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desertpagoda: Thanks so much for sharing all that! I wish we had a Google maps for the 60's SO bad! LUCKY"S!! I am thrilled to have you tell me the name of the grocery store in Amphi Plaza 'cause it's been bugging me for months since we recalled Jerrold's Drugs. Now, do you remember if McClelland's being in the same center as I seem to? Kresge's (in Campbell Plaza) was my fave but McClelland's was the next best - those 5 and dimes were so affordable, huh?!
I still can't picture Coronado's or shopping there and I don't know why. I am still remembering the name Food Giant, tho' I don't know where that would have been unless it was the store in the Flowing Wells center by the Mead's pharmacy??
I guess my sister would have worked for the Albers - I found the photo of her in her navy-red-white uni and cap, so thanks for that! I can add it to the family scrapbook
I don't recall any big swanky houses on Yavapai - but if they were that swanky, I would not have known the people
Also don't recall the water lilies at Leo's - darn it, and I love them. But I do remember the recycled motor oil and plugs 'cause my dad worked on his cars and taught my two brothers to do the same.
And O-Man: I also found the pics of my sister's apt. that may be in the Prince Garden complex: they appear to be one story, light (not red) brick, have a kidney-shaped pool and doors to the units seem to face the chain-link fenced pool yard; just a sidewalk in front of the door, a little strip of mulch with tiny palms, then another cement strip before the fence and pool. Sound familiar? This would have been between '78 and '80 because my first new car, a '78 Toyota Celica, is parked just outside the fence at one end.
I wish I did then what I do now: take pics of places/signs for my scrapbooks for easier ID'ing. 'Course, I still don't see myself walking around shooting pics of the grocery stores ...
The Coronado market at SE corner of Stone-Ft Lowell was indeed from the late 40s or 50s. My parents who lived near Leos Auto supply at Stone-Glenn, shopped at Coronado Market or as they called it "Bud Goods" Bud was the owner. The north end of the building was a small upholstery shop, that is what burned, the rest of the building survived and was eventually bought by a Vietnamese family and remodeled. It continues in business.
The name of the grocery store in Amphi Plaza, at least when I was little, was "Luckys".
The DQ at Prince-Stone was owned/operated by my parents friends, Joe and Mavis Albers. Still operated by their daughter. Joe had by far the best ice cream of any local DQ, he must have richened the mix.
Back when, there were a couple BIG swanky houses along the north side of Yavapai, before the high school expanded over them.
I may have mentioned it before, but when I was 5-6ish, as they were putting Paul Bunyan together, before standing him upright, I was allowed to crawl up inside him to his head! Leo Toia the owner (and father of Dons Hotrod Shop owner) was another of my Dads buddies. Anybody else remember buying reconstituted motor oil or reconditioned spark plugs or get this... living water lillies at Leos Auto Supply??? Keith
Thank you desertpagoda, you cleared up a few things. Coronado Market did seem like an old place. It is possible the Vienamese family bought it in 1980, hence Manta's records. Too bad I was not there to see the swanky houses on Yavapai before the high school annexed their campus.
Do you still live in Tucson? I had mentioned that the Dairy Queen looks like a new building that allows patrons to go inside instead of the walk-up window they had for years. I was relying on Google Street View and the images were taken in May 2013.
That is pretty funny about buying water lilies inside an auto supply store. Lucky's had a few locations throughout Tucson, so it seems possible that was the store in Amphi Plaza.
Lucky's had a few locations throughout Tucson, so it seems possible that was the store in Amphi Plaza.
If I may, my understanding about Lucky's is that either Goodman's or Consumers Supermarkets were in place prior to when Lucky Corporation took over the buildings. Perhaps someone else might know for sure?
Hi again, O-Man! Long time, no hear! We're having fun here, going on about where we lived, as you can see! That's so funny that you lived on that tiny street, too - who'd have thought? We've got 3 great minds going here! Hah! Blacklidge also sounds familiar - could it have lead to Cherry, where my GF lived? The Prince Garden Apts: sound like where my younger sister lived in '76. OR the AMPHI ones: I know she was close to home, but I also remember they had a pool where she lived. ?? This is the sibling who worked at the DQ on Prince in the mid 70's: I have a pic of her wearing a navy blue uniform, trimmed in red, and a funny little cap! Sound familiar?? Were Lester and Copper anywhere near the University? My GF lived near the U of A and we would walk around hanging near the frat houses - a fave pastime of my adventurous friend")
I am SO wishing I had an old street map of Tucson: I am thinking seriously of getting on eBay to track one down! Esp since Google maps, as azmemories has said, didn't exist back then - poopy damn! And I googled Coronado Market: they set up shop in 1980 so I missed shopping there, darn it!
