How do you remember Phoenix? Stories from long time residents... (Pine: poverty, cart)

[dgsaz1950]

While I was in Scotland a bit back and I wandered through the British Museum of Golf. In the "Golf Around the World" section I saw this picture. I'm willing to be it's Squaw Peak. Shot from the Biltmore perhaps?

dgsaz

[desertratz]

Originally Posted by Dave Bob

Re: Buckhorn Baths--With its big sign, that place was always a landmark for me as a kid when we would drive out of town to the east.

Then when I was going to ASU, I remember collecting water samples from their baths for a professor who was measuring radioactivity in water from hot springs around Arizona.

The thermal aquifer that provided the hot water for Buckhorn Baths ran across the east valley and several irrigation wells that pumped water for the Roosevelt Canal were tapped into this as well. In high school we'd all go skinny dipping at night in the water boxes and in the wintertime this was a real treat.....light years ahead of your hot tubs and spas. In the summer we'd stop off at J. R. Golightly's melon fields along Higley road and Southern and snag us some watermelons to enjoy while we indulged in our mineral water spa!

[dgsaz1950]

Originally Posted by desertratz

The thermal aquifer that provided the hot water for Buckhorn Baths ran across the east valley and several irrigation wells that pumped water for the Roosevelt Canal were tapped into this as well. In high school we'd all go skinny dipping at night in the water boxes and in the wintertime this was a real treat.....light years ahead of your hot tubs and spas. In the summer we'd stop off at J. R. Golightly's melon fields along Higley road and Southern and snag us some watermelons to enjoy while we indulged in our mineral water spa!

Yes, there were some culverts along the canal out in Mesa that had hot water pumped from the ground. If you were lucky, or clever you could find the grates on the culverts unlocked and well...............what desertratz said.

I remember taking a newly introduced "date" out to the "Hot Pumps" (as we called them) after an evening of frolicking in the old Mill Avenue bars. Good times.

dgsaz

[trillcatz]

Originally Posted by dgsaz1950

There were a number of dealerships on 7th Street I can recall. Sunnyslope Honda was on Cave Creek Road, just north of 7th street and Dunlap.

Further to the south was Camelback Honda. They were on the west side of 7th just south of Camelback Road. There was a bowling alley just north of CH that burned down. The foundation and lanes were there for years before being redeveloped. For a while they sold Royal Infield in addition to Hondas. I left a lot of drool in the showroom looking and sitting on the RI's they had in stock.

Just south of Indian School was another dealership that was a Schwinn dealer and also sold Ducati and BSA. On the west side of the road, just south of this dealer was another shop that sold Tote Goats and (I believe) Rupp mini-bikes.

And of course way down on McDowell and 12th Street (?) was Buddy Stubbs Harley Davidson.

In those days (early 1960's) the police turned a blind eye to kids on minibikes unless they got out on the road. I saved enough to buy a Tote Goat. The seat was big enough for three kids. We bought old Army scabbards at Yates, or Yellow Front and attached them to the front forks for our pellet guns and 22's. I built a carrier for an extra gas can.

Once you got to the canal road (the Arizona Canal) you could ride all the way to Granite Reef Damn without fear of a ticket. We traveled the canal road and other dirt roads that left from the edges of civilization on many great adventures.

It is a shame kids these days do not have that freedom. Then again, the thought of three preteens on a motercycle, armed and mobile might give some people pause.................

That was then, this is now. Things change.

dgsaz

I remember walking up to South Mountain on 7th St. (I lived south of Dobbins) carrying .22's at about 9yrs old...if a kid did that today the SWAT team would be on them in a heartbeat. It's a totally different day out there. If the police had pulled up next to us I'm sure they just would have asked what we (two 9yr old girls) were up to and we would have explained that we were just headed to the mountain to shoot. They would have said to be careful and been on their way. No problem. It never would have occurred to a neighbor to report anything. This was normal back in the early 60's.

