Amboy, California
If Roy's motel and cafe look familiar to you, chances are you either research Route 66 a bit, or you've seen it in one of the movies or commercials that have utilized this location.
But Roy's is a real place, loved by Route 66 "roadies" and tended to, neglected and perhaps resurrected by a short string of owners.
The googie sign is iconic in its retro-future appearance. I've wanted to see it for years, so please forgive my dotage.
When I saw a photo of it years ago, I thought of one of the uniform insignias on the original Star Trek. It ranged from sunny to cloudy the day we were there, and my companions were most patient while I walked about the area for over an hour, often waiting in place for a cloud to move.
I've read the sign was added in 1959 to the business, which had existed at least since the 1930's. Finally, in this shot, I got my full sunlight.
The office, with its boomerang roofline complements the sign very well.
Set against the Bristol mountains, Roy's is the best-known landmark along the Needles to Barstow stretch of Route 66. Amboy road, which runs north from Twentynine Palms, intersects Rt66 here.
Roy's Motel and Cafe was the only gasoline, food and lodging stop for miles along this stretch of 66, and was known for good food and somewhat pricy gasoline. A mileage chart on the back of a Roy’s business card reportedly shows Needles 73 miles to the east and Barstow 78 miles to the west, so I imagine the transportation costs for pretty much anything were a bit high.
The entire town of Amboy, including Roy's, was once owned by Buster Burris, a well-known Route 66 personality. In 1938 Burris married Bessie Crowl, daughter of Amboy owner, Roy Crowl (for whom Roy's is named), and later Buster and Bessie became the owners of Amboy.
Burris ran Amboy until 1995. During the heyday of Roy's, after WWII and before I-40 opened in 1974, Roys employed up to 90 full-time employees to service its garage, gas station, motel and cafe. By many accounts it was quite the hopping place, with people lined up to eat, drink, gas up and use the facilities. Michael Wallis, author of Route 66, The Mother Road, quotes Burris as saying: "I used to think everybody in the world was driving through Amboy." Burris went on to comment that after I-40 opened "the traffic just plain stopped" on Route 66.
After the traffic slowed considerably, the unique appearance and the isolation of Roy's appealed to Hollywood and bits of several films, commercials, music videos and reportedly at least one porn movie were made here. A good portion of the 1986 film, The Hitcher, with Rutger Hauer, was shot here.
In 1995, Burris leased the entire town to investors Walt Wilson and Tim White. He eventually agreed to sell the town to them and died shortly after the sale closed in 2000; he was 92. Wilson and White used the town not so much to service tourists as to capitalize on its value as a shooting location for Hollywood. At least some Hollywood types liked Roy's; Amboy was often listed as a destination for private flights and Harrison Ford was known to have flown into town regularly for a burger at the café, which caused the café to be called in some printed accounts as the “Home of the Hundred-dollar Hamburger” due to the added cost of flying in.
But, as for the common Rt66 traveler, during this period, Roy's amassed mixed reviews; many people found the new owners quite inhospitable. Wilson and White attempted to sell Amboy in 2003, an effort that ultimately landed the town on Ebay in March of 2003 and grabbed headlines, but not the asking price of 1.9 million; the highest bid was $995,000. Their venture ultimately failed, and Bessie Burris reposessed Amboy from Wilson and White in February of 2005.
Shortly thereafter, Bessie Burris sold Amboy to Albert Okura, owner of the Juan Pollo Restaurant chain of California. He has stated his plans are to slowly restore and preserve the town.
I am hoping he is earnest, as when I was there on August 3rd of 2005, the place was showing signs of neglect and vandalism.
This door on one of the motel cabins had obviously been kicked in.
We had missed seeing Bessie Burris by three days. I am truly sorry as I'd loved to have met a woman with such a strong tie to the history of a Rt66 institution.
As for the town of Amboy, its one of California's oldest, dating from 1858; it has a one-room schoolhouse from the 1900s. Its economic life springs from a large chloride works that expoits the many area dry lake beds. I presume most of the plant's employees live elsewhere, because Amboy's population was listed as seven in 2003, and probably fell by two if Williams and White were counted in that total. Here, a BNSF mainline train speeds past Amboy's abandoned church.
Looking to the west from Roy's, Amboy crater can be seen in the distance.
Amboy Crater is an extinct 10,000-year-old cinder cone which lies within a 70 square kilometer lava field; it is 945 feet high, dates from the Holocene period and was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1973. A foot path leads to the top of the cone and I've read that, in addition to great views of the surrounding area, wildflowers can be seen from late January through March. You can see ridges of lava in the foreground.
