Maybe some of you were upset to hear yesterday’s news of Glenn Frey’s passing but I’m more like Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski in that “I hate the fucking Eagles!” (come on, it’s funny).
But I did find it interesting to learn that there is a park in Arizona dedicated to an Eagles lyric. The song “Take It Easy“ was the band’s first single when it was released in 1972. It was written by Glenn Frey (along with Jackson Browne) and the second verse contains a reference to Winslow, Arizona: “Well, I’m a standin’ on a corner in Winslow, Arizona and such a fine sight to see. It’s a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford slowin’ down to take a look at me.”
Believe it or not, Winslow was once the largest town in northern Arizona but suffered badly after the construction of Interstate 40 when it became a ghost town. In 1999 the La Posada Foundation (now called the Standing On The Corner Foundation) were determined to revitalize Winslow so they created a park in the town based on the Eagles song. There’s not much to see on the NW corner of Kinsley Avenue and Old Highway 66, just a mural on the side of a building painted by artist John Pugh, a statue of a guy holding a guitar, and a red flatbed Ford at the curb. But it is just enough to bring an estimated 100,000 tourists every year (most likely on the way to somewhere else) to pose for photos in which…you’ll never guess…they are standing on a corner.
