An imaginary journey to old-time Phoenix


If you've ever looked at old photos and wondered what it would be like to go there, you understand my obsession. I don't want to just look at old photos, I want to live them. I want to step into the photo, walk around, be there. This is an imaginary journey.

Now hold on here, I have no desire to go live in the past. In fact, as I write this, I'm very glad to have a 21st Century air conditioner keeping me comfortable, a powerful computer in front of me, the internet, etc. I'm not wishing that things would be "just the way they were", I know that things are better now in ways that we just take for granted, like the water I'm sipping now which I'm sure tastes better than the water that people took out of the canals, or wells in old-time Phoenix. Well, that's my best guess.

And I like to use the expression "my best guess" on certain things. I surround myself with experts who can give me very precise dates and locations, but as I do the time-traveling journeys, I really do have to make an educated guess. I'm not an expert on history, or Phoenix history, I'm just a fascinated observer. And as soon as I learn something I want to share it, not in a dry and dull way, but in the way that sparks my imagination. Come with me.

I have a folder on my computer called images_Phoenix and right now I'm just gonna spin my mouse and see what interesting comes up. It's alphabetical, so I try to skip down a bit. Here we go, the Japanese Flower Gardens in the 1950s.

We're looking south towards South Mountain at about Baseline and 40th Street. I can smell the flowers, can't you? I'm pretty sure the flowers at the top of this post are Stock, which smells wonderful. I've planted it here in my garden a few times. It's hard to imagine how wonderful it would be to be standing in a whole field of it, but I'm imagining it now. Can you smell it?

Let's keep walking, there's so much else to see! I'm through talking now, let's walk.





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