TULSA, Okla. — The Route 66 Capital Cruise is happening on May 30 in front of Mother Road Market.
2 News Oklahoma will be there giving you the latest updates.
However, midtown isn’t the only part of Tulsa that the "Mother Road" cuts through.
In fact, parts of both east and west Tulsa have some of the iconic Route 66 path, with many business owners wanting to remind people they're joining in on the fun.
John Malmquist owns “John’s Classics” in east Tulsa, right on Route 66 at 8702 E 11th Street.
He said he opened up about five years ago, to share his racing passion with others.
“I wanted to be somewhere where there was people driving by that appreciated cars," he said. "That's why we decided to look for something on Route 66.”
He said he raced for many years when he was younger and collected cars, from Jeeps to Corvettes.
In fact, four of his cars will be in Saturday’s capital cruise.
He’s also invested a lot of time into decorating his shop with Route 66 swag and murals, to remind everyone of the rich history it carries.
“Just get people to come enjoy the cars, enjoy the memorabilia," he said. "A lot of it we've picked up over the years, and now it's time to let other people enjoy it.”
Another historic area in west Tulsa is the Crystal City Shopping Center.
It actually used to be an amusement park that opened up in 1929, which included the Casa Loma dance hall.
Now, owner Abel Murrietta has brought Tamale Boyz to the shopping center and is trying to bring more attention to the area.
He said he took Route 66 for granted until he found out more about what it stood for.
“If we realize the history behind Route 66 then you're like, 'oh man'," he said. "We're actually very privileged to have something like this.”
Murrietta also said he hopes more people take the time to find out about Route 66 to help develop the area a bit more and hopefully bring more traffic to restaurants like his.
“It gets overlooked, it gets undervalued," he said. "I mean, there are a lot of people who come here from across the world, riding their motorcycles, just because to them it's something special. To them, it's something like, 'oh, in America they have Route 66.'"
While the Capital Cruise will happen in midtown Tulsa, 2 News reached out to the City of Tulsa and found out that the city plans to include both west and east Tulsa in Route 66’s official Centennial Celebrations in November.
Isabel Flores is your North & East Tulsa reporter.
Is there something you think she should know about or look into?
You can email her at Isabel.Flores@kjrh.com.
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