Jump to content
American Road Magazine
Celebrating our two-lane highways of yesteryear…And the joys of driving them today!

Standin' On A Corner...


Recommended Posts

Another entry from my recent travels to Arizona.

 

Take a couple of lines from a 70's hit song, put up a statue, and you've created a tourist destination. Ironically the statue looks a lot like Jackson Browne but the lyrics where penned by Glenn Frey. I have heard, but haven't yet confirmed, that Jackson Browne was once arrested for vagrancy in Winslow. If that's true then the town put up a statue to honor someone they once threw in jail.

 

Anyway, here it is.

 

http://www.rwphotos.com/blog/?p=836

 

Roadhound

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Been there, done that, stood on said corner for photo op, and bought the T-shirt! B)

La Posada is a great place to stay, and has a surprisingly good (and upscale) restaurant.

I know I've plugged it before on here, but if one has any interest in historic aviation the Winslow airport (INW or KINW) is a late-1920s/early-1930s time-warp gem. Both the terminal building and adjacent hangar are from that era and largely unchanged. The old Kingman airport was of similar design (both were built under the direction of Lindbergh for TWA predecessor TAT [Transcontinental Air Transport] in preparation for their early transcontinental passenger service). Unfortunately, the old Kingman terminal was demolished sometime in the 1990s for a housing development. I always wonder what happened to the "Lindbergh Light" that was still on the roof of the old building, which had been converted to a private residence, when i visited in the mid-1980s. A genuine Lindy Light is worth big bucks today!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, the corner.

 

It was hard to get a photo without anybody else in it. The paparazzi was everywhere. Of course we got the obligatory photos of each family member standing next to the statue and then I stood around waiting for everyone to leave and get out of my picture. It took a lot of patience to get the wide shot with the shield on the pavement and it lasted but a moment.

 

 

mga707, I must have missed your previous plugs for the Winslow Air Terminal as we missed it completely on this trip. I will need to go there on my next trip through. I have to confess to not doing my homework very well before going to Winslow. I knew about the corner but didn't learn about the La Posada or the Air Terminal until I got home. I wasn't expecting to drive through that part of Arizona on my return trip from Phoenix but on a whim we headed east on US 60 out of Phoenix towards Petrified Forest and Painted Desert before heading west towards California. There are obviously a few things we missed but on the plus side we have a reason to go back.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have no idea if any of the Jackson Browne vagrancy story is true but some reports claim it happened in Flagstaff but that he or Frey or somebody else thought Winslow sounded better. If true, it means that it's by sheer luck that there isn't some shop in Flagstaff selling lots of T-shirts and playing the same song over and over again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't remember hearing the song playing while we were there but for the rest of the day, all the way to Kingman, the song wouldn't get out of my head.

 

I read somewhere, can't recall the source at the moment (Tom Snyders Route 66 Guide?), that the line was a reference to the Winslow Store For Men which had billboards alongside the Jackrabbit Trading Post's all along Route 66. Guys would go to the Store for Men to get duded up before standing on the corner and waiting for a pretty girl to come by.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...