How do you remember Phoenix? Stories from long time residents... (Tempe: ballroom, landing)

[Dave Bob]

Anybody play marbles in the olden days?
At my grade school (Tavan in the Scottsdale district) during the mid 60's there was a strange phenomenon the kids called "gyp joints."

It involved marbles, but not the old-fashioned game of drawing a big circle in the dirt (but somehow that mental image makes me think of Lunt Avenue Marble Club. mmm, pizzas available in "kinda huge" or "huge"!).

Instead, kids would sit down on the concrete basketball court a few feet from the sideline, line up 4 or 5 marbles and let other kids shoot at them from behind the line.

If the shooter hit the lined-up marbles, he got to take them. The "proprietor" kept all the misses. A successful proprietor set up his tantalizing row far enough away so that lots of shooters missed and he'd clear a profit in marbles.

Once in a while somebody would cause a sensation by setting up something extra valuable like a "boulder" or steelie or agate, from a long way across the court, naturally.

The school had a booming marble economy. I carried mine around in a bag made from a sewn-up Levi's pants leg. (But my one and only agate was kept at home in a cotton-lined box).

I always wondered if the whole thing was just a local fluke that happened to boom in popularity for a few years at our school. I never heard of it anywhere else.

[desertskies]

Originally Posted by raventhicket

@brian740...Thanks so much. Thats it!! Amazing how something like that can get turned into a "Frankenstein" amongst kids There was another story the older used to tell us. There was a Giant Clam in the canal and if we sent swimming it would catch us...LOL I was afraid of that canal for years and never did go in it. Thanks for sharing

In fifth or sixth grade, I remember the kids saying that Camelback Mountain contained a real camel and come the year 2000, it was going to get up and walk away.

Kind of puts that Y2K thing to shame, if you think about it.

[SluggoF16]

Originally Posted by Dave Bob

Anybody play marbles in the olden days?
At my grade school (Tavan in the Scottsdale district) during the mid 60's there was a strange phenomenon the kids called "gyp joints."

...

I always wondered if the whole thing was just a local fluke that happened to boom in popularity for a few years at our school. I never heard of it anywhere else.

It wasn't just at Tavan; at Navajo where I went we had similar experiences. It was a passing fad, though, around 1968. Lasted only about a year.

Afterwards there were the Clackers, those Lucite balls on the end of a string that would be "clacked" together. Not a long-lasting fad, either.

[suzie5959]

When i moved to phoenix...HHmmm i lived on 47th Ave and Indian school in 1968...We use to roller skate at ROLLARO. It was on 83rd ave. Seemed like a forever drive, Nothing beyond 83rd Ave, Would go horseback riding on 107th Ave at the Mustang riding stables. It's ALL HOUSE'S now. Has been for years. Chris Town Mall was the only place to shop then they built Metro Center,,UUUGGG Moved out of the valley in 2002. My old house is now painted pink with bars on the windows, left there 33 yrs ago.. SAD ... Yes the mercantile on the way to Lake Pleasant...WAS in the middle of nowhere. My son worked at one time when the growth started booming. we use to ride our 3 wheelers out in that area and yes use to be orange tree groves.....I remember when they built the STACK...OMG i had to take my dad downtown to Jackson and 3rd to get a car part for his 32 Model A. he saw what was going up and put his head down and said...Turning into a rat race he passed shortly after that... To look at it now???? So glad i am in a small town.......

[suzie5959]

I remember clackers.. bought them at the Arizona State fair. lol some people could and some couldn't. lOL I could...so annoying to our parents... haha

[raventhicket]

@desertskies...imagine what they might have said about Mummy Mountain or even The Monk on the Mountain...LOL Too Funny

[jukebox47]

Originally Posted by brian740

Attachment 98359


I think you all mean North Mountain Hospital, that was built and operated by Dr. Kenneth Hall. It had a circular drive in front ( or just to the south of the hospital ) and in the middle was a huge grassy/tree filled area with a pool ( which I never remember having water in it ). But he then had a number of cages with Apes, Baboons, etc. Pretty interesting as a kid going to visit someone in the hospital.. and being able to wander around outside looking at those.

I lived in Sunnyslope, 57-64, and remember going there a number of times. To the east (just to the right photo above ) he had a ton of old WW II ambulances and construction equipment. Not exactly sure when it closed, but best guess is around 1970ish? Or the why. My grandfather was a plasterer who worked on El Cid lanes, which Dr. Hall also built on 19th Ave in the 60's. I know it sat unfinished for a long time, then finally opened in the late 70's early 80's? Had a pretty good restaurant as well, but for maybe a couple of years only. Then went through quite a few changes and is now a gym I think

I wonder if the Dr. in this discussion had an office in the vicinity of 16th St and Mohave St? My dad developed severe chest pains and went to Dr. Hall on 16th St. in 1955. The Dr. also had a place in North Sunnyslope where my dad was given an ECG with one of those new fangled machines, at the time, in the Sunnyslope place. Nothing showed up so the suggestion was made to go home and mow the lawn, see what happens. He did and had another heart attack. He survived after a 45 day period in the hospital. I don't remember much about the Sunnyslope place but it was very weird and and seemed very spooky to a little kid. I never wanted to go back there.

[desertratz]

Originally Posted by SluggoF16

It wasn't just at Tavan; at Navajo where I went we had similar experiences. It was a passing fad, though, around 1968. Lasted only about a year.

Afterwards there were the Clackers, those Lucite balls on the end of a string that would be "clacked" together. Not a long-lasting fad, either.

Remember the Yo-Yo craze? I remember the Duncan company having traveling reps that went to schools and gave demonstrations and all the neat tricks you could do with one such as "Walk the dog", "Rock the cradle/baby" and "Around the world". "Around the world" was the first trick I tried when I got mine and ended up cracking myself in the head with it. Probably the reason I was never tempted to mess with nun-chuks later in my life?

As grade schooler in the 50's I remember seeing a couple of guys demonstrating this neat new plastic flying toy at the Arizona State fair. They called it a Pluto Platter, you might know it today under it's later name, the Frisbee.

[roosevelt]

Odd postcard of Phoenix, mailed in 1913. I have no idea where these buildings were but the one on the right looks like a TB dorm because they always had a screened in sleeping porch on four sides,

[locolobo13]

Originally Posted by Dave Bob

Anybody play marbles in the olden days?
At my grade school (Tavan in the Scottsdale district) during the mid 60's there was a strange phenomenon the kids called "gyp joints."

It involved marbles, but not the old-fashioned game of drawing a big circle in the dirt (but somehow that mental image makes me think of Lunt Avenue Marble Club. mmm, pizzas available in "kinda huge" or "huge"!).

Instead, kids would sit down on the concrete basketball court a few feet from the sideline, line up 4 or 5 marbles and let other kids shoot at them from behind the line.

If the shooter hit the lined-up marbles, he got to take them. The "proprietor" kept all the misses. A successful proprietor set up his tantalizing row far enough away so that lots of shooters missed and he'd clear a profit in marbles.

Once in a while somebody would cause a sensation by setting up something extra valuable like a "boulder" or steelie or agate, from a long way across the court, naturally.

The school had a booming marble economy. I carried mine around in a bag made from a sewn-up Levi's pants leg. (But my one and only agate was kept at home in a cotton-lined box).

I always wondered if the whole thing was just a local fluke that happened to boom in popularity for a few years at our school. I never heard of it anywhere else.

We had that around 66 or 67. Not sure why but the school decided to disallow marbles and started confiscating them if they caught you playing. Made the kids get more creative.