History adventuring and the slice of life in Phoenix, Arizona




When I first started collecting photos of old Phoenix, I was mostly interested in the buildings. I always wanted to be an architect, but I couldn't do the math, so while that never happened, my fascination with buildings has remained.

And then I started seeing something in the photos that started to really fascinate me - the people. And I don't mean famous people, or people doing something spectacular, I mean ordinary people, doing ordinary things. And as I zoomed in, I started calling it a "slice of life".

And like a lot of things that I do, this has always confused most people. Why would I care? Aren't those people nobodies? They're not celebrities, they're not famous, right? Yes, they're the ordinary people, like me, and possibly you (unless you're a famous celebrity, in which case I apologize!), who do the livin', the workin' and the dyin' in the town that I care so much about.

I think I developed this attitude when I was a nobody walking in LA in the 1980s. There were so many people there, all doing their thing, and while the crowds were awful, the life was wonderful. And as these people became more and more important to me, I think that I grew into the man that I wanted to be, someone with compassion.

No, of course I'm not saying that people who have a fascination with wealth and celebrity aren't compassionate. But they do have a tendency to simply cross out someone as a "nobody". I had a friend in Los Angeles who hated to go to parties because he would see the heads turn in anticipation when he arrived, only to turn away in disappointment because he was a nobody. It made me sad to think of it, my friend is always a superstar with me.

When I look at the people sitting there at a bus stop at Washington and 1st Street, I see a slice of life from the early 1970s in Phoenix. The man in the yellow shirt, with the good-looking hat, you could probably see anywhere around Phoenix nowadays, and he'd look the same. I wonder how old he was? 50s? 60s? That skinny kid sitting there was wearing his hair in a way that would have been considered very long back then, and my best guess is that he listened to the Beatles, or maybe even the Easybeats.

The black guy in the green shirt and cords looks like he's wearing some killer sneaks, which would probably be in fashion nowadays, as retro? I really have no idea. The young woman standing there, looking down, isn't checking Facebook, she's talking to someone. Cool 'fro!

I can, and have, sat for hours looking at slices of life, both in my old photos of Phoenix, and IRL (In Real Life). I'm not looking for celebrities, or anything spectacular, I'm looking for life.

Now I'm looking at the cars - that's a Lincoln, right?
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Comments

  1. wyattphxDecember 18, 2019 at 6:13 PM

    I remember Woolworth's downtown, but by the time I was older we didn't go down there for anything - unlike in my parents' era. Mom remarks about many meals there during her youth while shopping with her mother.

    ReplyDelete

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