History Adventuring

Phoenix is all about cars. The city is older than the invention of cars, but not much. It may have started growing with Street Cars, but most of its growth has been designed for automobiles. So if you plan to live in Phoenix, or suburban Phoenix, or anywhere except downtown Phoenix, you really gotta have a car. Not surprisingly, the traffic congestion is awful, and amount of collisions (I refuse to call them accidents - they're really inventibles), and Phoenix still leads the country in red-light running. Walking along a sidewalk along any of the major streets in Phoenix is like walking along the edge of a freeway. It's horrible, and very dangerous. The streets have been widened, and widened, and widened, and the most of the entrances to parking lots (which cross the sidewalks) are designed like exit and entrance ramps on freeways. Crossing those points of the sidewalk on foot or on a bike is deadly. And I'm not criticizing the drivers here, drivers aren't expectin

The Sonoran Desert, where Phoenix, Arizona is, has looked the same since the end of the last Ice Age, 10,000 years ago. But the way that people see it has only recently changed. It has changed from ugly to beautiful. If you've never visited the desert around Phoenix, Arizona, I highly recommend that you do. There are amazing views, stunning landscapes, and plants, like Saguaro Cactuses, that are seen no where else in the world. The colors are absolutely astonishing, especially in the spring, after a rain. And did I mention the delicious smell of the desert, especially after a rain? I could go on and on, but I want to time-travel a bit with you. Let's go back to a time before air-conditioned cars, and cupholders, and convenience stores where we can get a hot dog, some Cheetos and a Coke. Let's go back to a time when the desert is horrible, and ugly, and frightening. I'm going to wave a magic wand and take away all of the roads. We are now out in the middle of the

As someone who's interested in history, and architecture, I have a particular fascination with Victorian houses. Here in Phoenix, they were mostly along what was known as Millionaire's Row, which was on Monroe between Central and 7th Street. The Rosson House is an example of one that was preserved and restored. The other ones, like the one in the photo at the top of this post, which was at 725 E. Washington, were demolished. If you've ever visited a beautifully-restored Victorian house, you may wonder why they were ever demolished? But if you had seen what these houses had become by the 1980s, you'd understand. Time-travel with me. After the wealthy people moved out of these gigantic homes, beginning in the 1920s, they quickly became apartments. What were once spacious homes were subdivided into tiny rooms that allowed people with limited budgets to have a place to live. And as you would expect, the upkeep of these houses wasn't as good once they became apart

I just found this postcard of the World's Largest Cactus near Phoenix, Arizona in the 1940s. It's a saguaro, which are fairly common in the Sonoran Desert, and they get very big. Amazingly big. This one was in Paradise Valley. And I've found lots of photos of wonderful gigantic saguaros in the same area around the same time. There was a fairly new resort out there, called Camelback Inn, and back at the time it was pretty much all alone in the desert, with the saguaros. Of course, these aren't really the world's largest cactuses (cacti?), but there's no "truth in advertising" law that applied to postcards in the 1940s. I like postcards, and they can be a lot of fun, but you gotta remember that, like Instagram, they portray a world that's just a little too perfect to be completely true. I'm OK with that. Giant Saguaro Cactus in the 1930s, Paradise Valley, Arizona. Camelback Mountain is in the background. If you live in Arizona, or hav

It's 1923, there's a brand-new golf course here in Phoenix, Arizona, and I want to go there with you. It's way out on the Tempe Road [32nd Street and Van Buren] but I have a new Marmon Phaeton, so we'll be there in no time, arriving in style. Got your baffy, your niblick and your mashie? How about plenty of gutta-percha balls? OK, let's go! 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, aerials, and super high-resolution photos of historic Phoenix, Arizona Wow, this is a nice 18-hole course. I think the idea of golf courses around Phoenix is going to catch on, don't you? No, no, please, you go first. I'll help you tee up. Let's see, we need to make a little pile of sand for your ball to sit on before you drive. Luckily, this is the desert, and there's plenty of sand around here! 1

I just love walking around Phoenix. I do it in real life as often as I can, and also a lot in my imagination. And something that works for me is old maps. I recently discovered Sanborn maps, and although I really don't understand them, they help me to visit old-time Phoenix in my mind. The Sanborn map at the top of this post is from 1893. Of course, it's just a tiny section - they were huge. Their purpose was to meticulously record detail about buildings for fire insurance purposes. There's a complex code of colors, and numbers, and abbreviations, and a lot of stuff. You can find out more about Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps online, they did a lot of cities. 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, aerials, and super high-resolution photos of historic Phoenix, Arizona Walk with me. It's 1893 and we

