How do you remember Phoenix? Stories from long time residents... (Scottsdale: hot water, Jewish)

[desertratz]

Originally Posted by SluggoF16

Remember the talking outhouse?

Yes I remember it! The the door would slam shut as you rode past and a voice would say some like, " can't I get a little privacy here?".

[SluggoF16]

Originally Posted by roosevelt

There were several places in Phoenix that used water to attract customers; the Palms Theater had an indoor outdoor pond that people would throw coins into. Metro has the large fountain inside, haven't been there for a long time. Gym & Swim on Thomas and 35th had a zig-zag walkway above water at the entrance that people kept falling into.

There was a Chinese guy named Toy I believe that used to take a horse and cart up 16th Street. He delivered vegetables to Sunnyslope. He would stay overnight at Camelback and ended up buying the corner and building a restaurant.

Haven't thought of Gym & Swim in years. Their late 60s or early 70s TV ads were overlaid with music straight from a burlesque show while the female narrator totally butchered a Mae West impersonation.

When my parents first moved to PHX they went to Toy's on East Camelback because it reminded them of the Chicago Chinatown they'd grown up with.

[roosevelt]

Originally Posted by SluggoF16

Haven't thought of that place in years. Their late 60s or early 70s TV ads were overlaid with music straight from a burlesque show while the female narrator totally butchered a Mae West impersonation.

When my parents first moved to PHX they went to Toy's on East Camelback because it reminded them of the Chicago Chinatown they'd grown up with.

Thanks to Acmeron:

[SluggoF16]

Originally Posted by travel gal 35

Speaking of washing out.....Floods every year. and people getting washed away in them. I remember standing on the north side of the river (same spot where Club Rio was a few years ago (don't know if it's still there, haven't been by that way in years)) and seeing a guy on a horse walk out to the water and just disappear. The only bridges that wouldn't close would be the old Mill St. bridge and the 40th St. bridge.

The Salt River flood of 1980 may not have been the biggest but it sure seemed to be the most significant. I was a sophomore at ASU, lived on the north side of the River. Would park my car at the zoo and bike across Mill, the only open bridge. Central was closed, and one direction of I-10 near the airport was closed due to structural concerns. Everything else either washed away or was inaccessible due to the approaches being washed out. Before FORTRAN lab on a Tuesday night we went to the Rural riverbed. We'd never seen that much water that fast. There was a threat of Stewart Mountain Dam (Saguaro Lake) being breached or even failing. The Gazette had a front page map of the flood effects if that happened.

My father worked at a concrete plant at McClintock and the river called "TECO", and the site washed away every flood; the workers would move the portable equipment to higher ground before the flood. Then it was easy to quarry new aggregate and sand after the water receded.

KDKB's morning show DJs composed a song about the river flood in 1980, sung to the then just-released Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall"... I don't remember why they were picking on Governor Babbitt.

"We don't need no evacuation"
"We don't need no flood control"
"No S-R-P in the Valley"
"Governor, leave the Salt alone"

"Hey, Governor, leave the Salt alone"
"All in all, it's just another kick in the balls"

[trillcatz]

Originally Posted by David Wendell

I remember the Food Bazaar. My wife worked at the Hallcraft Showcase of Homes nearby. We would eat there whenever we could on my days off.

Thomas Mall had the birds and also aquariums. One aquarium had Piranha. I always wanted to see them feed them and what they fed them. Wasn’t there also some small water areas along the sides of the mall in several places? I saw a small child fall into one but it may have been someplace else.

When the floods came we always went to view the river flowing. We were evacuated from our home once but water never reached it. I remember an old guy who used to go up and down 16th St (I was a very little kid). He had an old horse drawn wagon with rubber tires on it. I think he came that way to buy groceries at Food City. I saw him go through the flooded road. It must have been a minor flood because the wagon, the horse and he all made it.

I remember the tanks of Piranha too...I thought they were in Chris-town but wasn't sure. I would stare at them and was pretty frightened of them as a child.

[SluggoF16]

Originally Posted by David Wendell

Thomas Mall had the birds and also aquariums. One aquarium had Piranha. I always wanted to see them feed them and what they fed them. Wasn’t there also some small water areas along the sides of the mall in several places? I saw a small child fall into one but it may have been someplace else.

Didn't the fountains in Thomas Mall have movements or sequences? In other words, they didn't just dribble or spray out in one pattern, there were multiple jets. Colored lights, too? May have been somewhere else, though.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by SluggoF16

Didn't the fountains in Thomas Mall have movements or sequences? In other words, they didn't just dribble or spray out in one pattern, there were multiple jets. Colored lights, too? May have been somewhere else, though.

Yes, I remember colored lights. As far as fancy sequences, that I'm not sure about. It may have been the lights that had sequences, not the water.

[AZtrails]

Originally Posted by travel gal 35

Anyone remember the Food Bazaar in Scottsdale/Phoenix border? It was like a mall food court, with restaurants from all over the world.

There was a beautiful fire and water fountain with a sculpture of a Phoenix in the same area. We'd go there as kids and after dinner we'd walk along open art galleries on Tuesday (I think) nights.

...

I remember a mall having a huge aviary of birds in the middle of it maybe Thomas Mall? I'd sit and watch the birds while my mom and grandma shopped in one of the stores there (probably Goldwaters).

...

Taking out of town family to Scottsdale on Saturdays at noon for the gunfight in the street, then lunch at Mags Ham Bun

I remember the Food Bazaar in Town & Country Mall at 20th & Camelback. Is that the same one? There was a Phoenix sculpture out front.

I remember the Suns giving a kids demo in Thomas Mall, in front of Montgomery Wards. Dick van Arsdale and (I think) Connie Hawkins were there along with a few others. For a kid like me, it was as good as if Superman and Batman had showed up!

I remember Diamonds at the north end of Thomas Mall. Was there also a Goldwaters?

Mags Ham Bun was the best. Thanks for the memories!

[observer53]

Originally Posted by AZtrails

I remember the Food Bazaar in Town & Country Mall at 20th & Camelback. Is that the same one? There was a Phoenix sculpture out front.

I remember the Suns giving a kids demo in Thomas Mall, in front of Montgomery Wards. Dick van Arsdale and (I think) Connie Hawkins were there along with a few others. For a kid like me, it was as good as if Superman and Batman had showed up!

I remember Diamonds at the north end of Thomas Mall. Was there also a Goldwaters?

Mags Ham Bun was the best. Thanks for the memories!

Same Food Bazaar. There wasn't as much between there and Scottsdale as there was later, so it may have felt like it was on the border of the two.

No Goldwaters at Thomas Mall. Diamonds was always the main anchor.

MISS Mags Ham Bun. I can still taste how good those sandwiches were. Surely someplace still has ham like that, but I haven't found it...

[David Wendell]

A great picture of TOYS. Wonderful neon. I cannot say that I remember it but I didn't learn to appreciate Chinese food until I was married a few years.

We used to go to Sing High on Madison and about 3rd St. in downrown Phoenix. I bet they are still there. We used to also visit one on 15th Ave & Van Buren until my someone took my Father-In law's new pickup truck from the parking lot.