And here's a pro tip.
There's these amateur tips, and then there's pro tips a lot of times on doing a variety of things like gardening or cooking or cleaning your house. Here's a pro tip on napping. Folks, if you want to nap while the kids are home, just say, wake me up in 30 minutes so we can clean the house.
They will then do literally anything to avoid waking you up.
Mark Langston:That's true.
Arnold Stricker:And here are some great nicknames for co workers.
Mark Langston:Okay, good.
Arnold Stricker:We talked about if you do your job, you get to do somebody else's. Here's great. Nicknames for co workers. Lava lamp looks good, but not very bright. Deck chair folds under pressure. Doctor Dolittle. The name says it all.
0070. Motivation zero skills. Seven bathroom breaks. G spot can never be found.
Joe Sonderman:Then you will receive some parting gifts from us. Thank you.
Mark Langston:Okay.
Arnold Stricker:Okay. And I'll close with this.
Mark Langston:No, you're not gonna close.
Arnold Stricker:A fact is information minus emotion. An opinion is information plus experience. Ignorance is an opinion lacking information, and stupidity is an opinion that ignores a fact.
Mark Langston:Very good.
Arnold Stricker:That's just a prize for you.
Mark Langston:Wow.
Arnold Stricker:Okay.
Mark Langston:Some good stuff. Good show today.
Arnold Stricker:Yeah, it was.
Mark Langston:Yeah. Tune in.
Arnold Stricker:You need to turn into other shows, folks, that we have on stluntune.com. mark and I love to have a lot of fun. There are times when we have some really serious shows, but there's times we love to enjoy life and. Yeah.
And goof off. Yeah. But we do it within the realm of. There are boundaries.
Mark Langston:Really? Okay, you'd say so.
Arnold Stricker:There are boundaries. That's all for this hour. Thank you for listening. If you've enjoyed this episode, as I said earlier, you can listen to additional shows at st.
Lintune.com. consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts, Pod chaser or your preferred podcast platform.
Your feedback helps us reach more listeners and continue to grow. I want to thank Bob Berthisel for our theme music. Our guest today, Joe Sondermande and co host Mark Langston.
We thank you folks for being part of our community of curious minds. St. Louis in tune is a production of Motif Media Group and the us radio Network.
Remember to keep seeking, keep learning, walk worthy, and let your light shine. For St. Louis in tune, I'm Arnold Stricker.
