[ARCHIVED THREAD] - The old Phoenix (Page 1 of 3)
Posted: 12/30/2007 7:05:53 PM EDT
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I received this in an email. Brings back some memories. You lived in Phoenix in the 60s, 70s and 80s if... You remember when Bell Road (especially thorough Glendale) was the considered edge of civilization. There was nothing there but tumbleweeds and prairie dogs. Now, it's where you go to run all your errands. Or if you were traveling eastbound on Bell Rd. the sign that said 'Scottsdale- 21 miles' Your parents took you to Legend City. Mornings were spent watching 'The Wallace and Ladmo Show'. When it was over, it was time to leave for school. 'Ladmo Bags'. You remember when Beardsley Road was a seldom traveled, two-lane blacktop. Now, it's the eastbound frontage road for the 101 freeway. Before there was Target, there was Gemco. Now, most of the old Gemco stores are Targets. You watched Star Wars at the original Cine Capri. You remember stores like Yellow Front, Woolco, Newberry's, McCrory's, TG&Y, Fedmart, Sprouse Reitz, Wards and Yates. You remember when Metrocenter had a below-grade ice skating rink. Watching skaters from the overlook above was the best way to escape the summer heat. Also at Metrocenter was a Farrell's ice cream parlor. No Farrell's trip was complete without getting to see two waiters run though the restaurant with a sundae resting on a stretcher, while lights and sirens whirred in the background. Sometimes, the ice cream would fall off the stretcher. Don't forget the trip thru their candy store. You were bummed when Farrell's closed. The space was later occupied by 'Round the Corner, a burger and sandwich place similar to Red Robin. You saw a concert at Compton Terrace. When it was attached to Legend City. Your dad subscribed to the Phoenix Gazette(Green afternoon paper) and the Arizona Republic on Sunday. You remember when the Brass Armadillo antique mall was Angel's--a building supply warehouse similar to Home Depot. You remember when you got your building supplies from O'Malley's, Entz-White or Payless Cashways. You remember when the Phoenix Suns were the only professional sports team in the state, and they played their games at Phoenix Memorial Coliseum. Your groceries came from Alpha Beta, AJ Bayless, Lucky's, Neb's Market or Smitty's. Smitty's even had a little coffee shop attached to it. A night out consisted of family dinner at the Lunt Avenue Marble Club. Their deep fried mushrooms were the best. You remember when eastbound I-10 ended at Dysart Road. In order to continue east, you had to take McDowell or Thomas Road 15 miles to I-17 and head south. I-10 started up again somewhere east of downtown. You ate breakfast at Sambo's or Bob's Big Boy. You remember when houses were built with carports instead of garages. Roofs were covered with wood shakes or asphalt shingles instead of concrete tiles. You remember home builder's billboards that advertised interest rates of 11% Your aspirin and cough syrup came from Skagg's, Revco, Thrifty's, or Drug Emporium. Your shoes came from Buster Brown. You remember when CBS was on channel 10...ABC was on channel 3...and channels 5 and 15 were independent. Now, CBS is on channel 5...FOX is on channel 10...ABC is on channel 15...and channel 3 no longer has a network affiliation. NBC and PBS are the only ones that stayed on their original stations (channel 12 and 8, respectively). You remember when channel 15 broadcast pay-tv at night (It was called ON-TV). You spent hours watching early music videos on UHF channel 61. Due to the limited number of videos at the time, songs like 'Down Under', 'I Ran', and 'Come on, Eileen' were repeated quite often. You were lucky if you could get decent reception. You accompanied your dad to the True Value Hardware store in Westown in hopes of getting to stop at Baskin Robbins afterwards. You shopped at Valley West Mall before it became a ghost town, and was ultimately torn down. You shopped at Phoenix Spectrum Mall when it was known as Chris-Town. You woke up to Bruce Kelly in the morning on KZZP. Before that - Jonathon Brandmeier and his "loons"! You rode the 'Tico' to Park Central. You remember quality local programming like Open House with Rita Davenport or Sun Spots with Jan DiAtri. You accompanied your dad to the LaBelle's catalog showroom to buy your mom's Christmas present. Before he was governor, you remember Evan Mecham as the owner of a Pontiac dealership in Glendale. You