Local Lore: The stairs to nowhere

As you round the corner of Aspen Avenue and San Francisco Street in lovely downtown Flagstaff, you are sure to run into a bit of a mysterious eyesore. Encased by fencing is a construction zone and a gaping hole, exposing the historic depths of downtown Flagstaff. As a long time, loyal part time employee of Babbitt's Backcountry, located on said corner, I started to log the slow deconstruction of half of our iconic corner by how many Friday shifts passed, multiplied by the countless inquiries of curious shoppers and passerby. There is a notion that any construction heard or seen in downtown Flagstaff must translate to "change;" Something new is coming in or something old is being restored. Could the one and only historic Babbitt General Store Building be next? Slowly, information leaked that a staircase was to be put in. But that only prompted a second tier of questioning. "Stairs to what?" Let me take this opportunity to settle what every Babbitt's Backcountry employee has been trying to suggest for weeks now. The stairs will lead to...(dramatic pause!)

...The basement.

Shockingly, curiosities were still not satisfied. Which instigated a rumor mill to start turning. While I will certainly not criminalize my fellow wise-guy/gal coworkers, I will repeat a few of the better fibs (read that correctly - FIBS) that have been directed at persistent questioning from the other side of the counter: "Jim [Babbitt] is putting in a Martini Bar." Or "We're going to open up a museum of dusty collectibles" (referring to our aged, outdated gear, displays, overstocked postcards and Babbitt relics that have been stored in the basement for years...) Of course there was the suggestion that there were newly installed chains down there and we were going to take on the feat of punishing shop lifters ourselves.

Truth of the matter is, no one really knows why the stairs are there. At least right now. I imagine the real cause for a decent into our dusty, disheveled basement from the outside world will reveal itself in due time.


In the meantime, I'll be taking suggestions for what to tell the summer crowds when they ask where the stairs lead to. Other than "down."