Video: Visiting one of Route 66 iconic locations, now a ruin covered in graffiti
Join fine art photographer Keith Dotson at the ruins of the iconic Twin Arrows Trading Post on old Route 66 in Arizona.
These photographs were made early on a very windy morning along on Route 66 in Twin Arrows, Arizona.
The Twin Arrows Trading Post was a popular and iconic spot along Route 66 until it was slowly killed by the opening of Interstate 40. Here’s a little bit of history. To learn more, click the links at the bottom of the blog post.
2026 marks the 100-Year Anniversary of Route 66
2026 marks the hundredth anniversary of the Mother Road — the legendary Route 66. The first stretch opened in 1926 and it was finally decommissioned in 1985.
As everyone knows, this highway has had an outsized impact on pop culture imagery, literature, movies, and songs. From Steinbeck to Kerouac, and from Easy Rider to Cars, Route 66 has always represented escape, freedom, transformation, and adventure.
Twin Arrows appeared in a scene in the movie Forrest Gump.
About Twin Arrows
Route 66 came to this part of Arizona in 1937 with a realignment. The business opened in the late 1940s or early 50s under the name of Canyon Padre Trading Post, owned by a family called the Griffiths.
In 1955 the Griffiths sold the store to William Harland Troxell and his wife Marjorie Jean. This is interesting to me personally because Troxell is my mother’s maiden name and it’s not a super-common name, so perhaps they were distant cousins.
The Troxells renamed the business to Twin Arrows — perhaps a play on the name of nearby Two Guns, Arizona. They added the iconic twin arrows in the parking lot, and other kitschy attractions to the location, and business boomed.
The site included a Valentine Diner and the main trading post, which sold souvenirs and gasoline.
The old fuel pumps were only recently removed.
I-40 opened here in 1971, and even though Twin Arrows was lucky enough to get an exit and I-40 is very close to the old Route 66 alignment, business fell off. A new couple bought the business in 1995 with plans to restore it. They had planned to reopen the diner with a nostalgic 1950s style, but they couldn’t get the old building up to modern codes. It closed permanently in 1998.
Now the land is owned by the State of Arizona, and the structures belong to the Hopi people.
Anyways it was a pleasure to visit this spot, which I somehow missed on my last trip down Route 66 a few years ago.
Black and white photographs of the iconic Twin Arrows site on old Route 66
Sources and Links
Atlas Obscura. “Twin Arrows Trading Post Ruins.”
Never Quite Lost. “Arrows of Time.”
Route Magazine via Instagram. “Twin Arrows Trading Post.”
Wikipedia. “Twin Arrows, Arizona.”