The abandoned Bun Boy Restaurant that once served Route 66 travelers for decades was leveled last week to make way for a new medical center, reported the Victorville Daily Press.
IPA Administrator Marie Langley provided the “hammer swing” on the building.
“Although the building has been on Main Street for years, over the last couple of years it has been abandoned, in extreme disrepair and an eyesore,” she said. “Our goal is to provide a facility that all residents of Barstow can look upon with pride.”
Bun Boy served generations of travelers and local residents with distinctive dishes like the Ortega Burger.
According to the Route 66 News archives, the restaurant closed June 2012.
Some online sleuthing revealed the Bun Boy in Barstow started during the late 1940s to early 1950s by Willis Herron, who gained later fame north of town in Baker, California, when he built the World’s Largest Thermometer next to a Bun Boy Restaurant there. Herron died in 2007 at age 82.
(Image of the Bun Boy Restaurant sign in Barstow in 2009 by Thomas Hawk via Flickr)
How sad….great place to eat and rest….just past the time enjoying the desert scenery….
Have been there a couple of times,,,,I wanna return….for the memories….