"Route 66 lost and found : ruins and relics revisited" by Russell A. Olsen I had this book recommended to me (in fact the note came to me with a very librarian-ish list of its bibliographic details, and the "heaps of abandoned and derelict buildings" comment). Naturally I placed a Hold on it & waited patiently for the borrower to return it. America's Route 66 boasted bustling commercial hubs, some remain, but many have crumbled or vanished. The book is a series of 'then and now' photographs of streets, petrol stations, motels and cafes. For such an iconic road the decline of some of these stopping places in 50-70 years is incredible.
The front cover features the Painted Desert Trading Post in Navajo, Arizona. It opened in the early 1940s selling Indian curios, but in the late 50s the highway was relocated and the building has sat empty and abandoned in the desert ever since. The Gascozark Cafe in Missouri was established in 1931 with the stone facade added in 1939. It operated as a popular tourist fishing resort for the Gasconade River. It is now vacant and abandoned.
Two Guns, between Flagstaff and Winslow Arizona (off topic -"standing on the corner in Winslow Arizona" is from Jackson Browne's 'Take it easy' sung by the Eagles). Apparently Two Guns was the site of a massacre of Apaches by the Navajo in 1881. The store, service station & motel are now a crumbling ghost town carrying the curse of bad luck for people entering or disturbing the Indian site.
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