History Adventuring

Let's take a walk in Phoenix in 1908. It's been hot lately, but it's cooler this morning, so let's walk east down Adams towards Center Street. That big building is the Adams Hotel, and it's quite a place. It was built by a local businessman, John C. Adams, and I guess he thought that building it on Adams Street would help people to find it. Not that they'd have any difficulty - it's the tallest building in town. What a place! I'll bet it costs a lot to stay there, and look at those electrical wires, these rooms must have every convenience! I'm sure some of them even have baths! John C. Adams That's the Gooding Building there on the left, although I usually just call it the Santa Fe building. I sure would like to take a ride on a train some day! I'll save my pennies. I wonder who owns that dogcart parked there? Someone with a lot of money, I'm sure! Beautiful horse. The Gooding Building in 1908, Phoenix, Arizona Not many...

It's 1908, and I don't really have much to do today, so I think I'll hang out in front of the Gold Hotel on Washington and 3rd Street in Phoenix. Martin Gold, the owner, is a friend of mine, and he won't mind if I hang around here. I see that they serve meals at all hours, and since I have a nickel in my pocket, I'm sure that I could go in there and get something to eat. But I'm not hungry now, so I'll just lean against this railing. Washington looks pretty muddy, so if I need to walk across it, I'll use the wooden planks. These are some nice boots I'm wearing! There are also planks across the lateral, near the hitching post, which would be handy for me if I had a horse. Well, I've got the cowboy hat, and that's all I really need. Martin Gold is Yugoslavian, but his wife is Hispanic, and he spends a lot of time in the Hispanic community. I understand that he plans to buy some land just southeast of here, and will call the neighborhoo...

Let's go for a drive in 1912. We're going from Los Angeles to Calabasas. I like to sight-see, so maybe you should drive. We'll take Beaudry Avenue to Sunset Boulevard, which becomes Hollywood Avenue. Hey, I think they're making movies here now. Yeah, I see some cameras over there, and some crazy antics. Wow! Those stunt drivers are good! Keep your eyes on the road, please. OK, looking at the map, we're gonna need to go through a mountain pass called Caheunga. There it is! Look at that mountain to our right. That would be a good place to build an observatory some day, don't you think? I don't suppose land would ever get so valuable that they would build houses up there, but maybe someday they will. I wonder if they'll call it Hollywoodland? Maybe put up a big sign on the mountain? Probably not at least until the 1920s! OK, we're through the Cahuenga Pass, going due west (this map is crooked!) and it looks like this is the road to Calabasas. B...

Hidden away in a little Phoenix neighborhood is a cluster of some of the most beautiful, and rare, palm trees in the world. They are called The Black Sphinx Palms, an unusual variety of Phoenix dactylifera. What makes them unusual and rare is the fruit, which is unique to this variety, but what makes them beautiful is what anyone can see in the neighborhood where they have been growing for over 70 years. And they are found nowhere else in the world. I have visited this neighborhood several times and I can truly say that is well worth stopping to take a look. These giant beauties create a canopy that makes this neighborhood absolutely magical. A few blocks away, where the palms no longer stand majestically, the magic vanishes. These heirloom trees make this neighborhood, and it wouldn't be the same without them. If you want to visit this neighborhood, go south on 44th Street just below Camelback and look for the biggest cluster of the biggest palm trees you have ever seen in ...

I've only lived in three places in my life, Minnesota (where I grew up), California, and Arizona (where I am now). And if you've moved around a little in your life, you know that you never quite know how to answer people if they ask where you're from. For a while in California I would tell people I was from Minnesota, but they would ask me about it, and I would realize that I hadn't been there for a long time, and I just decided to tell people that I was from Arizona. Because even though I'd only spent a few years there, it was the most recent place I was from. Besides, I had the sweatshirt that said Arizona State University, which I wore just about all of the time. As I'm sure is true everywhere, the locals weren't too crazy about people from out-of-state. I made a point to get a California license plate as quickly as possible. But other than that, I don't remember much animosity towards Arizonans in Los Angeles. Los Angeles is such an internationa...

Time-travel with me and let's go swimming at Mountain Shadows Resort in Scottsdale. No, I didn't live in Arizona in the 1960s, but a lot of people did, and a lot of people visited Mountain Shadows on their vacation. It was quite a place, although it's gone now. OK, it's the '60s, and to me, anything north of Camelback Mountain is Paradise Valley, but I guess this is Scottsdale. At least that's what the address says. And since the south side of Camelback Mountain faces the sun, then the northern side must be in the shade. Although it all looks pretty sunny here to me! What a great location, I can't imagine that they would ever tear this place down. Pool at Mountain Shadows Resort in the 1960s, Scottsdale, Arizona. This is a great pool! I think I'm gonna go try out the high dive. Wow, I can see forever from up here! The pool at Mountain Shadows Resort in the1960s, Scottsdale, Arizona. Mountain Shadows Resort in the 1960s, Scottsdale, A...

