Making friends in old-time, and modern Phoenix, Arizona


Most of the people I know have friends. It may only be one, or two, or a handful, but I've never met anyone who faces the world entirely alone. They may be friends with people in their family, or their childhood friends, or people who have the same political views or interests that they have, or they may just be friends with their dog. And this has got me to thinking about making friends in the modern day (during the time of COVID-19), or during the beginning of the modern era (which is my own arbitrary date - when I moved to Phoenix in 1977), or back in old-time Phoenix (which goes back to 1870).

If, for whatever reason, you decided to move to Phoenix when it was new, let's say in the 1870s, you would probably be interested in making friends. It could be because you're starting a business, like selling ice, or maybe you're looking for romance. The reasons are as endless and varied as there are people.

Speaking for myself, I moved away from where I grew up, Minneapolis, Minnesota, the year after I graduated from high school. I didn't know anyone in Phoenix, didn't have any family, I just went there because it sounded good, and it didn't snow there (I HATE cold and snow!). I had been working part-time for an inventory company in Minneapolis that hired college kids for minimum wage to do physical inventory, and I asked for a transfer, which they did. I still remember sitting in my boss's office after he hung up the phone. I had a job in Phoenix. Well, minimum wage, but to me that was a lot compared to the last job I had, which had been delivering newspapers. Minimum wage didn't put me in the lap of luxury in Phoenix, but I was 19, and I didn't need much. My needs were simple, like the fact that I used a frisbee as a dinner plate. I also ate a lot of cheese and beans, which I still do.

Living out in the middle of nowhere, miles from civilization, was very hard, but exciting. When Phoenix was new (I'm talking about the 1870s here, not the 1970s), there was an opportunity to be part of something that just may turn out to be something big. I know that in the 1970s I looked around at people and wondered what in the world they were doing in a place that got to over 100 degrees in the summer, and I'm inclined to think that people thought the same thing in the 1870s. But for me it formed a bond. I immediately liked all of the people around me - they had decided to live in Phoenix, just like me. They were already my neighbors, and it didn't take much to make them into friends.

I'm as friendly as a little puppy dog, and I always have been. Every once in a while I see a questioning look on someone, as if they were trying to figure out what I wanted, why I was being so friendly? And maybe it's because I've been a stranger many times, and I find that very uncomfortable. People are strange when you're a stranger, faces look ugly when you're alone.

Image at the top of this post: Looking east on Camelback Road at 5th Street in the 1970s, Phoenix, Arizona.
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