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A smiling cowboy sign at the Big Texan Steak Ranch beside Interstate 40 in Amarillo, Texas. According to the restaurant, founder R.J. Lee had it built in 1960 to welcome Route 66 travellers, and it moved with the business to its interstate site.
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Big Texan RV Ranch Cowboy
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Site-level location · 35.1867° N, 101.8046° W
FIELD GUIDE
The story
Amarillo's Big Texan Steak Ranch says its smiling cowboy sign has been greeting drivers with a smiling cowboy sign since 1960, first beside Route 66 and now beside Interstate 40.
The Big Texan's founder, R.J. Lee, opened the restaurant in March 1960 in the former Underwood's Bar-B-Q building on Route 66. Its history timeline describes a horseback-mounted cowboy greeting guests and "a towering 60 foot neon cowboy sign". The restaurant's own page says Lee wanted a sign to welcome travellers into Texas and chose "a massive smiling cowboy" to represent the Texas Panhandle's "cowtown spirit".
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PRACTICAL
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WHAT TO EXPECT
The cowboy stands in front of the Big Texan Steak Ranch beside Interstate 40. The restaurant says it can be viewed 365 days a year at all hours. The Big Texan is a working restaurant on private property.
ACCESS
Beside Interstate 40 in front of the Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo, Texas, a private business. The restaurant says the cowboy can be viewed at any hour, every day of the year.
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