Photo: Wikimedia Commons — see author and license on the file page.

Rock Café

Retro roadside
In Stroud, Oklahoma
On Route 66
National Register of Historic Places

The Rock Café in Stroud, OK, is a historic restaurant on Route 66 built from local sandstone, which gave it its name. Built in 1936, it opened for business in 1939 and came back in 2009 after a fire, and its owner, Dawn Welch, inspired the character Sally Carrera in Pixar's Cars. It sits right on the old road and is one of the most rewarding meal stops in this part of Oklahoma.

What is Rock Café?

The cafe is a roadside restaurant built of sandstone gathered in the area, and that rough stone gives the place its look and its name. It stands on Route 66 in Stroud and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

It is a place to eat, not a museum, and that is what makes it special. Travelers can sit down in a building that has been feeding drivers on this road since the late 1930s.

History of Rock Café

Construction took place in 1936, and the doors opened in 1939. In 2008 a fire badly damaged the building. Historic preservationist David Burke led a long repair effort, and the cafe served customers again from May 29, 2009. While the rebuilding went on, the restaurant put together a cookbook, which came out in November 2009.

The cafe's proprietor, Dawn Welch, has long championed Route 66 in Oklahoma. The Oklahoman newspaper named her the state's Woman of the Year for 2009. She is also the real-life model for Sally Carrera, a character in Pixar's animated film Cars, so movie fans have one more reason to stop.

Visiting Rock Café: tips

The cafe sits right on the old road, so no detour is needed. Plan on about an hour for a relaxed meal. It is listed as wheelchair accessible.

The Joseph Carpenter House, a 1913 Prairie Style home, is about 0.2 miles away and worth a look from the sidewalk. The Chandler Bookstore and the Mascho Building and Public Privy, both about 12.8 miles away in Chandler, make easy next stops heading west. A motel sits less than half a mile from the cafe.