Yep, we used to look for and read the signs aloud when traveling in the deep south. Back in the 50's before interstates. Rock City used to rent the side of big barns close to the road and paint the entire side of it....See Rock City.
Back in 62 my brother and i were traveling thru New Mexico and Arizona M arty Robbins had a new song out called"BIG IRON".It was played at every gas/food stop we made.Great song,great singer.🐴.
Got a huge kick out of your "introduction" to the Burma Shave road signs. When I was a youngster, back in the early 50's, I got a big kick out of reading them to my old Grandpa who was busy driving.
Burma shave shave cream they used to come with a Burma shave cream cup and brush for applying to one's face. They were all over the place back in the twenties through forties.
I live in Toronto and am a retiree 75 years old. I travelled 66 for the first time in 1958 with my parents and did the route again 50 years later in 2008. I have been fortunate enough to travel in 40 countries but the most memorable and my favourite area is this one. I’ve been back several times and Seligman is a gem everyone should visit.
My buddy and I just got done with R66 on our bikes and went through this town and also saw the Burmashave signs. This ride ill never forget. Great stuff!
raym909 I’ll bet some or all are new sighs You can imagine they get stolen for patio decorations Like the street signs at Burning man Most are gone the first day
HI Russ from sunny Queensland , Australia . Thanks for taking us along through those magnificant deserts . I lived for 7yrs in the desert here in Western Australia - beautiful scenery .
Back in the fifties on the drive to Florida you would see these signs. Mostly in the South. No interstate highways. “Free, free a trip to Mars. For 900 hundred jars. Burma Shave.”
Wow, haven’t seen Burma-Shave signs since I was a kid. Used to see them all the time while driving in the country, maybe because route 66 started in Chicago.
My wife and I just drove that very same route just a couple of weeks ago, beautiful drive all the way to Kingman! Love to drive off the path! And read all the Burma Shave signs!
I traveled route 66 in 1965 from Chicago to LA and remember many Burma Shave signs. They were really fun. I also saw them over much of the South while traveling. A true nostalgic reminder!
Go back to the Cavern Inn parking lot and head to the RV park portion. Some of the BEST Caverns in the USA there, called Grand Canyon Caverns. Been there several times, never miss it when we pass through. Great old school Route 66 attraction.
In the east (ie North Carolina where I was raised), we always saw Burma Shave signs . It was just part of the road signs you saw along the way. Real enjoyable video!! 💔🐾💔
Love Seligman, what character, had breakfast here in a cafe (opposite the Black Cat cafe full of bikers) mid September 2003 on another trip to the awesome South West, I miss it so much. Oldtimer Englishman from Shropshire reliving my past.
Driven these roads numerous times. I love the smell of Flagstaff.....It must be from the forest and pine trees around there? It always feels about 20-30 colder than Phoenix. Love Route 66 and trying to find long lost hotels, diners, and road signs. Seligman is a cool town.
In the fall of 1925, the first sets of Burma-Shave signs were erected on two highways leading out of Minneapolis. Sales rose dramatically in the area, and the signs soon appeared nationwide. The next year, Allan and his brother Leonard set up more signs, spreading across Minnesota and into Wisconsin, spending $25,000 that year on signs. Burma-Shave was an American brand of brushless shaving cream, famous for its advertising gimmick of posting humorous rhyming poems on small sequential highway roadside signs. So said the site Legends of America on the internet 2019.
A little research at Seligman would have been worth the few minutes. Where you turned off 40 on to 139 was patterned in to the movie Cars. Cavern Inn would look familiar as the community in the movie where the longes where shapped as traffic cones. The name of Peach Springs was converted to Radiator Springs for the movie. The creators of the movie used this area as inspiration for their movie, Cars. Take a minute to read the local signage wherever you make stops. Tons to learn along the way
We ate a fabulous lunch at a very nice restaurant in Seligman yesterday. Last time it was Road Kill Cafe which we did like and today it was the restaurant exactly across the street Westside Lilo. Great food - like Road Kill as it was moderately expensive but I was "Wowed" by the quantity and quality of the food.
