UNDER THE RADAR

By Heide Brandes Photographs by Efren Lopez/Route66Images

16 ROUTE Magazine ROUTE Magazine 17 hen you have a restaurant with a name like founders of J. & W. Seligman & Co. of New York, a company If your car breaks down, Route 66 Automotive and Towing “That’s what I got for my graduation present in 1978 in the Roadkill Cafe, you might expect most that helped finance the railroad lines in the area. will come to your rescue. California. I got my own catering truck. I wanted to be a part people to appreciate the quirky slogan for After Route 66 was built in 1926, Seligman became a In each of these Seligman businesses, a member of the Pope of the family business. That’s what my brothers and my sisters what it is; but some people may just take popular spot for road travelers, even after 1933 when the clan is waiting with a smile. Though the Pope family originally did with my family, so I wanted to be a part of it too.” youW seriously. highway bypassed Seligman’s Main Street to run along Chino hailed from Massachusetts and then California, they’ve Debbie served hamburgers, hotdogs, burritos and all kinds Debbie Mejia and her husband Bruce watched in disbelief Street. That didn’t stop the hordes of roadtrippers. At one created one of the most recognizable Mother Road empires of breakfast meals, and she loved it. Her family members one day as a guest sauntered into their restaurant with a dead point, in 1937, more than 500,000 out-of-state cars passed along the 2,448-mile fabled road. all had catering trucks, but in the 1980s, competition was critter in his arms. Although the Roadkill Cafe in Seligman, through the Arizona portion of Route 66. Say hello to the Pope family. picking up. Arizona, may hint that the menu is full of unfortunate animals Seligman capitalized on the popularity and teemed with “We had five trucks in the Vernon/Los Angeles area,” said that fell victim to cars on historic Route 66, the café doesn’t neon signs, roadside attractions, pithy tourist motels and In June 1963, Jim and Jean Pope loaded up their four Debbie. “[Each] of us had one. But dad wanted us all to go actually sell roadkill. But this was obviously lost on the home-cooking cafés. small children and drove from Massachusetts on the into another business together, a business that would work gentleman. However, in 1978, Seligman nearly became a ghost town east coast to sunny California to visit their parents for all of us.” “He came through the front door holding a dead, run over - as a new Interstate bypassed the community and left it on with the idea of moving west. Jim was tired of working Debbie’s parents first considered buying a ski resort in the probably several times - coyote and actually asked if we could the verge of death for nearly 10 long years. Among the many for other people, and he wanted the chance to start his own northern California/Nevada area, but they worried about [prepare] it,” Debbie said. “We all laughed and took pictures, citizens and fans who wanted to save the dusty little Arizona business, and California seemed like it had more opportunity. how to survive during the off-season slumps. Then, Debbie’s but no, we couldn’t cook it.” Mother Road stop was the Pope family, transplants who Like thousands of other travelers in the 1960s, the family brother-in-law saw a classified ad in the Orange County Northern Arizona is famous for its panoramic vistas and changed the landscape of modern-day Seligman. drove Route 66 to the California coast with sunshine dreams Register. An advertisement that seemed out of place. impossibly romantic landscapes. It is a magical part of Drive through the town of Seligman today, and you’ll see in their eyes. It was a fun but straightforward journey that “The notice was about how the OK Saloon and the Navajo America, made even more irresistible due to its almost 100- a restaurant draped in red with a sunshine yellow sign that included lots of sights and plenty of tarmac. That is until an Motel, and the other businesses were for sale. My parents, my year connection to iconic Route 66. Arizona boasts of over beckons with the dubiously curious name of the Roadkill Cafe. overnight stay at the Navajo Motel in a tiny Arizona town sister and her husband ventured back to Seligman to [take a 619 miles of America’s Main Street but there is a special 17- A giant elk statue bugles at the entrance, and inside, thousands unexpectedly altered the family’s trajectory. look], and they just fell in love with it.” mile section that truly stands out. of signed dollar bills line the rustic walls and ceiling. The menu The Navajo Motel was among the Americana-themed family In 1983, the family decided. Everyone - except for Debbie’s Just after sleepy Ash Fork, the old highway turns into offers dishes like the Funky Skunk, The Bird That Smacked businesses that thrived along the Mother Road. With its big brother Jim who married a California girl who refused to Crookton Road as it meanders toward quirky Seligman, the Curb, the Chicken that Almost Crossed the