How do you remember Phoenix? Stories from long time residents... (golf course, dating)

[kathy butler]

Originally Posted by LadmoFan

Hey Mike you are about the same age. I was born in May 1956 and yes you right about Bell Road. I can remember when my grandparents took us out to Fountain Hills to see the new construction. We thought it was in the middle of nowhere...LOL!!

Are my memories holding up well? Do you remember the Super Chicken episodes? Do you remember when all electric homes were the way to go?

LF

hey Ladmofan do you remember Ladmo's burger joint on approx 24th Ave & Thomas....next to the miniature golf course?

[kathy butler]

Originally Posted by LadmoFan

LOL!! A dry heat well it was. I also think there was a bit less pavement and a few less swimming pools to contribute to the heat and humidity.

Thanks for reminding me of the adobe houses. Nothing better than a real adobe house to beat the heat.

As I wrote earlier, I lived in Phoenix without air conditioning, it can be done. I wouldn't recommend it unless you have no other choice.

LF

Most of us lived without A/C in the 50's & 60's......now the thought of going one day without is enuf to kill me..lol

[kathy butler]

Originally Posted by aj661

Forgot about Carnation's Ice Cream Parlor! Only went there once as a child. Thanks for finding a great memory buried under all the garbage in my head!

My sister worked at Carnation during high school & loved it.

[kathy butler]

Originally Posted by Artliquide

That sounds really familiar, but I can't remember either.

Anyone remember Ed Debevic's with the rude waiters who danced on the counter and sat down next to you in your booth to take your order?

Also, my grandparents used to love to take us to the Safari in Scottsdale, but sadly it was torn down to make room for condos.

Loved Ed Debevic's they just closed a couple of years ago....

[bgrn198]

I don't live in Phoenix but I love it out there my dad's company (Westel Inc.) does buisness out in AZ and I used to go out there every summer with my parents been going out there since about the late 80's early 90's anyways we would stay at most all the resorts like camelback Inn and the Biltmore and the Scottsdale Princess and this was before it was a Fairmont hotel and it was cheaper to get a casita suite lol but there wasn't much out there around it off Scottsdale Road. you had the TPC course and there were a few houses around but not much. Anyone out there remember Carmelo's Italian Restaurant can't remember what road it was on I know it was off Scottsdale Rd. somewhere but they closed that restaurant a few years ago.

[kathy butler]

thanks for providing me with the Brookshires memory...I go past 16th & Mcdowell daily & could not for the life of me remember the coffee shop that used to be there.

[cjs123]

"Anyone remember Ed Debevic's with the rude waiters who danced on the counter and sat down next to you in your booth to take your order?"


I'd forgotten about that; only went there once in the mid-90's. The waitress threw straws at us [and of course they all danced on the counter]. She also said something silly to one of the guests at our table, who was mortally offended and pouted throughout the entire meal. Don't remember the meal, just the atmosphere.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by kathy butler

Loved Ed Debevic's they just closed a couple of years ago....

It's been quite a bit longer than a "couple of years" -- time does go fast.

[desertratz]

Originally Posted by kathy butler

Was Vince Welnick in the Tubes?

Yes, he was one of the original members of the Tubes and also played and recorded with Todd Rundgren before becoming the keyboardist for the Grateful Dead until Jerry Garcia's death. Unfortunately Vince fell victim to the Grateful Dead's "curse of the keyboard player" in 2006.

I have worked with his brother for 30 years and still do today.

[desertratz]

Growing up in the 50's, we lived on north Alma School Road in Mesa and the reservation was a couple of miles north at the Salt River. We used to see horse drawn "wagons" driven by indians pass our house all the time. When I say "wagon", it was actually a wooden flatbed on what may have been an old car frame and it still had rubber car tires on it, but it was horse powered. The Bashas store in Mesa had a vacant dirt lot next to the store on the north side and you would see these "wagons" parked there quite frequently.

I remember riding with my dad over to the livestock auctions on Washington Street just east of the Tovrea stockyards. It meant traveling west on Transmission road (now University Drive) past Victory Acres in Tempe until we came to Hayden/McClintock Road. There was no APS power plant at the time, only a large field full of dairy cattle and the road did not go through as it does today.. We had to detour south to 8th street and continue west past the old creamery into town, past the Hayden flour mill and across the bridge to get to Washington Street. Tovrea's castle used to creep me out because my big brothers told me all these B/S horror stories about the place and how Al Capone used to live there.

I remember swimming in the canals and going down the "Slides" by the Mesa country club golf course. We also used to water ski in the canals until my buddy rolled his dad's new Suburban into the canal. He didn't go home for over a week.

In high school, we were big frequenters of the "Hot Pumps". These were deep well irrigation pumps that located along the 3rd canal in east Mesa between Higley and Power road. This is a geothermal area and all the water pumped up into the diverter boxes was naturally hot/warm. This is the same hot water aquifer that Buckhorn Baths was tapped into. Clothing was optional and in the summertime we always had to snag a watermelon or two from J.R, Golightly's nearby watermelon fields without getting caught by the guard.

I used to beg my parents to stop at the Marquee drive-in. My parents didn't care for the place as it was always full of teenagers and my mom was pretty sure they were hoodlums. Besides, dad liked Bill's Hamburgers on the corner of Main St and Extension Rd. We could get 6 for $1 there. Anybody remember Sandy's drive ins? They had the best tenderloin sandwiches.