A Wayfarer in Her Natural Habitat, Part 2: Winslow, Arizona



"Standin' on a corner in Winslow Arizona" in 2006



This "in-the-field" shot was taken on a winter's day in 2006 and shows the wayfarer being observed "standin' on a corner in Winslow, Arizona," which is the prime activity, chief industry, and sole tourist attraction in the town.

Winslow is best known for being name-dropped, and rather off-handedly at that, in that old Eagles song "Take It Easy." So even if you've never been to Winslow, you've most probably heard of the place--and most likely while shopping at the grocery store or sitting in your dentist's waiting room or being on hold with your credit card company. Wherever there's a lite rock radio station being played, there's inevitably the mellow sounds of Glenn Frey and Don Henley (and Jackson Browne, who co-wrote the song)--and there's Winslow too. Literally. As Herman Melville once said: "It is not down in any map; true places never are." That's so right, Herman. True places are immortalized in soft rock songs from the 70s.

Truth is, Winslow always had been a town associated with goin' places, even before that girl (my Lord) in a flatbed Ford came along to take a look at the hitchhiker in the Eagles song and give him a lift. Winslow is the site of an airport built by none other than aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh himself (and was paid for by Howard Hughes). At the time it was the only all-weather airport between Los Angeles and Albuquerque and was thus a strategic landing site for transcontinental flights. Winslow is also a stop on the great old Santa Fe railroad line AND the great old Route 66--both of which also have famous songs about 'em. But Winslow isn't name-dropped in those songs (nearby Flagstaff gets the honors in "Route 66" and "On the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe" croon about those places as well as Philadelphiay). So when the Eagles came along with their "Take It Easy," Winslow residents must have realized this was their one and only chance at building a respectable local tourism board and--to borrow from the lyrics of another Henley/Frey (and Randy Meisner) masterpiece--decided to "Take It to the Limit."

So today if you stop in Winslow--like on your way to or from Flagstaff, the Grand Canyon, Sedona, the Painted Desert, the Little Painted Desert, the Hopi reservation, the Petrified Forest, Monument Valley, and at least a half dozen other famous and fabulous attractions that selfishly steal nearly all of humble Winslow's touristic thunder--you will find a town that has based its entire reason for being on a few lines from an Eagles song. Turn off the highway to get gas, and dare yourself to keep driving further into the town. If you worry about getting lost, just follow the harmonizing voices of Don Henley and Glenn Frey. Don't worry, you will hear them--you will definitely hear them. For in the center of town there's a corner with a statue of a hithchiker standing there and a mural of the hitchiker standing there (with the girl in the Ford pulling up) and a sign with the crucial lyrics printed on it and at least three or four tourist shops hawking shirts with the lyrics and bumper stickers and mugs and magnets too and--just to really hammer it home, in case you haven't yet picked up on the connection I guess--a loudspeaker playing "Take It Easy" on a loop, all day long, likely for eternity. Subtlety is not Winslow's strong point. You can take your picture there, standing on the corner yourself, like I did. And then...and then...I don't know to be honest. The song doesn't really go on to say. Just something about loosened loads and blowing cover. What happens next? It's for your imagination to fill in.

And that's the (twisted?) genius of Winslow's tourism strategy. Whether by air, by rail, or by road, Winslow has always been embedded on the major routes of the USA's transport network, but only superficially so, as a mere stop-over. By playing up its casual mention in the Eagles hit, Winslow is trying to reinvent itself as a starting point. You stop in Winslow. You find the famous corner. You stand there. You expose yourself to the multimedia assault that transports you inside the Eagles song. You become the hithchiker. You imagine a girl coming along to pick you up in a cool car. You jump in--and your journey has just begun!

Or maybe not. Maybe you just shrug your shoulders and check your map for the way to Sedona. But nice try, Winslow. And thanks for the fun photo op anyway.