remember when Castles 'n' Coasters was known as Golf 'n' Stuff. You remember when the entire state of Arizona only had one area code. Now, there are three in the Phoenix area alone. You remember when your phone number that started with '959' and it was changed to '840' and you never knew why. You remember when Scottsdale Fashion Square was an outdoor mall with Goldwater's, Bullocks and Leonard's luggage being the only stores. You remember when Goldwater's was bought out by Robinson's May who was then bought out by Macy's. You remember when Diamonds was bought out by Dillards. You remember when Diamonds ticket box-was the only place to buy concert tickets. You remember when it hit 99* and that was considered HOT. You remember when Big Surf was the place to go to beat the heat. Then hitting the drive-in to see movie across the street. You remember when best ice cream was found at Thrifty's Drug Store, where .85 would get you three scoops. You remember when you wrote all your information down on a piece of paper and then your drivers license was mailed to you. It was very easy to change the 1968 to 1965 (because it was still in your hand writing) so that you could go to Devil House drinking because the drinking age was 19 years old. You remember when you could go to Devil House for dancing 'after hours' which was from 1am -3am. You remember going to see 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' at midnight on Mill Ave. You remember when 44th Street and Thomas was 'Thomas Mall'. You remember when 40th Street and Thomas was 'Tower Plaza'. And there was a few people that climb to the top and threaten to jump. You remember when there was a canal at 48th. You remember when driving up Pima Rd and you could see for miles & miles because there was nothing east or north of Shea Rd. And it was very dark and scary. You remember when the only way to get to Shea Rd was thru 'Dreamy Park' and there weren't any streetlights? Squaw Peak was only a name of a mountain. Not a highway. You remember when you saw a concert at Graham Central Station, because the band was not popular enough to fill Mesa Amphitheater. |
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We went to the Farrels in Old Scottsdale. I did buy my mom presents from Labelle's. I was also hit on my bike by some tard coming out of Labelle's parking lot. I got lot's of shoes from Buster Brown. My mother worked at Goldwaters, and I worked at Diamonds as a morning janitor before school my senior year. I bought my "74" KISS tickets from Diamonds ticket box office, and my Moody Blues ticket a few months before that, and many tickets after that. I saw Rocky Horror, Dawn of the Dead, and The Song Remains the Same at that theater on Mill. The Lost Dutchmans Goldmine at Legend City scared the hell outa me. Later as a teenager I saw Steve Nicks at Legend City (Not Comton) and went to lot's of dances there. When I was 5 I stole a postcard with a Jackalope on it from THrifty's, my dad found it and took me back to make me return it and pay for it. The manager said I only needed to do one or the other, my dads said "Nope, he's doing both so he remembers this" Thifty's did have the best icecream, but I remember it was 15 cent for a single and 10 cents for additional scoops. So a triple was only 35 cents. The first place I ever hunted dove was just north of Scottsdale Rd and Shea I bought lots of bike parts at YellowFront When I was 16 my drivers license said I was born in 1960 (instead of 1963) so that I could get in to Whiskey River and Celebrity Lounge to watch BadAxe,THe Schoolboys, and Some new wave band. I loved Tequila Sunrises  Did anybody else hang out at The Salty Dog, The Mason Jar, Mad Gardens, Rockers, Budy'z, Rock Church, The Library? |
Etc...Cute stuff, but obviously written by a youngster. |
... ha, great post
Also ran … If you didn't have a funeral or wedding to attend on Sundays, you met @ Blue Point bridge on the Salt to back the rear tires of the 4X4 into the river to watch breasts and drink beer in the summer You could buy .22LR ammo at Circle-K but you had to sign a piece of paper Friday nights were reserved for "cruising Main" or Central in Phoenix if you had a new feature on your hotrod you wanted to show off If you were driving to the Payson area to go camping, you'd better get an early start or you could get stuck behind a slow motor-home that did only 30MPH on that two-lane road. Similar problem driving home on Sunday eves Smitty's breakfast was $2.99 with coffee. Didn't start your day without it! The central waters lakes and recreation areas did not require a fee to use South Mountain Park did not close at 9PM. if you wanted to drive up to Dobbins Point to watch the sunrise, you could. |
