Silver Saddle Steakhouse
Tucson, AZ Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
Check out the tall roadside sign outside Silver Saddle Steakhouse in Tucson. The giant arrow is lined with roughly 600 lightbulbs, 300 on each side, creating a chasing glow that points hungry drivers toward the parking lot. 09-21
Ruben Alva and his wife took over the restaurant in 1984, beginning a family operation that continues today. The Silver Saddle became a local favorite for steaks, prime rib, and dinners that include soup and salad, cowboy beans, hot rolls, and a potato. Readers of the Arizona Daily Star voted it Tucson’s best steak in 2009.
The real show takes place at the open mesquite pit inside the dining room. Flames can reach more than 2,000 degrees, while the cooks raise and lower the heavy grill using an old buggy wheel decorated with welded horseshoes. That is quite a bit more interesting than watching someone push buttons on a kitchen oven.
The sign has become nearly as well known as the steaks. In 2023, miniature artist Jorge Ruiz recreated it for a “Signs of Community” exhibit at Tucson’s Ignite Sign Art Museum, right down to the complicated rows of bulbs.
UPDATE: Silver Saddle Steakhouse remains open and family-operated along Benson Highway. The mesquite grill is still cooking, and the towering arrow continues chasing hungry travelers toward the restaurant after dark. 08-26
Gene's Restaurant (Gone)
1360 S. 4th Ave., Yuma, AZ Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
Here’s the parking sign for Gene’s Restaurant along South Fourth Avenue in Yuma. The arrow pointed toward Chinese and American food, offering something for just about every hungry traveler coming through town on old Highway 80. 09-21
Gene’s was part of that familiar Southwestern restaurant tradition where chop suey and egg foo young shared the menu with steaks, burgers, and pie. Unfortunately, little information has survived about the owners or exactly when the restaurant opened and closed.
UPDATE: Gene’s Restaurant closed and the property became a used-car lot. After the dealership also shut down, the former restaurant sat empty for several years. The building and old sign were eventually demolished, and an O’Reilly Auto Parts store now occupies the site. 08-26
Hacienda Restaurant (Demolished)
Williams, AZ Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
Here’s the old Harvey’s Hacienda Restaurant along the western side of Route 66 in Williams. The big looping sign had plenty of Southwestern style and looked especially good welcoming travelers into town during the late 1990s. 09-21
The adjoining motel opened around the late 1940s or early 1950s. Harvey Gibbs, a local hotel operator who had managed the Thunderbird Inn, purchased it during the early 1950s and renamed the property Harvey’s Hacienda. Despite the name, it had no connection with the famous Fred Harvey Company.
A separate 144-seat restaurant was added in 1958. It reportedly came with the first commercial pizza oven in Williams, making the Hacienda something of a local pizza pioneer. The motel added another unusual feature in 1959 when its swimming pool was enclosed inside a glass structure, allowing guests to swim through the snowy northern Arizona winters.
Hacienda Restaurant
Williams, AZ Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
The complex sat near the old Norris Motel and the large wooden “Welcome to Williams, Gateway to the Grand Canyon” sign. With motels, a restaurant, gas station, swimming pool, and plenty of roadside advertising clustered together, this western entrance into town once had quite a bit going on.
UPDATE: Harvey’s Hacienda Restaurant and Motel eventually closed and fell into serious disrepair. The entire complex was demolished, and its looping roadside sign was removed. The exact year the last remnants were cleared remains uncertain. 08-26
Falcon Family Restaurant
Winslow, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
Passing through Winslow along old Route 66, the Falcon Restaurant & Lounge always seems to have a few cars out front. The tall sign advertises family dining, with a pair of arrows pointing down toward the entrance just in case hungry travelers are not quite sure where to go. The red, yellow, and blue panels make it one of those familiar Route 66 signs that looks like it has been standing beside the highway forever. 09-21
The Falcon opened on July 9, 1955, serving both Winslow residents and motorists rolling through town on Route 66. George Cheros built the restaurant after finding success with a local Coney Island hot dog stand. The Falcon was a new building rather than a converted version of that earlier business.
Cheros reportedly chose the name after spotting the word “Falcon” on a highway billboard. He later admitted that he could not remember what the billboard had actually been advertising. Apparently, the name was the only part that stuck. It sounded good enough for a roadside restaurant, and that was that.
A close-up look at the Falcon sign
Holbrook, AZ Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
Once the building was finished, Cheros turned the new restaurant over to his nephews Jim, George, and Pete Kretsedemas. The brothers ran the Falcon together for the next 43 years, keeping the place busy through the height of Route 66 travel and the years after Interstate 40 changed traffic patterns through Winslow.
Old postcards sometimes advertised the restaurant as being owned and operated by the “Demos Bros,” a shortened version of the family name that was a little easier to fit into an advertisement. Two brothers handled the cooking while the others managed the dining room and business side. It was very much a family restaurant long before those words appeared on the roadside sign.
Falcon Restaurant view from the street
Winslow, AZ Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
The location on the east side of Winslow was chosen carefully. The Falcon sat in the middle of one of the town’s busiest motel and motor-court strips, directly across the highway from a Travelodge. Travelers could check out of their motel, cross Route 66 for breakfast, and get back on the road without wasting much time.
During the busy highway years, this whole stretch of East Third Street would have been filled with motel signs, restaurant marquees, gas stations, and cars carrying families across northern Arizona. The Falcon’s arrows joined all those other signs competing for attention, pointing travelers toward coffee and a hot meal.
The parking lot sign
Winslow, AZ Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
The restaurant became known for straightforward homestyle food, including hand-formed hamburgers, homemade gravies, breakfasts, and pies. Mexican-American dishes eventually joined the traditional diner lineup. One table might be having pancakes and eggs while the next worked through a plate of enchiladas. There was a little something for just about everyone.
The sign changed slightly over the decades. Earlier panels placed more emphasis on the Falcon’s cocktail lounge, while later versions promoted family dining. The distinctive shape and downward-pointing arrows remained, continuing to guide customers toward the same front door.
UPDATE: The Falcon Restaurant remains open at 1113 East Third Street and continues serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner along Route 66. After more than 70 years, the familiar sign still stands out front, the arrows still point toward the entrance, and the parking lot still seems to stay busy. The sign out front of the door was repainted in the past year. 08-26
Silver Saddle Steakhouse
Gene's Restaurant (Gone)
Hacienda Restaurant (Demolished)
Here’s the old Harvey’s Hacienda Restaurant along the western side of Route 66 in Williams. The big looping sign had plenty of Southwestern style and looked especially good welcoming travelers into town during the late 1990s. 09-21
Hacienda Restaurant
A close-up look at the Falcon sign
Falcon Restaurant view from the street
The parking lot sign