If you want to time-travel, and see trees that were planted over 100 years ago, all you have to do is to go to Glendale Community College, at 59th Avenue and Olive. They march right through the center of campus. They were originally along the driveway to the Sahuaro Ranch, which is just north of the school, and were moved into their current position when the campus was built, in 1965. But you can do more than that - you can see the original trees in their original position. Come along with me. By the way, these aren't the common palm trees that you see everywhere, like the ones on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. These are California Fan Palms and those are Mexican Fan Palms. Technically, they're Washingtonia filiferas, not Washingtonia robustas. And when places like Phoenix, and Los Angeles, started planting robustas, filferas pretty much disappeared. And you really can't blame them, robustas (as the name implies) grow much faster, and stronger. They don't live as lo

Time-travel with me to the 1950s to Phoenix, Arizona. In this story I'm a black man with a young family. I served in World War II, and I have a good job back east. I've been working hard, and I just bought a big, brand-new, beautiful car and I want to see the country. The United States has some awesome new highways, so we can go anywhere. I just tuned up the car, filled it with gas, and we're on our way. But since it's the 1950s, and we're black, there are some severe challenges to face. This is the time of Jim Crow laws, and segregation. "Separate but Equal" is still the law of the land, and we can be turned away from restaurants, and hotels because we're black. So we will be taking along the Green Book. It's been printed since 1936, and would stay in print until 1966. It shows places where we will be welcomed. After the mid-1960s, the United States laws changed, and "Separate but Equal" would go away as Unconstitutional. But it

The Sahuaro Ranch (yes, it's misspelled that way) is an historic ranch and park which is open to the public. There are old buildings, gardens, and wide-open spaces. The ranch goes back to 1886, and there are a bunch of historic plaques around explaining that kind of stuff. I visit there as often as I can, both in my imagination and in real life, and I was there this morning. It's located between 59th and 63rd Avenues in Glendale, south of Peoria Avenue. It's directly adjacent to Glendale Community College, which is on Olive. It's a big place, but you can't see it from any main streets, so you may have gone past it many times even if you live in the neighborhood. I've always sought out places like this to sooth my jangled nerves. I have no excuse for having jangled nerves, I know, but I do. When I lived in California, I called it the LA Hee-Bee-Jee-Bees, and it was brought on by traffic, and crowding, and mostly just be being a nervous and anxious person.

I grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and moved to Phoenix, Arizona when I was 19. Other than the fact that it doesn't snow in Phoenix, and some other minor details, I found the people to be pretty much the same as where I had come from. I really never gave it much thought. When I moved to California, though, I got hit with culture shock. California is dramatically different from Arizona, and it's certainly nothing like Minnesota. I think that I can tell you why. Arizona attracts people from the midwest, especially Minnesota. Sure, there are midwesterners in California, but not as many. The main reason is that California is crazy expensive, and Phoenix is a bargain. People from Minnesota are thrifty, and they love bargains. That's a good place to start. Check the price of a hotel room in San Diego versus one in Scottsdale and you'll see what I mean. Sure, California has the ocean, but is it really all that valuable? People from Minnesota, like me, just want to get

I collect old photos of Phoenix, and post them on the web, and often people will be amused by the mention of the term "refrigeration" on advertising for a motel. And it really was an important selling point. No, the rooms weren't as cold as the inside of your refrigerator! But the concept was similar. Time-travel with me back to the 1950s in Phoenix. I love Phoenix, but let's face it, it's hot. It's in the desert, and that desert heat can be miserable, especially if it's hot at night. If you've ever lived in Phoenix and tried to sleep when your air conditioning isn't working (which I did for one night about a couple of years ago, and I still remember!) you know how important air conditioning is. Without it, no one in their right mind would live in a city like Phoenix, or Palm Springs. But air conditioning, like wifi, is a technology that took some time to evolve before everyone took it for granted. Support Arizona history by becoming a pat

I love to sightsee. I'm always on a window seat of an airplane, when I take the shuttle I kinda hope that they'll have to do a side-trip so I can do more sightseeing. As a driver, I was never very good at paying attention to what really matters to drivers, such as moving quickly when the left arrow turns green. By the way, if you're worried that you're gonna be behind me, don't, I've stopped driving. I lost interest in it years ago and I finally sold my car and am dedicating myself to sightseeing. I like looking at stuff. I started drawing when I was a little kid, and when I discovered Andrew Wyeth in my teens, I really got into just looking at things, especially old buildings. I love the texture of old bricks, I love looking at an old crumbling foundation and pondering the building that had been there. For a long time I carried a sketchbook with me, just in case anyone would walk up to me and ask what I was looking at. In a long life, no one has asked, s