Is Bisbee as charming as Doug Stanhopes' Bisbee Police Report? (Phoenix: home, neighborhoods)

[Hal Roach]

Originally Posted by Sockeye66

I've visited Bisbee a couple of times, it's beautiful and quirky. I also did a lot of AZ research on best place to buy (for me) and had to cut Bisbee from the list.

1st- High altitude does make for a cold winter and snow that I do not want.

2nd- To far from a larger airport so necessary travel will be difficult
3rd- Higher cost of living for the amenities not offered.

Ultimately it was Rio Rico that won my favor, but it's a reasonable and scenic drive to Bisbee when I choose to visit.

fair assessment, but probably a lot more likely to get natural gas in Bisbee than RR, but it does seem like RR is less isolated.

[Sockeye66]

Originally Posted by Hal Roach

fair assessment, but probably a lot more likely to get natural gas in Bisbee than RR, but it does seem like RR is less isolated.

RR is 50 minutes or less to the Tucson airport and Nogales has the big stores when shopping is needed.

[Salpointe59]

I love Bisbee and we lived there for 2 years. However I was in a very priority Reserve Special Forces unit and it was easier to Teach at Buena and be able to go
with an hour or two warning when I had a mission.


Bisbee is actually several towns because the early citizens lived within friendly immigrant refuges. Warren where we lived which is very much like a 20's town with TV. The Vista, ball park area is wonderful and our kids were quite safe there as everyone watches old folks and kids. Everyone I know is also armed to the teeth. Quite a few Bohunks live there because the Easter Orthodox church is there.
San Jose is next to Warren and used to be called Mexican town because of the proximity to Naco, nowadays it if about half and half Anglos and Messicans, many intermarried and are football nuts. They are armed past the teeth.


Next comes a dead town called Lowell which speaks for itselt, and the Huge Copper Pit is next to it. The next group of people has folks who believe that the Pit is where alien Spaceships land at night. These are the people of Old Bisbee, the town to High to Die. Here, hippies and cowboys have learned to get along pretty well. My favorite restaurant is Santiego's Mexican. Great mixture of folks and those who are married are often the same sex or Catholics because St. Patrick's church is by the Old Historic Courthuse.


There are several other sections of Bisbee again they were once inhabited by what ever ethnic group came from Ellis Island to work in the huge mine. I like going behind the mountain near the ballpark to zero in my long distance rifles and there will usually be hunters zeroing in their rifles. Do NOT go there at night, period.

[LittleSwissArmyGirl]

Sounds like the makings of a wild B movie!!

[More Rock]

I have been there a number of times. I like it, but it is far from everything except Mexico. Tourists come to the historic part of Bisbee, the narrow box canyon with small homes built on the steep sides. Some great architecture. Pizza pretty good at Screaming Banshee. As Doug jokes, the biggest source of income is welfare.

[Finper]

Me and my friends were on vacation and went to Bisbee. What a cute little town I thought. We ate lunch and started to walk around. That's when the feeling started that we were being watched. We walked by this house and this crazy man was in his backyard that he called a dog park. But no dogs ... I think there was a large dinosaur sculpture and another guy was there hiding and started to giggle like a lunatic. Then the dog park guy comes over holding a piece of wood with dog poop on it he had spray painted gold and scattered pearls on it. I think that gold dog poop describes Bisbee pretty well. Needless to say we left and headed to Tombstone which I loved.

[LittleSwissArmyGirl]

Can you live a trailer and be on welfare in Bisbee, sure, but what fun is that, although you might make it onto one of Doug's podcast! [/quote]

hahaha!
No, I'd be coming down there with about 300K. Stealth Rabbit suggested buying spot A in the SW and rent spot B in the NW during the summers. That is sort of how I'm looking at this because if I split the 300K between the two locales, yes, I'd be in a turquoise trailer with a carport on each end. Bonus; the NW one would undoubtable feature a blue tarp.

I quit working early, so I'm on SS now with few small pensions to add. Rivers, canyons, hiking and my big puppy would be my main hobbies, I think. I'm sort of a non social type so trying to root out the interesting places beyond suburbia.

[NorthernFog]

Originally Posted by adventuregurl

I can think of better places in AZ for a snowbird base camp...I'm not big on Bisbee though.

What better places do you have in mind?

[NorthernFog]

Originally Posted by Hal Roach

There is some cheap housing there...looks interesting, but just a bit small...too far from Home Depot, and quality healthcare...a cheap house, not in an HOA, not too cold and not too hot....could be a very good investment. 7 dollar microbrewery beers and 8 dollar an hour, part time jobs, though....would grate on me....property taxes seem high, too.

Just how far is good healthcare from Bisbee?

And: is that infamous "Valley Fever" people get in Phoenix and Tuscon also found in Bisbee?

[NorthernFog]

Originally Posted by kytoaz

I love bisbee but it gets quite cold there in the winter. It snowed quite a bit in the last few weeks.

Has it been colder than the chart below represents it?


This is how Wikipedia's climate chart for Bisbee show typical winter weather January-December and last column for the year:


Average low °F (°C) 34.3
Jan 36.1
Feb 40.3
Mr 46.2
Apr 53.3
May 62.2
June 64.3
JY 62.5
AG 59.1
Sept. 50.2
Oct. 40.8
Nov 35.5
Dec 48.7

Record low
Jan 6
Feb 11
Mr 21
Apr 27
May 32
JE 38
JY 53
AG 47
Sept 41
Oct 28
Nov 16
Dec 13