Watching a neighborhood grow and change in Phoenix, Arizona

I stopped to take a closer look yesterday at where the old Circle K had been in my neighborhood, which is a suburb of Phoenix. And it's got me to thinking about how much Phoenix grows and changes over the years, and how people feel about it.

This particular neighborhood was built in the mid 1980s, when there had been only a smattering of houses and a community college (Glendale Community College, built in 1965). There are some houses that I can tell are from the 1970s, and a few even older, but what happened here is that the neighborhood suddenly appeared in 1985 or thereabouts.

There are three shopping centers on the corner of 67th Avenue and Peoria - the one in the photo is called "Peoria Station", and it was designed to kinda look like a train station. The other three are called Westporte Village, Brittany Square, and Crossroads Plaza. I've lived in this neighborhood for a very long time, and no one ever uses those names, even though the signs are still up. But there was a time when just signs and an empty parking lot and buildings, was all there was. Businesses moved in as the neighborhood started to grow.

I wish that I could tell you more about the gas station on the southwest corner of Peoria Avenue and 67th Avenue, whether it was older than the shopping center, or was built on it afterwards, I really don't know. I just know that it was a tiny building that must have been plenty for the amount of business it did back in the '80s and '90s, but it had just gotten too small over the years. That's how it works in a growing city.

Of course, there are different ways to look at it. Many of the old-timers hate to see the old, tiny buildings go away, and I understand. They were just fine "back in the day", and for reasons of nostalgia, they're wonderful. To get larger quantities of cars and people through, they're just awful. I know, because I lived in an area of Los Angeles that long outgrown its buildings, and all you could do would be to get in line, and wait, and wait. I used to think "this must have been absolutely perfect back in 1968!" as I sat there waiting my turn at the pump at a gas station.

My point of view is that I'm glad that they were able to rebuild it from scratch, to modern standards. It's a big chunk of land, and my best guess is that they'll make better use of it, allowing traffic to move through faster and easier. Circle K has been feeling a lot of competition from Quick Trip, which already has a bigger and more efficient system.

Phoenix has been doing this for over 100 years - a building which has gotten too small, and which was considered generously big back in the day, is torn down, and a larger building replaces it. For old-timers it must be as if their city gets a face lift every few years. And this has created a situation whereby people can hardly believe that Phoenix is as old as it is. When the new Circle K is finished, no one will suspect that the original building went back 40 years or more - but you and I will know.

My plan is to go in and buy a coffee and a Kitkat bar! What about you?

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 buymeacoffee.com/bradhall, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to!