Road Runner's Retreat Restaurant (Closed)
Cadiz, CA
Photos courtesy Brad & Lori Bristow

Here's the old Road Runner's Retreat Restaurant still standing after all of these years of being vacant on Route 66. The old sign continues to fade away in the desert sun and the roadrunner's head has fallen off as the old eatery waits patiently for another run. 11-09

Rolling along old Route 66 between Amboy and Chambless, check out the remains of Road Runner’s Retreat. The abandoned restaurant was still standing when these photos were taken in 2009, waiting patiently beside the highway for customers who stopped coming decades earlier.

The tall roadside sign was having a rough time beneath the Mojave sun. Its colors had faded, and the roadrunner’s head had fallen off somewhere along the way. Even headless, the 30-foot sign remained one of the most recognizable sights along this lonely stretch of Route 66.

Road Runner’s Retreat
Cadiz, CA
Photo courtesy Brad & Lori Bristow

Road Runner’s Retreat opened in 1962 as a 24-hour restaurant, gas station, and truck stop. Business disappeared almost overnight when Interstate 40 opened in 1973 and pulled traffic away from the old highway. The restaurant closed soon afterward, but the empty buildings and weathered sign continued to hold their ground in the desert. 11-09

UPDATE: The vacant restaurant burned to the ground in 2020, although the Standard Oil station and canopy survived. The roadrunner sign received a new head and fresh paint in 2024, followed by a complete neon restoration. On November 8, 2025, it was relit for the first time in more than 50 years, with animated lighting that makes the roadrunner appear to race across the desert once again. 09-26