How do you remember Phoenix? Stories from long time residents... (Scottsdale: homes, buy)

[Bird Street]

I recently heard a talk show host from the LA area talk about being so poor that his family used to eat ham sandwiches sold by a bag full from a kiosk in the front of K Mart. I remember those food kiosks. Was it K Mart? I guess a loaf of white bread and some lunch meat could be pretty cheap.

[baby sinister]

Originally Posted by Bird Street

I recently heard a talk show host from the LA area talk about being so poor that his family used to eat ham sandwiches sold by a bag full from a kiosk in the front of K Mart. I remember those food kiosks. Was it K Mart? I guess a loaf of white bread and some lunch meat could be pretty cheap.

I remember K Mart's had a snack bar near the front of the store that sold submarine sandwiches in a plastic bag. We would buy our school clothes from K Mart and when done shopping, get an Icee and sub sandwich. They were delicious.

[LadmoFan]

Originally Posted by dr. john

We move to phoenix in 1956-57. They had just replaced the trolley-cars with buses, but the tracks were still there.
Segregation had not been gone for long. I still saw a few restaurants with the sign in the window. "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone."
Camelback Rd was end of the city. Beyond that it was almost open desert. There was a place just north of camelback rd where there had been a development. I was told they were "hippies". There were a number of what had been nice houses. Now there were just ruins and a few chimneys sticking up .I think there had been a big fire.
John F. Long was just beginning to build in west Phoenix.
The eastern end of the city was about 36th street, after that a two lane road that ran through the desert to Scottsdale. Its downtown was just about two blacks square.
Black Canyon highway was still being planned or built.
The only bridge across the Salt River was Central Ave.
The biggest (and possibly the only) hangout for teenagers was Bob's Big Boy at Central and Thomas. It was always crowded on weekends and weeknights. At the south end of Central was the Silver Dollar drive-in theater. That was also crowded with families and teenagers. As I remember it was just a dollar a car to get in.

My parents met on a city bus about that time. My Dad was going to Phoenix Tech and I think my Mom was going to North High. My Dad's parents moved out to what would become the Chris Town area and it was rural. My Mom lived near Luke Street.

I remember Black Canyon being built as we watched the construction. That had to be about 1960.

[pbenjamin]

What was Phoenix Tech?

[LadmoFan]

Originally Posted by pbenjamin

What was Phoenix Tech?

Phoenix Tech was a technical high school long ago. The school was part of the Phoenix Union High School District. My mother attended West High not North as I wrote earlier.

[PhureeKeeper]

Originally Posted by dr. john

Hi, I'm John Rodgers. I started Alpha Book Center, and with my wife ran it for 40 years. We closed it in 2015-16. Still have some mdse left from it. Does anyone know what happened to the store? Did someone else take over from Jack? Did they move? Did they sell off the books and shelving?

Welcome to C-D ! Sorry, I don't know what happened to the store.

[kaszeta]

While trying to answer a question about when some things were built in my old neighborhood in Mesa, I stumbled across this cool resource:

https://gis.maricopa.gov/GIO/Histori...ial/index.html

Old aerial photos of Maricopa County going back decades.

[azdr0710]

Originally Posted by kaszeta

While trying to answer a question about when some things were built in my old neighborhood in Mesa, I stumbled across this cool resource:

https://gis.maricopa.gov/GIO/Histori...ial/index.html

Old aerial photos of Maricopa County going back decades.

excellent.....for those playing around with this, use the up/down toggle switch at upper left to zoom in...keep zooming in and drag the map around to where you want to go....may take a few seconds to fully focus (wait a bit).....within "change aerial" at upper right is a date selection drop-down menu.....some older pictures of outlying (then!) areas aren't available, but keep trying dates.....there are also settings in the "three-lined" menu box to the left of "change aerial".....keep playing around with the settings to your preference.....street names or not....other choices.....

absolutely incredible

[roosevelt]

Municipal Stadium, south Central Ave.

[roosevelt]

Bethany Theater