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When I was 14, the summer before I went to highschool, Oceanside had dances on the weekend. They would cover half the ice with a wood dance floor and blast disco. And heck yes I remember tubing down the salt river back before it was a commercially owned snoozefest. And cruizing main street. |
| I didn't know the ice rink is no longer at MetroCenter mall. A classmate of mine was an extra in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure that was filmed there when we were in high school. I remember when Smittys was the Walmart of yesteryear. My stepdad would buy guns and ammo there and we would always get those BIG chocolate covered donuts at the bakery. I also remember buying tickets at Dillards. |
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How about: 1. Baseline road had only a single Shell station that you tried to make it to if you had car truble between Tucson and PHX 2. You had to go down Baseline to avoid construction on the new Black Canyon Freeway. 3. KOY was it for all over Southern AZ radio. 4. Gerard High School. 5. The first Marie Callanders Restaurant. 6. The model airplane store in the Central shopping center at Central and Camelback. 7. Phoenix Indian School High School. 8. Cheese & Stuff at Central and Camelback. 9. The new Del Webb building. 10. The Playboy Club. |
That stadium on I-10 south was Feyline Fields. There was Dooley's on Apache that got renamed After The Goldrush, JD's on Rural in the River bottom that got renamed Scenes West. Cops watched you smoke dope inside the Celebrity Theater. Saw beer bottles thrown at Eric Clapton, Steve Miller and others. Perform or die in PHX. Poor Robert Palmer caught a Coke bottle at the Coliseum for being dumb enough to try and open for Van Halen. Saw ZZ Top open an all day show at Phoenix Municipal Stadium in the early 70s, nobody knew who they were... |
| Ah yes those were the days, shooting in the open desert was never more than 10 min away,beer and ammo at circle K (not PC any more) .25 gas, no waiting in line at every restrant. it didn't seam as hot as it gets now . more people spoke English,and no grey hair . no emmissions tests and you could run open headers on your car without getting a ticket ,property tax's were low ,houseing was affordable . and best of all we had law and order without a media hound sheriff . |
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Ahhh the memories. From 74-80 I was in Maricopa and 80-88 I was in Casa Grande. No TV before school in our house so no Wallace and Ladmo for me. Though I was in the audience for one episode with our cub scout troop. I still remember the local celebs names in the original post. PS: 99 has never been hot. It was just the beginning of HOT season. |
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My parents' families moved out here in the 40s. My parents met cruising Central in 1960. I remember when we bought a new house in 1970 at I-17 and Cactus the only thing north of us was Turf Paradise. Our neighborhood was surrounded by orange groves. I think I was on the Wallace and Ladmo Show five or six times. Every time you added $100 to your Western Savings Wallace and Ladmo Savings Account you got to go on the show. As a result, every penny I was given or earned went into that account.  I have lived in either north Phoenix or north Scottsdale all of my life. |
Yep, "Progress".  I remember almost every one of those in the OP. Remember the sign-off video that one of the local channels had? It featured awesome footage of Arizona from a news helicopter with Rex Allen Jr. singing "Arizona". I have the song but I really wish I could find that video today. Or how about listening to KSTM - The Storm? |
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Remember the "High Flight" sign offs followed by the National Anthem? The Loan Arranger? Cal Worthington and his dog Spot? Curt The Clown? Wild burros braying all night at Lake Pleasant, no entrance fee, no paved roads? The Speed Limit signs outside of town were 2 part white and black; 80 MPH daylight, 70 at night... youtube.com/watch?v=1--chhuIP7w |
MinderBinders was a real hoppin spot in the early 70s'. 