The crater was quite the tourist attraction when Rt66 was more of a main highway. It was the only lava field on 66, except for one in New Mexico, and many a traveler climbed to the top merely so he/she could brag that they had entered a volcano. I have read several different versions of a story in which the crater was seen to be billowing an ominous smoke, triggering the evacuation of nearby Rt66 as well as stopping the Santa Fe railroad while everyone prepared for an eruption. The smoke turned out to be the result of a trash and tire fire started by kids from Barstow (in some accounts) and the hoax was uncovered.
Oh, just an odd, cool fact about Roy's for those of you into numbers: the address is 6666 Old National Trails Highway; National Old Trails Highway is also Route 66...thats 6666 Rt66...cool, huh?
For our entire July-August 2005 Rt66/I-40 trip, see:
Joplin to Amarillo
Amarillo to Holbrook
Holbrook to Winslow
La Posada
Grand Canyon
Seligman
western AZ
From the California border onward, we stayed to Route 66:
Colorado River crossing
Needles
Needles to Fenner
Fenner to Amboy
Amboy
Amboy to Barstow
Barstow
Barstow to Victorville
Victorville - California Route 66 Museum
Victorville to Rialto
Rialto Wigwam Motel
Outer Los Angeles
Los Angeles
Santa Monica Pier
Other posts concerning California:
The Future was so Cool in 1961
Goodbye, Sam's Seafood
But Roy's is a real place, loved by Route 66 "roadies" and tended to, neglected and perhaps resurrected by a short string of owners.
The googie sign is iconic in its retro-future appearance. I've wanted to see it for years, so please forgive my dotage.
When I saw a photo of it years ago, I thought of one of the uniform insignias on the original Star Trek. It ranged from sunny to cloudy the day we were there, and my companions were most patient while I walked about the area for over an hour, often waiting in place for a cloud to move.
I've read the sign was added in 1959 to the business, which had existed at least since the 1930's. Finally, in this shot, I got my full sunlight.
The office, with its boomerang roofline complements the sign very well.
Set against the Bristol mountains, Roy's is the best-known landmark along the Needles to Barstow stretch of Route 66. Amboy road, which runs north from Twentynine Palms, intersects Rt66 here.
Roy's Motel and Cafe was the only gasoline, food and lodging stop for miles along this stretch of 66, and was known for good food and somewhat pricy gasoline. A mileage chart on the back of a Roy’s business card reportedly shows Needles 73 miles to the east and Barstow 78 miles to the west, so I imagine the transportation costs for pretty much anything were a bit high.
The entire town of Amboy, including Roy's, was once owned by Buster Burris, a well-known Route 66 personality. In 1938 Burris married Bessie Crowl, daughter of Amboy owner, Roy Crowl (for whom Roy's is named), and later Buster and Bessie became the owners of Amboy.
Burris ran Amboy until 1995. During the heyday of Roy's, after WWII and before I-40 opened in 1974, Roys employed up to 90 full-time employees to service its garage, gas station, motel and cafe. By many accounts it was quite the hopping place, with people lined up to eat, drink, gas up and use the facilities. Michael Wallis, author of Route 66, The Mother Road, quotes Burris as saying: "I used to think everybody in the world was driving through Amboy." Burris went on to comment that after I-40 opened "the traffic just plain stopped" on Route 66.
After the traffic slowed considerably, the unique appearance and the isolation of Roy's appealed to Hollywood and bits of several films, commercials, music videos and reportedly at least one porn movie were made here. A good portion of the 1986 film, The Hitcher, with Rutger Hauer, was shot here.
In 1995, Burris leased the entire town to investors Walt Wilson and Tim White. He eventually agreed to sell the town to them and died shortly after the sale closed in 2000; he was 92. Wilson and White used the town not so much to service tourists as to capitalize on its value as a shooting location for Hollywood. At least some Hollywood types liked Roy's; Amboy was often listed as a destination for private flights and Harrison Ford was known to have flown into town regularly for a burger at the café, which caused the café to be called in some printed accounts as the “Home of the Hundred-dollar Hamburger” due to the added cost of flying in.
But, as for the common Rt66 traveler, during this period, Roy's amassed mixed reviews; many people found the new owners quite inhospitable. Wilson and White attempted to sell Amboy in 2003, an effort that ultimately landed the town on Ebay in March of 2003 and grabbed headlines, but not the asking price of 1.9 million; the highest bid was $995,000. Their venture ultimately failed, and Bessie Burris reposessed Amboy from Wilson and White in February of 2005.
