Showing posts with label Arizona. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arizona. Show all posts

Monday, April 27, 2020

Travels on the Mother Road, Route 66: Part 7c, Jack Rabbit and Holbrook, Arizona (2019)

Jackrabbit Trading Post, Joseph City, Sep. 4, 2019 (Kodak Ektar 25 film, Yashica Electro 35CC camera, polarizing filter)
 We will continue our drive east through Arizona. Near Joseph City, not much remains of Route 66, just the frontage road to I-40. West of town proper was the famous Jackrabbit Trading Post. A billboard with the logo "HERE IT IS" may be one of the best known Route 66 sights. Hundreds of tourists pose in front of the sign or sit on a big jackrabbit on the other side of the interstate. For the photograph above, I waited for some people to take their pictures and leave, and caught a BNSF train thundering through.
Room with a view, Joseph City (Fuji X-E1 digital file)
The terrain around Joseph City is a bit severe. I stopped in Joseph City during my 2016 trip but totally missed the Jackrabbit sign. The town has some urban decay material.
Dinosaur, 2214 Navajo Blvd., Holbrook, AZ (Kodak TMax 400 film, Hasselblad 501CM, 80mm planar lens, polarizing filter)
Holbrook was another old-time Route 66 town. There was not much of interest on Business 40, and I completely missed the Wigwam Village Motel. Fortunately, I visited a sister Wigwam Motel on Foothills Blvd. in Rialto, California, in 2016 (see Mother Road article 1). Here in Holbrook, I was pleased to see dinosaurs in town. The truck was sort of interesting, as well.

Monday, December 2, 2019

Travels on the Mother Road, Route 66: Part 6b, Seligman, Arizona (2019)

Dear Readers, on my recent trip to the US southwest, my friends and I stopped in Seligman, Arizona. It is a small town in Yavapai County at 1600 m elevation on the historic Route 66. During my 2016 Route 66 trip, I drove by and totally skipped the town. Poor choice; it is full of Route 66 kitsch. It is hard to tell how much is authentic, but the current residents are certainly capitalizing on nostalgia. Mid-day on October 21, 2019, the town was bustling with tourists from many countries.
At least 2 or 3 stores feature ice cream. A hot day in the desert under the blazing sun: why not indulge in an ice-cream-cold cone or cup of sugary and calorific goodness?
Eddie and Spencer checked out the old Chevrolet police car.
OK, it is not authentic Route 66, but who cares? J&R's Minimart sells Haagen Daz ice cream.
You can stay in Seligman, if you want. The motel (or motor court) may be authentic Route 66.
After rafting on the Colorado River for 16 days and using a groover, the device in the last photograph looked quite luxurious.

Stay tuned for more Route 66 updates soon. For older Route 66 articles, type "Route 66" in the search box.

All digital images were from my Fuji X-E1 digital camera.

Friday, August 26, 2016

Travels on the Mother Road, Route 66 - Part 7, eastern Arizona

We continue our trip on Route 66 through Arizona. Heading east, once you reach Seligman, Arizona, Route 66 follows I-40, with some sections of old pavement and some sections along the frontage road.
Ash Fork is a tired old railroad and quarrying town, once said to be the Flagstone Capital of the World. The town was founded in the 1880s, and the name Ash Fork may be from the ash tree where outlaws were hanged. It is at elevation 5144 ft, but my car did not yet noticeably bog down in the thin air. Route 66 splits, with the eastbound following one main road through town and the westbound on another road. Flagstones decorated the front of the Oasis Lounge on Park St., which is the eastbound path.
I was surprised to see a shotgun shack. I thought this was an style mainly used in the US southeast and did not know they were built in the west, too.
Huge flagstone form sidewalk steps, evidence of the former quarrying output.
The Emmanuel Trinity Methodist Church at 47243 N Fourth Street has a stone veneer replacing the former windows of this shop. Note the unusual bas-relief statues.
The church bus had seen better days, like most of the town.
Not a bad Chevrolet wagon. Old cars don't rust here in the dry high altitude air.
The political message on the old shipping container was a bit (well, very) obscure.
I pressed on eastward on I-40 because I was short on time. I had lunch in Flagstaff but saw nothing there of Route 66 interest. Flagstaff is touristy because of its access to Grand Canyon National Park, and much of the downtown has been rebuilt. I found a gasoline station with ethanol-free fuel and continued east. I pulled off at Joseph City, which was founded by Mormon settlers in 1876. Today, there is not much city here, and the Old Historic Route 66 Hay Sales & Feed was closed.
I processed these two in color to show the subtle colors. The painting on the teepee proves that aliens have been here.
Downtown Joseph City was rather depressing. So many of these small towns are just drying up.
My last stop in Arizona was in Houck. At one time, Fort Courage was a replica of the fort used in the doofy 1960s television show F Troop. As far as I could tell, Fort Courage was closed permanently, as was the adjoining Pancake House, with its huge teepee holding up the sign.

