How do you remember Phoenix? Stories from long time residents... (Tucson: psychiatrist, therapy)

[Dave Bob]

Originally Posted by roosevelt

Attachment 94669 Goldwater home in 1964 and the McCune mansion under construction.

That's a nice photo. Those 2 houses are closer than I realized.

The McCune mansion was quite the attention-getter when it was built.

As an 11 or 12-year old, I was impressed and amazed. The biggest house in Phoenix! Things like 13 bathrooms (or whatever it was) and the massive square footage were fascinating.

I'd always look for it whenever our family was driving up Palo Cristi road. I also recall that the home of Eugene Pulliam, the R&G publisher, was on Palo Cristi just north of Stanford Dr.

[roosevelt]

Originally Posted by Dave Bob

That's a nice photo. Those 2 houses are closer than I realized.

The McCune mansion was quite the attention-getter when it was built.

As an 11 or 12-year old, I was impressed and amazed. The biggest house in Phoenix! Things like 13 bathrooms (or whatever it was) and the massive square footage were fascinating.

I'd always look for it whenever our family was driving up Palo Cristi road. I also recall that the home of Eugene Pulliam, the R&G publisher, was on Palo Cristi just north of Stanford Dr.

Walker McCune was an oilman. I'm going on memory here but the house had 40,000 square feet and and indoor ice rink.

I knew the Goldwater kids when they went to Emerson school and they lived at the Phoenix Country Club on Manor Drive in an Art Deco house before moving to Paradise Valley. I think Bob Goldwater also lived on Manor Drive.

[Arizona Sharon]

I have spent waaaay too much time reading this thread. I lived in Phoenix from 1960 to 1991, and my memories of it are THE best. I have a couple of questions- does anyone know what happened to Pizza D-Armore. It used to be at Metrocenter and Chris-Town. They had really different pizza. Another place my husband and I used to frequent was Ville Del Sol restaurant. I think it was on Van Buren or McDowell. I loved their sopapillias. I mentioned it once to the waitress, and she told the cook. The cook was so flattered she gave me the recipe, which I still have. The other place I used to love was El Maya's, across the Bethany Theater. When I go back to visit my family, I always wonder if those restaurants are out of business, or if the just relocated. If they did, I would love to know where they are, and visit next time I go back. I still like to stop in at My Mother's Place, near the site of the old Phoenix General Hospital, and of course, Monti's, Macayo's, Garcia's and La Parilla Suisa!

[trillcatz]

Originally Posted by azdr0710

trill!....don't leave us hanging!!.....names, we want names!

Oh, sorry, it wasn't in Phoneix, it's in a little tiny town in far northern Utah. The place is LD's in Richmond, UT. I guess the thread I was following had more to do with old eateries, lunch counters...maybe Woolworths.

[trillcatz]

Originally Posted by roosevelt

Location is right but it was called Saguaro Beach.

I've never heard of a Saguaro Beach...the place I'm referring to was definitely called Palm Beach...this was in the early '60's. I may have the location wrong. I lived south of Dobbins and I think we rode our bikes east on Dobbins Rd and then went left...that's why I was guessing somewhere around 16th and South Mt. Ave. It was out in the desert I remember that and at that time all of the roads were dirt roads. I believe it cost us a dime to swim.

[roosevelt]

Originally Posted by trillcatz

I've never heard of a Saguaro Beach...the place I'm referring to was definitely called Palm Beach...this was in the early '60's. I may have the location wrong. I lived south of Dobbins and I think we rode our bikes east on Dobbins Rd and then went left...that's why I was guessing somewhere around 16th and South Mt. Ave. It was out in the desert I remember that and at that time all of the roads were dirt roads. I believe it cost us a dime to swim.

In 1957 it was Saguaro Beach exactly at the same location; maybe the name was changed later or earlier.

Another old pool in the 40's was Joyland at 35th Street and Van Buren.

[roosevelt]

[Dave Bob]

Originally Posted by Arizona Sharon

I have spent waaaay too much time reading this thread. I lived in Phoenix from 1960 to 1991, and my memories of it are THE best. I have a couple of questions- does anyone know what happened to Pizza D-Armore. It used to be at Metrocenter and Chris-Town. They had really different pizza. Another place my husband and I used to frequent was Ville Del Sol restaurant. I think it was on Van Buren or McDowell. I loved their sopapillias. I mentioned it once to the waitress, and she told the cook. The cook was so flattered she gave me the recipe, which I still have. The other place I used to love was El Maya's, across the Bethany Theater. When I go back to visit my family, I always wonder if those restaurants are out of business, or if the just relocated. If they did, I would love to know where they are, and visit next time I go back. I still like to stop in at My Mother's Place, near the site of the old Phoenix General Hospital, and of course, Monti's, Macayo's, Garcia's and La Parilla Suisa!

