Amboy, California
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Amboy is an
unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
in
San Bernardino County San Bernardino County ( ), officially the County of San Bernardino and sometimes abbreviated as S.B. County, 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 th ...
, in
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
's
Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...
, west of Needles and east of
Ludlow Ludlow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road (Great Britain), A49 road which bypasses the town. The town is near the conf ...
on historic
Route 66 U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) is one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The high ...
. It is roughly northeast of Twentynine Palms. As of 2020, the town's business district still contained a post office, a historic restaurant-motel, and a Route 66 tourist shop, all operated by the town's population of four people. As of 2024, only the gas station was open, and the population was zero.


History

Although Amboy was first settled in 1858, the town was not established until 1883. Lewis Kingman, a locating engineer for the
Atlantic and Pacific Railroad The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad was an American railroad that owned or operated two individual segments of track. One connected St. Louis, Missouri, with Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the other connected Albuquerque, New Mexico, with Needles in Southe ...
, created the town as the first of a series of alphabetical railroad stations that were to be constructed across the
Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...
. The name was probably taken from a location in the eastern United States. In 1926, Amboy became a boom town after the opening of U.S. Route 66. In 1938, Roy's Motel and Café opened and prospered due to its isolated location on the route. By 1940, Amboy's population had increased to 65. Its growth was tied not only to tourists, but also to the
Santa Fe Railroad The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at variou ...
over which freight trains still run today between
Kingman, Arizona Kingman is a city in and the county seat of Mohave County, Arizona, United States. It is named after Lewis Kingman, an engineer for the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. The population was 32,693 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Hi ...
and the
BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...
Barstow, California Barstow is a city in San Bernardino County, California, in the Mojave Desert of Southern California. Located in the Inland Empire region of California, the population was 25,415 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Barstow is an impor ...
yard. During the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
and
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, from 1929 through 1945, tourism declined nationally. But the remaining travelers' need for lodging, meals, and gasoline kept the town busy. The town remained this way until the opening of
Interstate 40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west transcontinental Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States, southeastern and Southwestern United States, southwestern portions of the United States. At a leng ...
in 1973, which bypassed Amboy. In 2024, a news report stated that the population was zero, even though one business remained open.


Geography

The town is south of the Granite Mountains,
Providence Mountains The Providence Mountains are found in the eastern Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California, U.S. The range reaches an elevation of at Edgar Peak and is home to the Mitchell Caverns Natural Preserve in the Providence Mountains State ...
, and the
Mojave National Preserve Mojave National Preserve is a United States National Preserve located in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California, US, between Interstate 15 in California, Interstate 15 and Interstate 40. The preserve was established October 31, ...
. Adjacent to the south is the landmark Amboy Crater, and beyond to the southeast the
Bullion Mountains The Bullion Mountains are located in the Mojave Desert of California southeast of the city of Barstow. The mountain range stretches for approximately 50 miles in a northwest-southeasterly direction north of Joshua Tree and Twentynine Palms. Sinc ...
. To the south is Bristol Dry Lake and the community of Cadiz, California. Amboy was once a major stop along the famous
Route 66 U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) is one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The high ...
, but has seen much lower visitation since the opening of
Interstate 40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west transcontinental Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States, southeastern and Southwestern United States, southwestern portions of the United States. At a leng ...
to the north in 1973. Amboy is home to Roy's Motel and Café, a Route 66 landmark. In 2007, the town reportedly had a total of 10 surviving buildings and a population of far fewer than the advertised 20, which, according to the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'', was approximately four. A resident interviewed in a short 2014 documentary also gave the population as four, all of whom are men. By 2024, however, the permanent resident population had declined to zero; only a single open business has kept Amboy from being declared a
ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...
.


Arts and culture


Roy's Motel and Café

Roy's Motel and Café provided gasoline, food, and lodging. It was noted for its
Googie 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 ...
"retro-future" architecture added to one of the original buildings, and its 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 Crowl, the man for whom the property is named, in 1938 and ran the town until 1995. More recently, efforts to preserve Amboy and reopen Roy's have been undertaken by businessman Albert Okura and his son Kyle Okura.


Amboy School

The former Amboy School is adjacent to Roy's; the school closed in 1999.


Media

Part of the 1986 film '' The Hitcher'' with
Rutger Hauer Rutger Oelsen Hauer (; 23 January 1944 – 19 July 2019) was a Dutch actor, with a career that spanned over 170 roles across nearly 50 years, beginning in 1969. In 1999, he was named by the Dutch public as the Best Dutch Actor of the Century. H ...
was filmed in Amboy. Roy's was 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
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 label Fonovisa where he released three Spanish albums ''Enrique Iglesias (album), Enrique ...
' music video "
Hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. The original hero type of classical epics did such thin ...
" and the film '' Live Evil''. The town's former owners Walt Wilson and Timothy White maintained Amboy in weathered, unrestored condition for use as a motion picture film site. In 1993,
Huell Howser Huell Burnley Howser (October 18, 1945 – January 7, 2013) was an American television personality, actor, producer, writer, singer, and voice artist, best known for hosting, producing, and writing ''California's Gold'' and his human interest sh ...
visited Amboy during episode 410 of ''
California's Gold ''California's Gold'' was a public television human interest program that explores the natural, cultural, and historical features of California. The series ran for 24 seasons beginning in 1991, and was produced and hosted by Huell Howser in coll ...
'' as part of his ongoing series visiting interesting areas of California. During the episode, he interviewed Buster Burris, the owner of Roy's. The episode was aired on December 3, 1993, and also showed Wonder Valley in the
Morongo Basin The Morongo Basin is an endorheic basin and valley region located in eastern San Bernardino County, in Southern California. The Morongo basin is part of the Inland Empire region, and is not considered to be the easternmost portion of the Greate ...
and the Amboy Crater.


Trivia

A fictional version of Amboy complete with Roy's Hotel and sign was part of Ivan's rig and roll map for 18 Wheels of Steel Haulin'. A racing game Blur (2010) features Amboy at some of its tracks. The heist film "They Came To Rob Las Vegas" (1968) occurs near Amboy, in the desert (which was actually filmed in Spain).


See also

* Amboy Airfield * Bristol Dry Lake *
List of ghost towns in California Ghost towns in California were caused by factors including the end of the California gold rush, the creation of new lakes, and the abandonment of formerly-used rail and motor routes. Classification Barren site * Sites no longer in exist ...


References


External links

{{authority control Populated places in the Mojave Desert Unincorporated communities in San Bernardino County, California Populated places established in 1883 Ghost towns on U.S. Route 66