Pixar's Route 66: The Jack Rabbit Trading Post

You could say that the sign was the true inspiration. The trading post? Not so much.

The Jack Rabbit Trading Post is located just west of Joseph City, Arizona on what was the former US Route 66.  As a roadside venue, it is rather unremarkable, filled with a combination of convenience store staples and the usual southwestern USA souvenirs.

Its notoriety is plainly derived from its large and now rather iconic sign that features a jackrabbit silhouette and welcomes travelers with the proclamation "HERE IT IS." Pixar artists recreated that sign and applied it to the Radiator Springs Curios store, operated by Lizzie, the 1923 Ford Model T.  In the film, the jackrabbit silhouette is replaced with that of a Model T.  The Pixar crew even replicated the small black silhouette cut-outs that adorn the top of the sign.

Lizzie's store itself was not so much inspired by the Jack Rabbit Trading Post building, as it was by a couple of other slightly more eccentric Route 66 establishments: the Hackberry General Store in Hackberry, Arizona; and the Sand Hills Curiosity Shop in Erick, Oklahoma. The similarities are especially notable when compared to theme park incarnation at Disney's California Adventure.

Pixar's Route 66: Cadillac Ranch

Only in America could an avant garde art experiment in the middle of the desert evolve into a background design for an animated film and its later theme park incarnation.

Cadillac Ranch was created in 1974 by artists Chip Lord, Hudson Marquez and Doug Michels, "alternative" architects collective known as the Ant Farm.  Their patron was millionaire Stanley Marsh whose land was used for the project, both initially and when it was later moved to its current location, adjacent to Interstate 40 just west of Amarillo, Texas.  In an interesting twist, visitors are encouraged to spray paint graffiti onto the upended, half buried vintage mid-20th century vehicles.

The Cadillac connection was a natural tie-in for Cars, and Pixar artists converted the design into a majestic desert landscape, the Cadillac Range, that serves as a backdrop for the town of Radiator Springs.  Disney Imagineers in turn brought it to theme park realization when they created Cars Land for Disney's California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort.

Pixar's Route 66: Glenrio, New Mexico

In Cars, when Lightning McQueen awakens in the impound lot, he briefly sees the abandoned relics of the Glenrio Motel, situated on the outskirts of Radiator Springs. The establishment's name and design were derived from the very small and now largely deserted town of Glenrio, New Mexico.

The town sits on the border of Texas and New Mexico along an old alignment of Route 66 that runs parallel to Interstate 40.  The town began as a railroad stop but quickly evolved into a highway-hugging community of businesses during the 1930s due to Route 66.  It was a popular stop for motorists through subsequent decades until being bypassed by the interstate in 1975.  It remains an intriguing destination for today's Route 66 tourists who stop to view its numerous abandoned and deteriorating structures.  In 2007, the town was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Pixar artists drew inspiration from the former Little Juarez Cafe, with its red and white colors and streamline moderne style.  They expanded the design of the small cafe to encompass an entire motor court including a rear building with individual rooms (garages). At the end of the movie, the Glenrio Motel has been converted into the Racing Museum with Mater serving as the resident tour guide.

Pixar's Route 66: The Wigwam Village Motels

Sally's Cozy Cone Motel was the place to stay in Radiator Springs.  The set piece from the Pixar animated feature Cars owes it inspiration to the now iconic Wigwam Village chain of motels that originated in the 1930s and 1940s.  There were originally seven Wigwam Villages scattered across the USA, but now only three remain. Two are located on the Mother Road--Route 66.  On our Californy or Bust road trip, we visited Wigwam Village #6 in Holbrook, Arizona. The other surviving villages are located in San Bernadino, California and Cave City, Kentucky.  All three remaining locations are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Wigwam Village was the brainchild of Frank A. Redford, who built the first one in Horse Cave, Kentucky in 1933, and patented the design for the complex. Other villages emerged over the next two decades, including locations in Alabama, New Orleans and Orlando, Florida.  Redford himself built Village #7 in Rialto in the late 1940s. Arizona motel entrepreneur Chester E. Lewis secured the rights from Redford to build his own version of the unique design, and opened Village #6 in Holbrook in 1950.

Vintage postcard of Wigwam Village #6 in Holbrook Arizona

The design of the Cozy Cone office and lobby building was influenced in many ways by the Blue Swallow Motel, located on Route 66 in Tucumari, New Mexico.  The Blue Swallow is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Pixar's Route 66: The U-Drop-Inn

Nearly eight decades ago, the U-Drop Inn opened as an oasis of sorts on the then busy Route 66 highway in the Texas panhandle.  Located in the tiny town of Shamrock near the Oklahoma-Texas border, the U-Drop Inn opened for business on April 1, 1936 and was the only cafe within one hundred miles of Shamrock.

Original owner and operator John Nunn created the design for the establishment, literally scratching it out in the dirt of a nearby motel parking area.  Texas architect J. C. Berry drew up the plans on real paper.  Seventy years later, Pixar artists would translate the art deco-inspired design into Ramone's Body Shop in the 2006 feature film Cars.

After decades of decline, the U-Drop Inn was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997, and a restoration was completed in 2003.  It currently serves as a museum, visitors center, gift shop and headquarters of the local chamber of commerce.

Pixar's Route 66

We are just one week away from the start of our epic, cross-country road trip.  For a good portion of our journey, we will be traveling along stretches of old Route 66 from Oklahoma City all the way to California.  On our companion blog Boom-Pop!, we will be Following the Joads, tracing the Route 66 journey of the Joad family, as chronicled by author John Steinbeck in his classic American novel The Grapes of Wrath.  Here at 2719 Hyperion, we will be doing some similar roadside investigating, but will instead focus on the landmarks and places that inspired many of the art designs seen in the Pixar animated feature Cars.

In the film, Lightning McQueen gets lost in the American southwest, finally surfacing in the remote little town of Radiator Springs.  He soon discovers the charms of this once thriving Route 66 community.  Pixar artists mined the Mother Road for ideas, and we will be exploring the numerous locations from which they drew their inspirations.

Our travels begin on Saturday, June 13.  We hope you'll join us as we blog our way across America and get our kicks on Pixar's Route 66!