Amboy (California)

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Amboy
World famous: the advertising sign for Roy's Café in Amboy
World famous: the advertising sign for Roy's Café in Amboy
Location in California
Amboy (California)
Amboy
Amboy
Basic data
Foundation : 1858
State : United States
State : California
County : San Bernardino County
Coordinates : 34 ° 33 ′  N , 115 ° 45 ′  W Coordinates: 34 ° 33 ′  N , 115 ° 45 ′  W
Time zone : Pacific ( UTC − 8 / −7 )
Residents : 4 (as of 2000 )
Height : 192 m
Postal code : 92304
Area code : +1 760
FIPS : 06-01598
GNIS ID : 238579
Route 66 at Roy's.jpg
Roy's Café on Route 66

Amboy is a small desert town in the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County in the US state of California . The first settlements go back to 1858. A city was founded around 1883. Lewis Kingman, an engineer for the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad Railroad Company, designed Amboy as the first in a series of railroad stations in alphabetical order.

history

Through the National Trails Highway (1914) and in 1926 after the opening of Route 66 , which led through Amboy, the small town experienced a boom. Due to its lonely location in the middle of the Mojave Desert, Amboy was the only possibility for refueling, eating or sleeping over a long distance and thus became an important resting place for those passing through. In 1938 Roy's Cafe and Motel opened in Amboy. With its distinctive advertising sign, erected in 1959, it became a landmark on “ Mother Road ”. The Santa Fe Railroad from Kingman (Arizona) to Barstow (California) , which runs parallel to Route 66 through the desert for many miles , also contributed to Amboy's economic success . After the Great Depression in the early 1930s and during World War II , tourism in the USA fell sharply, but there were enough people passing through who needed a rest stop, a motel or a gas station. Around 1940 65 inhabitants populated the small desert town.

Amboy today

The small town lived on until 1973 when modern Interstate Highway 40 bypassed it. Since travelers were almost the only source of income, in Amboy, as in numerous other places on the old Route 66, the most important economic basis suddenly disappeared. The production of chlorine outside the village, as well as Roy's Cafe and Motel , which was able to keep changing owners, remained the only sources of income.

Most of the residents subsequently left the city. The school founded in 1900 was closed. The post office remained, however. With the nostalgia for Route 66, the place moved back into the public eye.

In 2003, the remaining seven residents tried to auction the entire place on eBay . However, the desired proceeds were not achieved. In 2005, Amboy was acquired by Albert Okura, the Japanese-born operator of the Californian restaurant chain "Juan Pollo" for $ 425,000  . According to his own statements, he tries to preserve the historical remains of the city.

At the invitation of Albert Okura, Mike "Mad Mike" Hughes built a self-constructed rocket in Amboy. The rocket took off in March 2018 and reached an altitude of 570 m. Hughes wanted to prove the flat-earth theory with the rocket test .

To the west of Amboy is the Amboy Crater, an approximately 10,000 year old, extinct volcanic cone , which consists mainly of lava rock .

Amboy as a film and photo motif

Because of its lonely location in the Mojave Desert, on one of the most beautiful sections of Route 66 , but especially because of the large advertising sign for Roy's Cafe and Motel , which is visible from afar and has become a landmark for the "Mother Road", Amboy became a frequently photographed motif.

Amboy forms the backdrop in numerous film and television productions, but also in advertising, video clips, fashion photos and calendars. Amboy was last part of a video about the new SLK-Class from Mercedes-Benz in early 2011 .

Picture gallery

  • Roy's Cafe and Motel

  • Level crossing on Route 66 at Amboy

  • Amboy's closed school

  • Chlorine production outside of Amboy

Web links

Commons : Amboy  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

swell

  1. ↑ amboyroute66.com
  2. ↑ "Mad Mike" shoots himself 570 meters into the air Spiegel Online from March 25, 2018.
  3. ↑ Mercedes-Benz.tv: Making of 'Speed ​​Date' ( Memento from June 18, 2014 in the Internet Archive )