How do you remember Phoenix? Stories from long time residents... (Scottsdale: buying, living)

[toofarr]

Originally Posted by cactus jumper

Phoenixpat said.... Nights that smelled like orange blossoms and the air felt soft on your skin.

You brought tears to my eyes with those words...I can almost smell the orange blossoms
I grew up in Mesa and I hardly recognize things around the Phoenix/Tempe/Mesa area today.
I love remembering the old days....swimming in the canal, going to the hot well for a dip (we used to float on inner tubes from Apache Trail to hot wells.) making out in the orange groves....... Apache Trail was a narrow two lane highway then, and Apache Junction was just a "Y" in the road.........sigh.....
one of my Aunts lived in Phoenix somewhere off Baseline and we would sometimes go for a visit on the weekend, my daddy hated the Sunday Drivers, slowing down to admire the Japanese flower gardens.

Thanks....it all is coming back to me now. My father was a foreman of a huge farm/ranch between Apache Junction and Queen Creek from '59 & '61. Do you remember the visibility back then?

[toofarr]

Originally Posted by ZonyPony

Never lived in Feenix, but I do remember driving north up one of the "main drags" (several decades ago) and passing a swimming pool which had the name:

Tempe Beach.

Did this pool get moved elsewhere? And which street was I driving on at the time?

I spent several summers at the Tempe Beach pool. It was across the street from the Hayden Flour Mill. Such a relief from the heat.
Big Surf is a wavepool built around 1968 near Scottsdale & Tempe. My friend got two VIP passes to sample the pool before the park opened. The pools bottom was covered with blue vinyl and the smells were incredible. My friend and I surfed with the place to ourselves for a few hours on new rental boards. I always wondered who the visiting professional surfers were that attended the grand opening.

[Norm Johnson]

I lived on 13th Ave, just south of Camelback. Black Canyon Freeway was under construction just West, at Camelback. Neptune's Table, a Fancy Seafood Restaurant was at 7th Ave and Camelback.
The Knight on Horseback, a Huge White Horse, at 24th Street and Thomas Road, the Phoenix Bird Sculpture on the East Side, maybe Camelback and 32nd Street? Unsure of the locale any more!
Homemade Mexican Food Dinners, a Fund-Raiser, in the basement of Laveen School, my first Mexican Food experience.
KRIZ & KRUX Radio, KHAT Radio, owned by Ray Odham, also their main DJ.
Wallace & Ladmo at the Fox Theater in Downtown, Movies at the Palms Theater, on Central, North of Downtown. Cruising Central!
McDonald's at McDowell & Central, Bob's Big Boy at Central and Thomas Road.
Took a Week to drive to Apache Junction, leastwise it Seemed to.
Dad buying a Brand New Home in Maryvale, at 59th Ave & Osborn, on the edge of cotton fields.
Drinking from the irrigation canals with no fear.
The First "Big Box" Store, CMI [Consumer's Mart of America], at 27th Avenue & Camelback.
Thrift City Food, Indian School and 35th Ave,
just East of the Big Sky Drive-In.
The Guarantee Bank Building, at Central and Osborn Road, was the Tallest Building in Arizona - 20 Stories!
Too many Memories to Continue! Phoenix population, then, was just below 200,000 and still liveable, just barely.

[luphx1]

I remember going swimming at the broadway pool down on baseline I think, or swimming at the river bottom, or at the 51st ave canal. We use to go to Derwinersomething on Central and Thomas. As a teen I went to Phoenix Union H.S and we use to hang out on South Central Ave and cruise around. I would buy all my clothes over at Lerners or at Sears on Washington. It sure was a blast back in the day.

[ArizonaBear]

Originally Posted by Norm Johnson

I lived on 13th Ave, just south of Camelback. Black Canyon Freeway was under construction just West, at Camelback. Neptune's Table, a Fancy Seafood Restaurant was at 7th Ave and Camelback.
The Knight on Horseback, a Huge White Horse, at 24th Street and Thomas Road, the Phoenix Bird Sculpture on the East Side, maybe Camelback and 32nd Street? Unsure of the locale any more!
Homemade Mexican Food Dinners, a Fund-Raiser, in the basement of Laveen School, my first Mexican Food experience.
KRIZ & KRUX Radio, KHAT Radio, owned by Ray Odham, also their main DJ.
Wallace & Ladmo at the Fox Theater in Downtown, Movies at the Palms Theater, on Central, North of Downtown. Cruising Central!
McDonald's at McDowell & Central, Bob's Big Boy at Central and Thomas Road.
Took a Week to drive to Apache Junction, leastwise it Seemed to.
Dad buying a Brand New Home in Maryvale, at 59th Ave & Osborn, on the edge of cotton fields.
Drinking from the irrigation canals with no fear.
The First "Big Box" Store, CMI [Consumer's Mart of America], at 27th Avenue & Camelback.
Thrift City Food, Indian School and 35th Ave,
just East of the Big Sky Drive-In.
The Guarantee Bank Building, at Central and Osborn Road, was the Tallest Building in Arizona - 20 Stories!
Too many Memories to Continue! Phoenix population, then, was just below 200,000 and still liveable, just barely.

