The Ghost Town of Amboy

Above, Roy's Motel in 2007 with Amboy Crater in the background.  Photo by Armand Vaquer.

If you find yourself in Southern California and want to do something unusual, then take a drive out to the Mojave Desert, pick up old Route 66 (National Trails Highway) and head east to Amboy, California.

Amboy is a former mining community established in 1883 (although settled in 1858) and now a ghost town.  The town is currently owned by Albert Okura, the owner of the Juan Pollo restaurant chain.  He re-opened the gasoline station at Roy's Motel in 2008. The motel remains closed, but people are welcome to take a close look at the motel's rooms.

Above, Amboy Crater.  Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Nearby is Amboy Crater, a 6,000-year-old cinder cone volcano, made primarily of pahoehoe lava.

I visited Amboy in late 2007 while on a camping event with the Billy Holcomb Chapter of E Clampus Vitus. A plaque honoring Amboy is mounted at Roy's Motel.

Above, Armand with the ECV plaque at Roy's Motel in 2007.

The town became a ghost town then it was bypassed by the newly-opened Interstate 40 in 1973.  The best way to Amboy is take Interstate 40 eastbound from Ludlow and exit the National Trails Highway (Route 66) and go east.

Above, the empty cabin rooms of Roy's Motel in the early morning.  Photo by Armand Vaquer.