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.