Road, and the red sign and bold white lettering, The Navajo Motel was built move - was shifting to Seligman to take over the Navajo carrying motorists through rolling hills and mesmerizing Mystery Meat. Though the menu sounds like a bad day on a by the Layman family in 1950. It was one of those motels Motel, the OK Saloon, and the grocery store. plateaus. But the scenic value of the journey is only the start. highway, visitors from around the U.S. and the globe trot to this every kid loved - not only did it have an Old West and Native Debbie’s brother Bill and his family moved into a little The real magic is waiting for you as you roll into town. restaurant in droves to sample the “roadkill” cuisine. American feel, it had a swimming pool too. apartment at the back of the motel, and her parents lived in Originally known by the Old West sounding name of Adjacent to the unconventional café, a giant neon sign “My grandparents had moved to California before I was born a tiny house right behind the venue. Debbie moved into the Prescott Junction, due to its location as a railroad stop on the advertises the Historic Route 66 Motel, and the nearby Route and my parents wanted to go out and see if they also wanted house with her parents, while her sister Dee ran the motel. Santa Fe mainline junction, Seligman would be renamed in 66 General Store and RV Park carries everything a traveler may to live there,” said Debbie, the youngest of Jim and Jean’s “In the motel, we have living quarters, so she lived there,” 1862, its new moniker in honor of Jesse Seligman, one of the need — from fresh apples to shampoo to Route 66 souvenirs. four children. “So, we took a trip in 1963 to Westminister. Of Debbie said. “We were pretty much on top of each other.” course, [back] then, they only had Route 66. What’s so bizarre The motel was a little dated and dusty with cowboy about our story is that we were meant to be here. We stopped paraphernalia, so the Pope family worked to update it. They in June of 1963, on the seventh day of the vacation, in this also modernized the little store that sold moccasins and soda small, cute little town of Seligman, and we stayed at the Navajo into a full-service grocery and hardware store. Motel. Twenty years later, we bought [it].” In 1987, Debbie’s sister Dee and their father designed the Seligman, Arizona, was a popular place for travelers to stop fabulous neon sign that lights up the desert sky today and the in the 1960s. Nestled between mountains in the east, desert name of the motel was officially changed to Historic Route 66 in the west and the Grand Canyon to the north, Seligman Motel. had always been a traveler’s pitstop. The town was originally From food trucks in Orange County, California, to the a Havasupai settlement, but developed into a stop along Roadkill Cafe in Arizona, the Pope family’s journey to “the the historic Beale’s Wagon Road. When Beale’s became the place they were meant to be” was a winding one. Today, the Mojave Road - an early route that brought American pioneers Pope family owns not only the Historic Route 66 Motel but to California after the Civil War - Seligman was one of its also the OK Saloon, the Historic Route 66 General Store and many stagecoach stations. Route 66 Automotive and Towing, as well as a campground “Being as young as I was, I don’t remember much about and storage facility. that trip, but I do remember my mom worrying about my “We not only bought the Motel from the Layman family, nana being upset with her because my brother Jim stayed we bought all of our commercial properties here on Route in one of the motel swimming pools for too long and, as 66 in Seligman from them too, plus property behind the a result, was very sunburned. Of course, my mom wanted businesses which our family have all built our homes on. We to make a good impression on her mother-in-law and my call it ‘Popeville.’ It’s truly a family business,” said Debbie. “I brother being as red as a lobster made her worry. Of course, love it here. I can’t imagine living anywhere else. Seligman is my parents fell in love with the California sunny weather. We our home.” had family there. So, a year later in 1964, we moved [there] But in truth, it wasn’t always that way. and I grew up in Orange County.” In 1983, when the California family made the new On that fateful trip in 1963, when the Popes stayed in big move, Debbie was 23 with two young children. the Navajo Motel, Seligman was a hopping little town Her son Michael was six months old and her daughter that raked in the visitors with its Route 66 attractions Heather was two. That was a lot of responsibility for someone and western spirit. But Jim and Jean Pope didn’t picture so young, even with family support. To make matters more themselves living there at the time. Instead, they invested difficult, shortly after moving to Seligman, Debbie’s then in food trucks in California, long before food trucks were husband made a decision to move back to California and the Outside of the Roadkill Cafe. popular. two divorced.

