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Yucca

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On the 1950s Route 66 in Arizona

Yucca is a small town located on the 1950s alignment of Route 66 between Kingman and Topock in Arizona.

There are several classic sights the Honolulu Club, an Old Gas Station, the Site of the Desert Star motel, the kitschy Area 66 UFO museum and sphere and the Truck on a Pole.

Plus former Route 66 motels: Joshua Motel & Café and Whiting Bros. Motel and Gas Station signs.

For those who enjoy the outdoors, Lake Havasu State Park is quite close to Yucca and its resort Lake Havasu City.

Enjoy your road trip along the 1950s alignment of Route66 in Yucca AZ.

1952 US 66 in Arizona
< West - Topock ¦ Yucca ¦ Kingman - East >

The 1926-52 alignment of Route 66 at Topock

< Head West
Needles (California) ¦ Topock ¦ Oatman

Head East >
Kingman ¦ Antares ¦ Hackberry

Route 66 Road Trip in Yucca:

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About Yucca, Arizona

Trivia, facts, and useful information

Elevation: 1,084 ft. (332 m). Population: 61 (2020).
Time zone: Mountain (MST): UTC minus 7 hours. Summer (DST) no DST⁄ PDT (UTC-7).

Yucca is a community located on Interstate 40, Mohave County, Arizona, between Kingman and Topock.

The name Yucca

It was named after the Mojave yucca or Spanish dagger, Yuca mohaviensis or Yuca schidigera, because many grew in the area.

This is a native plant that lives in the deserts of southwestern USA. It is a tree that can reach a height of 15 ft (5 m), it has sharp bayonet-like leaves, and white flowers.

yuca growing in the desert
Yuca growing in the desert.

Yucca's History

Arizona has been inhabited for more than 10,000 years. The historic Native American people lived close to water sources, like the Patayan people along the Colorado River.

The Patayan groups,Havasupai and Hualapai people grew squash, corn and beans using irrigation.

After the conquest of Mexico, Spain claimed the territory of Arizona as part of their New Mexico province, but they didn't settle there.

In 1821 Mexico won its independence from Spain and incorporated this territory, but lost in after the 1846-48 war with the U.S.

In 1850s, the U.S. commissioned Capt. Lorenzo Sitgreaves and Lt. Edward "Ned" Fitzgerald Beale to explore and survey the territory.

The Atlantic & Pacific Railroad, later renamed as the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, arrived in the early 1880s, establishing a station named Yucca.

The post office opened in 1905. The Railroad linked it to the north with Kingman (with the sations of Athos, Kaster, Drake, Hancock, and McConnico), to the west, were the stations of Haviland, Franconia, Powel and Topock, followed by the Colorado River and California.

The railroad followed the relatively flat ground of the Sacramento Valley lying between the Black Mountains to the west and the Hualapai Mountains to the east.

A book published in 1915 says that it had a population of 138 at that time, and that "The railway company sank a well 1,004 feet deep at Yucca some years ago which yields a supply of excellent water rising within 104 feet of the surface."

See this old map from 1915, with the railroad and Yucca.

As the automobile became more popular in the early 1900s, the National Old Trails Highway (N.O.T.) was built aligned along the railroad. It reached the area around 1914. This was known as the "Valley cut-off" highway, and is recorded as such on contemporary postcards.

A second N.O.T. highway took a more steep and winding rout through the gold-mining area of Oatman, further north.

When US highway 66 was created in 1926 it followed the N.O.T. highway west of Topock and east of McConnico, but bypassed the section that included Yucca. The route followed the steep and winding alignment across the Black Mountains through Oatman.

During World War II, the U.S. Army built a training airfield in Yucca that was later purchased by Ford Motor Co. as a proving ground.

The mines became exhausted in the late 1940s, and the Route 66 alignment through Sitgreaves Pass and Oatman was replaced by a new one, that ran along level ground, through Yucca.

US 66 brought travelers and tourists to town, and many cafes, motels and gas stations sprung up.

When interstate 40 was built, it followed this alignment, running together with US 66 until the former was decertified in the 1980s.

As it cut through the town, the local business dwindled, with tourists preferring to stop at neighboring Kingman or Needles.

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Hotels and Motels in Yucca

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More Accommodation near Yucca on Route 66

Find more lodging & accommodation close to Yucca. There are plenty of lodging options in the cities and towns along Route 66; click on the links below to find your accommodation in these towns:

Heading East In Arizona

Colorado River: Resorts

Heading West In California

You are so close to Las Vegas!