This is the end of my travels on the Mother Road in Arizona, and the next article will be in New Mexico. Photographs taken with a Fuji X-E1 digital camera, with some files processed in PhotoNinja software.

Friday, August 19, 2016

Travels on the Mother Road, Route 66 - Part 6, Kingman, Arizona

The water tower in Kingman, Arizona, proudly states, "Welcome to Kingman, Heart of Historic Route 66." The city fathers might be a bit optimistic, but Route 66 does run through Kingman on Andy Devine Avenue, and there are a number of interesting vintage motels to examine. Notice the dry terrain in the distance. Although the city is located on the eastern edge of the Mojave Desert, it experiences a "cold semi-arid climate" (BSk) instead of desert, according to the Köppen climate classification.
The El Trovatore Motel (named after Giuseppe Verdi's opera Il Trivarore?) is a quintessential Route 66 stopover. I should have stayed here but had checked into a dive on the other side of town.
Nice mural! I processed this frame in color to show the brilliant colors. This must represent Elvis before his sequined outfit Vegas era. Marilyn gets around, too.
This was a cleaver map showing the Route 66 stretching to Chicago in the distance.
A Native American brave and Mr. Magoo also fit into the decorative scheme. Interesting place.
Across Andy Devive Avenue from the El Trovatore, the R&R Body Shop was restoring a Chevrolet Greenbriar rampside pickup truck. According to Wikipedia, "The Rampside had a side ramp to be used for loading and unloading cargo. These were used by the Bell Telephone Company, because loading and unloading of cable drums was eased by the side ramp."
The Neuter clinic was a short distance away. I wonder who was to receive the service that morning?
The Acadia Lodge has seen better days. What is it with the Greek theme in these desert communities?
The Siesta Apartments were a step further down the food chain. I'm glad I stayed in the dive where I checked in the previous evening instead of the Siesta.
The older section of Kingman, near the depot, has a lot of empty buildings and empty lots.
North of I-40, Kingman is a modern American strip town with no Route 66 memorabilia. Historic Route 66 sets off to the northeast, soon leaving Kingman behind and traversing empty countryside. In about 25 miles from I-40, you reach Hackberry. Time stood still here.
Some of you old-timer readers may remember S&H Green Stamps. When you bought products from a participating store, you received some green stamps, which you pasted into a booklet. After you filled enough booklets, you could choose a toaster or other appliance from a catalog. I never figured out who profited from this arrangement, but surely the sponsors were assuming that many customers would forget their stamp books in drawers and never cash in.
I remember these kinds of gasoline pumps where the numbers were on a rotating wheel. They were easier to read in bright sun than the LCD displays on contemporary pumps.
Not much was happening at this Hackberry motel. Note the stone veneer on the building.

Route 66 continues east through more semi-desert terrain. I wanted a snack, and fortunately, there was a casino and Hualapai Tribal headquarters at Peach Springs. From there, Route 66 swung to the southeast, finally rejoining I-40 at Seligman. We will continue our tour in the next installment.

Digital images taken with a Fuji X-E1 digital camera. I used a polarizer on many frames to darken the sky, and I set my camera on square format to emulate Rolleiflex frames.