By Jim Steinberg
The San Bernardino Sun
AMBOY >> It’s 111 degrees in the Mojave Desert, and Albert Okura effortlessly unloads large boxes of drinks and snacks from the back of a van. It’s taken him three hours to drive here in a wildly decorated vehicle topped with a toy motorcycle mounted by a plastic chicken.
Nearby, there are several groups of European foreign visitors at the gas station or inside its adjacent convenience market. Okura could be overheard telling one cluster, “I own this town.”
It’s true. All part of a destiny.
The word destiny is important for Okura, 63, who is marking his 30th year in business as founder of the Juan Pollo restaurant chain, based in San Bernardino but with 28 outlets in Southern California.
Some day, that destiny will include overtaking KFC, in terms of number of chickens sold, he said.
LESSONS LEARNED
Okura is marking this anniversary with a self-published book, “Albert Okura The Chicken Man with a 50 Year Plan.”
“Intellectuals don’t like the book,” he said, “but people who have started their own business do.”
The book is designed, he said, to give “life lessons” to people across the planet who want to get into the restaurant business.
There’s another reason for the book, Okura said.
With outlets in San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Riverside and Orange counties, Okura (who walks briskly and frequently wears running shoes) said,“I’m looking for someone smarter than me” to guide the chain’s future growth.
He’s also looking for an inventor who can bring sophisticated computer technology into the rotisserie chicken cookers to standardize the labor-intensive cooking effort required to turn out the kind of moist, tender and flavorful product Okura said customers have come to expect.
He’s also looking for someone with money to invest in the firm.
“That’s one of the reasons for the book.” Okura said. “So people would understand my philosophy and want to join me.”
The athletic-looking Okura, with an upper torso like a college track team member, said, “I’ve taken the company as far as I can.”
‘WONDERFUL MISSIONS’
Okura owns the original McDonald’s restaurant site in San Bernardino, which is both his corporate headquarters and a museum, and has a small Route 66 Museum adjacent to his San Bernardino restaurant on 5th Street, which at one time was Route 66.
Inside, there are relics that harken to the early days of fast food, and it’s a destination for tourists from around the world.
And then there’s the preserved ghost town of Amboy, west of Needles and east of Ludlow on Route 66.
Owning Amboy is exactly the kind of unconventional endeavor for which Okura has become known.
“Okura goes off on these wonderful missions not tied to the bottom line,” said former San Bernardino Mayor Pat Morris.
“Amboy is a complete hole in the ground...a money pit,” Morris said. “He thought it would be interesting to own a town on historic Route 66 even if it is as dead as doornails. He is interested in the history of the Route and the history of the city...the guy is a giver...he has ways of uniquely giving that are his own.”
DESTINY
When Okura first heard Amboy was for sale in 2003, he hadn’t heard of it.
But a friend told him he needed to buy it and when he saw it, he agreed.
In 1976, when Okura bought his first house, in Torrance, his real estate agent told him that he regretted not buying raw land decades before.
From that moment on, Okura said he believed buying a town would be his “destiny.”
For now the “destiny” of Amboy includes its two dirt landing strips, its 26-unit motel, an abandoned 1950s-era Packard in the parking lot. Roy’s Motel and Café is a Route 66 landmark.
Founded in 1859, the once gold- and silver-driven community met its demise with the completion of Interstate 40 in 1984.
Along with its landing strips and motel, it’s got a church, a functioning post office, four gas pumps and a variety of scattered buildings.
Like many communities across The Mother Road, Amboy had come to rely on tourism. Then the interstate sucked away its lifeblood.
But Okura sees a strengthening interest in Route 66 — domestically as well as internationally, and believes tourism may become a driver.
A DEAL ON A TOWN
Initial efforts to buy Amboy for a $1 million-plus price tag fell through, but he was successful in 2005 for a mere $425,000.
“You see, it was my destiny,” he said, putting emphasis on the “was.”
Amboy hasn’t changed dramatically since Okura purchased it. But delivering a water system has been more complex — and costly — than anticipated. Okura believes he’s close to a working system that could supply water for future town growth.
One of the difficulties has been to find good technicians willing to travel to the remote Mojave location.
The gas station has re-opened, although pumps only work for regular gasoline. Bathrooms have been reopened and inside the station are drinks, snacks and a place to cool off.
There’s still work to do with the water system, but ultimately Okura would like to see a cafe operator come in and reopen the iconic Roy’s Cafe, although he says it would be difficult to make a profit.
“It would have to be a family operation to be successful,” he said.
The same is true for reviving the motel, he said.
Amboy is hot in the summer and cold in the winter, he said. “It’s more about the Amboy charm and the open country.”
The night skies are beautiful, he said. “For people who like the desert, it’s ideal.”
NATURAL-BORN ATTENTION-GETTER
Although he’s no Harvard MBA, Okura is quick to recognize creative people and harness their talents. And he understands how to tap the power of traditional and social media to champion his Juan Pollo brand.
As an example of his showmanship, his numerous vehicles with wildly colorful cartoon characters painted on the sides are fixtures in the region.
But even this eruption of color doesn’t generate the buzz Okura seeks.
So he puts plastic motorcycles on top of some vehicles — using plastic chickens as riders.
On a recent drive on the 15 Freeway, a laborer in the passenger seat of a flatbed truck was seen using a smart phone to photograph Okura’s van as he drove it in the southbound lane near Barstow.
“You should see mothers pointing this vehicle out to their kids,” he said.
Years ago, Okura said, he had a very expensive, high-performance truck. And when he drove that along area freeways, “nobody cared.”
Bad news, too, has brought him attention.
Okura boasts that San Bernardino’s bankruptcy has brought him a lot of media attention, especially among international media outlets.
For most of those, including a television piece that aired across Italy, Okura said he strikes a positive note about how he’s going to focus on his business and prosper, while others, he said, complain about a municipal government that drove the city into financial ruin.
REALIZING HIS DREAMS
Another “destiny” in his life is overtaking Kentucky Fried Chicken.
“That will probably take about 50 years,” said Okura, a Chino resident.
That means, he said, he must live until he’s 113.
Medical science is advancing rapidly, he said, and after all, his father is 98.
Who knows....
Judi Penman, president and CEO of the San Bernardino Area Chamber of Commerce, said of Okura: He “has more than just one dream, and he fulfills them. He is an honorable man with many talents. He digs in and accomplishes things.”