O-Man: Did you think about the grocery store in Amphi Plaza? It's bugging me now, and I want to remember it's name - I'm pretty sure it wasn't the A & P, which is where we shopped in Michigan, prior to moving to Tucson I think azmemories is saying that it is Food City now, and I think it's the same space that the old grocer's was in.
I vaguely remember something about the accident at the Jr. High but did not know anyone there at the time. From 1962 to 1964, I was at Sacred Heart for junior high. I do remember an explosion at a dry cleaners plant around that time and radio/TV news reports stating that "Father Laurentian may or may not be among the dead," freaking us out since he was the pastor of Sacred Heart. It later came to pass, that he had gone to the site to administer last rites to those who were critically injured or died in the accident. Do you remember that one? You may have been a little young for that one, since you are a couple years younger than me
musicfreeq: yes, Blacklidge ran to and beyond Cherry Ave. My grade school best friend's Mom worked at a little nursing home at about Cherry and Hedrick, called Santa Maria or Santa Rita nursing home.
Prince Garden Apts, now called Catalina Palms, were across Prince Rd from FO Holoway elementary school, where I went from 2nd to 6th grade. Prince Gardens were built in about 1963. My mom was so anxious to get us out of the one bedroom duplex on Blacklidge that she rented two adjacent studio apts while they were still completing the two story apartments, where we later moved. My older sisters lived in one studio and my Mom, younger brother and I lived in the other. I vividly remember watching the Beatles make their US debut on the Ed Sullivan show in our studio apt!
There were no A&P grocery stores in Tucson; I'm thinking that the one at Amphi Plaza was Goodman's, although Food Giant sounds familiar too.
Oddly, I don't really remember the dry cleaner disaster. I should, from your description of how big a deal it was.
AZMemories: I sure do remember the Paul Bunyan statue on Stone. And I remembered it the first time I saw the giant, "official" statue of him and Babe The Blue Ox in Bemidji, MN years later!
musicfreeq: you're freeq'n me out with these close encounters of the olden times!
"Were there many trailer courts over there around Flowing Wells, north of Roger Rd.? I ask, because I realize that my brother, 4 yrs. younger than I, lived in a trailer park in that vicinity, in the early 70-'s."
Tons of trailer courts around there. Mine was the Lamplighter, which Google maps tells me is still there. Send me a private message with your brother's name, I might have known him.
"If you ever checked your annual, you prob'ly already know who I am and you could see all the boys we would go to watch play every Friday nite. I was never into football but would tag along in order to attend the dances afterwards. One of my best friends was a year behind me and would have been a junior when you were a sophomore."
Sent you a private message to help me look you up in the Amphi Yearbooks! And who was the best friend a year ahead of me?
"Did you ride the bus to school?" I did in my first year or two of High school, until my older friends got cars. Sure was glad to graduate from bus to cool car! I think I got my first car and started driving to Amphi about Junior Year, the aforementioned '57 Chevy I bought from my sister for $5 a week. Then after countless hours spent under that wretched beast trying to soup it up and, more often, repair it I bought a little red '64 Beetle. Ran great but it sure didn't have the cool mystique or the 57 Chevy.
"I could never get away with much 'cause Mom would hear about it: either from Mr. DePascal, Mr. Rose or that witch, Beeghley. My French teacher, Mrs. Farrell, was super cool and even Mr. D was a pretty good guy."
Ha! Rip DePascal had eyes everywhere, didn't he? I just hated having to go see him (as the Vice Principal) and cook up some story about why I ditched class or chewed gum in class, or whatever! I had him as a teacher for Civics or something, and loved him. When he died a few years ago there were tons of memorials from former students who liked him as I did. Mr. Rose was the geometry teacher, right? Geometry was one of the only math class that I ever really mastered; he was a good teacher, made the subject fascinating. Or maybe I was just able to grasp visual math better than abstract. Do you remember T.P. Jordan, the algebra/trig teacher? He always wore a wool vest under his sport coat. We thought he was so nerdy! A friend whose dad was a dentist would bring in seconal etc so we could endure the class. What a bunch of drips WE were, compared to a teacher who was trying to help us learn! TP once took me aside and tried to convince me that I shouldn't be hanging around with my bad-influence friends. At the time it was a huge joke to us, but in retrospect, had I straightened up then I would have had a much easier life in my teens and twenties!
And was Mr. Trent there when you were? He was the Speech teacher, and we considered him the coolest adult around. He and Dr Taylor (biology; also sponsored the hiking club, which I loved) were my favorite teachers in high school.
Mrs. Farrell! OMG, what a fox to us at that age! Blonde (maybe) and French! I took 2 years of French from her. My wife in the here and now speaks French and reads novels in French; the whole Harry Potter series, all the great authors, etc. Glad that I can understand some of it. I think the second year we had a student teacher part of the time, but can't remember her name.
