Amboy, California

Amboy, California is a nearly empty western US small town in California's Mojave Desert roughly sixty miles (97 km) northeast of Twentynine Palms. It was once a major stop along famous Route 66 but has been seldom visited since the opening of Interstate 40 to the north in the 1970s. Amboy is famous for a genuine Route 66 landmark as well.

Roy's Motel and Cafe was and is the only gasoline, food and lodging stop for miles around that part of the eastern Mojave and was well known for both its Googie "retro-future" architecture added to one of the original buildings and even more famous sign, a 1959 addition. Both Roy's and the surrounding town were once owned by Buster Burris, one of Route 66's most famous characters who purchased Roy's from his father-in-law Roy Crowle - the man for whom the property is named - in 1938 and ran the town until 1995. Burris was also responsible for erecting power poles between Amboy and Barstow, using a crane mounted on a 1930s-vintage Studebaker truck. The town is now owned by investors Walt Wilson and Tim White.

Early history

Amboy is also one of California's oldest towns, dating from 1858 and even has a unused, unrestored one-room schoolhouse dating from the 1900's. Its growth over the years was tied to chloride works in the dry lake beds that dot the area as well as the Santa Fe Railroad over which high-speed freight trains still run between Kingman, Arizona and Santa Fe's giant Barstow yard. The chloride works rank among the world's largest.

Amboy Crater, an extinct, 10,000-year-old cinder cone made largely of pahoehoe, rises to the west. The coming of Route 66 - originally named "National Trails Highway" in the 1910's and reverted to that name after the decommissioning of 66 - saw a steady growth of business, especially at Roy's. The complex was so busy during summer vacation that Burris placed classified ads in other states in an effort to bring in enough help. The coming of Interstate 40 in the early 1970's changed all that. Burris himself told an interviewer that his business dropped to zero the day the new Interstate highway opened.

From ghost town to film location

Today, Roy's is the town's only business outside of the chloride works and post office. The cabins which were once rented to Route 66 travelers stand mostly unused. Roy's is still open for food and gasoline, but hours of operation are erratic. Gasoline is also considerably more expensive than normal at roughly thirty percent above the state average. Roy's even attracts some well-known regulars. Actors Harrison Ford and Anthony Hopkins have autographed photos on the walls of the restaurant and visit whenever their schedules allow. Ford frequently flies in and lands his plane on a nearby aircraft landing strip, one of the first ever built in California. Despite its remote location, Amboy still beckons travelers to and from the Colorado River as well as those interested in Route 66 lore. Part of the 1986 motion picture The Hitcher with Rutger Hauer was filmed in Amboy while Roy's was the setting for a recent television commercial for Qwest Communications. Owners Wilson and White maintain Amboy in weathered, unrestored condition for use as a motion picture film site.

The town has a total of 10 surviving buildings and a population of 20.

External link

• Official website with history, historic photos and rental information (http://www.rt66roys.com)
• Satellite view of Amboy (town and crater) (http://maps.google.com/maps?q=amboy,+ca&ll=34.545565,-115.766802&spn=0.067978,0.085316&t=k&hl=en)de:Amboy (Kalifornien)

Xavier Lomeli, a former resident of the nearby community of Chambless/Cadiz, attended Amboy school and served in the USAF in law enforcement and the state of California as a CHP officer. He considers the town of Amboy to be a national treasure.