Thanks for the memories!! My parents and I drove the entire route 5 times back and forth when I was a kid. Living in LA, family in Detroit ❤️❤️ and yes, I remember the Burma Shave signs! ❤️❤️
Hey, you were not born and raised in CA. I'm 70 yrs. and when I was a kid the Berma Shave signs rd were everywhere,especially the desert Keep up the good work
Oh My Russ you just drove by the best restaurant in AZ. RT66 Westside. right before the gas station you pulled into. Almost every trip out to California Myself and another trucker would stop and eat there, the best Breakfast.
I used to cook there; from 1999 to mid 2002. Having lived along Rt. 66 for 15 years, I can say that Westside Lilo's is NOT the best food on the road. It's definitely good, and there's a LOT of it, but there's better food along the route.
How well I remember driving along this highway when I was 8, and our family was moving from Chicago to San Francisco because my dad (who was in the Army) was being transferred there (and which was where we would live) while he was in Korea for a year to assist in the war going on at that time. The Burma Shave signs (there must have been thousands of them along U.S. highways at the time) provided great entertainment, and we eagerly looked forward to the next set as we drove along. It was probably the best advertising campaign ever. Sadly, Burma Shave(which was a brushless saving cream) went out of business in 1963 when it was sold to Phillip Morris. However, the signs remained until weather made them unreadable or people gathered them as souvenirs. Any signs today have been reinstated by historical groups or the various states themselves. No interstates in those days, so having advertising signs all along highways was quite common! While U.S. 66 was not the first trans-continental highway (the Lincoln Highway--now U.S. 30--has that distinction), it did become the major highway for getting to the West Coast starting in 1927. It was also the first highway between major U.S. cities to actually be paved! Many were the families that used this highway in the 1930s during the Depression as they made to way to the Golden State of California in hopes of finding a better life. If you have never driven all (or part) of this highway, make it a priority. It is truly an AMERICAN icon of our history. In fact, people come from around the world to travel this highway (or a part of of it). No wonder it is known as the Mother Road! There was a 1960s TV program about two guys who traveled U.S. 66 in their Corvette in search of work and ended up helping people along the way, and the great Woody Guthrie even wrote a song memorializing the highway.
Thank you for your video about this particular part of route 66! The Burma Shave signs were a way to amuse travelers and it was common to see them all along 66. Google the Grand Canyon Caverns you passed by and you will be very surprised! Think Carlsbad Caverns! Keep up your great job with these videos, there are great!
Burma Shave signs were all over Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa back in the 50’s and 60’s. Used to look forward to them on road trips when I was a kid
In Seligman, on your left, the burger place was built by Juan Delgadillo. His brother, Angel, has the barbershop and gift shop a couple doors down. Angel was instrumental in making Route 66 the phenomenon it is today. Angel is still alive, Juan died in 2004.
If it wasn’t for Angel, Seligman would have died out like most of the other thriving towns Iike San Jon NM along 66 before I40. Before the interstate in the 1970s, this was the main way you drove to eye to California. It was booming.
hi russ, back in the '50's, my dad would load up our 1952 dodge & head on out on route 66.. we always looked forward to seeing the Burma shave signs! all four of us in the car would call out the signs when we saw them! sounds like a boring road trip? as kids we were all excited to stop at all the roadside attractions on route 66! good memory's
At Peach Springs, we've bought a permit and drove down to the Colorado River at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. You're trip is adding to my list. Thanks
The Grand Canyon Caverns are a few miles east of Peach Springs. There's a convenient store with an elevator that takes you down 200 feet. In one of the large open spaces in the caverns they tons of have canned and dried food for the military as they though they might need the space during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
My family drove from Foothill Blvd in Pasadena CA (near the start of Rt 66) most of the way back East before heading farther East on some other highways until we reached New York. We did this in 1962 for 2 months. The BurmaShave roadside ads were actually regular big wooden signs spread out probably 1 miles each, not like the little signs we now see. I think BurmaShave was the shaving foam rather than the blades.
Burma shave did signs for ads in 40;s and 50's I think, my dad told me about them, and we saw them on a trip out to the Grand Canyon in AZ in the 70's.
Nice video Russ , love route 66 , there is a book on Burma shave with all the signs listed in it , my old history teacher had one and would read from it
Howdy partner, need a save? Burma Shave. I wish I had my folks old highway maps that we used to go from Michigan to California. There were signs in Richmond, Virginia, on big warehouses back in the sixties that said “ Quiet, tobacco sleeping “.
