How do you remember Phoenix? Stories from long time residents... (Glendale: bikes, dining)

[ArizonaBear]

Originally Posted by roosevelt

Here is the old Tempe bridge when there was actually water in the salt river. You can see people standing on the bridge walkway.

Attachment 49729

Old Tempe bridge? Let me guess; that little stub just west of the present Mill Ave bridge is the remains of it?

[azdr0710]

that little stub is the old Ash Avenue bridge...torn down maybe 15 years ago??.....narrow little thing with lots of arches, I remember.....

the "old, old Mill Avenue bridge" mentioned above: isn't the current old one, next to the matching new one built just a few years ago, the original Mill bridge anyway?.....wasn't it built in the 20s or so for the new federal highways being built then??....US 80 and all those.....before the 20s, wasn't the Ash bridge the main one??....I may be wrong about all this.......

[observer53]

Originally Posted by azdr0710

that little stub is the old Ash Avenue bridge...torn down maybe 15 years ago??.....narrow little thing with lots of arches, I remember.....

the "old, old Mill Avenue bridge" mentioned above: isn't the current old one, next to the matching new one built just a few years ago, the original Mill bridge anyway?.....wasn't it built in the 20s or so for the new federal highways being built then??....US 80 and all those.....before the 20s, wasn't the Ash bridge the main one??....I may be wrong about all this.......

You are correct, the still used "old bridge" was completed in 1931, to replace the Ash bridge. Here's info from the City of Tempe site.

Mill Avenue Bridge - Tempe, Arizona

[roosevelt]

Originally Posted by observer53

You are correct, the still used "old bridge" was completed in 1931, to replace the Ash bridge. Here's info from the City of Tempe site.

Mill Avenue Bridge - Tempe, Arizona

I guess these photos are from the 30's

Attachment 49767

Attachment 49768

[palehorse25]

Back in 1994, there was a bar, I think it was on Baseline, where they had a huge collection of live rattlesnakes, scorpions, and large spiders. The highlight, other than the topless dancers and liquor, was when they dropped live mice in the tank. After watching that happen a few times, I found myself rooting for the mouse.
They never lasted too long, though.

[Westside Willie]

Originally Posted by azdr0710

speaking of movies filmed in the valley

How about:

A Fire in the Sky

(not to be confused with Fire in the Sky-1993 - the Travis Walton alien abduction)

1978 Columbia Pictures Television
"Astronomers discover a comet that they believe will crash into Phoenix, Arizona. They attempt to warn officials, but no one believes them." IMDB

Starring Richard Crenna, Joanna Mills, Merlin Olsen and Michael Biehn later of The Terminator fame, and my buddy, local entertainer Brad Zinn as "Hutton".
heres a link: A Fire in the Sky (1978) (TV)

[plusmiles]

Originally Posted by Arizona1

... I remember if you wanted to go to Los Angeles, there was this two lane from downtown with lots of stop and go all the way beyond Buckeye.

That would have been Buckeye road, yes it was torture.

Originally Posted by Arizona1

... If you wanted Kingman, then again there was alot of stop and go cramped road with alot of commercial trucks wanting destinations too.

And that was/is Grand Avenue, still the same.

[plusmiles]

Originally Posted by billyincaneyville

I remember it well! That's also where our school shoes came from, we didn't have much money and Dad could never afford the Converse High Tops that everybody else was wearing at the time. I look back now and realize I didn't need them in the first place!

We got the "Red Ball Jets" since they supposedly made you run faster and jump higher. If I recall, they really worked...

[pbenjamin]

Sorry if this has been posted before, but worth reading if you have not seen it:

Rogue Columnist: Phoenix 101: The old city

[Dave Bob]

Originally Posted by plusmiles

We got the "Red Ball Jets" since they supposedly made you run faster and jump higher. If I recall, they really worked...

Sure they really worked! When I'd take off my clunky leather shoes and put on sneakers, I felt like Jesse Owens (or Ulis Williams, an ASU track star I recall seeing at a meet in about 1964).

Back then, two rival shoe brands (one of which promised to make you run faster and jump higher) battling it out in TV ads were U.S. Keds and P.F. Flyers.