Tucson of the 60s,70s and 80s (Phoenix, Oro Valley: sale, theatre)

[anklewings]

Hello everyone! Anyone remember all the nightclubs in Tucson in the 1960's? I played with The Ramblers then. We were the first rock band in Tucson then came The Del Mars, The Lewallen Brothers, The Stone ponys with Linda Ronstad, The Fiestas. This was in 1958 when I graduated from Tucson High School and there was 4 sessions with 4 high schools attending and we were let out at 12 noon. I played with the THS marching 100 school band with Paul Grimes directing it then Charles Steel . The car clubs started to form also like The Gaylords, The Cardigans, and many more followed. We played (The Ramblers) at shopping centers on top of flatbed trucks, South Gate Shopping Center on 6th ave, The Sunset Rollerama, Skate Country, Jo Jo's with Willie Ayup, Gus and Andys on Miracle Mile, The Blue Note on Speeday and Country Club, Bob's Ballroom, The Casino Ballroom where some of the traveling big bands played like Perez Prado, Duke Ellington, and Mickey Greco at the Hilton inn, Los Alegantes at Gus and Andys And Alfredos on South 12 ave with the Bob Dennis Quartet. I remember The Latinos at the The blue Note with Milton Cordova. The Jimmy Vindiola Trio at Sahara, Gus and Andys,The Hop Taod, and many more clubs. And Wongs Restaurant on 22nd St. those i remember.

[Lockuplever]

Moved to Tucson in '69, left in '80 and moved back in 2004. Tucson is completely different, it just doesn't feel the same. I'm sure my memory isn't 100% accurate, but I'll take a shot at it.

The Copa Bowl, 29th and Craycroft, now a gas station
The Burger Boy (Barn), 29th near 22nd Street
Reflections Disco, 22nd and Craycroft, now The Candy Store strip club
Shakey's, Craycroft and Speedway
Skate Country, 22nd and Pantano. IT'S STILL THERE AND OPEN FOR BUSINESS, I think it opened in '72 or '73.
Tucson Dragway on Houghton. Watched the local greats of the '70's, Kevin Rotty, Danny Levitt, etc. If you watch drag racing today there is an announcer named Alan Reinhart, he announced at Tucson Dragway in the '70's.
Vickers Gas Stations all over town
The Cactus Bowl when it had 60 lanes. The 32 that are still there and 28 in the attached building, I think it's a school now.
The Spaghetti Company, near Cactus Bowl
Sandy's hamburgers, which became Hardee's, which is now Carl's Jr.
Straw Hat Pizza
Village Inn Pizza
Pima Volkswagen, Grant near Stone
Sears when it stood by itself, then they built Park Mall around it.
El Con when it was an outdoor mall, with Levy's department store.
TCC, when it stood for Tucson Community Center. I saw several bands play there in the '70's, Grand Funk, Bad Company, Elton John, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Baby's, The Cars, etc.
I saw the smoke from the A-7 that crashed on Highland near the UofA, I drove by to see what it was and I arrived just as the emergency crews did. I think that was '79. I think the pilot ejected and landed in the stadium.

I cruised Speedway from '74 to '79, those were great times. Just not the same now, even the monsoon season seems different. The storms are not as frequent or intense. Oh. well, maybe I'll be saying the same thing about 2011 25 years from now.

[sierraAZ]

Originally Posted by Lockuplever

Sears when it stood by itself, then they built Park Mall around it.

Oh, that explains why it's so stinky...

[garrett7114]

I was born at Tucson General Hospital in 1967. When I was about 10 yrs old, I would go downtown with my shoeshine kit and hit the bars. I remember bars like The Manhattan, Buena Vista, Esquire, The Hurricane, (which was a punk rock bar), The Chicago Bar(which became Pete's Water Hole). I would also go to the Greyhound and Trailways bus depots, The Hotel Congress, The Marriott Hotel( which is now the Holiday Inn) and the Rialto Theater. I remember Josie who was a regular at the Manhattan wouldn't let anybody cheat me out of money if I had trouble getting paid. I also went to bars on 6th ave. like The Shamrock, The Ozark, (I could never stay there for more than 30 minutes, before a fight would break out, and I would have to leave the place). the Wagon Wheel, and the Brown Derby that was on 4th ave. After that was done, I would go to Sue's Fish and Chip's for the onion rings!!!

