How do you remember Phoenix? Stories from long time residents... (Glendale: tuition, candidates)

[1937Gal]

Originally Posted by SluggoF16

Was Van Buren part of US 60 at the time? If I recall correctly, it came in from the east (Salt River canyon, Globe, Florence and Apache Junctions) as Main Street in Mesa, Apache and Mill in Tempe, before passing the zoo and becoming Van Buren on the way to Grand. There were a lot of motels on all of them, including the infamous Erotica.

If you have not seen this, it is really worth a read. Lots of info, many memories of things gone by.
http://www.sierraestrella.com/vanburen.html

[Arizona Mike]

Originally Posted by SluggoF16

Was Van Buren part of US 60 at the time? If I recall correctly, it came in from the east (Salt River canyon, Globe, Florence and Apache Junctions) as Main Street in Mesa, Apache and Mill in Tempe, before passing the zoo and becoming Van Buren on the way to Grand. There were a lot of motels on all of them, including the infamous Erotica.

I lived in an apartment right next door to the Hotel Erotica, which was just north of Van Buren on 52nd street, in the 1970s. I came home late at night from shift work and it was always...interesting...to see the clientele coming in and out (they rented by the hour.) They had a porn shop in the lobby, which I had to use on a couple of occasions to get change for the washing machine in my apartment complex late at night when I ran out of quarters. I'd never been in a porno shop before, and stepping inside made me realize the world was a freakier place than I'd imagined.

[Basse Bud]

It was known as the Phoenix Star Theater in 1968-69. Saw the Four Seasons there in early 1969. It was the first round/turning stage I'd ever seen.

[1937Gal]

Merry Christmas to the member of City Data/Phoenix. Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy 2017.

[Arizona Mike]

Originally Posted by 1937Gal

Merry Christmas to the member of City Data/Phoenix. Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy 2017.

And to you and all the other members! Merry Christmas!

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by Arizona Mike

It was a lot cooler back then, less concrete and asphalt in town.

Very true, as well as more grass lawns, less rock/xeriscape, and more agriculture in the outskirts. All these things contributed to a somewhat cooler climate back then, especially at night & early in the mornings. I remember seeing cotton fields on Dunlap Avenue on the way to MetroCenter back in the 1970s. It's hard to imagine now, but back then that area was still considered the outskirts.

[1937Gal]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

Very true, as well as more grass lawns, less rock/xeriscape, and more agriculture in the outskirts. All these things contributed to a somewhat cooler climate back then, especially at night & early in the mornings. I remember seeing cotton fields on Dunlap Avenue on the way to MetroCenter back in the 1970s. It's hard to imagine now, but back then that area was still considered the outskirts.

Being born here in 1937, I remember when Bethany Home Road was a trip to the country. One day the news was "Bethany Home road is BEING PAVED". When they were building MetroCenter, we all laughed and said "who would drive THAT far to shop?"... Little did we know the shopping centers and residences would go even further north, but we saw that happen. And it still grows.

[cobalt1959]

Originally Posted by Arizona Mike

A couple of people have posted about memorable dust storms they saw in the Valley. (There seems to be a prejudice amongst locals against calling them "haboobs." I don't mind, as "haboob" is a fun word to say. Haboob! Haboob!

Anyway, here is a YouTube video of a dust storm ripping through Pinnacle Peak Patio in 1993.


Arizona Dust Storm - YouTube

The poster, Andrew Patrick Ralston, has posted a bunch of home movies he made as kid in the early 1980s around the valley if you want to check them out

I don't know who came up with the term "haboob," but it is another case of re-naming something with a modern term to cover over an older reference. This term didn't come into usage until this decade and before that time, Arizona residents always referred to these incidents as exactly what they were: "Dust Storms."

[Arizona Mike]

Originally Posted by cobalt1959

I don't know who came up with the term "haboob," but it is another case of re-naming something with a modern term to cover over an older reference. This term didn't come into usage until this decade and before that time, Arizona residents always referred to these incidents as exactly what they were: "Dust Storms."

It's an Arabic word meaning "blasting" or "drifting" and it's a very specific type of dust storm - an intense storm that is carried forward by an atmospheric gravity current, or weather front, so you get that massive wall of dust. Like Eskimos having a bunch of different words for snow, so do middle-eastern people have a lot of words for different types of dust-storms.



The term was brought back by veterans from the Gulf War and later the Mesopotamian Campaigns, and was adopted into our language. War changes language, among other things.

[paulfolkphoto]

I grew up near 40th and Hazelwood and later moved to 48th and Calle Redondo just nirth of the canal. I went to Kachina elementary school, Hopi Elementary in a graduated from Arcadia 1978. My favorite Mexican food restaurant called the TeePee is still there on 42nd St. and Indian School Rd. Great memories of this area!