Pops 66 Soda Ranch: Route 66’s Most Colorful Stop in Arcadia, Oklahoma
You can see it from miles away across the flat Oklahoma prairie: a 66-foot-tall sculpture of a soda bottle, blazing with thousands of multicolored LED lights against the open sky. It is simultaneously impossible to miss and impossible to fully explain to someone who hasn’t seen it. That bottle — technically a sign, legally speaking — is the beacon for Pops 66 Soda Ranch in Arcadia, Oklahoma, one of the most photographed, most visited, and most purely fun stops on the entire 2,448-mile length of Route 66.
Pops opened in 2007 and occupies a unique position on the Mother Road: it is one of the few Route 66 attractions that is genuinely new rather than preserved, and yet it captures the spirit of Route 66 — the irreverence, the spectacle, the joy of the open road — as well as anything built in the highway’s postwar golden age. More than 700 varieties of bottled soda line its floor-to-ceiling glass walls, arranged by color into a rainbow that stops every first-time visitor in their tracks. The diner serves hand-dipped milkshakes and classic American fare. The gas pumps keep travelers fueled. And the bottle, after dark, puts on a light show that turns the Oklahoma night into something genuinely spectacular.
This guide covers everything you need to know about Pops 66: the story behind it, the architecture that has won international awards, what to order, how to navigate the soda selection, what else to see in Arcadia, and how it fits into a broader Route 66 in Oklahoma itinerary. Whether you’re stopping for 20 minutes to grab a root beer or settling in for a full diner lunch, Pops is a Route 66 experience that lives up to every expectation.
The Story Behind Pops 66: From Oil Fortune to Oklahoma Icon
Pops 66 was the creation of Aubrey McClendon (1959–2016), the late Oklahoma oil and gas magnate who served as CEO of Chesapeake Energy Corporation. McClendon was a passionate advocate for Oklahoma and for Route 66 specifically, and his vision for the Arcadia site went far beyond a standard roadside stop. He wanted to build something that honored the tradition of Route 66 roadside spectacle while being entirely of its own era — a 21st-century roadside attraction that could stand alongside the mid-century icons of the Mother Road without merely imitating them.
He commissioned Elliott + Associates Architects, the noted Oklahoma City architecture firm led by Rand Elliott, to design the building and its landmark bottle sculpture. The design brief was explicit: create something that embodies the freedom of the open road and pays tribute to Route 66’s living history while being a destination for a new generation of explorers. The result, opened in 2007, exceeded the brief in every dimension.
McClendon named the place Pops after his father, whose nickname everyone used. The name carries exactly the right tone: warm, unpretentious, and rooted in family. It also fits the product — “pop” being the midwestern term for soda, and the name working as a gentle pun that rewards anyone who notices it.
Since opening, Pops has served approximately 475,000 visitors per year and has become one of the most recognized landmarks on the Oklahoma Route 66 corridor. Two Pops gift shop locations opened at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City in 2011, and a second full Pops location opened in Nichols Hills, Oklahoma in 2016. The Arcadia original remains the flagship — the one with the bottle, the diner, the gas pumps, and the full soda wall.
The Architecture: A Roadside Landmark Built to Last
The Pops building is, by any measure, a significant work of contemporary American architecture — one that has won multiple awards and been featured in architecture publications worldwide. Elliott + Associates designed it as an explicit tribute to the roadside vernacular of Route 66’s golden era, reinterpreted in the materials and aesthetic language of the 21st century.
The 66-Foot Soda Bottle
The centerpiece of the site is the 66-foot-tall soda bottle sculpture that stands at the entrance. Its height is a deliberate reference to Route 66 itself — a tribute built into the landmark’s dimensions. The bottle weighs four tons and is visible for miles across the flat Oklahoma landscape, functioning exactly as the great roadside giants of Route 66’s past did: as a beacon drawing travelers off the highway and into a world of their own.
Although the bottle reads as neon in the roadside tradition — the visual language of Route 66 is deeply neon — it is actually illuminated by LED lights, which allow for a full animated light show after dark. The LEDs cycle through colors and patterns, making the bottle a genuinely different experience at night than during the day. Travel tip: if your Route 66 itinerary allows, time your arrival at Pops for the late afternoon so you can experience the bottle in both daylight and illuminated modes during a single stop.
