Standin' on the Corner Park is a public park in Winslow, Arizona, opened in 1999, commemorating the song " Take It Easy" which was written by

Jackson Browne Clyde Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948) is an American rock musician, singer, songwriter, and political activist who has sold over 30 million albums in the United States. Emerging as a teenage songwriter in mid-1960s Los Angeles, he had his ...

and

Glenn Frey Glenn Lewis Frey (; November 6, 1948 – January 18, 2016) was an American musician. He was a founding member of the rock band Eagles, for whom he was the co-lead singer and frontman, roles he came to share with fellow member Don Henley, with ...

and most famously recorded by the

Eagles Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

. The song includes the verse "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." The park contains a two-story

trompe-l'œil ; ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a Two-dimensional space, two-dimensional surface. , which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into perceiving p ...

mural by John Pugh, a Ford flatbed truck, and a bronze statue by Ron Adamson entitled "Easy" (which resembles Browne, but represents "the troubadour") who is standing on a corner with a guitar by his side. The park is surrounded by a wall of bricks, with windows to peer into; each brick has a donor's name on it, and a story by each of the donors describing their fondness for Winslow, Arizona. Arizona US 66 Standing on the Corner Park Winslow Arizona

Arizona US 66 Standing on the Corner Park Winslow Arizona

History

Until the 1970s, Winslow was a thriving town in northern Arizona just off Route 66. When I-40 bypassed the community many local businesses disappeared, the tourism sector being among the hardest hit. While some local jobs remained (Winslow is the base of operation for nearly 1,000 railroad workers), the local downtown was badly hurt by the influx of national chains such as

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

and

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

along the new interstate highway to the north of the town. Twenty years passed and Winslow was stuck in a commercial rut. The Standin' on the Corner Foundation was formed to create a renaissance of Winslow. Determined to build on tourism, the foundation took advantage of the town being mentioned in the song "Take It Easy" made famous by the Eagles. From 1997 until 1999, the foundation sought out donors and planned design concepts. On September 10 and 11, 1999 the park was opened to the public. On October 18, 2004, there was a fire at the Standin' on the Corner Park. While the face of the building and the actual corner survived, the rest of the building was burned down. The 2006 release of

animated film Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...

Cars A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

'' brought renewed attention to the efforts to save local U.S. Route 66 main street businesses in towns long bypassed. In September 2016, a statue was unveiled at the park in the likeness of Glenn Frey, who died earlier that year.

References

External links

Official site
{{Coord, 35.0235, -110.6981, display=title Parks in Arizona Parks in Navajo County, Arizona Tourist attractions along U.S. Route 66 U.S. Route 66 in Arizona Winslow, Arizona 1999 establishments in Arizona Eagles (band) Statues of musicians in the United States