Scott Dunton, one of the original owners of the iconic Mr. D’z Route 66 Diner in Kingman, Arizona, has died. He was 72.
Dunton’s death was announced on Facebook last week by ROUTE Magazine, and the Original Chillin’ on Beale Street group also reported it.
Mr. D’z is housed in the former Kimo Cafe that opened in 1939.
More early history from local historian and writer Jim Hinckley:
In June 1937 it was announced that Roy Walker was to begin building a modern auto court at the corner of First and Beale Streets. In 1939, Oscar Osterman, the local Shell Oil distributor, purchased adjoining property and built a service station and café. Osterman had used the name Kimo for a station he had opened on Beale Street in the early 1930s. The Ki was for Kingman, and Mo was for Mohave County. He used the name for his new station.
An advertisement in the Kingman Miner dated January 1940 reads, “Kingman Café No. 2 formerly located at 224 Beale Street has moved into the new café building of the Kimo Shell Service. The same excellent food and service in a new and beautiful location.”
A few years after opening it was renamed the Kimo Café and Oscar Osterman’s wife Clara took over management. Clara was a cook of local renown that had managed the Casa Linda Café on Route 66 In Kingman, and a former Harvey girl.
In 1991, Scott and Roy Dunton, owners of Dunton Motors next door, bought the café and gas station and remodeled it into a 1950s-style restaurant. Scott Dunton said many of his mother’s recipes were used in the eatery.
Roy Dunton died at age 95 in 2016.
Mr. D’z, among several things, became well-known for its homemade root beer. Oprah Winfrey liked the beverage during a stop there so much, she purchased several cases and distributed the bottles to the audience of her talk show.
In the late 1990s, Mr. D’z was leased to Armando and Michelle Jimenez of Las Vegas.
(Image of Mr. D’z Route 66 Diner in Kingman, Arizona, by J. Stephen Conn via Flickr)