Amboy, CA is for most practical purposes a ghost town.
Amboy is situated some 30 miles east from Ludlow, about 80 km west from Needles, and about 50 miles north of Twentynine Palms. Amboy is in the Mojave desert.
Amboy has 4 main attractions from a tourist point of view:
- Route 66: Historic Route 66 runs through Amboy and did so from 1926 to 1974. Route 66 attracts many, also foreign, visitors.
- Roy's Cafe: Roy's is a landmark on the above Route and attracts many photographers and visitors. Part of the lure is the huge sign.
- Amboy crater: An intact volcanic crater that went dormant about 600 years ago. The crater is a not to be underestimated walk in the desert from a rest area.
- Railroad: Amboy has a level crossing of the rails and the line allows speeds up to 70 MPH. Railroad photographers enjoy the ability to park and get close to the rails.
From an industrial point of view Amboy has a bit south of it chloride works where salt is extracted from the dry lake. This was the reason for Amboy to be founded in the first place.
Water, food, gas, all had to be brought in by train. Amboy used to be a train stop on the Railroad and had a small depot.
Amboy also features two runways just west of Roy's. It was listed in the past as both a municipal airport as well as a private one. The airport was on airfield maps of 1927 already, but the date of construction is unknown. In 1927 it was 1750 feet long, by 1929 it was 2640 feet long. After the second world war it was known as "CONN" and described with a 2700 feet long runway. The filed got renamed to "ROY" and by the 1960's the runway was 3700 feet long. The second runway (2000 feet long and extending west) has very little descriptions.
