Contents of Granny’s Closet restaurant in Flagstaff to be auctioned

Granny's Closet sign

Almost all the memorabilia and contents inside the closed Granny’s Closet restaurant and bar in Flagstaff, Arizona, will be auctioned April 28.

Flagstaff Auctions will begin the auction at 10 a.m. that day for the Route 66 landmark at 218 S. Milton Road, reported the Arizona Daily Sun.

However, the old tractor and lumberjack statue near the building are spoken for. One of the brothers in the family that owns the restaurant will keep the tractor, and the lumberjack will move a few miles down Route 66 to the even-more-historic Museum Club in Flagstaff.

Granny’s Closet once was known as the Lumberjack Cafe. It and one of its original, 20-foot-tall fiberglass lumberjack statues — now known as part of the Muffler Man species — made a brief appearance in the iconic 1969 film, “Easy Rider.” You can see it at the 3;07 mark of this clip.

The two tall lumberjacks were moved to Northern Arizona University’s Walkup Skydome after the restaurant changed owners in 1974.

The Sun reports:

The Zanzucchis kept a smaller 10-foot lumberjack statute and renamed the restaurant “Granny’s Closet” after their grandmother Ermalinda. Ermalinda and Ferdinando moved to Flagstaff in 1929 and owned the Flagstaff Dairy. Ermalinda had a special closet that her grandchildren would stash their toys. The family decorated the inside of the restaurant with family mementos and designed the restaurant’s sign around the sign for the Flagstaff Dairy. The family sold the dairy in the 1980s and it became Flagstaff Ranch.

Everything else in the restaurant, other than the lumberjack and tractor, is up for grabs, including the bricks off the walls and the air conditioning units on the roof, Mann said. There is some food and alcohol left in the pantry that’s still good and will likely be auctioned off in one lot. There are sports jerseys from local schools and other wall decorations, including photos signed by Mitch Strohman, the “Voice of the Lumberjacks,” and Northern Arizona University football player Andy Saldana. The neon signs and marquee will also be sold.

Granny’s Closet closed abruptly in November. Yelp reviews of the establishment were getting pretty grim even before then.

(Images of Granny’s Closet via Yelp)

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