How do you remember Phoenix? Stories from long time residents... (Maricopa: ordinance, medical)

[ShrinkingDesert]

Does anyone know it the Arizona Historical Society has a photograper staff-person-volunteer that would take photos of old buildings and spots of interest before they are torn down? Do they announce before any schools, malls, building are headed for the chopping block or remodeling? It would be great if they had an alert page for those type of things for photo opps.

[Arizona Mike]

Originally Posted by baby sinister

Where exactly was Wagon Wheel Kiddie Land?..and what is there now? Wallace and Ladmo spent many weekends there, but I never went.

When it moved over to Oak Street, it was on the southeast corner of Oak and 44th Street. My mom used to take me there when I was very young, my best memories are a little ride than went in circles that looked like small rocket ships with little machine guns you could pretend to fire (very Buck Roger-ish) - after seeing the Japanese monster movie "Rodan" about a giant pterodactyl, (probably on "World Beyond" on KPHO) I enjoyed riding that ride and pretending I was in an aerial dogfight with Rodan (one of the fondest and most vivid memories of my youth), a merry-go-round and a small soda fountain. You could register at the soda fountain and on your birthday, you would get a small card in the mail redeemable for a free soda.

They later added a Superslide that you slid down on burlap sacks, but I don't know if that was part of the original Kiddieland or a separate business. One of the fondest and most vivid memories of my youth (Post Puberty Division) was watching a young woman go down that slide in a halter top when The Inevitable happened.

There was also a roller-skating rink next to the slide that was built years later, that was the site of a well-publicized gang shoot-out. Thus ends many of the fond memories of our childhoods.

[Arizona Mike]

Originally Posted by ShrinkingDesert

Anyone remember the wagon wheel bowling alley just west of 44th st and Thomas and then there was a gooney golf somewhere along there as well. There was a woolco I believe at 32nd st and Thomas which I think became the first Home Depot in the state and now that sits empty on this spot. Jerry's coffee shop close to 24th St and Thomas is still there and does anyone know if that use to be a Sambos? Looks like a Sambos? The only Sambos I recall going to here in AZ was up off 32nd St and Shea. Here is a site of Sambos across the country by the commercial photographer that was hired by the company. Tim Putz Presents Sambo's Photographs

Lets hope I posted that link corectly.

I used to hang out in the Wagon Wheel bowling alley as a high-schooler. I remember playing some really old wooden creaky pinball machine in there, and there was a HUGE poster next to it warning of the Phoenix city curfew for minors, something I was completely unaware of. The Gooney Golf was on the south side of Thomas, between Tower Plaza and Thomas Mall, I think, and was open late enough to be a popular date spot. The landmark there was a big concrete, somewhat unrealistic Tyrannosaurus Rex, whose eyes were two red floodlight bulbs and was painted various unflattering colors (purple, green, pink) during its time on Earth. I remember the Woolco well. Jerry's was Jerry's circa 1975, I remember going there after an awards banquet in high school with a guy named Jerry and commenting on it. It may have been a Sambo's before that and changed its name as times changed.

[Arizona Mike]

Originally Posted by trillcatz

Was the disco "Isadore's"? They may've been there earlier than you are referring to.

I think that was the name of the place before Bogart's.

[learicalAZ]

a trivia question for anyone who remembers:
I can't give you the exact year, but in the extremely late 50's or early 60's (I'd say 59, 60 or 61), It's Wallace was getting a bit violent (too much slap in the slapstick). Phoenix area mothers complained, and a competitor arose. He was a puppet of a ghost, probably on Channel 10 or 12, I don't think it was 3. KPHO got the hint, Wallace and Ladmo toned it down, and soon everyone was back to watching Channel 5. The question: What was the name of the ghost puppet? Any added details would be great, but this is all I remember. (somewhere there exists a photo of one of my brothers and me wearing t-shirts from this program.)

[baby sinister]

Originally Posted by learicalAZ

a trivia question for anyone who remembers:
I can't give you the exact year, but in the extremely late 50's or early 60's (I'd say 59, 60 or 61), It's Wallace was getting a bit violent (too much slap in the slapstick). Phoenix area mothers complained, and a competitor arose. He was a puppet of a ghost, probably on Channel 10 or 12, I don't think it was 3. KPHO got the hint, Wallace and Ladmo toned it down, and soon everyone was back to watching Channel 5. The question: What was the name of the ghost puppet? Any added details would be great, but this is all I remember. (somewhere there exists a photo of one of my brothers and me wearing t-shirts from this program.)

And speaking of local kid shows, I vaguely remember a show that came on channel 21...something "Adams"...he had animals on the show and would show cartoons.

[aviator7777]

