Painted Desert Trading Post
Pinta, AZ
Photo courtesy Alan Culley / 1992

The Painted Desert Trading Post sits along an abandoned stretch of old Route 66 near Pinta, far removed from the traffic roaring along Interstate 40. When photographed in 1992, the roof had fallen in and the weather-beaten walls looked ready to surrender to the desert. Faded reminders of cold drinks, curios, groceries, and gas could still be read across the front. 07-07

Dotch Windsor and his wife Alberta opened the remote trading post in the early 1940s. With no utility lines nearby, a windmill helped generate electricity, water came from a well, and gasoline flowed through gravity-fed pumps. Business ended around 1958 after Route 66 was moved about a mile south, leaving the old trading post stranded beside an empty ribbon of pavement.

UPDATE: The Route 66 Co-Op purchased the site in 2017 and spent several years stabilizing the crumbling walls, rebuilding window openings, and preserving the painted signs. The lonely trading post remains a roofless ruin, but it should now be around for a few more road trips. 09-26

Wally Family Furniture (Closed)
Globe, AZ
Photo by RoadsidePeek.com

The Wally Family Furniture storefront was still hanging around downtown Globe when this photo was taken in 1999. The place already looked like it had seen quite a few years pass along Broad Street, with its old-fashioned lettering and weathered exterior adding a little more character to the historic mining town.

Not much information has surfaced about Wally’s or how long the business operated. An earlier RoadsidePeek caption mistakenly called it the Wally Family Restaurant, but the storefront identifies it as a furniture store. Perhaps there was once a dining room set hiding behind those doors, but probably no lunch counter. 06-23

UPDATE: Wally Family Furniture is no longer in business, and its old storefront sign has been removed. The exact building has not been positively identified among the remodeled and repurposed storefronts along Broad Street, so its ultimate fate remains uncertain. 09-26

Wash n Dry (Gone)
Globe, AZ
Photo by RoadsidePeek.com

The Wash n Dry coin-op in Globe featured one of those familiar old laundry signs that once appeared beside laundromats all across the country. These mass-produced plastic signs were not exactly fancy, but they were bright, easy to spot, and told passing motorists where to find a row of washers and dryers. When this photo was taken in 1999, the Globe location still had its vintage sign standing out front. 06-23

Signs like this became a common roadside sight during the self-service laundry boom of the 1960s and 1970s. Some were associated with Norge Village laundries and their famous globe-shaped signs, while others borrowed the same basic combination of colorful panels, simple lettering, and a tall roadside pole. Nothing said laundry day quite like one of these things glowing above a parking lot.

UPDATE: The old Wash n Dry sign has disappeared, and the photographed location now appears to be occupied by a different cleaning business. The exact identity and history of the original coin-op remain uncertain. 09-26

Hill Street Antique Mall
Globe, AZ
Photo by RoadsidePeek.com

The Hill Street Antique Mall is tucked away about a block from historic downtown Globe. Here is something you would probably never notice from the sidewalk: the building was designed in the shape of Arizona. That is certainly one way to put a little state pride into a floor plan. 06-23

The building reportedly opened in 1930 as a Pay-N-Takit grocery store, one of the early self-service grocery chains that eventually became part of Safeway. It later served as a Safeway market, an automobile dealership, a Coca-Cola distribution warehouse, and Johnnie’s Country Corner. Earlier accounts placed its construction in 1916, but local historical research points to 1930.

Hill Street Mall moved into the building in 2006, filling its roughly 8,000 square feet with antiques, collectibles, crafts, and enough vintage odds and ends to keep a roadside wanderer occupied for quite a while.

UPDATE: Hill Street Mall remains open, and the old Arizona-shaped building continues to welcome antique hunters. The painted Hill Street Mall lettering also survives outside. 09-26

Kline's Trading Post (Closed)
Lowell, AZ
Photo by RoadsidePeek.com

The Kline’s Trading Post storefront looks right at home along Erie Street in Lowell, the old mining district just outside downtown Bisbee. With its hand-painted sign, crowded windows, and general junk-shop appearance, this was the kind of place where almost anything might turn up if you looked around long enough. 06-23

Peter and Nell Kline operated the trading post for years while Peter developed his skills as a silversmith. The little shop helped them make ends meet and became part of the wonderfully cluttered character of Lowell. There was even a tiny roadside burger joint standing out front at one time.

Much of Lowell disappeared when the nearby Lavender Pit copper mine expanded, but this single block of Erie Street survived. Old storefronts, gas pumps, vintage cars, and mannequins now make the street feel like everyone stepped away sometime around 1955 and forgot to return. The area also appeared in Oliver Stone’s 1997 film U Turn, starring Sean Penn.

UPDATE: Kline’s Trading Post is no longer an operating store, but the building and its painted sign survive as part of Lowell’s open-air collection of vintage storefronts. 09-26