Arizona Sharon,
Don't know if Pizza D'Amore is still alive anywhere, but you must not have been the only one who loved it since it sure gets a lot of mention among guest commenters at the Christown Retrospective website. You might enjoy checking that out if you haven't already.

Your restaurant reminiscences make me wonder how many "old" Valley eateries are still operating at their original locations.

There are a few obvious ones, like Durant's, Stockyards, La Casa Vieja, Bill Johnson's Big Apple, Tee Pee, maybe a couple Lazy Lou's and Pete's Fish & Chips.

I'm sure I'm missing quite a few since I don't live in Phoenix anymore.

[AZDesertBrat]

Originally Posted by trillcatz

I've never heard of a Saguaro Beach...the place I'm referring to was definitely called Palm Beach...this was in the early '60's. I may have the location wrong. I lived south of Dobbins and I think we rode our bikes east on Dobbins Rd and then went left...that's why I was guessing somewhere around 16th and South Mt. Ave. It was out in the desert I remember that and at that time all of the roads were dirt roads. I believe it cost us a dime to swim.

I don't remember the name of the place but in 1960 there was place on Baseline with a huge pool and slides into the water. I remember going there with my boyfriend. It wasn't too far from a big trailer park my aunt and uncle owned and I don't recall the name of that either...something Montana. I don't really remember how far either was from the fields of flowers but around the same area. All these years later my memories are dim but I do remember those places. I should ask my aunt.

[AZDesertBrat]

I went to Phoenix today to see my aunt but because of scheduling conflicts I didn't get to see her. Since it was fairly early in the day I decided to go to South Phoenix and check it out. Oh MY!!! Things have changed so much down there I could hardly find ANY of my old landmarks!

I drove from the 17 to Baseline and took a 'detour' past my grandparents old house that they built in 1954. I recognized very little. My dad's old second hand store, just south of the river, is still there but all boarded up and sad looking. Pete's Fish & Chips was still there at Jones and Central. That surprised me. Their sign says "since 1947" so it was started when I was five! My old school was at the end of Jones St. but I didn't check that out. Broadway and Central is mostly different too. The old Rexall drug store is long gone and on the SE corner used to be a coffee shop that is also long gone and so is the entire block. Actually it's a lot of acres of plain old dirt! The strip mall on the NE corner of Broadway is still there. I didn't drive out to the Broadway pool but I'd bet it's gone too. Further up Central was my grandparents first house and it's been gone a long time. I can't even tell anymore just where it was. And Doyle's second hand store is gone too. Then there was the Corral drive in, now a laundry/dry cleaning place. The old Silver Dollar drive in is also long gone. So many memories down the tubes. Sigh.

I was surprised that my grandparents second house looks as good as it does. Whoever owns it has kept it up nice. Does anyone remember Stapely's Hardware? Stapelys owned the house across the street from my grandparents and, back then, I thought it was a mansion! I suppose, for the times, it was. It's still big and still looks nice. Not long ago I was going through newspaper archives online and found an article in the AZ Republic about my grandparents house. It was quite snazzy for the time too. Houses were small back then so a 2500 sq. ft. house was something of a mini-mansion, albeit a one level Ranch. Stapley's house was at least 3000, maybe bigger. My grandparents house had three BRs, two baths, formal living/dining rooms, a big den with a nice bar, big fireplace, built in TV and square holes in the wall next to that for the movie projector. It also had maids quarters. It had nearly two acres of grapefruit in back and date palms out front. I felt positively 'rich' living there. lol It also had a central AM-FM radio system. Every room in the house, and the patio, had a speaker. My grandmother used to wake me up every morning at 7:00 by turning it on LOUD and it was ALWAYS a singing Firestone Tire ad. I'll never forget that but it DID get me out of bed! lol

Coming back I took Central all the way to Thomas and I have to say that downtown is FAR from a ghost town during the day. So many people it was hard to make any kind of turn off of Central. It was interesting to see the MetroLink(?). Sleek looking for sure! I'm glad I did that today but have to admit I'm glad I don't live there anymore. It's just too big, too much traffic, too many people...just too much. I like my comparably quiet little burg a lot more.