Fast-food chicken baron Albert Okura purchased Route 66 town of Amboy, home to a well known landmark of roadside architecture.
He made his fortune with Juan Pollo restaurants in California's Inland Empire. For $425,000 in cash, Albert Okura purchased Roy's hotel and cafe, the church and post office, four gas pumps, two dirt airstrips and a variety of scattered buildings. The price included several hundred acres of adjacent desert that he believes could increase in value if development in the Inland Empire continues to push east.
Movie buffs may recall Roy's Hotel as a dark, forbidding hangout for psychopathic killers in "Kalifornia" and the 1986 version of "The Hitcher." "Commercial photographers find the hotel's weathered, angled facade and primitive surroundings an edgy backdrop for cars and clothing. The Internet is lousy with images and paeans to Roy's Googie architecture and the role it played during Route 66's glory days." Taylor Louden, a Culver City architecture consultant who recently toured Amboy and is developing a renovation proposal for Okura, explains: "It's a landmark. Classic Route 66 roadside architecture. It's a real survivor of that period."
Read the full story: Breathing life into a faded desert landmark
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Chicago breaks ground on $3 billion megadevelopment
The new neighborhood, titled Foundry Park, will one day host 3,700 residences.
This MA town is drowning in its own sewage — and residents like it that way
Susan Murcott, a waste water expert, said if Carlisle didn't address their leaking sewage, the problem could turn “deadly.”
Feds to more closely scrutinize proposed Amtrak facility’s environmental impact
The Federal Railroad Administration had initially said the facility qualified for a less extensive environmental review.
Boston is hard to build housing in: its chief of planning wants to keep it that way
Chief of Planning Kairos Shen said she would not make changes to Boston’s affordability requirements for new housing, which critics say have slowed down development.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello