History Adventuring

Unlike most of the people I've ever known in a longish life, that I call "ten to twos" (meaning that they feel their most energetic only after 10 am and up to 2 am), I'm someone who always seem to fall asleep long before the best bands would even begin to start playing, somewhere. I'd be home in bed, and after eight hours I'd wake up to some of the most glorious mornings that you can imagine. Growing up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, I HATED mornings, and not just because all kids do. It gets COLD there, and delivering newspapers at 5 am remains one of those painful memories of my life. Not so in Phoenix! We're having a heatwave today, and it will be well over 100 degrees for my "ten to two" friends who will never see a Phoenix sunrise. Or if they do, it will be from doing an all-nighter in college, or staying up all night drinking. But the glories of a gorgeous morning in the high seventies after a wonderful night of sleep are denied to them,

A few years ago I was watching a Western with a good friend of mine, and in an exciting scene, where the bad guys sneak up on the ranch, we both had the same thought at the same time: where were the dogs? I visited this friend today, and as usual his security system was working just fine. Of course, I was admitted, as my credentials were smelled and OK'd. I wouldn't want to think of what could happen if I were a bad guy! I've known these dogs for a very long time, and they're very friendly, but make no mistake, these are the kind of powerful animals who would probably die defending their territory. So, getting back to the movie, I know, it was just a movie - I know that. But that kind of thing puts me to mind of how extremely effective this type of security system is, and you'd better believe that it was used in old-time Phoenix long before signs for security companies were planted in front yards, and even before electricity. And maybe that's one of the

Times have changed. And while there is still a long way to go for everyone to enjoy their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, as someone who enjoys looking back at history, I am optimistic. I have to admit that I'd never even heard of the Arizona Gleam until just a few minutes ago as I was looking around on the Library of Congress website. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, I'm just always interested in looking, and time-traveling. Let's go to Phoenix in 1937 and read Arizona's Premiere Race Weekly. This publication specifically addressed issues of interest to what we would call Black people today, or African-Americans. The use of the language has changed since 1937, so many people might find this shocking, or offensive. The NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, still exists, but nowadays it's more correct to say "Persons of Color". A subtle difference, but the kind of difference th

As someone who has always been fascinated with history, including the stories of the Old West, I've always been interested in the Code of the West. If you've ever watched any Western movies, you've heard of it, maybe even seen it in action. The Code of the West is simply a bunch of things that men who consider themselves men of honor, do. Arizona has always been a place that honors the Code of the West, and it still is. No, it's not a set of rules that are written down, nor is it enforced by anyone in authority, but without it Arizona would have never become what it is today. Sheriffs and lawmen didn't make Arizona a safe place to live, men of honor did, men who followed the Code of the West. In movies it's easy to see who the good guys, and the bad guys, are. Good guys always wore white hats, that sort of thing. The last thing that they would do would be to wear a mask on their face while out in public. They might cover their nose and mouth from trail

When I lived in Los Angeles in the 1980s, one of the things that always amazed me was how many houses, apartments, and condos there were. And it seemed every time I turned around, more construction was happening to add even more, and more. The thought that there had ever been a housing shortage in LA never even occurred to me, but there was, during World War II, and even afterwards for several years after the war ended. Construction boomed, but it took quite a while to catch up with the demand. Let's time-travel back to LA during World War II, sometime between 1942 and 1945. The war had caused a tremendous demand for things like airplanes, and those factories needed people - LOTS of people to work there. And so if you weren't overseas in service, and you were otherwise able-bodied, you could be a War Worker. The jobs paid well, but people still needed a place to live, and all over town were "no vacancy" signs. Let's drive down Huntington Boulevard, and s

Unlike places like New York, or Los Angeles, Phoenix hasn't been a late-night, or 24-hour city for very long, but there has always been the need for someone to do a graveyard shift, like police officers, or night watchmen, or people who work at hospitals. And of course, criminals. I got to thinking about it today and wondered what it would have been like to work all night long in old-time Phoenix, the good and bad of it. Of course, the good of it is that it would be a whole lot cooler at night than during the day, and for people who worked the graveyard shift without the benefit of air conditioning in the summer in Phoenix, it would have been wonderful. Of course, they would have to go home and try to get their eight hours of sleep after sunrise, and that couldn't have been easy, even after the invention of air conditioning. If I were a criminal, like a porch climber, I'd much rather do my crawling around at night than risk being up on a hot roof during the

