Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Arizona > Phoenix area
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 08-01-2013, 05:42 PM
 
3,819 posts, read 11,937,252 times
Reputation: 2748

Advertisements

How cool is this?

A break from the normal TRUPHX posts



















Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 08-01-2013, 06:43 PM
 
1,016 posts, read 2,977,227 times
Reputation: 1667
Wow check out the Fox Theatre. Maaaan what happened? I mean Phoenix really did have potential to have an awesome downtown (not that it hasn't improved I mean it is improving by the day).
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-01-2013, 07:03 PM
 
1,629 posts, read 2,627,221 times
Reputation: 3510
Sad. If Phoenix had just kept some of its old architecture mixed in with the new stuff, it would really be a respectable place. What's particularly striking is the places that used to be buildings that are now parking lots, vacant lots, or were just incorporated into larger buildings. What happened to the coffee shop near the Chase Building? What about JC Penney's old building? Why was the Fox Theater torn down? Why was all the parallel parking removed? Who thought these were good ideas? How depressing.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-01-2013, 09:32 PM
 
Location: Metro Phoenix, AZ USA
17,914 posts, read 43,394,564 times
Reputation: 10726
Quote:
Originally Posted by new2colo View Post
Sad. If Phoenix had just kept some of its old architecture mixed in with the new stuff, it would really be a respectable place. What's particularly striking is the places that used to be buildings that are now parking lots, vacant lots, or were just incorporated into larger buildings. What happened to the coffee shop near the Chase Building? What about JC Penney's old building? Why was the Fox Theater torn down? Why was all the parallel parking removed? Who thought these were good ideas? How depressing.
All the parallel parking has not been removed. As for the rest of it. I think they called it progress.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-01-2013, 10:31 PM
 
1,016 posts, read 2,977,227 times
Reputation: 1667
Quote:
Originally Posted by new2colo View Post
Sad. If Phoenix had just kept some of its old architecture mixed in with the new stuff, it would really be a respectable place. What's particularly striking is the places that used to be buildings that are now parking lots, vacant lots, or were just incorporated into larger buildings. What happened to the coffee shop near the Chase Building? What about JC Penney's old building? Why was the Fox Theater torn down? Why was all the parallel parking removed? Who thought these were good ideas? How depressing.
I'm with you you I really don't understand why the Fox Theatre was kicked to the curb. Now that I'm curious I will conduct some research on that. Quite a few cities have a Fox Theatre (Atlanta, Detroit, St. Louis to name a few) and it contributes greatly to the performing arts culture of a city. A lot of stand up comedians, concerts, and broadway shows take place in these venues. Not that we don't have venues where these events take place it will just be nice if we had a Fox Theatre. It's just a cool experience if you've ever visited one.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-02-2013, 03:18 PM
 
Location: Verde Valley AZ
8,775 posts, read 11,901,361 times
Reputation: 11485
Quote:
Originally Posted by BuckeyeBoyDJ View Post
Wow check out the Fox Theatre. Maaaan what happened? I mean Phoenix really did have potential to have an awesome downtown (not that it hasn't improved I mean it is improving by the day).
It took me a couple of pics to 'get it' but just, wow! I remember Phoenix, downtown, in the 50s/early 60s before everything started moving to the 'burbs. I definitely remember most of the places in those pics and it's amazing how it's changed. I don't think there was anything you couldn't find downtown and the myriad of options to look for it. Lots of smaller specialty stores, cafes and lunch counters, clothing or shoes only stores and, my favorite, Woolworth's! Far as I'm concerned it DID have "an awesome downtown" but the suburbs and strip malls 'happened'.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-03-2013, 11:33 AM
 
Location: Phoenix, AZ
582 posts, read 1,481,415 times
Reputation: 994
I remember lots of that as a young boy in the late 60's. The Skaggs Drug store and Penney's on 2nd street and Washington. They upcharged at that Skaggs compared to their other locations. That was the heart of Skid Row with dingy bars on both sides of it. And Korricks department store on 1st Street and Washington before the chain became Broadway and then Macy's bought them. The building is still there. They opened a store at Chris Town mall exactly where Wal-Mart is today and then not many years after closed the downtown store.

The downtown faded out here in the 60's as Park Central Mall opened in the late 50's and Chris Town in 1961.

Great photos!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-03-2013, 07:31 PM
 
Location: East Central Phoenix
8,042 posts, read 12,254,574 times
Reputation: 9831
Quote:
Originally Posted by new2colo View Post
Sad. If Phoenix had just kept some of its old architecture mixed in with the new stuff, it would really be a respectable place. What's particularly striking is the places that used to be buildings that are now parking lots, vacant lots, or were just incorporated into larger buildings. What happened to the coffee shop near the Chase Building? What about JC Penney's old building? Why was the Fox Theater torn down? Why was all the parallel parking removed? Who thought these were good ideas? How depressing.
I agree, and always thought that Phoenix's method of "development" was scatterbrained at best. Tearing down old historic structures and just leaving vacant spaces, or turning them into open parking lots isn't exactly what I'd call progress. On the other hand, tearing down older structures that are falling into disrepair & replacing them with highrises or something worthwhile is progress. A good example of this is CityScape ... not exactly the best urban development, but at least it's better than what was there before (a parking lot & a run down city park).

Quote:
Originally Posted by Goober13 View Post
The downtown faded out here in the 60's as Park Central Mall opened in the late 50's and Chris Town in 1961.
And just think: nowadays, Park Central and Chris Town are considered "inner city". Park Central is more inner city than Chris Town is, but at least both are established structures.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-03-2013, 09:37 PM
 
Location: Phoenix, AZ
582 posts, read 1,481,415 times
Reputation: 994
It's sad to think that historic buildings here were demolished in favor of urban sprawl. Unfortunately that urban sprawl mentality still exists with blighted areas that could have been updated and preserved abandoned all over town .
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-03-2013, 10:48 PM
 
2,449 posts, read 2,599,693 times
Reputation: 5702
I bet most of the newbies don't realize Phoenix had cable cars at one time.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Arizona > Phoenix area
View detailed profiles of:

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 01:12 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top