It's 1895, we're in Phoenix, and I have two bits (25 cents). I'm going to get a shave and a haircut! Yeah, I know it's a lot of money, and I have other options. I could get a bath, or even a nice meal, but I've never had a shave and a haircut before! And what's the point of paying two bits for a bath, when there's Swilling's Ditch there just north of Van Buren, which I was swimming in just this morning! 25 cent baths at the Commercial Hotel (later the Luhrs Hotel) in 1888, northeast corner of Central and Jefferson, Phoenix, Arizona. My two bits would buy me a meal at that nice restaurant in Tempe. Wow, I'll bet that's great! Still, it's a long way from downtown Phoenix to Mill Avenue, and I'd have to take a trolley, which would cost me a nickel. Yeah, I want to get a shave and a haircut. I think that new girl there on Melinda's Alley has been looking at me, and she probably thinks that I'm a mess. I need to ...

It's the 1920s in Phoenix, so let's go shopping. We won't need to bring any money, we won't need to worry about carrying anything, we won't need to think about a parking spot. The electric trolley stops right by. It runs so often that no one gives much thought to the schedule, there's another one along in a few minutes. It costs a nickel, which is a lot, but it's well worth it. It's gonna be a warm day, so you'd better take your parasol (which means "for sun" in Spanish). I'll be wearing a lightweight linen suit, and you'd be wise to keep the amount of layered garments to a minimum (allowing for modesty and correctness of dress, of course!). Do you have your nickel? Your shopping list? That's all you'll need! Let's go, here comes the trolley already! Yeah, I know the trolley is noisy and rough. It's getting to be kind of an antique - I think this line has been running here for over thirty years. I suppose th...

Everyone has to live somewhere. I live in the Phoenix, Arizona area, in a suburb called Glendale, where I'm very happy. It is my desire to stay there until, like forever. I like it here. Phoenix is my town. I came here just to get away from the snow and cold of Minnesota when I was 18, went to ASU, and I returned here from California when things just didn't work out for me in Los Angeles. My parents moved to Phoenix many years after I did, after snow-birding for years, when they retired. So that's my story. And it's what I ask people, if I get the chance, and they don't mind telling me. If they're Phoenix born and raised, or if they came to Phoenix as a kid, I ask why their parents came to Phoenix? Or their parents? Or their great-grandparents? I love hearing about this, and I really can't get enough. There are so many reasons to move to Phoenix! If they have spent their whole life in Phoenix, I ask why they didn't leave? Most of my high school fr...

If you've lived in Phoenix since 1977, you have probably driven past My Mother's Restaurant, which is just north of Indian School Road on 19th Avenue. Maybe you've even gone in there. I did, for the first time, yesterday. And wow. OK, I won't talk about the food (but the open face roast beef sandwich!), I just want to talk about the history. And what amazed me the most is that from the street it looks like absolutely nothing, and when you get inside it goes on, and on, as if by magic it just grows. You would think from the outside that it was tiny, but there's not only a large dining area, there's a banquet room (I peeked in). I was hanging out with some of my PhDs (Phoenix History Detectives) and of course I wanted to know all about this place, which has been there, like forever. And as amazing as its being there serving that great food continuously since 1977, the restaurant has been there since the 1960s, as Roma Restaurant. Did I mention how great the...

I remember the name Mecham. But to me, it was a Pontiac dealership. And it was the Macho T/A, which was a Pontiac Trans-Am that had been modified by the Mecham dealership. I saw them around Phoenix before I left for Los Angeles in 1982, and sometimes I would see them in California, too. They had a badge on the back that said MP, for Mecham Pontiac, and graphics along the side that said Macho T/A. And since I missed Arizona, whenever I saw one, it reminded me of home. Ev Mecham in the 1980s And then I moved back to Phoenix, in 1989, and suddenly Mecham wasn't about a car dealership anymore, or the Macho T/A. If you lived through the Ev Mecham era, you know the story. It was a mess. And no, I'm not going to talk about it here, you can Google it and find a LOT of stuff. In fact, just about everyone that you mention the name Mecham to will probably have a lot to say about that political mess. But I never hear anyone talking about the Macho T/A. To me, it was the Macho T...