Shortly thereafter, Bessie Burris sold Amboy to Albert Okura, owner of the Juan Pollo Restaurant chain of California. He has stated his plans are to slowly restore and preserve the town.
I am hoping he is earnest, as when I was there on August 3rd of 2005, the place was showing signs of neglect and vandalism.
This door on one of the motel cabins had obviously been kicked in.
We had missed seeing Bessie Burris by three days. I am truly sorry as I'd loved to have met a woman with such a strong tie to the history of a Rt66 institution.
As for the town of Amboy, its one of California's oldest, dating from 1858; it has a one-room schoolhouse from the 1900s. Its economic life springs from a large chloride works that expoits the many area dry lake beds. I presume most of the plant's employees live elsewhere, because Amboy's population was listed as seven in 2003, and probably fell by two if Williams and White were counted in that total. Here, a BNSF mainline train speeds past Amboy's abandoned church.
Looking to the west from Roy's, Amboy crater can be seen in the distance.
Amboy Crater is an extinct 10,000-year-old cinder cone which lies within a 70 square kilometer lava field; it is 945 feet high, dates from the Holocene period and was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1973. A foot path leads to the top of the cone and I've read that, in addition to great views of the surrounding area, wildflowers can be seen from late January through March. You can see ridges of lava in the foreground.
The crater was quite the tourist attraction when Rt66 was more of a main highway. It was the only lava field on 66, except for one in New Mexico, and many a traveler climbed to the top merely so he/she could brag that they had entered a volcano. I have read several different versions of a story in which the crater was seen to be billowing an ominous smoke, triggering the evacuation of nearby Rt66 as well as stopping the Santa Fe railroad while everyone prepared for an eruption. The smoke turned out to be the result of a trash and tire fire started by kids from Barstow (in some accounts) and the hoax was uncovered.
Oh, just an odd, cool fact about Roy's for those of you into numbers: the address is 6666 Old National Trails Highway; National Old Trails Highway is also Route 66...thats 6666 Rt66...cool, huh?
For our entire July-August 2005 Rt66/I-40 trip, see:
Joplin to Amarillo
Amarillo to Holbrook
Holbrook to Winslow
La Posada
Grand Canyon
Seligman
western AZ
From the California border onward, we stayed to Route 66:
Colorado River crossing
Needles
Needles to Fenner
Fenner to Amboy
Amboy
Amboy to Barstow
Barstow
Barstow to Victorville
Victorville - California Route 66 Museum
Victorville to Rialto
Rialto Wigwam Motel
Outer Los Angeles
Los Angeles
Santa Monica Pier
Other posts concerning California:
The Future was so Cool in 1961
Goodbye, Sam's Seafood
posted by Ace Jackalope at 11:06 AM
19 Comments:
Absolutly beautiful photography!!
I too have photographed Roy's but nothing came out like these pictures. I am inspired which is saying a lot because photos by other people usually do not do much for me, but these, excellant! Thank you for posting.
Great work...great story & photos. What a gem in the wilderness this place is. I've visited a couple of times, and find it particularly unique in that it is so iconic yet so solitary; one can visit it and not see another soul for the better part of an hour. Kind of like visiting an isolated cemetary.
I was born in 1948 and spent the first 20 years of my life in San Bernardino County.
These photos really bring back memories!
Thank you for a wonderful website.
Jim Newman
How intresting. I live in Melbourne, Australia & after watching the movie 'Cars' I was intrested in the history of Route 66. It's sad that a whole town has been deserted. It must have been very chilling & emotional even, walking through a ghost town.
I attended amboy school in the late '60's and early '70's. I was bussed in from Chambles, a small town 10 miles East of Amboy. I was there when the town just dried up as I-40 was opened. I graduated from Needles High School, joined the U.S.A.F., and spent a short stint with the C.H.P. My dream is to return to the area and enjoy the sunset of my life there.
Xavier, high desert resident
I'm an old car lover and was driving a restored 1963 Chevy pickup back from Santa Fe, NM on Route 66. At Kingman I decided to go on I-40, missing Amboy and the rest as it was getting late. This town is just like others along the way..........once bustling but now slow and almost ghostlike. I've decided that there's more to life than the interstate at 80MPH just to get there. It was so nice to just travel at 60-65 with windows down and enjoying the road before me. So great to just stop and chat with people along the way.......just how it used to be. Hey! thanks for the sight and I'm looking forward to Amboy getting back on the map. If it doesn't....I'm stopping there anyway!
Hi! I was surprised that you knew so much about Amboy. Bessie is my Great Grandma. I spent many years having Thanksgiving there with buster and Grandma. I was also pleasantly surprized that you included the old volcano, most other sites on Amboy dont include it. Thanks for all the pictures they definatly brought back lots of memories.