Seligman AZ is the home of barber and businessman Angel Delgadillo. He is called the “angel of Route 66”. 92 years old. He owns a gift and barber shop in town. I only know this because our tour bus stopped there ten years ago.
I grew up in Kingman,AZ and as much as I enjoy your channel,I love when you drive into or through Kingman. Always puts a smile on my face along with a sad feeling of longing and nostalgia. Maybe I haven’t found it yet,but not from the lack of searching,but if you could someday make a video tour of Kingman. And not just old town either. Like the whole town. One video you went to the Walmart and that’s one of my favorite vids of your channel just because of that one clip. Seeing the town even just a glimpse.....if you never do,I’d understand . But you’d have one very grateful fan if you did
Great videos!! Glad I found this site!! I’ve been pondering on moving to Arizona. It’s so beautiful. Is it true that the heat only lasts about three months? The triple digits? I love that I can hear you talking without background music. Your closing song is good! I love it. Thank you for sharing!
Route 66 seems to be in good repair considering it’s a redundant highway. Your right I40 needs a lot of work. The semis have done their work on the surface of it.
Great trip, enjoy your filming 66. Do you record your narration on a device separate from your gopro while driving? Quality of both are good. Many tks. I’ll visit your store links👍
Yep, BurmaShave was a Big Thing on Route 66. All the kids would look for them. These aren't the originals, but are put up and maintained by a group of Route 66 / BurmaShave fans. They do use the BurmaShave ad copy, so those silly poems are what everyone read. Can't believe you never saw them as a kid. And 7:44 time mark is RoadKill Cafe. Every time we drive I 40, we have to stop at the RoadKill Cafe. The food is good and the menu is funny. The motel nextdoor has been updated, but still feels 1950s. It's owned by the same family. We've stayed there once. It's good for one night, but with no pool and small 1950s size rooms and bathrooms, it's not a long stay type of motel. And the Cavern Inn is at the Famous Grand Canyon Caverns. It's actually a fun place to stop and look around. Very 1950s Road Side Attraction vibe.
‘Empty beer cans along the road Are ugly many say. But at night, Reflecting bright, They safely guide the way.’ At least according to MAD Magazine. 1972
🙋 Hello Russ! I don't remember Burma Shave, this is the 1st for me to hear about it. Great Marketing strategy. There had been signs coming through West Virginia eons ago that did actually have a little story to them. I was so young, but Mother would read each one. It excited her to see it. Enjoyed riding on 40 to Kingman. I don't know why, but I always thought 66 was a deserted highway?
The name of the old road that predated Route 66 was Beale's Wagon Road, completed by the Camel Corps in 1859. Parts of it are still marked with cairns.
The Burma Shave signs were a staple to watch for when traveling in the 50s and 60s. There were usually 6 or 7 signs in the limerick attached to fence posts and always ended with Burma Shave. The farmer or landowner of the fence was paid for the privilege of having the signs on the fence posts. There was a book published about the history of the signs and all of the sayings including some that could not be put up. This was the least expensive way the company had to advertise and it made a name for the company with people watching for the signs.
When Disney came up with the background for that movie Cars I believe they took this part of Route 66 down to Kingman as kind of a backdrop but not exactly
sad when Andy Divine is't mentioned. Old movie star with the greats such as Gene Autry and Roy rogers and some with the duke. Was a contest in my family car to be the first to spot the Burma Shave signs. early 50s. last one seen was on the way to Yakima Wa. from hwy 14 back in the 90s.
i took route in the mid 's yes there were lots of Burma shave signs didnt help them much also many signs for Winslow Az good know what was in that town we could not wait to see ha ha ha the signs were for a sporting goods store then we looked everyone had water bags hanging out of cars so we got one ha ha ha it was for your car overheating we had an air cooled VW engine no water one time lasted a life time for me richard in the tropics
You could have stoped at the cavern inn that is part of the grand canyon caverns cool tour back their also you past the turn off to the grand canyon people just drive right past don't even look at the big hole in the ground its pretty awesome too see I live in Kingman az and delivered a bunch of furniture to the grand canyon for the resort in the bottom they take everything down by helicopter not donkey power anymore although you can ride them down still
Too bad a lot of Rt. 66 was torn up, when the Interstates, were built. It would be fun, to be able to start in Chicago & end up in L.A., as the song sings about.
