It’s time for a Tulsa Route 66 icon to get a little TLC.
The "East Meets West" sculpture at Cyrus Avery Plaza is due for a cleaning and fresh coat of wax. Rhys Martin with the Tulsa Route 66 Commission said they’re also going to replace some items on the sculpture that disappeared in the eight-plus years since it was installed, like a pickaxe that used to be on the horse-drawn oilfield wagon.
"The company that originally made and installed the sculpture is still in business down in Texas. And so, provided everything’s approved through city funding, we’ll go back through the same company that originally installed it, so it’ll be just like new," Martin said.
The commission is also looking into whether the sculpture also originally included a whip on the oilfield wagon. If so, that item has also disappeared and will need to be replicated.
Maintenance will take somewhere in the neighborhood of $22,000.
Martin said he hopes people stop taking souvenirs from the sculpture.
"The plaza is monitored with cameras. And so, we’re optimistic that this is the kind of thing that is going to be happening a lot less," Martin said.
"East Meets West" is a larger-than-life bronze sculpture that depicts a Model T encountering and startling horses pulling an oilfield wagon. It marks the symbolic halfway point of Route 66.