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Grand Canyon Hotels

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Book your hotel nearby, in Needles

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>> Check out the RV campground in neighboring Topock

Yucca's Weather

Route 66 in Yucca; location map

Location of Yucca on Route 66

Yucca has a hot desert climate. Summers are very hot, and winters are cool.

The average lows in January are 30 to 45°F (-1.1 to 7.2°C). The July the highs can exceed 110°F (43°C).

Hardly any snow falls in winter. Summer is the rainy season, but rain is scarce not more than 4 in. or 10 cm in the rainy months.

This is not a tornado area. Read more about: the risk of Tornadoes on Route66.

Map of US 66 in Yucca

1971 map of US highway 66 Kingman to Topock AZ

Thumbnail of the 1971 Arizona highway map. Credits
Click on thumbnail map to enlarge

When Route 66 was established in 1926 it ran further north, from Kingman to Oatman across the Black Mountains and then south to Topock.

Across Sacramento Valley

West of Kingman and to the east of the mountains lies the Sacramento Valley. An intermittent stream (Sacaramento Wash) flows occasionally along its sandy bottom meeting the Colorado River at the Topock marsh area.

The railroad back in the 1880s opted for this more-level route to reach California.

In 1952, Route 66 was realigned, bypassing Oatman and avoiding the dangerous winding course across the mountains. Instead it ran along level ground close to the railroad, to Kingman through Yucca (see map).

Interstate 40 advancing eastwards from California crossed the Colorado River in 1966 and replaced U.S. 66 in this area. T While Route 66 followed the other course, across the Black Mountains to Oatman.

See this Map of Route 66 through Yucca.

This was the last alignment and was used between 1952 and 1979 between Kingman and Topock. It was safer, had four lanes and hardly any grades.

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation (or AASHTO) decided to move the western terminus of Route 66 eastwards.

On June 29, 1979 the AASHTO moved the "end point" from Needles CA eastwards, across most of arizona Arizona, to Sanders, close to its border with New Mexico, to its junction with U.S. 191.

Getting to Yucca

To the north lies Kingman (25 mi.), and to the west is Topock (25 mi), and crossing the Colorado River, in California, Needles (39 mi).

The Route 66 alignment in Yucca

Visit our pages with old maps and plenty of maps and information about US 66's alignments:

Route 66 landmarks & attractions

Sights in Yucca

This is a short tour through Yucca from east to west (or north to south). Coming from Kingman, leave the freeway at Exit 26 and take the Frontage Rd. towards the south.

The Honolulu Club

South 6th St. and Frontage Rd. The Honolulu Club opened in Oatman, on the original Route 66 alignment.

It was a bar, dancing spot, garage and gas station. Below is a 1933 photograph of the Honolulu Club on Route 66 in Oatman

black and white picture of a club on a corner
1933 photo showing the Honolulu Club, Oatman, Arizona.

When the highway was realigned to the south, through Yucca, in the early 1950s, the club relocated in Yucca. The building with its signs is still standing, but it is permanently closed. Below is a photo from 2007, when it was still open:

single story gable roof concrete block building, the Honolulu Club in 2007, Yucca, OldRoute 66, Arizona
2007 photo showing the Honolulu Club, Yuca, Arizona. . Click for street view

Water Tank

Just ahead, to your left, is a water tank with the words "YUCCA EST. 1883" written on it.

Site of the Desert Star Motel (gone)

Between 4th Ave and 3rd Ave, to your right is the site of the former Desert Star Motel. Only the foundations survive. It was torn down a few years ago.

It was an eight-room motel built in the 1950s. You can see photos showing what it looked like, and how it decayed in our Our Facebook Post on the Desert Star Motel.

color postcard gable roof single floor motel, cars and neon sign in the 1950s

Desert Star motel postcard Credits.

building in ruins, sand and bushes

Desert Star motel before it was razed in 2014. Credits. Click for street view

Old Gas Station

On the southwestern side of town, just passing W 12435 St. are the remains of an abandonded gast station.

The pump island can be seen, under the box-shaped canopy, a relic from long gone times.

old gas station, flat canopy and two 1940s cars on a 20-foot container
Old gas station on US 66, Yucca AZ. Click for street view

Just ahead, turn left along Cal-Ari Dr. cross the interstate and turn right (south) towards the geodesic sphere along Alamo Rd.

