How do you remember Phoenix? Stories from long time residents... (Mesa: 2015, houses)

[SDHYDE17]

Originally Posted by grad_student200

I miss Smitty's.

I miss Smitty's too...anybody else work at Smitty's? I worked there in the mid 90's near Bethany Home rd. and 35th avenue.
I wish someone would start a blog about those stores. They were way ahead of their time.

[schatzimartin.cm]

Originally Posted by desertskies

This post could be out of the realm of Phoenix history, but I'll give it a shot.
With some asking about Cloud 9 and the Stockyards, it got me to thinking of the original Cowpuncher Steakhouse restaurant, that was located at Perryville Rd. and MC 85, just outside of Buckeye.
The sign was still there last I drove by it and is prominent in this GE street view.

Anyone remember it?

YES! I remember it. My parents were regulars there in the 70s for Buckeye folks it was completely the place to be until some jackass burned it down. He burned the place down because he got 86'ed out of there the night before. Terrible Buckeye historical tragedy. My parents would take us kids there on Saturday for lunch give us quarters for the Jukebox then take us home find us a babysitter and go back for their fun at night it was a great dancing spot from what I understand.

[schatzimartin.cm]

Originally Posted by jmarion88

Does anyone remember Cos-Mo on SR 85 between Buckeye and Gila Bend?

Yes, the CosMo truck stop SR85 between Buckeye and Gila Bend. My friends family, the Walls, owned that.

[Andrea62]

Originally Posted by SDHYDE17

I miss Smitty's too...anybody else work at Smitty's? I worked there in the mid 90's near Bethany Home rd. and 35th avenue.
I wish someone would start a blog about those stores. They were way ahead of their time.

Yes! I trained at that store in 1979 or 1980, then opened 32nd and Bell. I was the office assistant / pbx operator for the store. Loved working there and loved the managers and other staff I worked with. I remember we had to make all the little advertised markdown price signs in produce by hand and had to write each numeral a certain way. You also had to page someone overhead to answer the phone in their department. Funny the things you remember. I just reconnectes with a friend I met there after all these years.

[Andrea62]

Originally Posted by observer53

Same location. Jungle Park was the first operation, then Tropic Gardens. N 7th St.

Thank you!

[pbenjamin]

Originally Posted by Andrea62

Yes! I trained at that store in 1979 or 1980, then opened 32nd and Bell. I was the office assistant / pbx operator for the store. Loved working there and loved the managers and other staff I worked with. I remember we had to make all the little advertised markdown price signs in produce by hand and had to write each numeral a certain way. You also had to page someone overhead to answer the phone in their department. Funny the things you remember. I just reconnectes with a friend I met there after all these years.

We lived about halfway in between the 32nd/Bell Smitty's and the one at Tatum and Shea and frequented both. North of Bell was pretty much undeveloped and the store had an almost rural feel to it, while the Shea store had a more upscale clientele. The former became "Cowboy Smitty's" to us and the other one "Yuppie Smitty's".

[kaszeta]

Originally Posted by pbenjamin

We lived about halfway in between the 32nd/Bell Smitty's and the one at Tatum and Shea and frequented both.

Smitty's was our family grocery store growing up. My mom shopped there (mostly at the Alma School and Warner location in Chandler; building is still there as some sort of "academy") until they got bought by Smith's.

Every once in a while we'd go to the one on Broadway in Mesa that until very late in it's existence still had the "Big Town" signage.

[azdr0710]

Originally Posted by SDHYDE17

I miss Smitty's too...anybody else work at Smitty's? I worked there in the mid 90's near Bethany Home rd. and 35th avenue.
I wish someone would start a blog about those stores. They were way ahead of their time.

some here may remember a "blog" of sorts online several years ago that was pretty busy with memories of Smitty's.....employees and customers posted their remembrances and funny stories.....it seems to be gone from the 'net now, though......

but I did find this "pinterest" page with a Smitty's logo at upper left and many other old Phx visuals.....lots of good stuff.....keep scrolling down!...it keeps going!

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/437834394996351411/

[dr. john]

Originally Posted by Arizona Mike

Yep, Al's Book Store. I spent many hours there as a kid. Endless boxes of old comic books for a dime (like you, I wish I had kept them all - I actually still have some. My mother, bless her, never threw my comics out!), used magazines in boxes under the paperback racks on any subject imaginable (Scuba diving, surfing, martial arts magazines, clock-repair magazines - you name it), endless rows of used paperbacks. I bought hundreds of old science fiction and horror paperbacks there. National Geographics going back to the 1800s. A sign saying you could buy a Life or Look magazine from the week of someone's birth as a birthday present.

The Alpha Bookstore was actually part of Al's Bookstore - it occupied a section on the west side of the bookstore and sold occult literature, as well as crystal balls, tarot cards, etc. There was a mystical symbol painted on the floor as you went around the divider that resembled the ones drawn by sorcerors to summon up demons. I always stepped nervously around that. The Alpha Bookstore survived when Al's closed at a number of different locations. I remember seeing it in a small store near 20th Street and McDowell at one point. It still survives as Alpha Book Center at 4532 N. 7th Street. Either the current owner was the former owner of Al's or he subleased space in the old store.

Al's was a great place to browse around in the old downtown area. The closest thing we have to it now are the Bookman's stores.

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?

[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.