This is an update to the 2003 Feather article, “Historic Mammoth Orange serves Main Street America” and the deterioration of one of Highway 99’s iconic roadside stands.

The shell of the final remaining Mammoth Orange still sits desolate near its original spot, with no exact future planned out. The city of Chowchilla cannot raise the funds needed to restore it into either a working stand again or museum piece, so at the moment, there is a standstill in its future.

From 1981 until its closing in 2007, Jim and Doris Stiggins of Chowchilla owned the last operating Mammoth Orange stand in the San Joaquin Valley, on the side of Highway 99.

The Stiggins originally ran a supermarket in Chowchilla where they got to know the ins and outs of running a business. After they sold the market in 1979, a new business opportunity presented itself in the form of a Mammoth Orange.

They bought the Orange from the previous owners, who happened to be their friends.

“We were good friends of the owners of the Mammoth Orange, and we started conversation after conversation with them,” Stiggins said. “They wanted to sell and we wanted to buy, and that’s how we wound up with it in 1981.”

I think eventually it will disintegrate, rot and rust away. I don’t think anyone will ever open it. They don’t know how to sell burgers; they don’t know how to open it. They don’t know how much expense they will have to go through to do it. When you open a business in the country, you have to have septic systems, water systems. I think people don’t realize that when they talk about reopening the Orange. — Doris Stiggins

The highway once housed several similar Orange stands, all with their own personal touch. For example, one stand served hot dogs, orange juice, and milkshakes.

Because the of the Orange’s reputation as the last roadside burger place, famous people of the past stopped by to visit and in one case made it the cover of their album. When the 1984 Bobby Volare album “Big Orange” came out, it featured the stand on its cover with Volare sitting at one of the benches in front.

While running the restaurant, Stiggins believed people ate there because of the service. She got to know the regulars that keep coming back after their first visit. In the case of the Mammoth Orange, even though the regulars might didn’t always stop by every day, or even once a week, but maybe once a month but they kept coming back.

The people that came to the stand made a big impact on her, and even now she enjoys looking back on those that stopped by to visit. It’s interesting to see the diversity in customers, from bikers and newspaper editors to celebrities looking for something different to put on their next album cover.

The young girls usually hired to cook and run the stand for periods of time did not always show up for work, so their responsibilities sometimes fell to the owners.

Near the end, people ran across the highway to get burgers with the original entrance closed off.

Stiggins does not believe the Orange will ever again be open for business of any kind.

“I think eventually it will disintegrate, rot and rust away,” Stiggins said. “I don’t think anyone will ever open it. They don’t know how to sell burgers, they don’t know how to open it, they don’t know how much expense they will have to go through to do it. When you open a business in the country you have to have septic systems, water systems. I think people don’t realize that when they talk about reopening the orange.”

Whether or not it reopens, those that once stopped by to see the Mammoth Orange can look back on their experience and remember more than just a shell. It was a piece of California roadside history that served burgers, fries and one of the best orange milkshakes anyone could drink.

This author can be contacted via Twitter: @_Elizabethann16 and via Email: Elizabeth Baker

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