The Hotel Beale on Kingman's main street was built at the end of the 1890s, and it is best known as the place the actor Andy Devine grew up. Devine was born in Flagstaff on 7 October 1905. His father, Tom Devine, bought the hotel in 1906, by the Kingman tourism office's account with the settlement from a railroad accident. Andy spent his childhood among the railroad men, cowboys, ranchers and miners who passed through the lobby, and the town's own histories repeat that he nailed guests' satchels to the floor. He went on to a long career in Westerns, as the stagecoach driver in Stagecoach in 1939 and as Jingles on the television series The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok.
The hotel also supplied the story behind the most recognisable voice in Westerns. Devine said that as a boy at the Beale Hotel he fell while running with a curtain rod in his mouth, drove it through the roof of his mouth, and spoke afterwards in the cracked, wheezing register that became his trademark.
Kingman renamed its stretch of Route 66 Andy Devine Avenue. The hotel declined after Interstate 40 drew traffic away from downtown and has been closed since 2012. In August 2024 the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona granted $25,000 toward restoring its facade, and in May 2026 its restored neon sign was lit again for the first time in more than 40 years.
Getting there
35.1888, -114.0542
Locations are approximate and may be inaccurate, on private land, or otherwise inaccessible. Check before you travel.
Hear it from the road
Whistlestop is an audio tour guide app that tells you this story automatically when you drive past. No searching, no tapping, nothing to ask.
