We passed by the Twin Arrows diner on the original, historic Route 66 outside Flagstaff, AZ in 2007. Despite the dilapidation, it had a lingering charm.
Indeed, you can find the diner in its more intact and appealing state featured in many books celebrating the attractions of Route 66, the sign and symbol of road-tripping America in the post-war years.
The eponymous arrows still stood when we visited, but decay was the order of the day (yay!) – collapsed walls, broken windows, stenciled graffiti of unknown faces and pink aliens.
Most of the doors were locked, but we did gain access to one or two of the buildings in the complex.
I was loath to even enter the Twin Arrows diner. I could feel a weird toxic mist circulating through the place. True, I may have been projecting a sort of “decline of the American dream” vibe onto the place, probably laying more on it than it deserved.
Balderdash, said Marsha, boldly entering. (She didn’t actually say that, but her eyes implied it.)
We found a note to the owner left in a plastic bag on the front door. A stranger who’d stopped by who knows how long before was interested in buying the place. We replaced the note in its bag after reading it.
We hope the place has found a new owner, or otherwise experienced some sort of rebirth. It seemed to deserve it.
All content and images © copyright Marsha Steckling
Cafe Decay 
Wow! That note that you guys found is wild. I wonder what would have happened if the owner had found it – the place might have gotten a new lease on life. And, I love the story of eating lunch there in the 1950’s.