18 ROUTE Magazine ROUTE Magazine 19 “So here I was with my mom motels, eating in restaurants, shopping in Seligman stores or softball, and Debbie’s daughter Heather was on the team. I and dad and two little babies, patronizing bars anymore. asked her if she wanted to get a Coke. So, we drove around, you know. It was different from “Tax dollars were gone from our school and the people and just went and had a soda and stuff. The rest is history.” California, and the shock factor hit of Seligman knew that they had to do something, and that The two began getting pretty friendly. One afternoon, me. There were no red lights in this they did, by coming together with the Kingman Chamber Heather came home from school with a question for her town. There were no franchises, of Commerce to have 158 miles of Old Route 66 named mother. “Mom, are you dating my baseball coach?” there were no McDonald’s. There a historical highway,” said Debbie. “Seligman survived the “I asked her if that would be a problem. Heather was real was no just running to the grocery I978 Interstate 40 bypass and they were going to survive the little, and she wasn’t too happy when she came home and store,” Debbie said. But one thing railroad leaving as well.” thought that that was the reason she got to play on the team,” did appeal to the young mother Everyone agreed that tourism was the only way to keep the Debbie said. about the area; she was fascinated town alive. Jim and Jean were the first to change the names But the love affair lasted, and the two married on November with cowboy life. And with the of their businesses in town, renaming the Navajo Motel to 26, 1994. Diamond A Ranch made up of the Historic Route 66 Motel, with a beautiful neon sign. But “It is my love for Route 66 that I believe bonds me to Bruce, over a million acres, with no back others followed. It was time for a fresh rebranding. because in 1949, Bruce was born on Route 66 in Ash Fork fence as it leads into the Grand The Northern Arizona Campground Store was renamed as in a house that is still standing. I joke and tell people that I Canyon, just north of Seligman, the “Historic Route 66 General Store.” first saw Bruce in 1963. I say he was playing in his front yard Debbie had some considerable “Dad also had our Texaco gas pumps moved from our as a little boy when we drove Route 66 on vacation from opportunities to experience this service station that is located next to the store, to the front of Massachusetts to California,” Debbie said. fading lifestyle. the store. Dad said that it would help to bring people into the “I loved listening to their stories store, and he was right. People like to stop for gas and buy a Today, the Pope family also owns the Route 66 as they sat in the saloon while I was soda pop at the same time.” General Store, and Debbie’s son Michael acts as bartending. I loved the way they Soon, other businesses were making changes. Some changed shopkeeper. Her brother Bill still takes care of the tow truck dressed, and I was lucky enough the names of their businesses and the little gift shops changed and service station and his daughter Nicole runs the Motel. to make some of them my friends. up their merchandise from selling cowboy hats, moccasins and The OK Saloon, filled with rowdy cowboys from They would sometimes take me Southwest items to selling Route 66 signs, shirts, magnets, coffee neighboring ranches and the former railroad workers, was horseback riding and out to the cups and anything else that said or had to do with Route 66. transformed into the Roadkill Cafe. camps.” Even before the Association began in 1987, Seligman hosted When Jean and Jim expanded the OK Saloon into the Seligman was also the halfway a big car show every May called the Fun Run. Vintage cars Roadkill 66 Cafe with its signature buzzard logo, Debbie’s stop for the railroad between lined the street, nestled up against more modern vehicles, sister-in-law Janet left the general store to run the restaurant. Needles, California, and Gallup, Debbie busy in the giftshop. showing off their classic style. And despite the sluggish A few years later, Debbie also left the store to open a gift shop New Mexico. This meant that the economy, the event still attracted plenty of fans. at the café. railroad crew traveling west and the crew traveling east would decade, the town was on its deathbed. Stores and restaurants “All these old cars and new cars and whatever else you “The Roadkill Buzzard was created for us in 1997 by stop in Seligman. Crews would then switch trains and head faltered, and the once heavy stream of cars and visitors wanted to put in would line up here in Seligman and then a very dear family friend. ‘Route 66 Ron,’” Debbie said. back to their original location. slowed to a trickle. travel west to stop in places like Peach Springs and Hackberry “Sadly Ron passed away a few years ago, but his daughter “Usually the crew would have some kind of layover in In 1987, the people of Seligman took matters in their and the little towns west of us,” said Debbie. Cindy still is one of my favorite Route 66 vendors. She Seligman, so hanging out at the local saloon playing pool own hands. The residents, including the now famous Angel The starting point for the Fun Run was in Seligman, and the creates and makes many of my specialty Roadkill signs, and shuffleboard is what they did,” Debbie said. “All this was Delgadillo, convinced the State