Butterfield Stage Co.
Holbrook, AZ
Photo by RoadsidePeek.com

Pulling into Holbrook along old Route 66, the Butterfield Stage Co. looks like just the place to stop for a big dinner. The Western roadside sign and red stagecoach perched high on the roof made the old building hard to miss. And yes, the steaks here really are good, especially for a small Route 66 town.

The building started out as the Motaurant Coffee Shop in 1927 and was expanded into the Motaurant Dining Room and Cocktail Lounge around 1947. It became the Butterfield Stage Co. Steak House during the 1970s, picking up its Old West name, saloon-like interior, and stagecoach theme.

The restaurant was named for the Butterfield Overland Mail, the stagecoach line that carried mail and passengers across the country from 1858 to 1861. Inside, dark wooden booths and little pieces of frontier history continue the theme. The menu sticks to the sort of hearty dinners expected at a roadside steakhouse, including porterhouse, ribeye, T-bone, prime rib, baked potatoes, and a traditional salad bar.

Butterfield Stage Co.
Holbrook, AZ
Photo by RoadsidePeek.com

Across the road is the vacant site of the old Chief Motel, which burned in 1975. One of its concrete walls remains standing with a large painted map of Route 66, giving travelers another reason to slow down and look around this interesting little stretch of Holbrook’s highway. 07-05

UPDATE: Butterfield Stage Co. remains open and continues serving dinner to locals and Route 66 travelers. The roadside sign survives, although the full-sized red stagecoach was removed from the roof around 2024. Whether it was scrapped or placed into storage remains unknown. 08-26

Bill Johnson's Big Apple
Phoenix, AZ
Photo by RoadsidePeek.com

Here’s a nighttime look at Bill Johnson's Big Apple along old Van Buren Street in Phoenix. The towering sign had just about everything a hungry roadside traveler could ask for. A longhorn steer watched from the top, a giant neon arrow pointed toward the parking lot, and the flashing words “LET’S EAT” got right to the point. No fancy sales pitch needed here. 07-05

Former cowboy, stuntman, and radio personality Bill Johnson opened the original Big Apple with his wife Gene in 1956. Johnson already knew how to put on a show, and the restaurant became much more than a place to order dinner. It was a full Old West experience with sawdust covering the floors, cattle decorations, artificial cows perched along the roof, and waitresses wearing six-shooters in their holsters.

Bill Johnson's Big Apple
Phoenix, AZ
Photo courtesy Elgin MacMillan

The menu matched the Western surroundings. Bill Johnson’s became known for steaks, barbecue, ribs, and hearty family dinners served in big dining rooms. It was the kind of place where children could stare at all the cowboy decorations while the adults worked their way through a steak. The restaurant eventually grew into a chain of seven locations around the Phoenix area, but this Van Buren Street spot was the original.

These photos show some of the cool personality of this place, it's like walking back in time as they haven't really made any changes to the interior or exterior. 10-05

Another neon marquee shot
Phoenix, AZ
Photo courtesy Elgin MacMillan

Bill Johnson also brought his radio career right into the restaurant. A working broadcast studio was built inside the dining room, allowing him to host live programs over KTAR while customers ate nearby. Johnson interviewed restaurant patrons, local personalities, and visiting celebrities from the unusual little studio. Dinner and a live radio show came together under the same roof.

The Big Apple became one of those familiar Phoenix places that seemed to have always been there. Families returned for birthdays and special dinners, travelers spotted the sign while cruising Van Buren, and generations grew up remembering the sawdust floors and pistol-packing waitresses. The restaurant’s Western theme may have been a little over the top, but that was part of the fun.

A shot of the entranceway
Phoenix, AZ
Photo courtesy Elgin MacMillan

Even the other Big Apple locations picked up some interesting history. When the movie Tombstone was filmed in Arizona in 1993, cast and crew members reportedly made the Mesa restaurant a regular dining stop. That meant Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, and the rest of the gang could finish a day in the Old West with dinner in another version of the Old West.

Still, it was the original Van Buren sign that really called out to the road. The bright colors, longhorn, and animated “LET’S EAT” lettering made it one of the great old Phoenix restaurant marquees. With that big arrow flashing in the night, driving past without getting hungry was not easy.

UPDATE: Bill Johnson’s original Van Buren restaurant closed on May 24, 2015, after 59 years in business. The building was demolished, and Gateway Community College paved the property for a parking lot. The old Phoenix sign was removed, with part of it reportedly rescued from a landfill and placed into storage while preservationists searched for a way to restore it. A similar sign from the former Mesa restaurant has fared better. It was restored and now flashes “LET’S EAT” once again at the Neon Garden at The Post in downtown Mesa. 08-26