Don't remember Mrs. Beeghley. But Mrs. Cooper was probably pretty close. We used to go take an overdose of Dramamine (which makes you hallucinate at high enough doses) at lunch so we could tolerate her class after lunch. I guess there wasn't anything really wrong with her, but memorizing Shakespeare was not on our hot list.
So I've got my 1967 Panther Trails yearbook here, and am trying to find a school office lady whose name is the same as a senior...
BTW, I just ran across a '67 grad who became good friend a few years later after he came back from 'Nam: Howard Cooper. Did you know him?
Good data, desertpagoda. Yup, the grocery store in Amphi Plaza was Lucky's. not Goodman's in the '60s.
I probably spent half my income at Leo's, keeping the '57 Chevy running!
And I do remember the big houses across from Amphi High on the north side of Yavapai. At least they looked swanky because there were lots of trees along the driveways blocking the view of the houses, just a driveway visible that made me think they MUST be swanky!
desertpagoda: Thanks so much for sharing all that! I wish we had a Google maps for the 60's SO bad! LUCKY"S!! I am thrilled to have you tell me the name of the grocery store in Amphi Plaza 'cause it's been bugging me for months since we recalled Jerrold's Drugs. Now, do you remember if McClelland's being in the same center as I seem to? Kresge's (in Campbell Plaza) was my fave but McClelland's was the next best - those 5 and dimes were so affordable, huh?!
I still can't picture Coronado's or shopping there and I don't know why. I am still remembering the name Food Giant, tho' I don't know where that would have been unless it was the store in the Flowing Wells center by the Mead's pharmacy??
I guess my sister would have worked for the Albers - I found the photo of her in her navy-red-white uni and cap, so thanks for that! I can add it to the family scrapbook
I don't recall any big swanky houses on Yavapai - but if they were that swanky, I would not have known the people
Also don't recall the water lilies at Leo's - darn it, and I love them. But I do remember the recycled motor oil and plugs 'cause my dad worked on his cars and taught my two brothers to do the same.
And O-Man: I also found the pics of my sister's apt. that may be in the Prince Garden complex: they appear to be one story, light (not red) brick, have a kidney-shaped pool and doors to the units seem to face the chain-link fenced pool yard; just a sidewalk in front of the door, a little strip of mulch with tiny palms, then another cement strip before the fence and pool. Sound familiar? This would have been between '78 and '80 because my first new car, a '78 Toyota Celica, is parked just outside the fence at one end.
I wish I did then what I do now: take pics of places/signs for my scrapbooks for easier ID'ing. 'Course, I still don't see myself walking around shooting pics of the grocery stores ...
I think both might be right: the grocery at Amphi Plaza may have been Goodman's earlier, then was taken over by Lucky's. And I could have sworn it was a Kresge's at Amphi Plaza, but maybe my brain ain't as good as 'twer. Wasn't McLelland's more of a mini department store? I frequented both Amphi and Campbell Plazas regularly.
Ok, here are shots of present day Prince Gardens Apts, now called Catalina Palms. On the right of the driveway down the middle are the one story units and on the left are the two story units. Google maps doesn't have closeup imagery of the back end of the apts, but here's also a bird's-eye view, showing the back of the complex and the second swimming pool. I even marked the 2 story apt I lived in near the back. At the far back end surrounding the pool all the units were one story, mostly studios. Anything look familiar to you, musicfreeq?
Ah yes, the Coronado Market. That's where my wife and I bought a REAL West Virginia ham for Easter one year. (The kind you had to soak in the sink for days, changing the water every day). It was the only store in town that had them and they were not cheap, but very, very tasty. And I still remember the explosion and fire at the dry cleaners at Grant and Stone. Almost as big a story as the Pioneer Hotel fire. Speaking of disansters, does anyone remember the Greyhound bus that crashed on what is now I-10? Seems to me there were quite a few fatalities. It happened about 10 or 15 miles outside of town on the way to Benson.
There were (and still are) many mobile home courts on Flowing Wells, between Miracle Mile and River Road. There was a real nice one on the East side of Flowing Wells north of Roger that had a small lake in the middle.
Ah yes, the Coronado Market. That's where my wife and I bought a REAL West Virginia ham for Easter one year. (The kind you had to soak in the sink for days, changing the water every day). It was the only store in town that had them and they were not cheap, but very, very tasty. And I still remember the explosion and fire at the dry cleaners at Grant and Stone. Almost as big a story as the Pioneer Hotel fire. Speaking of disansters, does anyone remember the Greyhound bus that crashed on what is now I-10? Seems to me there were quite a few fatalities. It happened about 10 or 15 miles outside of town on the way to Benson.
There were (and still are) many mobile home courts on Flowing Wells, between Miracle Mile and River Road. There was a real nice one on the East side of Flowing Wells north of Roger that had a small lake in the middle.
