Roy's Motel and Café is a

motel A motel, also known as a motor hotel, motor inn or motor lodge, is a hotel designed for motorists, usually having each room entered directly from the parking area for motor vehicles rather than through a central lobby. Entering dictionaries ...

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-ca ...

gas station A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Gasol ...

and auto repair shop, defunct for many years but now being largely restored, on the

National Trails Highway National Old Trails Road, also known as the Ocean-to-Ocean Highway, was established in 1912, and became part of the National Auto Trail system in the United States. It was long and stretched from Baltimore, Maryland (some old maps indicate Ne ...

of U.S. Route 66 in the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily i ...

town of

Amboy Amboy may refer to: Places * Amboy, Córdoba, village in Calamuchita Department, Córdoba province, Argentina United States * Amboy Crater, feature in Mojave National Preserve, California Settled U.S. places * Amboy, California * Amboy, Ge ...

San Bernardino County, California San Bernardino County (), officially the County of San Bernardino, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 2,18 ...

. The historic site is an example of roadside Mid-Century Modern

Googie architecture Googie architecture ( ) is a type of futurist architecture influenced by car culture, jets, the Atomic Age and the Space Age. It originated in Southern California from the Streamline Moderne architecture of the 1930s, and was popular in the U ...

. The entire town of Amboy – including the mostly defunct Roy's complex – is owned by and under the stewardship of a private preservationist.

History

As a Route 66 stop

In 1938, founder Roy Crowl opened Roy's as a gas and service station along U.S. Highway 66, in Amboy. At the time, Route 66 – the "Main Street of America" – was the primary east-west highway artery crossing the nation from

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

through the

Southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

. The construction of Roy's was one consequence of a Route 66 realignment through Mountain Springs Summit, bypassing Goffs to directly connect Needles and

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, and continuing west to Amboy. In the 1940s, Crowl teamed up with his son-in-law, Herman "Buster" Burris. They expanded the business to include a café, an auto repair garage, and an auto court of small cabins for overnight rental by Route 66 travelers. Buster Burris himself almost singlehandedly created the town's infrastructure, some of which remains semi-functioning today. Burris even brought power to Amboy and Roy's all the way from Barstow by erecting his own poles and wires alongside Route 66 using an old

Studebaker Studebaker was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana, with a building at 1600 Broadway, Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers ...

pickup truck A pickup truck or pickup is a light-duty truck that has an enclosed cabin, and a back end made up of a cargo bed that is enclosed by three low walls with no roof (this cargo bed back end sometimes consists of a tailgate and removable covering) ...

. Postwar business boomed as families discovered the joys of motor travel after the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

years of

tire A tire (American English) or tyre (British English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide traction on the surface over which t ...

and

gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic ...

rationing Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular ...

and new cars not being manufactured. During that time, Roy Crowl and Burris kept Roy's Garage and Café operating 24hrs – seven days a week; so busy was Roy's that Burris took out classified ads in newspapers across the country in the hope of recruiting help.Mike Anton
Breathing life into a faded desert landmark
''Los Angeles Times'', January 17, 2007. By the beginning of the 1950s, Roy's complex employed up to 70 people; the town's entire population then was 700. Some very significant aesthetic changes came to Roy's Motel and Café in 1959: the February 1 erection of the towering

neon Neon is a chemical element with the symbol Ne and atomic number 10. It is a noble gas. Neon is a colorless, odorless, inert monatomic gas under standard conditions, with about two-thirds the density of air. It was discovered (along with krypt ...

boomerang A boomerang () is a thrown tool, typically constructed with aerofoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight. A returning boomerang is designed to return to the thrower, while a non-returning b ...

sign visible for miles approaching Amboy; and the construction of the motel's new Mid-Century modern "inclined roof flying over a glassed wedge" guest reception and office theme building. These became a vital

milepost A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway line, canal or boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks; or they can give their position on the route relative to s ...

beacon and

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

refuge for more than a decade.

After Interstate 40

The 1972 opening of

Interstate 40 in California Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the United States, stretching from Barstow, California, to Wilmington, North Carolina. The segment of I-40 in California is sometimes called the Needles Freeway. It goes eas ...