[AZNative1952]

Do any of you "old-timers" remember cruising on Central? From the Phoenix Library at Central and McDowell north to Dunlap and then back down to hang out at Der Weinerschnitzel's or McDonald's at indian School rd? You could cruise slowly or just do the speed limit and never brake or stop at lights. The lights were timed back then. Some of the cops back then knew what we were doing or "smoking" and were cool about it..........around the 1970 time frame for me..........

[AZNative1952]

Yes, it was Jungle Park Zoo. I went to High School with a kid whose parents owned the school. Lindvig was the family's last name. I hung out, spend many a weekend with him there helping him feed the exotic birds and monkeys. From at least 1966 to the early 1970's....

[SluggoF16]

Originally Posted by AZNative1952

Do any of you "old-timers" remember cruising on Central? From the Phoenix Library at Central and McDowell north to Dunlap and then back down to hang out at Der Weinerschnitzel's or McDonald's at indian School rd? You could cruise slowly or just do the speed limit and never brake or stop at lights. The lights were timed back then. Some of the cops back then knew what we were doing or "smoking" and were cool about it..........around the 1970 time frame for me..........

Park Central meant more than the name of a shopping center... it was "Park Central", as in a place to park and hang out and watch the parade go by. Mid-70s for me. There was a pretty good discussion back on page 438.

[David Wendell]

Originally Posted by trillcatz

I remember walking up to South Mountain on 7th St. (I lived south of Dobbins) carrying .22's at about 9yrs old...if a kid did that today the SWAT team would be on them in a heartbeat. It's a totally different day out there. If the police had pulled up next to us I'm sure they just would have asked what we (two 9yr old girls) were up to and we would have explained that we were just headed to the mountain to shoot. They would have said to be careful and been on their way. No problem. It never would have occurred to a neighbor to report anything. This was normal back in the early 60's.

That is so true. We used to go to the end of South 7th Street and ride around in the desert on our old scooters. We gave the rabbits a lot of excercise and probably disturbed the nice lady at Mystery Castle. People used to target practice around the end of 7th so we just went somewhere else if they were. No one thought much about it.

Once the cops pulled us over and asked if we were the ones riding motorcycles on the Thunderbird Golf course. We wern't and they just let us go.

Another time I ran out of gas and only had a nickel. It was downhill, pushed/coasted the scooter to a gas station and it was enough to get me home. Gas was a bit less expensive then!

[David Wendell]

Originally Posted by AZNative1952

Do any of you "old-timers" remember cruising on Central? From the Phoenix Library at Central and McDowell north to Dunlap and then back down to hang out at Der Weinerschnitzel's or McDonald's at indian School rd? You could cruise slowly or just do the speed limit and never brake or stop at lights. The lights were timed back then. Some of the cops back then knew what we were doing or "smoking" and were cool about it..........around the 1970 time frame for me..........

We used to "cruise" Central all the time after working at the drive-in theatre. If we had a lot of money we went to Bob's Big Boy. Short on money it was McDonald's or nothing, depending... A friend had a 1953 Ford Ranch Wagon, it was a real bomb but it went. Sometimes we would take the bouncer from the Rodeo Drive In theatre with us. If trouble came along it ended when he got out of the old Ford. He was a really, really huge guy and a boxer. He quit the theatre one night and robbed the box office on the way out. We didn't even call the cops.

[roosevelt]

Originally Posted by AZNative1952

Do any of you "old-timers" remember cruising on Central? From the Phoenix Library at Central and McDowell north to Dunlap and then back down to hang out at Der Weinerschnitzel's or McDonald's at indian School rd? You could cruise slowly or just do the speed limit and never brake or stop at lights. The lights were timed back then. Some of the cops back then knew what we were doing or "smoking" and were cool about it..........around the 1970 time frame for me..........

Thomas was as far as we got, nothing up there except the Polar Bar and the Gilded Cage.