How do you remember Phoenix? Stories from long time residents... (Mesa: wedding, taxi)

[billyincaneyville]

Originally Posted by fpcoach

Here's one - school's starting in a couple of weeks (after Labor Day in those days), so you make the trip to Yellow Front to get some jeans, about $7.99 & size 10 SLIM, right? Stiff and scratchy as an old board, take them home and start washing, and washing, and washing to get them faded and a little softer...cuz you're too cool (stupid) to wear shorts to school, even though it's still hot as blazes.

Then back to Smitty's Big Town for some pizza, mmmmm, so good, so greasy.

I remember it well! That's also where our school shoes came from, we didn't have much money and Dad could never afford the Converse High Tops that everybody else was wearing at the time. I look back now and realize I didn't need them in the first place!

[roosevelt]

Originally Posted by billyincaneyville

I remember it well! That's also where our school shoes came from, we didn't have much money and Dad could never afford the Converse High Tops that everybody else was wearing at the time. I look back now and realize I didn't need them in the first place!

I always bought tennis shoes, as they were called, from Thom McAn on 2nd St. and Washington. Darned if I don't have a photo of the store when it opened in the 40's. There were apartments upstairs in the building.

[LadmoFan]

I had Dr. Ramsour as my doctor. I am sure he is long deceased.

Thanks again for the happy memories!

[Arizona Mike]

Originally Posted by fpcoach

Here's one - school's starting in a couple of weeks (after Labor Day in those days), so you make the trip to Yellow Front to get some jeans, about $7.99 & size 10 SLIM, right? Stiff and scratchy as an old board, take them home and start washing, and washing, and washing to get them faded and a little softer...cuz you're too cool (stupid) to wear shorts to school, even though it's still hot as blazes.

Then back to Smitty's Big Town for some pizza, mmmmm, so good, so greasy.

Going to Yellow Front was one of those activities, like going to Legend City or catching the Wallace and Ladmo show, that define you as an Old-Time Phoenician.

Yellow Front stores were great because they carried work clothes (which always seemed to be sized for really big people - a shirt that was marked medium would fit you like an X-Large shirt purchased at any other store in town). They also carried hunting licenses, rifles, camping gear, and army/navy surplus - as a kid, I loved poking through the musty old canvas canteen covers, unit patches and insigniae, mess kits, etc., and trying to figure out what some of the gear was for. I bought a small can of C-Ration jelly one time there (probably Korean-War era!) and later ate it without ill-effect.

[Arizona Mike]

Hey! They made this a sticky thread! Cool!

[w1ngzer0]

lol congratulations.

[Arizona Mike]

Happy 4th of July, everyone!

Here's a patriotic site for the day, in the neighborhood where I grew up:

Arizona State Hospital Cemetery, 2500 E. Van Buren Street, Phoenix, AZ (also known as Asylum Cemetery):

When I was a kid growing up around 32nd Street and Roosevelt, my friends and I were well aware of the Arizona State Hospital on 24th and Van Buren, which we understood to be a mental hospital ("...for the criminally insane!", as my friend Mike Juarez always added, with a gleam in his eyes.) For Phoenicians of my generation, "going to 24th and Van Buren" was a well known slang term for being, or going, crazy. Winnie Ruth Judd, the "Arizona Trunk Murderess" was confined there, and managed to escape several times by simply walking off the property. I remember being ushered inside by the teachers at our school, which was close to the hospital, when she escaped. (Judd was usually quickly recaptured, although for one long stretch she got a position as a caregiver for an elderly woman for several years. She never got in any trouble, was probably railroaded into taking a "guilty by insanity" plea and got a longer sentence than she would have received for 2nd or 1st degree homicide, and was eventually pardoned by Governor Jack Williams.) Although there were some genuinely dangerous people incarcerated there, and some of the patients had been committed by court order or against their will, the Hospital was actually the oldest and largest provider of mental health services in the Valley and helped care for many.

On the north side of the hospital was an old, closed cemetery, where patients who had died were interred. It was enclosed by a high storm fence, but neighborhood scuttlebutt had it that older local boys had jumped the fence and run across the graveyard at midnight as a test of bravery. (I never knew anyone who had actually done so, but there was talk.) We thought about it and passed stories when we walked past, and always walked a little faster past it after the sun had set - the idea of ghosts was bad enough. The idea of ghosts of insane people was much worse.

In reality, the cemetery became more and more dilapidated as the years went on and the neighborhood deteriorated, and many of the poor souls buried there were forgotten, as plot records were lost in a fire at the State Hospital. Vandalism destroyed some of the stones, and homeless people and drug users were sometimes seen on the ground. In the 1990s, the cemetery and the damaged headstones were restored, largely due to the good people at the Pioneers' Cemetery Association, devoted to restoring old cemeteries in Arizona. And we learned that the cemetery contained as least one bona fide hero - a winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor, Isaiah Mays, a Buffalo Solder born in 1858 who passed away in 1925. (The Buffalo Soldiers were African American cavalry troops who patrolled the American west and were known for their toughness and fortitude.) He was decorated for action at Cedar Springs, Arizona in 1889. Here's a picture of Mays:

Isaiah Mays (1858 - 1925) - Find A Grave Memorial

Here's what he did:

11 May, 1889 - Arizona Territory - Major Joseph Washington Wham took charge of $28,000 in gold and silver to pay troops at various points in the Arizona Territory. While escorting the Army paymaster, two members of the 24th Infantry Regiment took heroic action to fend off a violent robbery attempt by masked cowboys. Sergeant Benjamin Brown and Corporal Isaiah Mays (both black soldiers) received the Congressional Medal of Honor for their bravery. Eight soldiers were wounded and eight of the attackers were arrested.

With gunshot wounds to his legs, Mays, a former slave, crawled two miles to a nearby cabin to seek aid for his wounded comrades. No one knows why he died in the State Hospital, but some believe he became indigent after leaving the service and being unable to secure his pension and was admitted for depression. He was buried in an unmarked grave, and after lobbying efforts by veteran organizations, finally received a headstone in the 1990s.

The cemetery (which was in use from 1888 to the early 1960s) is visible as you drive eastbound on Roosevelt Street from 24th Street, just on the east side of Maricopa County Hospital. Mays' gravesite and headstone can be viewed by entering the parking lot of the Maricopa County Hospital off of 24th Street, just south of Roosevelt, and driving as far east as you can through the lot until you reach the extreme southeast end. Park at the end of the lot, near the covered spaces. Corporal Isaiah May's grave can be seen through the fence bordering the hospital grounds, with a chained border and American flags.

[roosevelt]

Originally Posted by Arizona Mike

Hey! They made this a sticky thread! Cool!

I need some help identifying the photo below. The picture was taken by Don O'Brien way back in 1939. He believes it is Phoenix, but I cannot place the church. The street looks like maybe east Washington because of the double trolley tracks, but I don't remember a church that fancy being there. Please let me know if you recognize the city. I looked in my 1941 telephone book and there is no Richfield station anywhere near that location.

[Arizona Mike]

Boy, that looks familiar but I can't place it. Could it be Tucson? (I'm not sure if they had trolleys). The fan palms sure make it look like Arizona.

[roosevelt]

Originally Posted by Arizona Mike

Boy, that looks familiar but I can't place it. Could it be Tucson? (I'm not sure if they had trolleys). The fan palms sure make it look like Arizona.

Yes! I looked it up, St. Augustine Cathedral downtown on Stone Street. Thanks.