Sometimes while heading to a certain Roadsight, we stumble on a trail of weirdness. In this case, the trail was Route 1 in Saugus, Massachusetts. Originally, our destination was an orange tyrannosaurus, but it turned into much more. Whether you’re going north or south on Route 1 in Saugus, there’s still plenty of strange and awesome things to check out.
One of the first places we stopped was the Hilltop Steak House (now closed), which has a giant neon-lighted cactus for a sign. The cactus reminded me of something next to a Vegas casino and I was thankful of its height because I would have driven by it otherwise. The Hilltop Steak House has been open since 1961 and is one of the top steak houses in the US by the Travel Channel. I’m sure reviews bring customers to their doors, but for us it was Hilltop’s fake cows spread on the front lawn. Each cow sported a witch hat to celebrate Halloween and I just had to take a picture with one of them.
Next up was Prince Pizzeria, and it seemed like a regular pizzeria until we saw the Leaning Tower of Pisa replica on the roof. Known as the “Leaning Tower of Pizza”, I remember calling the actual Italian landmark by the same name when I was little, and it brought back childhood memories. Prince Pizzeria also opened its doors the same year as Hilltop Steak House. I guess 1961 was a good year for pizza and steak.
At this point we were running out of daylight and needed to find the one thing we came to see in the first place: the orange tyrannosaurus. Located at Route 1 Miniature Golf & Batting Cages our orange friend faced the highway, but stood behind the fence for safety purposes. Other creatures like a Hippo, Lion, a green Diplodocus, and an Elephant roamed the mini golf grounds as well as the children’s story legend, Humpty Dumpty. Since it was later in the evening, the arcade, batting cages, and dairy castle were closed. We weren’t too sad about it though because we knew it was an opportunity to go back and experience mini golf in all its summertime goodness.
Not only has Route 1 Miniature Golf been open longer than 50 years, it also appears in the blockbuster movie, Ted. Just think, you can tell your friends you visited the spot where Mark Wahlberg played mini golf with Mila Kunis and a talking teddy bear. That’s pretty rad if you ask me.
So if you ever find yourself on Route 1 in Saugus Massachusetts, slow down a little. You might spot something interesting.
Traveling down Route 1 and seeing all the stores, restaurants, and other attractions made me think of old Route 66 and all the road sights on the way to California. Do you think we need to resurrect that and have more sights on our highways again?
Roadsight Relics 
That orange dino meant so much to me and my brothers as children going to visit family in Everett. We knew we were almost there and could finally stop asking, “Are we there yet?” Mom would say, “Look kids! The orange dinosaur!” Nostalgia. Thank you for that.
Cheers for nostalgia! Thank YOU for enjoying it and stopping by, Steph.
LOVE the orange dinosaur! I will be on Route 66 in Kansas at the end of the week. I guarantee there are plenty of strange sites to be had. 🙂
Would love to know what you find there!
I would definitely recommend going back and hitting up both of those restaurants. I used to go there as a kid with my family all the time. There is also a super good chinese restaurant called Kowloon over there that gives you insane portions. This was a good post… they are all good!
ps. Hey Beam!
-Rhald