[2cold]

Sitting here, in snowy New England, where I spent a few hours this afternoon chipping ice from my driveway, I really missed the sunny Tucson of my youth.
I happened onto this thread tonight, yeah, I used to work at the Fat Boy on Speedway for a while in the early 70's, at the Big Boy too.
I went looking for a certain old picture, and here it is:
I think it was published in Life, in 1970, as one of the ugliest streets in America.
I didn't think it looked that bad in real life. I used to live a few blocks from there.
The El Rancho market was my introduction to all night grocery shopping. They didn't have that back east. I can recall going into Korby's, and looking for a western shirt over at the El Con shopping center.
I'd been to Shakey's Pizza a few times, when we had money to spend, and getting burgers at Sandy's when we didn't. They were the worst burgers my friends & I had ever eaten, but after a while, they grew on us.
Sabino Canyon was one of my favorite places. Once in a while someone would have the use of a car on a weekend and off we'd go. It was gorgeous.
Some evenings we'd hang out at Catalina Park, and get caught by the sprinklers.
I remember shopping for a bathing suit at Steinfelds, didn't shop often, hadn't much cash back then. One of my treats was a slice of hot apple pie with cheese and cinnamon sauce. I think we used to get it at Walgreens downtown.
I remember there was a street downtown, where some artists had opened shops. I don't recall the name of the street, just that it was lined with 2 or 3 story brick buildings, just like an eastern city, shops on the ground floor, offices or apartments above. it's a hazy memory. I searched on google earth, but everything downtown seems to be gone, it's just your basic bland urbanscape.

[sierraAZ]

Originally Posted by 2cold

Sitting here, in snowy New England, where I spent a few hours this afternoon chipping ice from my driveway, I really missed the sunny Tucson of my youth.

Geewiz, this picture looks like Route 66! Thank goodness they go a little easier on the signs and billboards these days.

Thanks for sharing.

[Alansimonbooks]

Hi everyone - just stumbled onto this Tucson 60s-70s-80s board and have been browsing through some of the entries. I moved to Tucson back in August, 1974, right before starting my junior year of high school - I think on the same day of Park Mall's grand opening, but I might have a false memory of that part. I flew out with my younger brother in time to register for high school at Sahuaro, and back in those days you walked off an airplane out on the tarmac and then down the roll-up stairs; no jetways, at least in Tucson. I remember stepping out into the mid-afternoon Arizona heat for the first time and feeling like I had walked into a blast furnace.

I didn't notice Zips Records mentioned among the now-gone places (might have missed someone mentioning it though); that was my family's business. One of my uncles started it, another uncle joined a year or two later, and then my dad joined which is why we moved to Tucson. I worked in the Park Mall Zips location during high school and then during summers when I was home from college. Also worked at a now-gone Circle K at Wrightstown and Pantano during my junior year. At the time we were the last outlet for beer (or one of the last outlets anyway) before Mt. Lemmon, so people used to line up to buy beer when sales started at noon (I think it was) on Sundays. I was only 16 and couldn't sell alcohol so people were ticked off they had to wait extra long because I couldn't ring up the beer sales and everyone had to wait for whomever I was working with, even with two registers going.

[azdr0710]

with a telephoto lens and a talented photographer, you can make Beverly Hills look like a crowded mess

[oneofhisfollowers]

I agree about South Tucson. It is mostly wonderful people and the kids are very respectful. I graduated in 71 and moved to Tucson, had all three of my daughters here. I love this town. I remember cruising on Speedway and the lot next to Jack in the Box was vacant so me and my friends would park there and watch the boys. We danced alot at a bar outside of the base that was then called the Road to Ruin. One of my best memories of Speedway was a beautiful blood red claw foot bathtub in one of the windows down the street from Jack in the Box and my fav place was Bobbie McGees. Love sharing those memories. Keep them coming.

[blondieigor]

to any one one who have old pictures from h. porters, setinfelds, el ranchao market, walgreens, el con mall, and more i will so glad. sorry my speling, i,m from mexico but every year my family we spent the vacations day at the beautiful TUCSON. we met mr. and mrs. PORTERS. i left my heart in the most beatiful city in the world. thanks every one.