Santa Claus has left the Building!

Santa Claus, Arizona was once a holiday oasis in the desert. The air was filled with

the laughter of children, sleigh bells, Christmas music, scents of home cooked

food, and loud “Ho, Ho, Ho’s” emanating from the big man himself all year long.

What started as an eighty-acre plot of barren desert, was turned into a must-see

tourist attraction that operated for the better part of 60 years.

Ninon Talbot and her husband moved to Kingman, Arizona in the early 1930’s

from California. She billed herself as, “The Biggest Real Estate Agent in

California.” This was mainly due to her being in excess of 300 pounds. She had a

dream to build a holiday themed resort in the desert to draw in potential land

buyers.

The idea wasn’t terrible as the Hoover dam had recently been completed and the

highway between Kingman and Las Vegas was picking up in popularity now that

people no longer had to take a ferry across the Colorado river. The land was also

a short detour off Route 66. The location of the future Santa Claus was pretty

much perfect for the boom in road tripping that was to come in the 40s though

the 60s.

The two main attractions were Cinderella’s Doll House and the Santa Claus Inn.

The doll house was inspired by the famous Swiss skiing chalets and the inn was a

place where families could get a home cooked meal in some much-needed air

conditioning. After lunch or dinner, the kids could find their way to Santa and

unload their Christmas wishes any day of the year.

Santa Claus even had an official post office where parents could send letters to

their children with the post mark from “Santa Claus.”

No buyers ever came to lay claim to the plots for sale in the town. Only the

employees of this holiday attraction were living on the premises. This, as well as

the slow demise in popularity of unique roadside attractions, lead to the slow

demise of Santa Claus, Arizona. Interstate highways bypassing many amazing

locations didn’t help either. Santa Claus has been taken off of the official maps of

the state but it is still easy to find using Google maps.

Santa’s home away from home, located on the southbound side of highway 93, 16

miles northwest of Kingman, Arizona. These days, if you are not specifically

looking for the few remaining buildings, there is a good chance you will miss it.

We nearly missed the turn off and we were carefully looking out for it.

There are only three buildings left standing and I wouldn’t recommend exploring

the inside of the one building that is easy to enter. It looks and feels as though it

could come crashing down any moment. It is, however, still a fun slice of Arizona

history worthy of a 20 min stop and some fun graffiti filled pictures of a place

where Santa brought joy to families all the year ‘round.

-Sources:

Roadtrippers.com, atlasobscura.com, arizonahighways.com,

Wikipedia.com, truewestmagazine.com