There was only one reason I was heading to spend the night in Winslow: namely to see THAT corner. Having listened to the song for more years than I care to remember, I was intrigued as to why Jackson Browne had been standing on that one corner out of all the corners in the world he could have chosen from and why he subsequently committed it to song with his friends Glenn Fry, Don Henley and the rest of the Eagles. I knew nothing of Winslow except for the map I had downloaded from an internet site, and just hoped (and prayed) the corner in question would be highlighted in some conspicuous way. Otherwise I would have to pick any old corner to photograph and pretend to the world it was the real thing.

After skillful navigation, I arrived at the Comfort Inn parking lot. OK, so I attempted to drive into the exit of the adjacent Macdonalds drive 'thru, much to the surprise of a departing patron who was partway through eating his Big Mac, but I'll keep quiet about that.
It was around 5pm, when I stepped out of the car, and although it had been warm when I was in monument valley, I was taken back by the heat. It was in the region of 33 degrees (90F) which, at that point was the hottest I had come across on my travels, and pretty much in my life. Handy things, these air conditioned cars.

Winslow is a strange place, here was a town, in the middle of nowhere, no more than a mile long, literally one street wide, with a few street/blocks of housing on the north side, and apparently with only one industry. The Santa Fe railroad. Indeed the town is named after a former president of the Atlantic/Pacific railroad. Later in the development of the town, as the motor car started to become the preferred mode of transport, Winslow was one of the many towns along the length of Route 66. This spawned a mass of motels and restaurants, which, in the following years and passion for nostalgia, spawned a mass of tourist and souvenir shops.
At first sight, the town appeared so run down, many buildings in need of a tin of paint or two.
There were so many motels, each with a poorly illuminated sign advertising "low rates" and "Color TV". Except the letters were starting to slip, so there were lots of "low rat s" and "Co or TV". This is, of course, just what you would expect a motel to advertise. I can't recall ever seeing a motel advertise "High Rates" and "Fuzzy Black and White TV".

Anyway, back to the corner. After cruising around town for a while (it doesn't take long), I eventually came across a sign above a shop, on a corner of the eastbound mainstreet (East Second Ave and Kinsley, outside an office supplies shop). On a sign on the opposite side of the road, a sign erected on a patch of wasteground was a proclamation that it was to be the future site of the "Standing on the Corner Park"  And that was it.

I have no idea what the locals think of their claim to fame, suffice it to say, that during my 10 minutes on the scene (at around 8pm), setting up the tripod etc , a group of six/seven folks arrived to take their own photographs, and whilst we were chatting, two bikers arrived on their Harleys, took their photographs and departed into the evening dusk.  A smile was brought to my face however, by several cars, presumably townsfolk, who slowed down on the intersection to roll down their windows and wave and smile at the ensemble of nerdy tourists!

www.winslowarizona.org