Holbrook, AZ

Holbrook is the first town of any size you will find along Arizona's Route 66, and it's a good one. It was founded in 1881 and named after the first chief engineer of the Atlantic and pacific Railroad. At one time, it was a bawdy cow town. There were stagecoach robberies, gunfights and hangings in its history. There is a walking tour that will take you to the Bloody Bucket Saloon and the Blevins House, which was the site of a shoot out between Sheriff Commodore Perry Owens and the Blevins Gang.

Holbrook was the de facto home of the Whiting Bros chain of service stations. It was founded in 1926 by Eddie, Art, Ralph and Ernest Whiting in St Johns, Arizona. When they found that the newly designated Route 66 was going to go through Holbrook instead of St Johns, they moved to Holbrook. They expanded first to Winslow and Flagstaff and eventually had over 100 outlets, with over 40 on Route 66. The remnants of these service stations can be seen all along Route 66. Today, Kaibab Industries, which was started by members of the Whiting Bros families in 1952, operates three modern stations in Arizona.

Downtown Holbrook has the Winner's Circle Bar. This is a big biker destination in Eastern Arizona. Every night is bike night. They even have their own patch that is worn with pride, although the patch holders are more a group that likes to ride together than a hard core motorcycle club. There is pool, a great juke box and a cool collection of whiskey decanters depicting everybody from Robert E Lee to Elvis.

There are some other good biker places too. Try the Empty Pockets Saloon and the Mesa Grill Sports Bar, which is part of the Mesa Restaurant, for good Italian food.

Romo's Downtown has good Mexican food. Every order is individually made, so while it might take a few minutes to get served, the food is always fresh.

Across the street from Romo's is Joe and Aggies, which has been a Holbrook staple for over 50 years. It looks like it may not have survived the Pandeemic.

If you want a good steak, try Butterfield's Steak House.

Holbrook has one of the two remaining Wigwam Motels (the other one is in Rialto, CA). Each room is its own individual Tee Pee. The rooms are more spacious on the inside than they look from the outside. The surrounding motor court features many antique cars. The office is only open a few hours a day, so you cannot check in until late afternoon.

Holbrook has many other vintage motels and businesses, including a 1950s Dairy Queen.

If you want something low key, take in a movie at the 1954 Roxy Theatre. It was restored in 2003.

Next stop is Joseph City.