of Arizona to make Route town hosted a pageant during the event. One girl from every patches, hats, bumper stickers and coffee cups. She also very fascinating to me. I truly thought I would love living in 66 a historic highway and asked that exit signs on the new town along the Fun Run route competed to be the Route 66 provides many Route 66 products we carry in our General a small town, but being only 23 years old, I was homesick interstate highlight Seligman as the “Birthplace of Historic Fun Run Queen. The winner would promote the new Route Store. We wanted a name that would grab people’s [quickly]. I was a city girl from southern California, and I Route 66.” At the same time, Angel and his brother Juan 66 Association and partnering locations to tourists and others. attention, and it certainly did.” missed the beach terribly.” created the Route 66 Association of Arizona and began to Grassroots efforts were the backbone of reviving the withering Soon, the Cafe was a “must-stop” for anyone traveling In 1983, just a few months after moving to Arizona, this unite their once thriving community. towns along Route 66 in Arizona. Route 66. Its reputation became famous based on its extensive longing caused Debbie to pick up and head back to California In fact, the town’s efforts to save itself became one of the Along the way, Debbie fell in love. menu with quirky and quaint named dishes. Visitors can even herself, but after a short spell, she realized that the Golden inspirations for Pixar’s animated movie “Cars,” and Seligman contribute their own signed memorial bill to be displayed in State just wasn’t home anymore. served as the inspiration for Radiator Springs, a little Route In 1991, an Arizona Department of Transportation the gift shop. “I came back to Seligman where my whole family was,” she 66 town that had to fight for its survival after being bypassed supervisor named Bruce Mejia was surveying around From the looks of it, thousands have. said. And she decided to make a go of it. by the roaring motorway. The people of Seligman joined Interstate 40 and the new Historic Route 66 when he “A lot of people traveling visit again and again, and they together and actively sought to protect their future. found himself in Seligman. always want to see their dollars,” Debbie said. “Back in the Though hundreds of thousands of cars once passed “I ran the businesses, but my parents went to the meetings Mejia grew up on Route 66 in Ash Fork and was himself day, the cowboys would leave a dollar in advance when they through Seligman to get to and from the west and things like that. It was pretty much a handful of those a true Route 66 resident. As a worker for the Arizona got paid.” coast, the opening of Interstate 40 in the late 1970s people who were business owners and they all decided that Department of Transportation, Mejia saw how the small On any given day, hordes of Route 66 devotees/pilgrims threatened to kill Seligman’s economy. The new highway they were going to get together and be on-board,” Debbie towns suffered. He remembers the mid-1970s when he from all over the world, armed with cameras, especially the ran just a mile south of town, but that one mile could have said. “They started going to the Association meetings in and his ADOT crew were told to remove all of the advertising Harley Davidson riding types, take selfies aimed at the stuffed been an ocean for all the cars that suddenly bypassed the Kingman, which is 75 miles west of us.” billboards that lined Route 66 as part of an amendment elk propped up outside the Roadkill Cafe’s entrance. once-thriving Route 66 stop. With people mobilized and excited, Seligman had a new to former president Lyndon Johnson’s Highway Plenty of celebrities have stopped in as well. The stars of In the words of one resident, Angel Delgadillo, “We knew lease on life and the determined Pope family looked forward, Beautification Act. the shows Pawn Stars, Storage Wars and Orange County that this was going to take place, but we did not know how resolute that their plans would lead to a windfall of tourism To this day, no billboards are permitted to advertise business Choppers have all made appearances, as have other devastating this was going to be. When they opened I-40, this dollars. It took time, and even after the Route 66 Association along that stretch of highway. recognizable names. town died for 10 long years. At first, I was very sad. Then I was formed, business continued to struggle. While enjoying his time in Seligman, he met a pretty woman “Ozzy Osbourne and the baseball player Darryl Strawberry got very angry at my government. We didn’t have the money The railroad’s absence left Seligman with a great deal of named Debbie at the then-OK Saloon. That pretty woman have been in,” Debbie said. “There’s been a lot of celebrities, to leave so we had to stay and fight.” hardship, due to the fact that it had provided decades of really sparked his interest. and they’ve always been down to earth. John Ellway played Then the Santa Fe Railroad closed in the mid-1980s, major financial support for the town. All of the businesses “We were playing shuffleboard together,” Mejia said. “I’d pool with a bunch of customers. He also signed a bunch of and the double blows nearly killed the community. For a in Seligman suffered. The railroaders were not staying in the been in the OK Saloon before. I coached little league girls’ Beanie Babies.”