, unconnected as well as a fair distance north of Amboy's section of Route 66, quite literally meant the overnight loss of business. Burris himself was quoted as saying that his business "went down to zero" the day I-40 opened. Roy Crowl died in 1977, with Buster Burris continuing the business for what comparatively few travelers now used decommissioned but scenic Route 66. Burris was known to have strong prejudices against "rowdy bikers and men with long hair" and chased off many "unacceptable patrons" at gunpoint. During Amboy's decline, Roy's Motel and Café became the town's only business besides a post office and Bristol Dry Lake's

chloride The chloride ion is the anion (negatively charged ion) Cl−. It is formed when the element chlorine (a halogen) gains an electron or when a compound such as hydrogen chloride is dissolved in water or other polar solvents. Chloride s ...

works, and continued to attract visitors including some well-known people, long after the town's overall decline.

Timothy White period

In 1995 Timothy White leased the entire town of Amboy and Roy's from Buster Burris. White was a noted New York

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographers As in other ...

, who saw value in maintaining the property in a weathered, worn condition as a

filming location A filming location is a place where some or all of a film or television series is produced, in addition to or instead of using sets constructed on a movie studio backlot or soundstage. In filmmaking, a location is any place where a film crew ...

. White contracted with his 'high school buddy' Walt Wilson to manage the property, and later completed the purchase of the whole town in February, 2000 for U.S.$710,000 from Burris. Buster Burris died later that year at age 91 on August 10, 2000. Wilson and White continued to sell gasoline, food, and Route 66

souvenir A souvenir (), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and transported home by the traveler as a ...

s at Roy's. However the operating hours were sporadic, the menu limited, the management reportedly surly to visitors, and the gasoline and water almost prohibitively expensive – due to the facility's remote location and exorbitant pricing. Reportedly a single glass of tap water in the café cost US$1.00. Timothy White offered Amboy for sale on

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became ...

in 2003, but the property remained unsold.

Restoration

The property went into foreclosure for

repossess Repossession, colloquially repo, is a " self-help" type of action, mainly in the United States, in which the party having right of ownership of the property in question takes the property back from the party having right of possession without i ...

ion in February 2005, with Timothy White and Walt Wilson relinquishing control and returning ownership of Amboy and Roy's to Bessie Burris, Buster Burris's widow. She offered all the property for sale "on the San Bernardino County courthouse steps" but no bidders showed up. With her granddaughter Bonnie Barnes helping, Bessie Burris declared the town on the market for just one March 2005 week with sale to the highest bidder that Friday at noon. The town was finally sold in May 2005, to

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban ...

preservation patron

Albert Okura Albert Okura (December 3, 1951 – January 27, 2023) was an American businessman who was the founder and CEO of the Juan Pollo restaurant chain in Southern California. He was also a philanthropist and was active in the revitalization of Historic ...

, after his pledge to Bessie Burris to restore Roy's keeping its original historic Route 66 look and feel, reopen it, and to open a new museum showcasing Amboy's history. Okura acquired the 950+/- acres including the town and Roy's Motel and Café for $425,000 in cash on May 3, 2005. Albert Okura, owner of the

Juan Pollo Juan Pollo is a Mexican-style rotisserie chicken restaurant chain headquartered in San Bernardino, California founded in 1984 by Albert Okura. Its restaurants are located mostly in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, with other loca ...

chain restaurants, faced challenges in getting basics such as electricity and water services restored and operative. Okura's restoration hurdles predominantly involved Amboy's infrastructure, most of which had been laid by Buster Burris himself and not to current building codes. Bessie Burris continued to visit and work with Albert Okura collecting

memorabilia A souvenir (), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and transported home by the traveler as a ...

for the town and Roy's until her death at 91, May 17, 2008 in nearby Wonder Valley, California. Okura has experience with

preservationist Preservationist is generally understood to mean ''historic preservationist'': one who advocates to preserve architecturally or historically significant buildings, structures, objects, or sites from demolition or degradation. Historic preservation us ...

efforts and stewardship, being the owner of the Original McDonald's in

San Bernardino, California San Bernardino (; Spanish language, Spanish for Bernardino of Siena, "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a ...

which he operates as a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and th ...