The Building: Cantilevered Steel and Glass
The Pops building itself is as striking as the bottle. The structure incorporates a cantilevered steel truss extending 100 feet over the gas pumps and parking forecourt — a dramatic engineering gesture that provides shade and shelter while appearing to float unsupported above the cars below. In the windy Oklahoma climate, the sight of that massive cantilevered roof with no visible supports is genuinely arresting.
The building’s facade is floor-to-ceiling glass, which serves two purposes simultaneously: it floods the interior with natural light, and it turns the interior soda walls into a display visible from the road and parking area. Approaching Pops, travelers see through the glass to the rainbow of bottles arranged by color inside — a visual advertisement that is also a genuine work of display art. The combination of red rock accents, raw steel, and glass gives the building an ultra-modern aesthetic that nonetheless feels at home on Route 66 precisely because Route 66 has always embraced the new and the spectacular.
The Soda Wall: 700+ Varieties and What to Choose
The heart of the Pops experience is the soda. The interior walls are lined floor to ceiling with more than 700 varieties of bottled soda, arranged by color into a spectrum that runs from deep burgundy through every shade of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple to clear. The effect on first arrival is genuinely spectacular — the wall is both a functional retail display and a piece of environmental art that stops visitors cold.
The Range: From Classic to Completely Bizarre
The Pops selection spans the full range of American soda culture, from the nostalgic to the genuinely strange. You’ll find traditional classics like cream sodas, ginger beers, and regional favorites that have been produced for over a century alongside small-batch artisan sodas from producers across the country. There are fruit-forward flavors in every configuration imaginable — watermelon, green apple, blueberry, mango, pineapple, kiwi, pomegranate, pear, and dozens more — as well as novelty flavors that exist primarily to generate conversation: ranch dressing, teriyaki beef jerky, buffalo wing, and peanut butter and jelly sodas that are as much a spectacle as a beverage.
The best-selling flavor at Pops is root beer, with more than 80 varieties available — a depth of selection that makes Pops the most comprehensive root beer destination in the American Midwest. The all-time best-selling individual soda has historically been Dublin Dr Pepper, a small-batch Texas production prized by collectors. Pops also produces its own proprietary house blend: Round Barn Root Beer, named for the famous barn just down the road and available nowhere else.
How to Choose Your Sodas
First-time visitors are often pleasantly paralyzed by the selection. The staff at Pops are well-versed in the inventory and genuinely helpful with recommendations. For the best experience:
- Start with a flavor you know and love, and find the best craft version of it. If you love root beer, the 80+ varieties make this easy and rewarding.
- Pick one genuinely strange flavor as a novelty experience. The Lesters Fixins’ Ranch Dressing Soda is a reliable crowd moment.
- Look for regional sodas that are difficult or impossible to find outside their home states. Original Green River, Cheerwine, and various Route 66-branded sodas are excellent examples.
- Build a custom six-pack with a mix of flavors to take on the road. The grab-and-go six-pack format is one of the most popular purchases at Pops and an ideal companion for the next driving segment.
- Ask them to open your bottle at purchase if you plan to drink it immediately — not all bottles have easy-open caps and the staff are happy to help.
Cold sodas are available from the large refrigerator at the western end of the building. Display bottles on the wall are not refrigerated. For anything you plan to drink on-site or within the hour, head directly to the refrigerator wall.
The Diner: Classic American Food on Route 66
Pops is more than a soda shop — it is a full-service diner that serves approximately 475,000 guests per year and holds its own as a destination meal stop on the Oklahoma Route 66 corridor. The menu leans into Route 66 diner traditions: hand-dipped milkshakes, half-pound burgers, chicken fried steak, salads, and classic American sides. Breakfast is served on Saturdays and Sundays from 7:00 AM, making Pops an ideal weekend-morning starting point for a day of Oklahoma Route 66 exploration.
