Rusty Bolt: Dummies on the Roof

Seligman, Arizona

There's always a crowd hanging around outside the Rusty Bolt -- of dummmies. Showroom dummies, sitting on benches, lounging on the building's rickety second floor balcony. They've been there since 1997 when the Rusty Bolt gift shop -- looking for an edge over the other gift shops in Seligman -- was opened by Bill Riley. Although he's since died, and the dummy population has somewhat decreased due to the elements, the Riley family continues to run the Rusty Bolt and dress the surviving dummies in new thrift store ensembles. When combined with the usual Route 66 excessive use of old road signs as decor, and "the most photographed Edsel on Route 66," a pink 1959 Ranger, which is usually parked outside, it makes the Rusty Bolt distinctly garish and bizarre, even by Mother Road standards.