That Phx sounded more like my kind of place..........although, many folks said things were OK here till the late 1970's/early 1980's.

Today; this metropolis is feeling way too much like the Los Angeles area of ca. 1980-----------and, LA hass deteriorated greatly since then.

[dookieboy]

I grew up around 15th ave and T-bird. T-bird was a dirt road in '69 when my folks bought a John F Long home there. Great place to grow up. I was in 2nd grade when Moon Mountain grade school opened, and remember the fire there sometime around '74 or so. Played little league at Shaw Butte.
Does anyone remember the Chris Town organ grinder and his monkey? I loved the way he would snatch the penny out of your hand and put it in his pocket. Or the sand sculptures in the mall? Wow, was that a long time ago.
I remember riding our bikes to Metro Center when it was under construction and climbing inside the little buildings at what was to be Golf n Stuff. Don't know what it is called today. Haven't been there in years and years.
Could go for a Ladmo Waffo right about now.

[Melanie53]

Originally Posted by Norm Johnson

I lived on 13th Ave, just south of Camelback. Black Canyon Freeway was under construction just West, at Camelback. Neptune's Table, a Fancy Seafood Restaurant was at 7th Ave and Camelback.
The Knight on Horseback, a Huge White Horse, at 24th Street and Thomas Road, the Phoenix Bird Sculpture on the East Side, maybe Camelback and 32nd Street? Unsure of the locale any more!
Homemade Mexican Food Dinners, a Fund-Raiser, in the basement of Laveen School, my first Mexican Food experience.
KRIZ & KRUX Radio, KHAT Radio, owned by Ray Odham, also their main DJ.
Wallace & Ladmo at the Fox Theater in Downtown, Movies at the Palms Theater, on Central, North of Downtown. Cruising Central!
McDonald's at McDowell & Central, Bob's Big Boy at Central and Thomas Road.
Took a Week to drive to Apache Junction, leastwise it Seemed to.
Dad buying a Brand New Home in Maryvale, at 59th Ave & Osborn, on the edge of cotton fields.
Drinking from the irrigation canals with no fear.
The First "Big Box" Store, CMI [Consumer's Mart of America], at 27th Avenue & Camelback.
Thrift City Food, Indian School and 35th Ave,
just East of the Big Sky Drive-In.
The Guarantee Bank Building, at Central and Osborn Road, was the Tallest Building in Arizona - 20 Stories!
Too many Memories to Continue! Phoenix population, then, was just below 200,000 and still liveable, just barely.

The restaurant with the knight on the horse was the Green Gables. My father used to play piano there. He also played at the Biltmore and many other places. My sister and I had so much fun being taken to all of those places to eat dinner and hear my father play.

The Phoenix Bird sculpture was on Camelback road and about 20th Street, at the Town and Country shopping center. There used to be a food court in there.

I remember a big store that my parents used to take us to a huge store called Fed Mart. I also remember we went to a grocery store called Piggly Wiggly when I was very young.

I, too, remember going to see Wallace and Ladmo at the Fox theater. I had forgotten about that. I also remember that there was a movie theater on Bethany Home Road, just west of 23rd Avenue. I remember going to see Thumbalina when it first opened, lol!

We used to go swimming at Nelson's Pool. I think it was on 7th or 15th Avenue, maybe near Campbell or Osborn. I'm not sure anymore.

My friends and I used to go and visit 'Ole Man Chris (of Christown fame) and his horse. I think his horse's name was Bronco. Chris was a very nice old guy, although maybe he wasn't really all that old; maybe he just seemed old to us because we were kids.

I remember the monkey at Christown. That monkey was really cute. I also remember the sand sculptures. I remember when Christown first opened. We used to hang out there as teenagers. I used to shop at Lerner's, Woolworth, Montgomery Ward's and at some little Indian import place. The little Indian place was next to an Orange Julius stand. There also used to be a Bob's Big Boy on the Southeast corner of Bethany and 19th Avenue.

I remember when Metrocenter had a large ice skating rink in it.

I remember the Lew King Show and a young Wayne Newton being on it.

My parents drove to Phoenix from Detroit, Michigan on their honeymoon and never left. My mom said that my father got out of the car, looked up at the blue sky and said, "I'd love to live here." They never went back, and they never stopped loving this place. Phoenix was so different back then!

[Ralph Score]

I was one when we moved from Tucson to Phoenix and three when we moved to Scottsdale. 68th street was still a dirt road and Scottsdale was a Phoenix suburb considered the "West's Most Western Town". I remember dressing as a cowboy for the Parada Del Sol and marching in it as an Indian Guide and a Cub Scout.

I remember summer recreation in our grade school cafeteria with carom boards, ping pong, 4 square and "Francis the Mule" movies.

My best friend's dad ran a Gallencamp store at Tempe Plaza and the Wallace and Ladmo Show used to use his stock room for a dressing room for their live shows there. He also had his name drawn on the show and got to go and pick a toy from the wall. I also went to grade school with Ladmo's niece and nephew.