Area 66

12716 Alamo Rd. Area 66 has a history dating back to the 1970s. It claims to be the "only geodesic sphere elevated off the ground by a single pole in the world."

Inside the 40 foot diameteer sphere is a museum dedicated to UFOs (such as the 1953 Kingman UFO) and a gift shop.

a geodesic dome with snow
The geodesic dome at Area66

See this Street View of the sphere and signage on the frontage Rd.

It has been called "Dinosphere" (actually it was a "dine sphere"), "Arizona Death Star", "Golf Ball House", and now "Area 66", a pun towards New Mexico's Area 51.

The sphere was built as a night club that was part of a scam real-estate project, the "Lake Havasu Estates".

The land was sold to gullible investors as part of Lake Havasu City (40 miles to the south, by a lakeside), but the 10,000 acres of desert in Yucca only had cactus.

Truck mounted on the top of a steel pole

Truck on a Pole, Yucca AZ. Click for street view

A New York Times article published in 1972, mentions the sphere as follows "a big gold geodesic "dine sphere" that has never opened for dining."

Retrace your steps heading north along Alamo Rd. and continue as it becomes the Frontage Rd.

Truck on a Pole

To your right, at 12366 Frontage Rd.
You can't help seeing a slender pole roughly 25 ft. high (7.5 m) with a white colored Kenworth semi truck mounted on its tip.

This is all that remains of a once busy truck stop that the desert has slowly claimed.

Continue northwards. Just ahead are the vacant remains of the abandoned Joshua Motel and its Café.

abandoned café

Ruins of a café, Yucca AZ. Click for St. view

Ruins of a Joshua Motel & Café

The café was part of the motel, it has a Spanish tiled roof facing the road, the word "Cafe" written on the southern wall is barely visible.

As you can see in the 1950s postcard below, the café is unchanged. The neon sign lost its neon, and the building received a brick parapet as a decoration.

On the left side of the image (north) is the now abandoned motel.

See this Street View of the now empty motel.

1950s view of the motel and cafe
1950s postcard of the Café and Joshua Motel, Yucca, Arizona.

Ahead, are the signs of the Whiting Bros. gas station and motel. The buildings have been razed.

Whiting Bros. Motel and Gas Station.

Whiting Bros. motel 1960s postcard

Whiting Bros motel postcard, Yucca AZ. Credits

Only the signs of the motel and gas station remain, on the eastern side of the highway. The motel and gas station were torn down years ago, and the signs are gradually decaying in the desert air.

Whiting Bros. History

Four Whiting brothers (Arthur, Earnest, Eddie and Ralph) founded the company in 1926 and saw it grow to over 100 filling stations.

They also owned motels and truck stops. Many of these motels were located along Route 66 where you can still see the remains of them.

Whiting Bros. and Route 66

> > Read more: Visit our Whiting Bros. and Route 66 webpage.

Learn all about the motels and gas stations of Whiting Bros along US 66 in New Mexico and Arizona.

Red rusting and fading motel sign in the desert
Fading Whiting Bros. Motel sign, Yucca, Arizona.

The "pool" and the crest with the company's logo have vanished.

To the south of the motel was the gas station. Only the concrete pump islands and the two signs survive.

gas station signs, rusting in the desert
The Whiting Bros. gas station signs, Yucca, Arizona.

Street view of all three signs.

Continue your Journey

This leg of your Route 66 road trip ends here, you can return to the freeway at the exchange just ahead and continue your journey along Route 66 west towards Topock, or east to take the old course of US66 through Oatman.

Side Trip to Las Vegas

Famous Las Vegas in Nevada is a 2 hour - 130 mile drive to the northwest, see this map with directions.

If you visit Las Vegas

Some tours and sightseeing

Sponsored

Natural Attractions

Lake Havasu City

hot air balloons float over a town with London Bridge spanning the river, a lake in the background and hills

Lake Havasu City, the lake and London Bridge. Credits

The resort town of Lake Havasu City on Lake Havasu has beaches along the lake's scenic shoreline, an active nightlife and the original London bridge (you can take a Tour to visit it)

It is only 36 miles Southwest of Yucca: Map with directions

The adjacent state park is open 24 hs, and there is an entrance fee. It is located on a reservoir on the Colorado River. You can hike and enjoy the riverside.

Visit the scenic shoreline with beautiful beaches, nature trails, boat ramps, and many convenient campsites.

More information at the Havasu State Park official website.

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Credits

Banner image: Hackberry General Store, Hackberry, Arizona by Perla Eichenblat

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