The milkshakes deserve particular mention. Made with hand-dipped ice cream and served in the traditional tall glass format, they are the natural companion to the soda selection and one of the most consistently praised items on the menu. Arriving at Pops, ordering a milkshake, and sitting in a window seat looking out at the 66-foot bottle in the Oklahoma afternoon light is a Route 66 moment that earns its place alongside the great diner experiences of the Mother Road.
The diner’s interior maintains the visual language of the building: glass walls, the rainbow of soda bottles as a backdrop, and a brightness that feels both modern and timeless. For travelers arriving after a long driving segment, the combination of air conditioning, a good meal, and the visual spectacle of the interior makes Pops one of the most restorative stops on the Oklahoma corridor. See the Route 66 Diners & Restaurants guide for more classic eating stops along the Mother Road.
The Pops Experience After Dark: The LED Light Show
One of the most important and consistently underrated aspects of a Pops visit is the LED light show on the 66-foot bottle after sunset. The bottle cycles through animated color patterns that are visible for miles across the flat Oklahoma landscape and create a genuinely theatrical roadside experience that connects directly to the great neon traditions of Route 66’s mid-century golden era.
For travelers whose Route 66 itinerary has them in the Oklahoma City area in the late afternoon or early evening, timing a Pops visit to span the transition from daylight to dark rewards with two completely different visual experiences of the same place. The daylight bottle is a striking steel sculpture against the open sky. The illuminated bottle is something close to a small spectacle — the kind of landmark that travelers describe for years afterward.
The Arcadia Round Barn: Complete Your Stop at This Historic Landmark
No visit to Pops 66 is complete without a stop at the Arcadia Round Barn, located less than a minute’s drive east along Highway 66. Built in 1898 by local farmer William Harrison Odor using native bur oak boards soaked and bent into the curved form while still green, the Round Barn is the only round barn on Route 66 and one of the most photographed structures on the entire Mother Road.
The barn is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is open daily from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM with free admission. The upstairs loft — a breathtaking domed interior that the original builder achieved by bending green wood into curves — is the architectural highlight of the visit. The ground floor houses a gift shop with Route 66 memorabilia, and outdoor displays of original farm equipment surround the structure.
Together, Pops and the Round Barn create one of the best two-stop combinations on the Oklahoma Route 66 corridor: an ultra-modern 21st-century landmark and a 125-year-old hand-built agricultural masterpiece, separated by less than a mile of the Mother Road. Plan at least 90 minutes for both stops — longer if you’re lingering over your soda selection and a diner meal. See the full Arcadia Round Barn guide for complete visiting information.
Visiting Tips: Making the Most of Your Pops 66 Stop
Timing Your Visit
Pops is open seven days a week and receives visitors throughout the day, with peak crowds typically arriving between 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM on weekends. For a quieter experience with more space to browse the soda wall and take photographs, arrive in the morning when the store opens or in the late afternoon as the day trip crowds thin.
The best overall timing strategy for most Route 66 travelers: arrive in the late afternoon, browse the soda selection and have a diner meal, and then stay through sunset to watch the LED bottle light up. This single stop provides a full evening’s worth of experience and produces some of the best Route 66 photography of any Oklahoma stop.
Photography Tips
The 66-foot bottle photographs well from multiple angles and distances. The best wide shots that capture the full bottle in the Oklahoma landscape context require stepping back to the road or the far edge of the parking area. For close-up detail shots of the bottle’s form and LED elements, approach from the front forecourt. The interior soda wall — best photographed from inside, with the light coming through the glass facade — is one of the most distinctive interior shots on the Oklahoma Route 66 corridor. The after-dark bottle light show photographs best from across the highway, with a wide enough frame to capture the glow’s effect on the surrounding sky.
