Highway 99: Pollardville & The Chicken Kitchen

Pollardville's Sheriff

Just north of Stockton on the frontage road paralleling CA 99-what was US 99-stood the Chicken Kitchen Restaurant and the roadside delight known as Pollardville. Named after the founders of the restaurant, Ray and Ruth Pollard, Pollardville was set up as a ghost town, with two authentically historic buildings, and the movie set from The Big Country (a 1958 western starring Gregory Peck). Future dinners in the restaurant (chickens, that is) mingled with tourists roaming this quaint roadside attraction.


Future Chicken Dinner

The Pollards appreciated old things, and collected anything they considered of value and stored it at Pollardville. You could find the barber's chair from Back to the Future 2, antique farm equipment, and salvage from historic buildings that had been torn down. Many of the items were available for purchase, and there was a small antique store in one of the movie set buildings.


Chair from Back to the Future 2

A narrow gauge railroad ran throughout Pollardville, and visitors could ride it for a small fee. On my ride, a gate had been left closed, so the train had to stop for the conductor to open it.




Video of the Train Passing

Inside, the restaurant featured more antiques and memorabilia. For a special treat, you could dine in a jail cell, or a stagecoach. The menu of the Chicken Kitchen naturally featured fried chicken. On one of my last visits, people at the table behind me, who had driven a long ways to dine there, were disappointed to hear they were out of gizzards, so next time there I made sure to order the mixed giblets (gizzards and livers).




Mixed Giblets

Next door was the Palace Showboat, a building that looked very much like a riverboat. It was used as a theater. To attract the attention of people on the freeway, there was a giant sign out front, with a chicken up top and a lighted arrow pointing down. A locomotive stood at the base of the sign.


Palace Showboat



Pollardville closed forever on April 1, 2007. The restaurant continued to sell food to go for a couple of months afterwards. Before closing, the owners made nearly everything for sale. I would have liked a souvenir, but the prices were way too high for me. I did get myself a t-shirt and a postcard, in addition to my pictures and video footage.

I was worried about the fate of the Jamestown Jail, a brick building built in 1897 that was moved from Sonora County to Pollardville. A historical society from the county was trying to raise $35,000 to save it and move it back. Fortunately, their website indicates that they were successful.

From what I have read, the developers' plans for the area are to construct a shopping center and gated community.


Jamestown Jail

Below is the story of the restaurant as told in a handout that was available on the player piano near the restaurant's entrance. I've copied it as is, mistakes included.

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The Pollardville Story

The original Chicken Kitchen was first established at the Red Gate Farm Chicken Ranch in Castro Valley in 1944 by Ray and Ruth Pollard. It evolved from a roadside business selling eggs and poultry to selling chicken sandwiches and then to the original "Chicken on a Bun" was born and served thru a window to become the first or one of the very first food to go restaurants. In 1946 the business was moved to Stockton on the West side of the highway by Mosher Slough opposite Ashley Lane. It opened to accommodate 18 patrons served at a counter, three tables and a take out window and over the next 10 years grew to a capacity of 125. In 1957 having outgrown the premises the restaurant was moved to the present 16 acre location and Pollardville was in its beginning of phases of permanent growth. As its business grew so did the ghost town which included the smallest post office in the U.S. purchased from Mountain Ranch, CA., another authentic building was the Jamestown Jail on Main Street. To help complete the town the entire movie set from the 1957 film "The Big Country" was added, along with on half mile C.K.R.R. Narrow Guage Railroad, a stage coach line and occasional shoot out on Main Street.

The town was on its way. 1965 saw the first melodrama Vaudeville show open at the Palace Showboat Dinner Theatre. Then the fire of Dec. 1984 leveled the entire main restaurant. Not undaunted Neil and Tracy Pollard in March 1987 reopened by moving yet another structure with charm and character the Islander Restaurant that stood on the corner Benjamin Holt and Pacific Ave. in Stockton and remodeled to fit the Pollardville theme. The project now at hand includes development of a wedding reception, concert and company barbeque picnic area. This is just another chapter in the on going building at Pollardville.