Amboy’s Extricated Shoe Tree
Shoe Tree, Amboy, CA--photo Richard Elliott
One of the bizarre attractions alluring tourists to get their kicks on Route 66 was The Amboy Shoe Tree, located a quarter-mile east of Amboy, CA. I say was, because the surreal tree is no more. On January 4, 2011, Wendy H. wrote on her website My Scenic Byway, “The tree had died last year. Fallen over. Gone. I was crushed.”
Mark Albers of Littleton, CO reported, “”We saw the Shoe Tree on March 20, 2011, but I’m sorry to say that it (shoe tree) is now on the ground.”
Over the many years, tourists came from far and wide to see the huge, colorful clusters of shoes hanging from the branches of the lone Tamarisk tree. Pairs of laced together shoes were seen aimlessly swinging and swaying in the desert breeze, while the tangled and dangling shoe crop mesmerized onlookers. Some people came to add their pair of shoes to the tree. One year the shoe crop had gotten so big and heavy that a branch snapped free from the tree, sending the limb and shoes earthbound. How did this “tradition” of putting shoes on the tree come about?
Actually, no one really knows when or why people began tossing their shoes onto the tree. But, the theories and stories are as strange as the shoe tree itself.
The most plausible story says a married couple were arguing under the tree, when the husband tossed the wife’s shoes in the tree saying, “Walk home, then!” Sometime after the argument they must have passionately made up, for the story goes on to say that the couple returned to the Tamarisk tree, casting another pair of shoes into the tree. This time it was to honor the birth of their child.
Another tale says that newer shoes were left here for hobos, who would then toss their old shoes onto the tree.
Some folks felt that the Shoe Tree was highway litter and were glad to see it gone. Other people felt that it was Americana art. Today, it is believed that there are over 30 Shoe Trees throughout the U.S. Whatever the Amboy Shoe Tree stood for or was, it is gone now.
However, it seems that another more bush-like Tamarisk tree, about 1.8 miles east of Amboy, has been blossoming over the past years with a different curious crop–bras. This bears checking out! Another kick on Route 66.
Sources: http://www.myscenicbyway.com/2011/01/have-you-seen-shoe-tree.html