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Hell, I can't remember where Rock Church was, it was a punk club, an actual church that was bought and leased out for punk and early goth bands. |
LOL, I have a GREAT Carlotta Sales story. Back around"86" or "87" I was sitting in some strip club (I can't remember the name now, but it was a small club with only one big stage, somewhere around camelback and 19th ave I think). There were only about 10 people in the club and suddenly the front door opened and in walks this great big woman with a huge beehive hairdo, it was Carlotta Sales. She sat down at the main stage and proceeded to get stinking drunk, the drunker she got, the more her big hairdo started to droop, hanging off the side of her head. Well she started getting grabby, pawing at the girls on the stage and grabbing them when she bought lap dances. Security had to keep telling her to keep her hands off the dancers. Finally she grabbed one of the girls and tried to kiss her, the girl yelled and the bouncers had enough, so they told Carlotta that she had to leave, she refused, so they had to grab her and physically eject her from the building. So they drug this big fat woman with a limp mountain of hair out the door, and the last thing I heard her say is "You can't do this to me, I'm Carlotta Sales!" Absolutely true story from my life as a character in a David Lynch movie. |
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Jim Scoutten worked at KTVK Channel 3 as a new reporter. SS Kresgee's became K-Mart. The Lew King Ranger Show. Gold Dust Charlie. Hazel the Gorilla. Jack Ross Lincoln-Mercury. Aquanetta(not the hairspray) The toy cottage(Wallace and Ladmo at 4:00) The Store West. Sha Na Na(titty bar used to be a bank) Kartland 
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Damn...that should BE in a David Lynch movie...that is some wild shit!!! |
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I remember most of that stuff from the OP. Orange groves and vineyards in Glendale. What's now the I-10 inner loop ending at Buckeye road (the entrance to the airport). US60 ending at Power rd. If you wanted to go up through Globe/Miami you had to take Apache Trail. Fedmart, Federated, Globe stores, U-Totem. Checker Auto inside Yellow Front. Continental Pizza at T-bird and Cave Creek. More auto dealers than I can shake a stick at: CAl Worthington (If you need a car or truck go see Cal!) Sonoyta Motors Autoville (the Indian right across from Sonoyta) Lou Grubb Biddoffland Max of Switzerland Pioneer ford at thomas and i-17 When going to a car dealer meant Camelback road. I could go on all day.... |
Remember the KRIZ balls? They were fluorescent green with the letters KRIZ, and they sent people out to look for those on peoples cars and give them prizes. I was pretty young when I put one on my mom's car and one day we were driving down the road and a car behind us started yelling "Hey, you have a KRIZ ball, pull over!" My mom had no idea what was happening, so I tried to explain it and told her to pull over. The people just drove by laughing at us, it was a joke. |
Cheap trick at Comton terrace!!....YEA!!! Beardsley Road....saturday night drag racing.... lived at 35 ave and union hills.....35 ave was a dirt road....north of Union hills... Cotton was king....acres and acres... bell road was hells highway!!! Moon Valley high School..miss the bus long walk home!! 
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We were cruising Central one night in my buddies 318 '69 Satellite. A car pulls up next to us and the guy says "hey, wanna buy a bad ass motor for that thing...$500?" We said sure and followed him. It was an entire 383 '68 Road Runner minus the front clip, for $500 bucks! Miss those days! Still laughing about Carlotta Sales getting tossed from the titty bar!! |
Great post IB!! |
Wasnt that channel 5? |
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WW, Electric Ballroom in Tempe, is different from the old Devil house. DH was located North of the river on Rural, behind Audio Express. Last I heard it was CLUB RIO. I remember Dave Pratt saying the POPE had a fit that they had a club called "The Devil House", I think that was the reason for the name change. Also that the Pope had ASU cover all the "SPARKY" signs. Do you remember that U2's Rattle and Hum tour was filed at ASU? And that, that was the last concert held there. They destroyed the grass for the football game the next day? That Scorpion and Gun's nd Rose's(??) was one of the last major concerts at Compton(rez location), due to all the deaths at the concert. They had to redo allot of stuff. |
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