HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
A 1947 mesquite-grill steakhouse in a former Butterfield stage stop near Tucson, with long-told staff ghost lore
8501 N Silverbell Rd, Tucson, AZ 85743
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Full-service steakhouse dinner pricing; reservations recommended for large parties.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Single-story adobe restaurant with an outdoor mesquite-grill area; level access.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1880 · 1880s Butterfield Overland Stage stop · Operating steakhouse since 1947 · Hoffman family ownership since 1981
The adobe building that houses Li'l Abner's Steakhouse has a longer history than the restaurant inside it. In the 1880s it served as a Butterfield Overland Stage stop, a waypoint for passengers and mail along the route, and later worked as a cattle station on the open land northwest of Tucson.
The restaurant opened in 1947, founded by Larry and Duchess Lewis, who named it after their dog. It has run as a mesquite-broiled steakhouse for more than seventy years, cooking all of its meats outdoors over a mesquite-wood fire. Tucson attorney David S. Hoffman bought the business in 1981, and it has remained in the Hoffman family since.
The steakhouse is a recognized local landmark, with some staff who have worked there for decades and a reputation built on its open-air grill, weekend live music, and the thick adobe walls that carry the building's stagecoach-era past. That long, layered history — stage stop, cattle station, then mid-century steakhouse — is the backdrop for the ghost stories told around the dining room.
Sources
The ghost stories at Li'l Abner's are told mostly as staff and customer lore rather than documented events. The Pima County Public Library's roundup of Tucson hauntings describes a couple of recurring presences in the old building, including one figure staff call 'George,' who is said to be seen around the bar.
These accounts are single-sourced and undated, and the 'George' figure is named only by a first name with no verifiable identity behind it, so we present the story as folklore and do not assert that any particular death occurred here. What is well documented is the building itself — a genuine 1880s stagecoach stop turned mid-century steakhouse — which is the kind of long-occupied site that tends to gather stories like these over time.
Notable Entities
A long-running mesquite-broiled steakhouse open for dinner, with all meats cooked outdoors over a mesquite-wood fire and live music on weekends. The building's stagecoach-stop past gives the dining rooms their old-adobe character; the ghost stories are staff lore rather than a ticketed attraction.
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