A small portion of the exhibit from The Oklahoma Route 66 Museum

A Tribute to
POP HICKS RESTAURANT
63 years in the same location on Route 66
1936-1999


"Route 66’s Oldest Operating Restaurant Burns Down Monday" - The Tri-Counties Gazette Thursday, August 5, 1999

"Pop Hicks Restaurant Burns" – The Clinton Daily News, Monday August 2, 1999

"Clinton Fire Destroys Route 66 Landmark" – The Daily Oklahoman, Tuesday, August 3, 1999

"The restaurant is a Route 66 landmark…the oldest restaurant on all of Route 66. It’s been featured many times on national TV. It’s a stop for anyone traveling on Route 66…a must stop. A lot of people all over the world are going to miss it."
– Howard Nichols, the last owner of Pop Hicks Restaurant, the day after the fire.

"It was a very popular landmark on Route 66. Last year we had 27,000 visitors…a lot of people would visit our museum and then ask, "How do we get to Pop Hicks?"
-Pat Smith, Director of the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum

"We got the first call at 8:26 a.m., but I think that it had been burning 15 to 20 minutes before that in the attic. Firemen and trucks from Weatherford, Cordell, Elk City, Burns Flat, Butler, Arapaho, and Custer City came to help."
- Wade Anders, Fire Chief Clinton Fire Department

 

The following are all digital images taken from videotape I filmed at the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum in Clinton, OK.  The only three images not from the exhibit are in the middle row, the pictures of the foundation and the two of the floor, which I videotaped after the museum, when we went back to the site.

tribute1.JPG (9227 bytes) phtribute2.JPG (24517 bytes) phtribute1.JPG (28258 bytes) phtribute6.JPG (30984 bytes) phtribute4.JPG (19981 bytes) phtribute5.JPG (30630 bytes) phtribute3.JPG (23638 bytes)
site-pophicks.JPG (7211 bytes) floor.JPG (10672 bytes) pophicks1.JPG (32543 bytes) L to R:  The foundation and the tile floor are all the physical remains of Pop Hicks Restaurant.  However, I am sure that many wonderful memories remain for those people fortunate enough to have been able to visit Pop Hicks over the years.  We wish we could have too!
tribute4.JPG (8903 bytes) Howard and Mary Nichols, the last owners of Pop Hicks Restaurant


"Pop Hicks was a Route 66 landmark and an American original.  For legions of travelers, the historic restaurant was also a must stop - a place for down home meals, and more importantly, friendly conversation.  Pop Hicks not only nourished bodies, it also nurtured souls.

We stopped at Pop Hicks every time we traveled the Mother Road.  We felt welcome day or night.  Sometimes we encountered old gents and ladies sipping coffee at the liars' table, cheerleaders celebrating a football victory, or cowboys stoking up on breakfast. Thanks to the Nichols family and all the good folks who worked there, we felt that we were at home at Pop Hicks. The people there were family.  They always will be.  We will never forget them and those special times on the road."

- Michael Wallis, Author
Route 66: The Mother Road


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This page was last updated on Wednesday, April 13, 2005