Brace Yourself...

Hello Everyone,

Welcome back to Driving and Geocaching Route 66!

I last talked about the small town of Godley, Illinois. The next town I drove to was Braceville. 

Geocaching wise, there is only one cache in town, Route 66 Red Carpet Corridor - Braceville, IL (GC4A4ZH, placed by pam.monson4, 17 favorite points). Nothing difficult about the hide, but the container is neat and is why it has so many favorite points.

There aren’t any real sites to see in town, but they claim an iconic restaurant, between downtown Braceville and Gardner, as theirs; The Riviera Roadhouse Restaurant.

According to il66redcarpetcorridor.org...

....located on Rt. 53 (Old Route 66) 60 miles south of Chicago in southern Grundy County.  The Riviera reopened in 2009 after being closed nearly a year.  The Riviera burned to the ground on June 8, 2010.

The restaurant was located between the Villages of Gardner and Braceville, each a mile distant.  The beautiful Mazon River flows just alongside.  The new Mazonia Lakes State Recreation area is across the river.  Mazonia is named after the rail junction on the nearby Southern Pacific Railroad.

It was during the Great Depression in the year 1928 that the RIVIERA came into being.  South Wilmington, a nearby coal mining community was suffering economic woes, and many men were unemployed.   James Girot, a South Wilmington business man decided to build the Riviera and  put many to work.  He moved buildings from Gardner and South Wilmington and put them together to form the Riviera as it stood.

The upper floor housed the restaurant, the lower portion of the building was the tavern. This bar room was unique.  It reminded one of entering a cave.  Stalactites hanging from the ceiling and the lighting added much to the effect.

In 1933 Mr. Girot added a gasoline station to the establishment.  But that was closed many years ago. Bob and Peggy Kraft acquired the RIVIERA from the Girot family in 1972 and retired January 1, 2009.  It was then purchased by Bob Kelly and it reopened  later in 2009.  

Among the famous customers of the RIVIERA were such names as former Governors of Illinois, Horner, Green, Stevenson, Stratton, and United States Senator Irv Dirksen always made time to stop when he was in the area.  Movie greats such as Tom Mix, the western star and Gene Kelly, the dancer and actor, always stopped. Al Capone and his brother, Ralph, often came in.  They had an interest in alcohol stills in nearby Kankakee county.  

During Prohibition, a section of land just east of Gardner was known as the "Hole in the Wall".  Along the east side was a cement post that, at one time, was part of a farm gate.  In the post was a hole.  For those who desired the alcohol, "White Lightning", they had to put $1.00 in the hole, place their empty jug on the ground, drive around the section and return.  When they arrived back at the post, the money would be gone but their jug would be filled to the top.

Sadly, the Riviera burned to the ground on Tuesday, June 8, 2010.

The is a geocache located nearby, Rt 66 Riviera Roadhouse Restaurant & TB Hotel (GC3EN1J, created by ET Mayhem, 0 favorite points). I don’t know how I missed this one when I researched geocache along Route 66, so I don’t have any personal information regarding the cache, but with the pictures on the geocache website, there seems to be some fun places to explore.

The next town I explore is Gardner, Illinois...where I end up in jail.

Until then, please share this blog on your favorite social media. Also, feel free to friend me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter, @richhavlik, so you don’t miss any new blog entries.

Hope you are enjoying my journey on Route 66. 

I encourage you to experience it for yourself...soon.