My life in Phoenix, Arizona in the 1990s


I was talking to one of my top history adventurers yesterday and he mentioned, in passing, that he didn't remember much about the '90s in Phoenix. He said, "Did anything happen in the '90s?" His memories, and fond ones at that, were of the 1970s in Phoenix, and mine are of the '90s. So, if you'd like to time-travel back to Phoenix in the '90s, and see it through my eyes, let's go.

I lived in Phoenix from 1977 until 1982, but I lived in California until 1989, when I returned. So, in round numbers I wasn't in Phoenix in the 1980s, and returned for the '90s. Mostly for the golf.

No, I'm not and never was a particularly good golfer, but I had decided that I didn't want to live in a world of total work, so I decided to make working just a part of my life, and golf all of my life. In Los Angeles it was way too expensive for me to indulge in a golf lifestyle, but in Phoenix I could, and did. My favorite course was Cave Creek, and since I lived on El Caro I played there a lot, too. When I got the job at Valley Bank/Bank One, I accepted every golf invitation that I could. That's Foothills up there, where I played with one of our printing reps. I have no idea what the logo on my shirt says, but I know that the visor, like most of my casual wear, said Bank One.

If you lived in Phoenix in the '90s, you know how Bank One transitioned over from Valley National Bank. The Valley Bank commercials had the basketball coaches from ASU and the U of A, and when Bank One took over, they kept them, and me, and everyone I worked with. It was a good time while it lasted. I'll let back to that.

I'm not much of a sports fan, but the '90s were very important to the Phoenix Suns, in the era of Charles Barkley. Seems to me that there was a LOT of purple painted on walls all over town in those days!

By the mid-90s it wasn't that much fun to work for Bank One anymore. They were slowly moving things over to their national corporate offices in Columbus, Ohio, and I could definitely see that the writing was on the wall for the Marketing Department, where I worked. In '96 I resigned, and that fall I started teaching graphic design for the Art Institute of Phoenix, who were the new kids on the block at the time. It was a time of private colleges, and AIPX was right in there competing hard. It was a great place for me to be, but it too fizzled out, and I was no longer there in 1999, when I started at Glendale Community College.

I could go on and on about how great the '90s were for me, how much golf I played, that sort of thing, and I know that I will in future blog posts. For now I'm just gonna sit here and smile. I didn't grow up in Phoenix, and I never really intended to make it my home, but when I came back there, after living in California, and as the '90s flowed, it was a place I wanted to stay, forever. I like it here.

Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on Buy me a coffee, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to:

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