With Kids
Pops is one of the best family stops on the Oklahoma Route 66 corridor. Children respond immediately and enthusiastically to the bottle sculpture, the rainbow soda wall, and the novelty flavor selection. The custom six-pack format — letting each child choose their own flavors — creates a Route 66 memory that lasts. See the Route 66 with Kids Planning Guide for age-by-age pacing strategies and the best family stops across all eight states.
| Pops 66 Soda Ranch — Visitor Quick Facts | |
| Address | 660 W. Highway 66, Arcadia, OK 73007 |
| Phone | (405) 927-7677 |
| Store Hours | Daily 6:00 AM – 10:00 PM |
| Restaurant Hours | Mon–Fri 10:30 AM – 9:00 PM | Sat–Sun Breakfast 7:00–10:30 AM; Lunch/Dinner 10:30 AM – 9:00 PM |
| Website | pops66.com |
| Admission | Free to visit. Soda and food are purchased separately. |
| Gas Station | Yes — full-service fueling on-site |
| Location | Arcadia, OK — approx. 22 miles northeast of Oklahoma City, 5 miles east of Edmond, just west of the Arcadia Round Barn |
| Best Time to Visit | After dark for the LED bottle light show; morning for quiet soda browsing. Spring and fall for best weather. |
Pops 66 and the Oklahoma City Area Route 66 Corridor
Pops 66 sits approximately 22 miles northeast of downtown Oklahoma City, making it one of the most accessible major Route 66 attractions in the state for travelers approaching from the east or departing from the Oklahoma City area heading west. The Oklahoma City stretch of Route 66 itself is rich with stops: the Milk Bottle Grocery, the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum district, and the city’s vibrant Bricktown entertainment area all lie within the city proper. Pops and the Arcadia Round Barn form a natural eastern bookend to a full-day Oklahoma City Route 66 excursion.
For travelers driving the full Mother Road westbound, Pops typically falls on Day 4 or 5 of a standard itinerary, arriving from the Tulsa area and heading toward Oklahoma City. It pairs naturally with the Blue Whale of Catoosa earlier in the day (Catoosa is approximately 90 miles to the northeast near Tulsa) for a day built around Oklahoma’s greatest roadside spectacles.
The Oklahoma City area also puts travelers within easy reach of Lucille’s Historic Highway Gas Station in Hydro, one of the most evocative vintage service station stops on the Oklahoma corridor, and the full western Oklahoma lineup of classic Route 66 towns leading toward the Texas border. For the complete Oklahoma picture, see the Route 66 in Oklahoma guide.
Planning Your Route 66 Oklahoma Trip
Pops 66 works equally well as a planned destination stop, a spontaneous pull-off (the bottle is impossible to miss from the highway), or as part of a carefully sequenced Oklahoma City area day trip. For comprehensive planning resources that help you build the full Route 66 itinerary around stops like Pops, the following guides on route66travelinfo.com are the most useful starting points.
More Route 66 Travel Resources
Route 66 — Complete Travel Guide — The full overview of all 2,448 miles from Chicago to Santa Monica: history, alignments, and what to expect in every state.
Route 66 in Oklahoma — The complete guide to Oklahoma’s 400+ drivable miles, including every major attraction, town, and stop on the state’s historic corridor.
The Arcadia Round Barn on Route 66 — The 1898 National Register landmark just a minute down the road from Pops — essential pairing for any Arcadia stop.
Blue Whale of Catoosa — Oklahoma’s other great free roadside spectacle, near Tulsa. Pair it with Pops for a full-day Oklahoma Route 66 experience.
Oklahoma City on Route 66 — The city just 22 miles southwest of Pops — full day’s worth of Route 66 history, museums, and dining.
Milk Bottle Grocery — Oklahoma City — Another iconic Oklahoma City Route 66 landmark, easily combined with a Pops visit.
Lucille’s Historic Gas Station — Hydro, Oklahoma — One of the most evocative vintage service station stops on the Oklahoma corridor, west of Oklahoma City.
Route 66 Diners & Restaurants — Classic eating stops across all eight states of the Mother Road.
Best Time to Drive Route 66 — Season-by-season weather and crowd guidance for planning your Oklahoma visit.
Route 66 Road Trip Budget Guide — Pops is free to enter; soda and food are your only costs. This guide helps plan the full trip budget.
Route 66 with Kids Planning Guide — Pops is one of the best family stops on the entire route. Age-by-age strategies and top family stops across all eight states.
Maps, Apps, and Navigation — How to navigate Oklahoma’s Route 66 alignments and find every stop with confidence.
Route 66 Centennial 2026 — The 100th anniversary of Route 66’s commissioning on November 11, 2026. Visit Pops in the Centennial year and be part of history.
