Joan and Kirk Bullard sit under the awning of Roy’s. The gas station and store is the only operational business in Amboy, Calif., once a desert destination on Route 66.
It’s a Friday afternoon in mid-May and a Czech biker is eating an ice cream cone at the counter of a gas station along a desolate stretch of the Mojave Desert. Outside, his entourage crowds around a towering atomic-age sign for a group photo before speeding away along Route 66.
A British couple sip hot tea, though the mercury is pushing 100 degrees. A young woman in a crop top sits cross-legged in the middle of the street while a man films her, seemingly oblivious to the traffic whizzing by. On some days, small planes land on the dirt airstrip so their occupants can grab a root beer float or chili dog.
It’s in the middle of nowhere in the desert, but you see a multitude of different types of people in Amboy,
said Kyle Okura, 31, who owns Roy’s gas station, along with the rest of the ghost town, after inheriting it from his father last year. That’s what’s so amazing. You hear stories from all different parts of the world.
Amboy has long served weary travelers – first as a railroad station, and later as a roadside attraction that’s especially popular with people touring the Mother Road, Route 66. But this slice of Americana has been beset by a series of crises that stretch back more than half a century. Most recently, heavy rains forced road closures that cut off traffic for weeks at a time, while international tourism faltered during the COVID-19 pandemic and has yet to recover.
Still, Okura thinks he can turn it around. No less than his father’s legacy is resting on it.
Inside Amboy’s deserted school
From inside, playground equipment is still visible in a desolate schoolyard. No children have passed under the now-faded sign since the school closed in 1999.
First settled as a mining camp in 1858, Amboy got its name 25 years later as an Atlantic and Pacific Railroad station – followed by Bolo, Cadiz, Danby, Essex, Fenner, Goffs, Homer, Ibis and Java, in alphabetical order to make them easier to remember.
The present-day state of Amboy
Smack in the middle of a windswept corner of the Mojave that looks like Mars, its permanent population is now zero. Its infrastructure: a smattering of vacant houses and empty outbuildings; a shuttered post office, a church with no congregants and a school with no students. Visitors can climb an extinct cinder cone volcano nearby, although they’re warned to watch out for rattlesnakes and unexploded military ordnance.
A critical historical stop on Route 66
Aside from a couple of salt mines just outside town, Roy’s is the only operational business. And the only operational portion of that is the store, stocked with cold drinks, snacks and souvenirs, and the gas station – three mechanical pumps that require an attendant to dispense fuel…
Unique experiences await visitors
Roy’s Motel and Cafe has become an attraction that’s right up there with notable national parks. Its 50-foot neon sign has become a vaunted symbol of historic Route 66; its angular standalone lobby a marvel of Googie architecture . In this paragraph, the tourists posing by Roys Motel and Cafe sign are mentioned multiple times…
Navigating modern challenges
The town’s development faces challenges due to storms damaging roads or discouraging tourism. The main road connecting Amboy to Interstate 40 was shut down for about a month earlier this year…
The team has also continued renting Amboy for film shoots to bring awareness – Olivia Rodrigo filmed part of her music documentary Driving Home 2 U there…
Pushing forward despite adversities
Kyle Okura continues pushing forward with renovations and hopeful resurgence efforts for Amboy…
Follow Us
