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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Thirty Four: Photographing the tourist in all of us > Stampede on the “Mother Road,” Seligman, Arizona, 2006
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12-JUL-2006

Stampede on the “Mother Road,” Seligman, Arizona, 2006

Seligman, an hour or so west of Flagstaff, is another one of those old Route 66 towns that would have long died if not for the legend left by the Mother Road. Its handful of buildings has been converted to serve the tourist trade with a barrage of automotive nostalgia. Bus after bus of tourists from all over the world fill the town's main street and keep the memories of the past alive. This image may not be art, but it still communicates the nature of tourism as a business. Every inch of Seligman, which was by-passed fifty years ago by the Interstate, is now geared to provide trinkets and services to visitors. In order to survive, the town had to reinvent itself, and in the process it removed almost all traces of what people have come to see – an authentic forgotten town. The tourists apparently don’t mind. In a matter of moments they were buying souvenirs and t-shirts celebrating the long dead highway. This group is about to invade the famous Snow-Cap drive in.

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