20 ROUTE Magazine ROUTE Magazine 21 kids, my grandkids and my brother’s grandkids. They’ll come in and they’ll bus tables, and the littlest ones are in my gift shop where they go around and ask people if they’d like a sample of candy. I used to give them the duster, but once we started letting people taste the candies, my grandson decided that’s what he wants to do.” But not everyone is still involved. “My dad passed in 2004 and we lost mom in 2016. But they got to see this kind of small empire they built.” True to the spirit of Route 66, the Roadkill Cafe welcomes all, even in the harshest of time. Northern Arizona frequently gets hit by snowstorms during the winter months that can close highways and leave travelers stranded. “When somebody is stuck The Pope clan. in a small town, they realize that small town people are For Heather, growing up in Seligman was picture perfect. very warm and welcoming,” Debbie said. She played softball and camped with friends in the wild places “Thanksgiving weekend in 2019, there was a terrible storm around town. The kids threw bonfire parties on the weekend. here that closed the highways. Only a few of my Roadkill She also worked at the general store. employees could make it into work, but I had to open because “Grandma made sure we knew how to work. She’d make us people stuck all night were hungry and cold.” count change. We all knew how to do all that,” said Heather. Some people were stuck in snow while others ran out of gas. Williams, Arizona has something for everyone. “My kid is the same way. He’s been working here since he was “They needed a place to get warm. Myself and my husband eight. He goes to school at North Arizona University now, but Bruce, one of my waitresses and a prep cook were the only Plan a visit and see why visitors have fallen in love with Williams. he comes in the summer and he started busing tables when he ones who could make it to the Roadkill to open our doors was eight.” and help people get out of the weather.” Debbie’s son Michael also pitched in as a kid. Before he “We didn’t make a lot of money that day in the Roadkill ROUTE 66 HIKING RODEOS WILDLIFE took over the general store, he cooked at the Roadkill Cafe. due to the limited staff, but we dang sure made a lot of “I just loved cooking with grandma. We learned so much friends.” ExperienceWilliams.com (928) 635-4061 from her because it was her way or the highway,” Michael said. For the Pope/Mejia family, staying together and offering that • Heather was always a homebody. After graduating high hospitality are what has made them so successful on America’s school in 1999, she moved to Prescott, for college. She stayed historic highway. in the dorms there for two days, before coming home and “Having my family together makes life nice,” Debbie said. commuting to college every day. “We know that things will keep on going into the next “My grandparents helped me get a house right next door to generation and keep on growing. This is our home and our my mom. I actually loved Seligman. I met my husband and I community.” moved to Phoenix for a year and I hated life [there].” As for the Roadkill Cafe, wild animals still make their way So, Heather and her husband Mike Ramirez returned home. through the door at times. Mike started his own heating and cooling business while “On Sunday night after going to bed, I received a phone call Heather keeps the books for Pope Enterprises. from our Roadkill evening supervisor. Our cook was taking The family was back together again. out the trash and a skunk ran in the restaurant and was hiding behind our piano in the dining room,” Debbie said. The Roadkill Cafe started small but has expanded “The Roadkill was closed, thank goodness, so Bruce and over the years as it cultivates more and more I went over and coaxed the little fella out without incident - popularity. All the Pope businesses continue to grow, as and no smell.” does the family itself. And, no, they didn’t cook him! “We are in our fourth generation of family in these businesses,” Debbie said. “That’s counting my brother’s

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