Longhorn Skull – Longhorn Grill and Saloon

Amado, Arizona, United States

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A restaurant entrance designed to resemble a giant longhorn skull, at 28851 S. Nogales Highway in Amado, Arizona, by Interstate 19 exit 48. KGUN and Roadside America credit Tucson artist Michael Kautza with building it in the early 1970s; Roadside America puts the horns at about 30 feet high. It became a steakhouse in 1993, stood empty for years, and reopened as the Longhorn Grill and Saloon in late May 2019.

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Longhorn Skull – Longhorn Grill and Saloon

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Site-level location · 31.6394° N, 111.0987° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

The entrance to the Longhorn Grill and Saloon in Amado, south of Tucson, was built as a giant longhorn skull in the early 1970s, according to KGUN and Roadside America.

Roadside America gives the address as 28851 S. Nogales Highway, by Interstate 19 exit 48. KGUN and Roadside America credit Tucson artist Michael Kautza with building the skull, and Roadside America says its horns reach 30 feet high.

The building behind the skull has had other lives. KGUN says it was once a bait shop, a clothing store and a roofing company, and that it appeared in the 1974 film "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore". It became a steakhouse in 1993. Roadside America says its last tenant left in July 2012 and the building stood vacant for years. The Cow Palace steakhouse across the street, which Roadside America says was a Hollywood-visited haunt in the 1930s, was closed for good by a flood in September 2018.

The skull reopened as the Longhorn Grill and Saloon in late May 2019. The Arizona Daily Star, in an article published in June 2019 and updated in May 2024, called the steer-skull facade a roadside attraction for generations of travelers heading to and from Mexico, and described a menu of steaks and fish plates alongside burgers, sandwiches and salads. KGUN, in an undated report, says the restaurant is in the faux rocks behind the skull.

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