[SIZE=3]Hello everyone from Floria. Wow! I had no idea this is on the internet. It brings back a lot of memories for us. Many thanks to those of you that commented and posted photos. Here are some of the things we remembered tonight when our family was reading the posts:[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]The Shamrock Dairy oversized sign near I-17Grand Ave over pass with the temperature on the sign.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Lennys Burger Shop Sunnyslope N 7th Street and the Camelback Rd location on the south west side by the car wash.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Glendale satellite dishes at Max’s Sports bar near 47th Ave and Glendale[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Rudolph Chevrolet before Lou Grubb took over[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Mobest rail yards and Santa Fe trains[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Hughes 500 Phoenix Police helicopters[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Maryvale golf course late day specials[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Pastor Richard Jackson preach at North Phoenix Baptist Church old location North Central north of Bethany Home Rd.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Little payment receipts for the Phoenix Gazette and AZ Republic[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Picking grapes in Queen Creek[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Buying Apache tears black rocks near the Superstition Mountains[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Peter Piper pizza in Glendale at Glendale and 51st Ave[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Organ Stop Pizza North 7th Street[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Weather by Dewey Hopper on Channel 12 KTAR[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Mayor Margaret Hance[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Seeing Journey, Alabama, The Fixx at Arizona State Fair.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Climbing Squaw Peak and driving up Camelback Mountain before all the big homes were built[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Flying touch and goes at Deer Valley Airport[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Bagging groceries for Smitty’s on Peoria and 35th Ave[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Having breakfast at Sambos at west of 27th Ave and Camelback Rd[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Bill Johnsons west on Indian School Rd[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Recording studio at Bill Johnsons East[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Pool swimming at 31st ave and north of Camelback. Admission 25 cents. There was a canal there before the road.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]The new city park on 35th Ave south of Camelback when it opened.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Crazy Dave Otto on 98 KUPD ROCKSSSSSS Arizonaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!![/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]The bell ringers of Salvation Army in front of Chris Town and other malls. People actually gave.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Watching airplanes like Hughes Airwest DC9’s depart for las Vegas and Western Airlines 727s depart for Salt Lake City. There was an observation area atop the terminal one and also later one atop the restaurant on the north side of the airport by the hangars.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]The first flights of America West in terminal two.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]The day the AWA 747s arrived for flight to Japan and Hawaii.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Delivering phone books for extra cash for Mountain Bell[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Unloading UPS trailers at the Phoenix sort facility in west Phoenix[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Seeing the newspaper printing presses in operation at the old R and G building at 120 E. Van Buren[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Enjoying the city lights from atop the revolving restaurant at Hyatt Regency across from Civic Plaza[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Cal Worthington and his dog Spot…Go see Cal Go see Cal Go see Cal…. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Jack in the Box clown ordering stations at the drive thru’s[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Winchell’s donuts[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Garcias original Mexican restaurant on 35th Ave near McDowell[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Blue Angels airshows at Deer Valley Airport[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]PV Mall construction[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Snow on South Mountain[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Homer Lane’s editorials on Kool TV. you know. the guy with the thick rimmed black glasses[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Jerry Foster’s helicopter reporting about the flooding of the Salt River[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]The 230,000 CFS releases of water from the dams upstream on the Salt River[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Graduation from Apollo HS class of 1982 at Sun City west. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3] Nolan’s Bakery at the AJ Bayless shopping center at 27th Ave and Camelback[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Midway Chevrolet and the big US flag.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Spotlights in front of Graham Central Station.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Price Club on Indian School Rd wes t of I -17[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]The Wrigley Mansion on the hill by the Biltmore.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Defunct and merged companies with high tech plants like Digital, Sperry, Unisys.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3] The voice of Al McCoy on radio KTAR AM[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]The impeachment of Gov. Evan Meacham[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Painting the base of trees white for cooling.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Mulberry trees and mulberries[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]The crunchy outer shells of the locust insects on the trees.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Crossing hot asphalt pavement streets in summer without shoes[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Dad’s new 1976 Chevrolet Impala and the melted crayons in the back window.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Covering the windows with tin foil to keep the sun out and house cooler[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]The “Bluebird of Happy News” from channel 15[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Michael Grant from ASU KAET PBS channel 8 and the political debates[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Living at Motel 6 on the east side of Phoenix by the zoo in 1971 while we got our first home on 3027 W. Mariposa.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]55 Phoenix KOY Radio station announcement.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Marching band performances and Hawks football games between Apollo and Glendale HS or Cortez or Moon Valley.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]US Navy NJROTC Apollo High School marching practices in the heat and standing for inspection early in the mornings with Commander Troy Ray and Chief Sutton.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Morning pledge of allegiance at Valencia and Granada Elementary Schools.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Phoenix Greyhound Park Saturday mornings for outdoor flea markets.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Racing at Turf Paradise and horrible traffic during race day.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Demolition derby cars at one of the local dirt tracks.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Fiesta Bowl parades downtown by Park Central.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Labor Day telethons and the KPHO fishbowl for Jerry’s kids.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Arizona Heart Institute and Dr Dietrich making fame when it opened.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]My first commercial airplane trip on TWA 727 from Phoenix.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]The great candies we used to buy like Pixie sticks, Jolly Rancher watermelons, Bottle caps, Razzles, Lemonheads, Paydays, 100,000 bars, among many others. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Shakeys Pizza crazy straws and clear bottom drinking steins.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]All the neighbors by name on the paper route that always said hello and gave stuff like lemon aid, Kool aid, and Christmas cards. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Little olives that stain the driveway when the cars run them over.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Pink grapefruit from the local citrus stands[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]The smell of the citrus trees in bloom.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Remember, Blessed is the nation whos God is the Lord. KOOL TV Phoenix...[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]God bless you and keep you all safe.[/SIZE]

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[aviator7777]

Originally Posted by deraffe

i remember the guy in the commercials with her was called "the Loan Arranger" and looked like Boss Hogg with a white mask.

Yes. The Loan Arranger was on TV. The chubby chick was named.. " Carlotta Sales"...lol.

[aviator7777]

"If ever you are unsatisfied with one of our tires... please feel free to bring it back... Thank you! Discount Tire Company." Remember the old lady that used to heave the tire into the front pane glass and break the window. Love it! My Dad still loves that one too.

[dewilda porter]

thinking of moving here,need all the info. i can get.I am a senior citizen .