It's May 20, 2020 as I write this, and if you're reading it right now you know that it's a time of contagion, all over the world. And all of this has got me to thinking about how people respond to the concept of contagion, and viruses. In 1918, it was called the "Spanish Flu" and it killed a LOT of people. If you're a history buff, you know about it. And my first thought is that the idea of something so tiny that even the most powerful microscopes at the time couldn't see it, must have seemed just about impossible for many people to wrap their heads around. And to be fair to these people, if you showed me a virus under an electronic microscope, I would still have no idea what I was looking at! But there was something deadly, and invisible, out there, which could spread from a touch, and even a breath. And then, as now, it's a matter of faith in people who do understand it, doctors and scientists. And speaking for myself, as much as I like to

It's May 11th, 2020, I just rode up to the grocery store, which is only a few blocks away, and I put on the mask before I left. It's strange to feel as if I could hold up a stagecoach, but it's one less thing for me to remember when I get to the store. Today is the first day that I felt that I got a few hard looks from people who weren't wearing masks in the grocery store. And it occurred to me that I've always seen that look, going back to when I would wear a seat belt when someone else was driving. It seemed to say that I didn't trust them. I still wore the seat belt, even though they assured me that it wasn't required by law, but I made a note not to ride with them again. As you can see from the pic up there, I also wear a bicycle helmet. I have enough sunscreen to be able to walk on the sun, and to me it's all about reducing the odds of injury - whether to my head, or to my skin. There are people who resent seeing me doing this kind of stuff,

I don't have any photos of the original location of Delta Motorsports, which was at 10th Street and Indian School Road, just a few of their "new" location at 28th Street and Bell, which is also long-gone. Last I heard it was a going concern in Sunnyslope, but had long passed into the hands of people that I don't know. Time-travel with me, and let's go visit Delta. The pic at the top of this post is from 1989, when I had just moved back to Phoenix from California, and it looks like they gave me a shirt. I wonder if I still have that? Probably not. That's at their 28th Street and Bell location, but where they were really never mattered, they were a mail-order company. If someone walked in, like I used to do, they would just sit around and talk until the phone rang. The sales were mostly done over the telephone. They sold car parts, specifically for a car called a "Jensen-Healey", which hadn't been manufactured since 1976. And that's what

It's May 6th, 2020, and the quiet little streets of my suburban neighborhood have been very quiet for over a two months now. This is the time of social distancing, the era of COVID-19, which means Coronavirus Disease 2019 (which was when it was named, last year). I've been rolling out first thing in the morning on my wonderful recumbent trike, both because it helps with my fitness goals, and also because I just love looking at stuff, and with my bad ankle, walking is uncomfortable for me. But on the trike I can cruise around with ease. And since I'm out before most businesses are open, I like to look into the windows, and read the signs. Yes, I ride alone, and if someone wants me to stop and talk to them, I give them the cheeriest smile I can, and keep rolling.  I smile and wave to people, but I keep a generous amount of social distance. But I know that you're always with me on my adventures, and I appreciate that! Fast food places, and even iHop, are open for t

I never saw what trailer courts used to be like in old-time Phoenix. By the time I got there, in 1977, they were some of the most awful, scary-looking places I had ever seen. Whatever landscaping that been there had long since gone, and I decided that no matter how bad things got for me, I'd never live in a trailer. Of course, the 55+ trailer courts have been kept up, but the ordinary trailer courts really haven't. That's why my parents taught me to never say "trailer court", and to always say, "mobile home community". I was very surprised how inviting the trailer courts were in the old photos I found. They weren't luxurious, or expensive, they were just a place to hang your hat. To our modern eyes, it seems strange, but they were shady, and comfortable, mostly used in the winter and mostly empty all summer. You don't need air conditioning from October to April in Phoenix, the weather is absolutely glorious - I know because I've spent

If you're familiar with whatever happened to Valley National Bank of Arizona, you know that it was purchased by Bank One in 1993. I was there during the transition, and it was a wonderful time. Let's go downtown to what is nowadays the Chase Tower, at Central and Monroe, and go to the very top floor, where the big executives were. No, I was never a big executive - I had a job in the Marketing Department as a graphic designer. And what that meant was that our department did work for other departments in the bank, in what is known as "in-house". Mostly our clients would come to us, but if we did some work for the executives, we went to them, specifically me. The secretary had to buzz me in, and I would carry the proofs back and forth. OK, enough about that - let's get to the fun part! You may also know that Valley National Bank had a tremendous art collection, which had been started by VNB President Walter Bimson in the 1940s. Every branch had original paint