Discovering Barstow: Murals, Route 66, and Vision for the Future with Mayor Tim Silva

Howard Fox [00:00:06]:
Hello everybody, this is Howard Fox and welcome back for another episode of the Outdoor Adventure Series podcast. It is a beautiful Saturday morning and I am on literally Route 66 and I am in the city of Barstow, which is about a 2.5-hour drive from where I came from in Boulder City. And I am here with Main Street Murals, and we're going to go around today in a really cool vehicle to see the murals. But I have the real pleasure right now of introducing you to Mayor Tim Silva.

Tim Silva [00:00:41]:
Good morning, Howard. How are you?

Howard Fox [00:00:42]:
Good morning. How are you?

Tim Silva [00:00:43]:
I'm well.

Howard Fox [00:00:44]:
And so we got the wonderful accompaniment. This is a feature of having podcasts outside and on Route 66. And I want to welcome you again to the podcast. And first off, congratulations. I understand you recently were elected mayor not too long ago.

Tim Silva [00:01:02]:
In 2024, but that was after serving 4 terms as a councilman.

Howard Fox [00:01:06]:
Okay, so you have— is Barstow your, your where you were born and raised?

Tim Silva [00:01:10]:
Born and raised. I was living out of the area for about 20 years but came back permanently in 2003.

Howard Fox [00:01:15]:
Now I imagine being a part of the city council, now being the mayor, You've seen a lot change in Barstow. Right now we're celebrating our 250th anniversary of our country, the 100th anniversary of the Mother Road Route 66. Barstow has a significant story behind Route 66, but I would really love to hear from you. And you know, since you have been a councilman, now the mayor, what are some of the great I don't know, tourism happenings, the things, the events, the activities that are bringing new visitors into the community?

Tim Silva [00:01:54]:
Well, Route 66 is one of them. You'll see a lot of people post on Route 66 as we have some of the signs here on Route 66. One of the big attractions also is our Harvey House, built in 1911, but that was rebuilt after the original burned down in 19— a lot of history there. Barstow also famous for— most people don't know this, but the Goldstone, about 30 miles north of here, tracked the moon mission in 1969.

Howard Fox [00:02:18]:
Okay.

Tim Silva [00:02:19]:
Neil Armstrong said, this is one big step for men. That came down and got transmitted to Barstow.

Howard Fox [00:02:24]:
Excellent.

Tim Silva [00:02:24]:
Through the Pioneer antenna. So, okay, a lot of history here in Barstow.

Howard Fox [00:02:28]:
Excellent. Now, were you— we actually were a part of the city government when this concept of these murals came about. What was the— how was the idea kind of received when someone said, hey, let's build some— let's paint some murals around town?

Tim Silva [00:02:44]:
I've seldom heard anything negative. It's usually positive. The contract is probably even a little bit older than since I've been on council. Since 2006 is when I was first elected. It's a contract we— I don't know that anyone's ever voted no. It's always unanimous to approve it with Main Street Murals because it tells a great history of Barstow and even pre-Barstow about the whole area.

Howard Fox [00:03:09]:
Okay. When you talk about the whole area and the history of Barstow, and again, this is not a history exam for you, I don't expect you to remember every detail, but what was like the first mural, if you can recall, or one of the first murals that was actually painted and presented to the community?

Tim Silva [00:03:25]:
Yeah, Jane's gonna actually have to answer that.

Howard Fox [00:03:27]:
Okay.

Tim Silva [00:03:27]:
If you interview her later.

Howard Fox [00:03:29]:
Okay.

Tim Silva [00:03:30]:
Again, the murals pre-existed my time on council, so I, I don't know which was the first, but I'm sure probably on the tier they're gonna tour, they're going to give you that history.

Howard Fox [00:03:39]:
Okay, now I understand, I mean, you and I are standing in this very spot for a reason. So behind us is a very beautiful mural. Tell us about that.

Tim Silva [00:03:47]:
Well, the Route 66 mural, the last one we approved, and I'll again give credit to our artists. We have some great artists here in Bardstown, and this is the centennial for Route 66. I'm sure that's why you're shooting the show here today, and we have some great events coming up. October 9th and 10th, we're going to have probably close to 10,000 people here on Main Street celebrating the centennial of Route 66 USA Car Show.

Howard Fox [00:04:14]:
Okay. I'm curious, the community, I know they've— you have— they have voiced their support. In some ways, they are what I would call brand ambassadors for the community of Barstow. What are you hearing from them about When visitors come into the community, they're taking the tours, and if they were to stop you on the street, what would they be sharing with you?

Tim Silva [00:04:37]:
Well, they share a lot of my vision, which is to get more attractions here on Main Street. Main Street right here, the murals, they're going to take you up and down Main Street, which is Route 66, by the way. But we also have the Harvey House, which you can't quite see from here, but just, just over here behind you here. And it's a great walk from Main Street down First Avenue to the Harvey House. We wanna— a lot of people wanna just see attractions that get people here to stop and stay, not just pass through.

Howard Fox [00:05:06]:
Excellent. And besides the murals, Harvey House, Route 66, is there a vision for continuing to bring people into the community, whether it's starting a new business or a family moving in? I know there's some big happenings with the railroads in the near future, but As far as attracting folks into the community, what are some of the— that you're able to share, some of the visions for the future?

Tim Silva [00:05:32]:
Well, yeah, you just mentioned it big, which is Barstow International Gateway, which is a 4,500-acre inland port, really is what it is. So cargo coming up to Barstow, getting it out of the ports faster. People think they can get their goods fast now, it's going to be faster. That's, that's going to basically— what's going to bring the jobs, what's going to bring Okay.

Howard Fox [00:05:52]:
If you were to share, say, an aha moment since you have been a part of this community, part of city government, now the mayor, what has been your aha moment? Like, wow, I get to do this at this time in, in 2026 and looking forward to the future.

Tim Silva [00:06:10]:
Well, the aha for me is, is the amount of people that want to meet and talk with me.

Howard Fox [00:06:14]:
Okay.

Tim Silva [00:06:14]:
Yes, I didn't think that part through. It really amazes me that, you know, people want to meet the mayor when they come to town. I've had just groups traveling from other countries say, can we meet the mayor while we're here? But the aha that I've worked hard to bring to people is we have a lot of street projects going on right now. So if you travel off of Main Street, you're gonna probably run into some construction blocks that you have to go around.

Howard Fox [00:06:38]:
Okay.

Tim Silva [00:06:38]:
But that's something I started— council started working on right away is to get some Excellent, excellent.

Howard Fox [00:06:45]:
And if our listeners are— whether they're passing through, coming down Route 66 all the way to Santa Monica— I'm from Chicago, so I'm like the, this, at least the eastern terminus, right? Where, where should listeners go if they'd like to learn more about you and Barstow and really the great happenings in this community?

Tim Silva [00:07:05]:
They definitely need to go to the Harvey House where we have 2 museums. WARM, which is the Western Area Railroad Museum, and we have a Route 66 Museum down there.

Howard Fox [00:07:14]:
Okay.

Tim Silva [00:07:15]:
And then for more information about Barstow, we have the Mojave River Museum, which is up Barstow Road and Virginia Way.

Howard Fox [00:07:23]:
Excellent, excellent. Well, we will provide all the backlinks on our show notes on the website as well as to the Barstow website itself. And really, Mayor, I want to thank you again for taking the time to chat with us today. Thank you.

Tim Silva [00:07:36]:
All right. All right.