I fell in love for the first time at Legend City.

I remember seeing the Giants with Mays and McCovey play at Scottsdale Stadium along with Banks and Santos and the Cubs.

I was the first winner of the "KRIZ Plays Less Commercials" contest ($1,443.71) when I was a junior in HS.

I've lived in 4 different houses on Sheridan Street.

I remember cleaning up the Round Up drive-in on Saturday and Sunday mornings for free movie passes and I also remember watching movies there from the roof of my first apartment just north of Thomas Rd.

I remember skim boarding in the athletic fields during irrigation and I remember walking down the empty canal next to 64th St. to check out the crawdads.

I remember building X-mas tree forts in empty lots and I remember riding our bikes down to Thomas Mall as a kid and getting in trouble for going so far from home.

I remember school being closed when Indian Bend wash flooded and playing soccer at Eldorado park in an inch of water.

There are so many fond memories I have of growing up in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area. The international Food Bazzar at town and country. Playing hockey at the ice palace at Tower Plaza. The Mining Camp Restaraunt out by the Superstitions. Shooting our rifles out by Scottsdale and Shea as kids. Ditching HS and spending the day at the Verde river. Drag racing on Friday nights out on McKellips Rd. Roadrunner Hockey games in the old Western Hockey League at the Colluseum. Wrestling at the old Madison Square Garden downtown. Manzanita Speedway for Claimer racing. Trampolines and go-carts down by "Friday's and Saturdays" in the Tempe riverbottom on Scottsdale Rd. The wall of dust prior to the monster monsoons. Driving out Buckeye Rd. to get to the junction for I-8 to get to California for vacation. TG&Y at Papago Plaza.

It All Makes Me Smile.
Regards

[aj661]

Originally Posted by Ralph Score

I was one when we moved from Tucson to Phoenix and three when we moved to Scottsdale. 68th street was still a dirt road and Scottsdale was a Phoenix suburb considered the "West's Most Western Town". I remember dressing as a cowboy for the Parada Del Sol and marching in it as an Indian Guide and a Cub Scout.

I remember summer recreation in our grade school cafeteria with carom boards, ping pong, 4 square and "Francis the Mule" movies.

My best friend's dad ran a Gallencamp store at Tempe Plaza and the Wallace and Ladmo Show used to use his stock room for a dressing room for their live shows there. He also had his name drawn on the show and got to go and pick a toy from the wall. I also went to grade school with Ladmo's niece and nephew.

I fell in love for the first time at Legend City.

I remember seeing the Giants with Mays and McCovey play at Scottsdale Stadium along with Banks and Santos and the Cubs.

I was the first winner of the "KRIZ Plays Less Commercials" contest ($1,443.71) when I was a junior in HS.

I've lived in 4 different houses on Sheridan Street.

I remember cleaning up the Round Up drive-in on Saturday and Sunday mornings for free movie passes and I also remember watching movies there from the roof of my first apartment just north of Thomas Rd.

I remember skim boarding in the athletic fields during irrigation and I remember walking down the empty canal next to 64th St. to check out the crawdads.

I remember building X-mas tree forts in empty lots and I remember riding our bikes down to Thomas Mall as a kid and getting in trouble for going so far from home.

I remember school being closed when Indian Bend wash flooded and playing soccer at Eldorado park in an inch of water.

There are so many fond memories I have of growing up in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area. The international Food Bazzar at town and country. Playing hockey at the ice palace at Tower Plaza. The Mining Camp Restaraunt out by the Superstitions. Shooting our rifles out by Scottsdale and Shea as kids. Ditching HS and spending the day at the Verde river. Drag racing on Friday nights out on McKellips Rd. Roadrunner Hockey games in the old Western Hockey League at the Colluseum. Wrestling at the old Madison Square Garden downtown. Manzanita Speedway for Claimer racing. Trampolines and go-carts down by "Friday's and Saturdays" in the Tempe riverbottom on Scottsdale Rd. The wall of dust prior to the monster monsoons. Driving out Buckeye Rd. to get to the junction for I-8 to get to California for vacation. TG&Y at Papago Plaza.

It All Makes Me Smile.
Regards

Sounds like we may have been in school at about the same time. I played baseball (Coronado '73) against Ladmo's son who went to Tempe HS. I didn't see Mays with the Phx Giants, but we saw McCovey several times. Kinda wish I'd gotten his autograph now, but growing up hanging on every word from Vin Scully and Jerry Doggett, Giant autographs weren't very important at the time. I managed to registered countless times for KRIZ promos, but all I ever won was a couple of 45s. I used to have the last 60 minutes of KRIZ radio, followed by a minute of dead air, recorded on a cassette. The last song played was "Good Night Sweetheart" by The Spaniels. The end of an era. Damn that was a sad night!

[ArizonaBear]

............as I have commented on in the past: the Phx area as described by Melanie53 and Ralph Score brought a tear to my eye.

What Phx is today no longer feels like 'home'----------it is too big.

As much as I hate to admit to this: I am thinking about leaving Arizona and moving to Charleston, W Va. in 1-2 years.