. Unlike Wilson and White who wanted to maintain Roy's and Amboy in a "weathered" condition for use as in film shoots, Okura plans to fully restore Roy's to its former glory as a "nostalgia tourist" destination, and Route 66 rest stop for travelers en route to and from

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...

scenic and recreation areas.

Reopening

The first steps, the coffee shop and

, have both been refurbished and were reopened on April 28, 2008. The Roy's Motel and Café repair, renovation, and restoration costs so far approached U.S.$100,000. While the station's

is still expensive, owing to remote delivery costs, it is below the exorbitant Wilson and White years. Albert Okura also has plans to open a Roy's Café and mini-mart at the same location, although the lack of adequate

potable water Drinking water is water that is used in drink or food preparation; potable water is water that is safe to be used as drinking water. The amount of drinking water required to maintain good health varies, and depends on physical activity level, ...

supplies has kept the café's kitchen closed. A 2013

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, K ...

campaign proposed to restore the Roy's

neon sign In the signage industry, neon signs are electric signs lighted by long luminous gas-discharge tubes that contain rarefied neon or other gases. They are the most common use for neon lighting, which was first demonstrated in a modern form in Dec ...

as part of a larger project by which a newly established Amboy Foundation of Art proposes to eventually rehabilitate the long-abandoned motel as a place in the desert where artists would be able to achieve solitude and inspiration. The motel is now closed, though it has been used as a staging ground for art exhibits.

In popular culture

Actors

Harrison Ford Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor. His films have grossed more than $5.4billion in North America and more than $9.3billion worldwide, making him the seventh-highest-grossing actor in North America. He is the recipient o ...

and

Anthony Hopkins Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins (born 31 December 1937) is a Welsh actor, director, and producer. One of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actors, he is known for his performances on the screen and stage. Hopkins has received many accolad ...

, with autographed photos on the restaurant's wall, visited when schedules allowed. Ford frequently flew in, landing his plane on the adjacent

Amboy Airfield Amboy Airfield is an abandoned airport in the area of Amboy, California, which was used primarily during World War II. The exact date of the airport's opening is undetermined even though the earliest reference to the airfield was published on Jun ...

, one of the first in California. Part of the 1986

motion picture A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

'' The Hitcher'' with

Rutger Hauer Rutger Oelsen Hauer (; 23 January 1944 – 19 July 2019) was a Dutch actor. In 1999, he was named by the Dutch public as the Best Dutch Actor of the Century. Hauer's career began in 1969 with the title role in the Dutch television series ' ...

was filmed in The Roy's Gas Bar. Both the reception area and neon sign helped establish the setting for a 1999 television commercial for

Qwest Communications Qwest Communications International, Inc. was a United States telecommunications carrier. Qwest provided local service in 14 western and midwestern U.S. states: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dako ...

. It was also used in the

Enrique Iglesias Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler (; (born 8 May 1975) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. He started his recording career in the mid-1990s on the Mexican indie label Fonovisa and became the bestselling Spanish-language act of the decade. By th ...

music video for his hit single, ''

Hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ''actor''), ''hero ...

.'' In September 1993, ''

Kalifornia ''Kalifornia'' is a 1993 American road thriller film directed by Dominic Sena, in his feature film directorial debut. It stars Brad Pitt, Juliette Lewis, David Duchovny, and Michelle Forbes. The film tells the story of a journalist (Duchovny) a ...

'' was released, starring

Brad Pitt William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. He is the recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award. ...

, which was filmed in Amboy. In 1978, Buster Burris married Bessie Van deVeer, a local

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, t ...

, who brought her love of the desert and her charm to Amboy. Roses were painted on side of the prep table in the kitchen and can be seen in the movie ''The Hitcher''. They continued to run the town together until 1995. The music video for Rock band

Queens of the Stone Age Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated QOTSA) is an American rock band formed in 1996 in Palm Desert, California. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme, who has been the only constant member throughout multiple line ...

's 2000 hit, "

The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret "The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret" is the first single from Queens of the Stone Age's second album, '' Rated R''. It was released in the summer of 2000 through Interscope Records in Europe as a standard single, and in the United States as only a ...

