impressions of Tucson (Phoenix, Mesa, Glendale: travel, home, college)

[vegaspilgrim]

I was in Tucson last week, and noticed a couple of trivial, yet neat oddities. For people who have travelled around, are these unique to Tucson?

--Turquoise neon signs-- buildings everywhere at night were light up in turqouise-- an example is the Walgreens on Ina & La Cholla. I live in PHX and have never seen that before.
--Spanish-style buildings-- I know they build mock-Mediterranean looking buildings everywhere, but I thought in particular the Casas Adobes shopping center looked really authentic
--Murals-- I'm sure again this is the Mexican influence, but I've never seen so many murals, especially in the older sections of the city.

I also thought that compared to PHX, Tucson was much more sprawled out and semi-rural looking, especially in Oro Valley and everything west of I-10-- with a scattering of buildings amongst pieces of desert. It didn't look as packed in wall-to-wall as PHX. I also couldn't believe how far out the sprawl went-- with home subdivisions built way out on Ajo Rd on the way to Kitt Peak, yet with older rural roads as the only infrastructure.

Do these features add up to a unique sense of place, something uniquely Tucson?

[eddie gein]

With the natural saguaros and the rugged mountains and foothills and the lack of irrigation I have always considered Tucson to be the most truly Arizonan of all the desert communities in the state. I prefer it to Phoenix which looks like southern California with a few small brown hills thrown in to the mix.

Tucson has radiated out from the college/downtown area and is unusual in that it really didn't have any suburban towns around it. Phoenix on the other hand has had the typical historic small towns around it that once were agrarian growing towns and now are suburbs (Scottsdale, Tempe, Glendale, Mesa, Chandler etc.) The end result is that the sprawl in Tucson seems worse because there are no old traditional commercial areas and school districts that are associated with these suburban towns.

In that respect I prefer Phoenix set up. I wish places like Oro Valley or Vail had old downtowns and traditional school districts.

[Chiefcrewdog]

I would say that Vail does have an old downtown AND a traditional school district The word downtown may have a different meaning to you tho. Downtown Vail a 100 50 or even 25 years ago wasn't much to look at or speak about and while we are growing, there's still not a whole lot going on there. It doesn't look like a town and it may be awhile before it does if ever. But it feels like a community...

[eddie gein]

When I drove by there on my way into town this Christmas I noticed a really nice new High School in Vail, but I don't remember them having one 20 or so years ago. Also I never saw the traditional 3 or 4 block downtown district that I meant when I posted. But I never went around Vail besides the main road that turns into Old Spanish Trail.