A short story inspired by a Route 66 poster

seligmanphoto.jpg
McArp of the Up Again in the Middle of the Night blog, who describes himself as an "artist/writer/Web person living in the central/southwest U.S.," was struck by a flash of inspiration when he noticed the "Route 66, Arizona, 1947" poster above.

The poster comes from a photograph taken by Andreas Feininger for Life magazine. It was shot in Seligman, Ariz., and is one of the most famous real-life images of the Mother Road. You can buy a copy of the poster here.

You can read the short story McArp wrote here.

16 thoughts on “A short story inspired by a Route 66 poster”

  1. Your story is very good.
    At the time of this photo, 1947, my father owned this gas station. He built the unfinished cafe you see in the bottom left. On the right you see a rock wall that was in the front yard of their house. I have several photos of him painting the sign on top and building the cafe he named Vickroys Last Stand. My parents had 3 children at the time and my sister was born there in 1948. While the picture was taken by Andreas Feininger it did not get published by Life until 1953
    The hotel in the background was owned by Bud Layman (sp)
    Just thought you would like to know
    Sam Vickroy

    Reply

    1. Sam:

      Interesting info! It seems that the structures in the photos no longer exist today. I’ve seen modern photos of Seligman that contain a round Texaco sign like the one in the lower-left corner, but do not know if that is the same sign or if it is even the same location.

      CG

      Reply

    2. Id love to know exactly where in Seligman this shot was taken. Looks to me like just west of main and 66 …looking east. Anybody know for sure?

      Reply

      1. I was able to figure out the approximate location on Chino Ave.( Route 66) with help from Google street view and Nicole from Angel & Vilma Delgadillo’s Original Route 66 Gift shop in Seligman.
        It’s in the west end of town looking east along 66, around where The Roadkill Café and the neighboring Historic Route 66 Motel on the left are now. The Texaco station would be on the left and the “West End Garage” and Sam’s rock wall ( see first comment above) would be on the right about where Westside Lilo’s Cafe is now and the new Post Office building .
        All that’s left from the photo is the view and the slight dip the road makes in the distance. Google Map coordinates : 35.3284439,-112.8833834

    3. Hi Sam – seems to be a bit of confusion as to whether the photograph was in Seligman or Williams. Can you confirm which city you were talking about in your email ?

      Reply

  4. The West End Garage was in Williams, Arizona and that is where this photo was taken. The Thurston Auto Court, Bob’s Chevron and the West End Garage, in the 1947 Feininger Photo are all listed in the 1957 and 1958 telephone directories for Williams. They are downloadable at https://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/digital/collection/flgdir/id/1393/rec/38

    The road in the 1947 photo curves down and to the left and there are buildings and houses visible in the distance on the road bend. The road in Seligman is not an exact match for the curve in the photo. There is no landmark in either Seligman or Williams that would match the photo today. All the streets and signs and landmarks in the photo have been bulldozed in the 70 years since the picture was taken.

    The 1957 directory for Seligman is a page long and there are 4 pages of phone numbers for Williams. Seligman was a wide spot in the road with very few businesses. It is likely that a tourist would take a picture in Williams since that was the depot for the Grand Canyon Train and the junction where the road ran north to the Grand Canyon. Williams was a tourist destination and Seligman was not.

    There are too many black and white addresses listing Williams as the town in the phone directory to say Seligman was the locale for the photo. All that is left to go on are the names of the businesses – the Auto Court, the Chevron and West End Garage. The 1947 picture was taken looking east towards downtown Williams, from the west end of town.

    Reply

    1. Excellent post! Good detective work finding out that those businesses (and thus the photo) are in Williams. :o)
      CG

      Reply

  5. Hello!

    Has anyone every seen old photos (Seligman or Williams) from the 1940s/1950s that show the scene depicted in the two Feininger photos from different directions? I looked through some of the historic photos online, but do not see any with West End Garage in them, for example. It seems the old pics (if in Williams) are close, but not close enough. :o)
    Old pics of downtown Williams show a fairly dense scene, with regard to the number of buildings and the presence of street curbs and sidewalks.

    https://tinyurl.com/y3ykz8wf

    https://tinyurl.com/yxuw78z2

    Most of the old pics of Williams that are online are situated farther east (and then look east) than the address given in the 1955 phone book for West End Garage. Entering “601 W Bill Wms Av” into Google Maps, it is translated into:

    https://tinyurl.com/yyap6ht9

    Good fun! :o)

    CG

    Reply

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