," features Roy's prominently. The band themselves are natives of the California desert. Roy's was described fondly as a place which

Neil Peart Neil Ellwood Peart OC (; September 12, 1952 – January 7, 2020) was a Canadian-American musician, best known as the drummer and primary lyricist of the rock band Rush. Peart earned numerous awards for his musical performances, including an ...

Rush Rush(es) may refer to: Places United States * Rush, Colorado * Rush, Kentucky * Rush, New York * Rush City, Minnesota * Rush Creek (Kishwaukee River tributary), Illinois * Rush Creek (Marin County, California), a stream * Rush Creek (Mono Cou ...

's drummer, would stay on his motorcycle journey in his book ''Ghost Rider.'' In 2008 it was used as the background of

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...

idents of "Twister". ''

Beneath the Dark ''Beneath the Dark'' is a 2010 American mystery-thriller film directed by Chad Feehan, and starring Josh Stewart, Jamie-Lynn Sigler and Chris Browning. It was originally titled ''Wake'' and was inspired by the novel ''The Shining (novel), The Sh ...

'', a 2010 American mystery-thriller film directed by Chad Feehan and starring Josh Stewart, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, and Chris Browning, was filmed primarily at Roy's. The 2010 racing video game ''

Blur Blur may refer to: Optics and images * Bokeh, the aesthetic quality of the out-of-focus parts of an image * Box blur, a graphic-art effect * Defocus aberration, blurring of an image due to incorrect focus * Gaussian blur, a graphic-art effect ...

'' featured Roy's as part of a level set in Amboy. In 2013,

Armin Van Buuren Armin Jozef Jacobus Daniël van Buuren ( , ; born 25 December 1976) is a Dutch DJ and record producer from Leiden, South Holland. Since 2001, he has hosted '' A State of Trance'' (ASOT), a weekly radio show, which is broadcast to nearly 40&n ...

filmed portions of his music video for his song, "

This Is What It Feels Like "This Is What It Feels Like" is a song by Dutch DJ and record producer Armin van Buuren, featuring Canadian singer, songwriter and former soulDecision frontman Trevor Guthrie, released in the Netherlands by Armada Music on 1 January 2013 as ...

" in Amboy. Also in 2013, producer Thomas Wise filmed a national TV commercial for Lucas Oil Products & Lucas Oil Stabilizer at Roy's Motel and Cafe, along with various other unique southern California locations. Part of the 2015 motion picture ''Southbound'' was filmed at Roy's Motel and Café. It is featured prominently in the first story, “The Way Out.” The location returns briefly in the final story, “The Way In.” A painting of the famous Roy's sign by Bob Dylan is currently being exhibited as part of 180 pieces of his in Miami. The café was a featured stop during Japanese rickshaw driver Yuji Suzuki's 2019 attempt at running the length of Route 66. A 2022 Nissan commercial, seen during the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

men's and

women's A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as " women's rights" to denote female humans rega ...

basketball tournaments, featuring various collegiate mascots, was filmed at and near the motel. In 2022 Olivia Rodrigo performed the song

Traitor Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

from her debut album

Sour The gustatory system or sense of taste is the sensory system that is partially responsible for the perception of taste (flavor). Taste is the perception produced or stimulated when a substance in the mouth reacts chemically with taste receptor ...

in this location for the documentary Olivia Rodrigo: driving home 2 u.

References

External links

Roy's: history, photos and various external links website Qwest Communications commercial filmed at Roy'sCalifornia Historic Route 66 Association websiteLucas Oil spot filmed at Roy’s by Thomas Wise, 2013
*https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1422800/ Beneath The Dark 2010] {{DEFAULTSORT:Roy's Motel And Cafe Buildings and structures on U.S. Route 66 History of the Mojave Desert region Tourist attractions along U.S. Route 66 Restaurants in California History of California Hotels established in 1938 Hotels in California Buildings and structures in San Bernardino County, California Modernist architecture in California Tourist attractions in San Bernardino County, California Retail buildings in California Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in California Gas stations on the National Register of Historic Places in California Motels in the United States National Register of Historic Places in San Bernardino County, California Restaurants on the National Register of Historic Places Transportation buildings and structures in San Bernardino County, California 1938 establishments in California