My interest in Phoenix history includes everyone. So I do research on everyone, and I write about everyone. Everyone is important to Phoenix history. And no, I don't mean almost everyone, I mean everyone. And a common thing that I hear is that I can't write about Indians because I'm not Indian, or I can't write about women because I'm a man, that sort of thing. And maybe, since most people only write about themselves, and most people who write history are like me, white men, there's a reason that so much important history is ignored, and the stories of so many people are passed by. I want to learn those stories, and I want to share what I learn. So, if you're puzzled as to why I would write about being Black in Old-Time Phoenix , since I'm not Black, I just ask you to look again. And that's all I ask. I'm not telling you what to see, I'm asking you to look. I have given myself permission to look, and to explore. Please come along with me...

Let's go history adventuring to the future of Glendale, Arizona. We're looking waaaaayyy back to July of 2016, when the Legacy Traditional School was under construction at Thunderbird Road and 67th Avenue. Well, the the school isn't really at Thunderbird Road, it's way north of it, but since there's nothing there but any empty lot, people are describing it as 67th Avenue and Thunderbird. The view at the top of this post, by the way, of mostly nothing is looking southeast towards Thunderbird on 67th Avenue. The gas station way back there is actually on Thunderbird. The school is to the left, so it's out of the frame of the photo. Yeah, I like to take photos of absolutely nothing. In the future, they will be as fascinating to people as photos of buildings under construction in Phoenix in the 1950s when they were surrounded by absolutely nothing. Legacy Traditional School in Glendale under construction, July 16, 2016 In the future, people who have gradu...

Like everyone who went to ASU, I have fond memories of it. I had grown up in Minneapolis, left home at 18 just to get away from the snow and cold, and just kind'a randomly found myself in Phoenix. When I got myself organized, a little bit, I took classes at Phoenix College, and then transferred to ASU. I wish I could tell stories of being a "party animal", or going to the games, but I was a starving student. A starving art student. I didn't live in Sin City, or in a Frat House, I lived in a tiny converted garage over by Price and Apache near Mesa. Just say " Wildermuth " to me, and to this day, I shudder. My parents helped to pay my tuition, but otherwise I was on my own, paying rent, buying food, and paying for repair bills on my unreliable car. Support Arizona history by becoming a patron on Patreon Click here to become a Patron! History Adventuring blog posts are shared there daily, also there's "then and now" photos, billboards, a...

When I moved to Phoenix, at age 18, I didn't listen to the radio much. I had an old MG, and although it had a radio, it was only AM, and the car wasn't really built for listening to the radio (if you've ever been in an MG, you know what I mean). But at age 20 I bought a car that had an FM radio. And it was the era of progressive music, of long-playing albums and long-playing songs that were played uninterrupted by FM DJs. I remember it well. Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of the radio station. And I've been talking to people about this for at least a decade now, even on the internet. So, I'll describe it to you, because it went off the air in 1982, and that was probably because so few people were listening to it! But I was. I was going to ASU at the time, and I was outraged that my favorite radio station was about to go away. Back in those days, people signed petitions, which was just about as useless as anything people do today to rescue a busi...

Let's go history adventuring. I feel like going for a ride on the Apache Trail between Phoenix and Globe in 1919. Luckily, those fancy "horseless carriages", which have been around for a long time, are available to tour, and if a whole bunch of us help pay for the tour, it shouldn't be so terribly expensive. The company is the Apache Trail Stage Company, and they've been doing this for a long time! I wonder if the driver is annoyed that the advertising is right there on the windshield? I guess he can look through the top part, or fold it down. Sorry, but you'll have to squash in the back. I like sitting "shotgun", next to the driver. I'm sure you'll be comfortable! Well, maybe not, but the scenery will be great! I suppose some day it will be common for people will drive around the Phoenix area in vehicles like this. I know that I have a vivid imagination, I think that someday there will be a way to cool the air right inside of the c...

If you're a fan of Phoenix history, you know that Phoenix didn't start at where downtown is today, it started about where Van Buren and 32nd Street is. It was called the Phoenix Settlement, also Mill City, and even Pumpkinville. It all started in the 1860s, after the Civil War, when a group led by Jack Swilling dug a canal, inspired by the abandoned canals that they had seen in the Salt River Valley. That canal was called Swilling's Ditch, and later the Salt River Valley Canal. The canal started about where the Mill Avenue bridge is on the north side of the Salt River, and angled up northwest past where the Celebrity Theater is nowadays. Eventually it was extended west to where the Phoenix Townsite was established in 1870 (where downtown Phoenix is now). The reason for the name "Mill City" is the importance of preparing grain for bread for the soldiers at Fort McDowell. The wheat was grown in the riverbed, harvested, and milled, and sold to the U.S. Governm...

