Fill Up on Nostalgia at Weir on 66

Patrick Weir fondly remembers stopping at the very filling station where his restaurant now stands—back when it was just that: a gas station. His grandparents bought property in Cuba in 1932, the same year the now-historic Mobil station was built. “I remember driving down Route 66 as a kid in two station wagons with a German shepherd and seven kids, stopping here to get gas or ice,” Weir recalls.

That building is now home to Weir on 66 (102 W. Washington St., Cuba, MO, 573-885-3004), a retro-inspired restaurant and bar. His sister opened the business in 2016 with her two children, originally naming it The FourWay, but they closed during the pandemic. Weir, an empty nester working construction in St. Louis, decided to take it over. “I had zero experience,” he says with a laugh. “My cousin even gave me a copy of Running a Restaurant for Dummies. Trust me, nobody needed it more.” Despite that, Weir made it work.

Since reopening as Weir on 66 in 2021, Weir added his own spin, redecorating with Route 66 and music memorabilia and preserving several of the station’s original features. Seven vintage number tiles, formerly used to show fuel prices, now display the address and the year 1932. Three hand-painted murals on the building’s exterior nod to Cuba’s reputation as “Route 66 Mural City,” covering the old garage bay doors. Back inside, the restaurant’s bar and kitchen sit where mechanics once worked on cars, pulling engines and changing oil.

Open year-round, Weir says he sees travelers “from every corner of this Earth,” especially between April and October. One visitor from Switzerland recently stopped in while pedaling the entire route on his bicycle. Another couple shipped a 1932 touring car from England to New York, then drove to Chicago to trace Route 66 all the way to Santa Monica.

“They [international visitors] often know more about Route 66 than most Americans,” Weir says.

 Favorite Route 66 stop: Cuba’s Wagon Wheel Motel.