We hope Amboy is not truly abandoned or dead--just in limbo! Mr. Okura has tried hard to get permits, etc., but faces many obstacles in trying to bring the place up to code for electricity. Also, the RR quit delivering water to the towns along its tracks. His staff did a lot of cleanup and painting, and they provide postal service and emergency water and gas.
Amboy holds many fond memories for my family--like climbing the crater, touring the chloride co. operation, breakfast at the cafe with Buster and Bessie, and later, lunch with Walt and Henry, visiting friends who lived there, and exploring the area--so I hope these obstacles can be overcome, and Amboy could be a thriving town again!
As for "a cloride works" "exploiting" the dry lakes..there are at least 2 companies at Bristol Dry Lake. These companies do not mine other lakes in the area, as far as I know. Calcium chloride and sodium choride are useful products. The men should be commended for their hard work. It is a tough job in a harsh climate. School children and others come to the job for tours; it is a fascinating operation!
When the Amboy school was closed in the 1990's by the Needles School District, more workers left the town. It seems most families prefer the convenience of living in 29 Palms or Needles to Amboy in its present state. It's easier to commute to the job in these times, because the roads and cars are more reliable. Shopping, schools, gas, power, and water have been suspended at Amboy townsite right now. Nearby, though, there are some private homes and company housing in use.
I really enjoyed your pictures and travelogue--thank you!
Salt Miner's daughter
MR. OKURA,
THERE IS A UNIT THAT GETS WATER OUT OF THE AIR...
RUN IT AT NIGHT, A DE-HUMIDIFIER, GET A BIG COMMERCIAL MODEL & YOU CAN HAVE ENOUGH FOR AMBOY!!
Thank you for this site! We just drove through Amboy and I came home and googled to learn more. I very much appreciate your pictures, narrative, and the useful comments of others! As of today, August 6, 2008 -- the gas station was open (5.29 per gallon!), and it looked like the store and cafe were running. This is the first time we've passed through when things seemed to be open. I hope there's enough business to keep things afloat - Americana at it's finest! Thanks again.
Michelle Onsaga
Amboy's story is so amazing! Anyone know if there are any ghost stories about Amboy?
I remember coming out to Amboy as a geology student from UC Riverside in the early to mid 1980s and stopping off at Roy's for the best strawberry milk shakes in the desert. (Coupled with the best lemonade in the desert sold at the old Kelso Depot lunch stand, but that's another story.) I hope the renovation is successful and long-lived; I still bring my boys out here on Scout trips to the crater and they are always hoping to find Roy's open so they, too, can have a shake.
Just a little correction to your article, Buster married Roy's daughter "Betty". After her death he then married Bessie.
I met buster burris in 1990 on my first visit to Amboy. He was great. Sat and talked to my wife and I and told us about the glory days and gave us some tips on what to look for on route 66.
Great site, great pictures.
Is it Amboy in the rock band Saftey Suit's music video currently being featured on VH1's countdown? It looks like it but the word Roy has been erased from the sign. If you get a chance, to take a look, let me know what you think! I think the song is called Stay. Have been through Amboy many times on the way to Needles, but my old favorite desert relic is Oatman.
Great pictures. I´ll drive there someday.
Great pictures and history lesson there.
I've been through Amboy many times now. The first time was in '59 with my parents. We were going on a vacation somewhere. I remember Amboy as a very busy town with lots of big trucks there. Since I live in the southern California desert, I travel through Amboy whenever we head north.
I've met both Walt Wilson and Albert Okura because I own some very old, 1914 "top secret" military aerial photos of Amboy. My grandfather "acquired" them way back and gave them to me in the early sixties. I made them both a set of copies and Walt had them posted on his old web site a few years back. Mr. Okura said he'll have them in the cafe one day.
So the next time your traveling through there, hopefully they'll be up.
Great pictures and history lesson there.
I've been through Amboy many times now. The first time was in '59 with my parents. We were going on a vacation somewhere. I remember Amboy as a very busy town with lots of big trucks there. Since I live in the southern California desert, I travel through Amboy whenever we head north.
I've met both Walt Wilson and Albert Okura because I own some very old, 1914 "top secret" military aerial photos of Amboy. My grandfather "acquired" them way back and gave them to me in the early sixties. I made them both a set of copies and Walt had them posted on his old web site a few years back. Mr. Okura said he'll have them in the cafe one day.
So the next time your traveling through there, hopefully they'll be up.
i was 4 years old when i lived in saltus just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