Azpostmaster's post gave me a few things to think about. The first was the mobile home park with the lake. Almost all my time in Tucson was spent in and around that area and I never knew there was a small lake. I looked it up and the name of the park is Swan Lake Estates. It is on Flowing Wells Road almost all the way to the Rillito River. It is gated off I guess to prevent curiosity seekers.
BTW, am I the only person who gets a kick out of the fact that the rivers are indicated in blue on maps as if they actually have water in them LOL? I know they get flowing after heavy rains and the spring thaw, but still. There must be plenty of visitors who got quite a surprise. I do remember plenty of water in them during 1983 and the less severe flood of 93. Any stories from those floods?
The mentioning of the Greyhound bus crash between Tucson and Benson got me thinking. Here is the article. I am not sure if you are allowed to post URL's. I have to share this one because I could not believe how mangled the bus was.
There are a couple of landmarks in that area, the first being the castle on top of a hill that was visible from I-10. The Internet came into existence after my time in Tucson and everyone I talked to did not know much about the castle. A Google search gave me some insight. The castle was built some time in the late 70s by a man who put railroad tracks around the interior so his kids could ride a miniature train. There are some people who talked about knowing the family and spending a holiday inside. There is even a story that commercial and Davis-Monthan pilots would ask if they really saw a castle on their approach???
For what it's worth, the name of the castle is Agua Verde and the owner is Duane Durham. You could never get anywhere near it by car. Do not confuse this castle with Brady/Sunrock Castle on the west side.
Not far from the castle was the Colossal Cave that I remember visiting as a kid. Aside from I-10, one could also access these spots from a road known as the Old Spanish Trail. I knew people that lived out there and talked about the grandiose plans for the area and how it would increase property values. I had quite a time trying to locate specific spots on Google Street View, because there is a lot of road between Tucson and Vail and I was drawing a blank if it was closer to one municipality or the other, or perhaps smack in the middle. The end result was that I see not much has changed at all. Residents probably preferred to keep their area quaint. The same little general store was where I remembered it. The area looks a little more lush than Tucson and I also seem to remember it being a little cooler in the summertime.
Re: the Amphi Plaza grocery:ColtCassidy could be right! I do think that maybe when we first moved to Tucson in summer of '58, maybe it was Goodman's. Then, Lucky's came along in the '60's. Maybe? I can vaguely recall mom and both aunts, who lived on our street, were excited about the new store - they had more fresh produce, which was hard to come in those days. Most of our veggies came out of a can. About the only canned goods we ever buy now is tomato sauce or the occas can of Rosarita refried beans!
O-Man: Oh, yeah, we had some winners and losers when it came to teachers at Amphi. Pretty much everyone loved Mr. D and I was not fortunate to have him - I had to suffer with Brantley and Marshall for jr. and sr. history classes. But because he knew my mom (and had sev. of my friends) he made a point of looking out for me Good guy. As was Mr. Rose. Despite him being a great teacher, Geometry was about the only subject I had difficulty with and I barely got by! NONE of it made sense to me and Mr. Rose would stammer and stutter (remember that? he was so cute - almost child-like!) to my mom that he was doing the best he could but if I didn't stop doodling in class, he was gonna have to fail me!
The senior English teachers were both a pain: Beeghley and Cooper. But I could diagram sentences like nobody's business, so at least Beeghley liked me! As did all the jocks, who had a tough time at diagramming so I was the ringleader of their study circle. Just finished reading comments from them in my yearbook
I did not have Mr. Jordan but knew him. In later years, when Mr. Rogers came on TV, I was convinced he had fashioned himself after Mr. Jordan Geez - who wears wool vests in Tucson? Even in the dead of winter??
I didn't have Mr. Trent either - too afraid to take Speech! but remember he was well liked.
And, yes, Mrs. Farrell was a fox. She couldn't walk down the hall in her blonde bee-hive and high heels without all the guys elbowing each other to gawk! She was also an excellent teacher and a super nice lady. She was on maternity leave one year - prob'ly the time you didn't have her. And when my daughter was born, she surprised me one day by showing up at our little place on Windsor with a baby gift. I was so flattered because she was such a cool lady.
Prince Garden Apartments do not look familiar, darn it. And I'm not sure they are new enough. Seems as tho' they were built in the mid 70's and were only a few years old when my sister was there, in the late 70's.
And I still maintain Kresge's was absolutely in Campbell Plaza; I know that for sure, because my aunt worked in the office there - for several years. One time, her car was stolen from the parking lot and she was freaking out! It turned out, my older cousin, had ditched school and "borrowed" it to joyride with his buddies and failed to get it back by quitting time! All of us cousins were totally freaked out 'cause he didn't even have his license yet!
And back to McClelland's (sp?): was it in Amphi Plaza or not??!!
azmemories: I do not remember the castle(s) but had forgotten about the Greyhound crash. I want to read that, so thanks!
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