My memories of the 1980s are hazy. And not just because it was so long ago, because I watched TV and listened to the radio in Phoenix and in Los Angeles at that time. So if you ask me if I remember something from the 1980s, I often have no clear memory of whether it was Southern California or Phoenix. I moved to Phoenix when I was eighteen, eventually got my degree at ASU (after seven years!) and then moved to Los Angeles. Of course I remember Cal Worthington (and his dog spot), and Pete Ellis Dodge. But since these dealerships advertised just as heavily in Los Angeles as in Phoenix at the time, I really can't tell you where I remember it from. I have to admit it's kind'a disconcerting that I can do the Pete Ellis jingle: Pete Ellis Dodge, 17 Freeway, Camelback Exit, Phoenix (which is the first way that I heard it) and then the one from So Cal: Pete Ellis Dodge, Long Beach Freeway, Firestone exit, Southgate. And of course Cal Worthington (and his dog spot, whi...

I remember the voice of Bill Heywood. I moved to Phoenix in 1977, and he was not only on KOY radio, but I also heard his voice on commercials. It was a great voice. If you lived in Phoenix in the 1970s and '80s, you should remember him, too. I was young then, and didn't realized that I ever listened to a station like KOY back then, but I must have. And it didn't take me long to realize that his was the voice of Phoenix radio. Bill and his wife Susan died a few years ago, and I'd rather not talk about that. You can Google about it if you want to, but I'd rather focus on their lives. I would like to believe that someday I would be remembered by what I did with my life, not the circumstances of my death. I didn't know Bill personally, but Susan was one of my teachers at Phoenix College. She taught a class called "Principles of Salesmanship". Yes, that was the name of the class - Principles of Salesmanship, taught by a woman. It was an excellent c...

If you lived in Phoenix in the 1970s and '80s, you remember the Lou Grubb commercials. Lou Grubb had a Chevrolet dealership, and mostly I remember his radio commercials, which were so low-key that sounded more like he was trying to lull you to sleep rather than talk you into buying a car. The commercials started with some very soft music. And since I was young, listening to rock-and-roll, the music sounded VERY soft. The announcer would introduce Lou Grubb, who would sound kinda like your slightly-sleepy uncle who just happened to wander into your living room and decided to talk about whatever was on his mind. I was new to Phoenix, and his commercials puzzled me. What was he selling? At the end of the commercial, the announcer would say the words "Lou Grubb Chevrolet", so it must have gotten through to me. Off the top of my head, I can't remember any other Chevrolet dealerships, so his commercials must have been effective. In the early 1980s I was studying Ma...

I'm a defender of historic architectural design. That is, I like to see old buildings kept as close to their original state as possible. I dislike seeing stucco over original old bricks. However, if the building was originally stucco, I defend that. It's about design integrity, not about a particular person's taste. And if you've ever wondered why old buildings were "modernized", or why Victorian houses had all of their elaborate decorations stripped off of them, all you have to do is to understand that things go out of style, and tastes change. It's always a cycle, and it's what I call "garage sale" ugliness. That is, whatever becomes so common that people laugh at it. It could be a color, it could be a texture. It changes with every generation, and every generation knows what's "ugly". So they destroy it, with the best intentions. And it makes me sad. Yesterday I was talking to someone who is preparing a house for sale ...

If you've ever been on the campus of ASU, or even just driven on University Drive past it, you may remember a bridge that connects the main campus with the area where the football stadium is. It's called Palm Walk. If you walk onto the campus you will see some very tall palm trees. And many of them are dying. No, it's not a conspiracy, man. And it's not about global warming, or vandalism. These trees are simply finishing up their lifespan. Yes, they're that old. Some of them are nearly 100 years old. Support Arizona history by becoming a patron on Patreon Click here to become a Patron! In spite of the fact that I have an ASU shirt that says "1885" on it, when I started learning about my Alma mater, I was surprised at how old the campus is. And while none of the palm trees go back quite that far, many were planted right around 1920. In fact, if you're a "tree-hugger" like me, ASU's campus is one of the finest arboretums in Arizo...

Since it's July, and the temperatures here in Glendale (a suburb of Phoenix) will be over 100 again (probably over 110), I'm thinking about a very common misconception about Phoenix - that it never gets cold. But believe me, it gets very cold. Painfully cold. If you're an early riser, like me, you know that the the temperatures here in the desert plunge in the wee hours of the morning. For example, this morning at sunrise my patio was about 80 degrees. Two hours later it was 100. However, in the winter, it's even more extreme. Temperatures can go below freezing, even down into the twenties, or teens. That's why you'll see overnight freeze warnings for plants. And freezing temperatures can be hard on human beings, too. Especially the type that the desert gets, with low humidity. Back in the early '90s, I rode my bike to work, which was less than two miles away. And while mostly it was a pleasure, it was only the cold temperatures that stopped me, and...