Perfect for: Incognito creatives; fans of curvilinear parapets
Past & Present
W.J. Murphy, the same guy who got the Glendale Temperance Colony going, also masterminded the settlement in the mid-1880s of the area along the diagonal road – now Grand Avenue – that ran between Phoenix and Wickenburg from Peoria, Illinois. The town incorporated in 1954, and has sprawled in all directions from its small, now-neglected downtown.
One Day in Peoria
First: As you enter the area, notice the beautiful floral designs painted right on the street pavement. Grab a cup of something caffeinated and/or sweet at Driftwood Coffee (driftwoodaz.com).
Next: Check out the exterior – the historical museum formerly housed within is now closed, and in deaccessioning mode – of the old Peoria Central School building. From a sign outside, you will learn that “the main architectural feature is the curvilinear parapet.” It’s almost certainly one of the better curvilinear parapets in all of northwestern Maricopa County.
Then: Once you’ve torn yourself away from the curvilinear parapet, check out Fire Station No. 1, home of Lucidi Distilling Co. (lucididistilling.com). Whether it’s open for tastings or not (not, at this writing), it’s a beautiful building, built in the 1920s as a movie theater. When Peoria incorporated in 1954, it became the city’s first fire station.
Finally: Allow yourself time for one more gaze at the curvilinear parapet, then see a play by Theater Works (theaterworks.org), in the Peoria Center for the Performing Arts.
Bet You Didn’t Know
Downtown Peoria’s Osuna Park has a public restroom designed to look – from the outside – like an old-fashioned railway station on the Santa Fe line.
Get Your Bearings
Old town Peoria is a tightly gridded cluster of rectangular city blocks between 87th and Grand avenues, south of Peoria Avenue.
Fun For Free
Also in Osuna Park, there’s a seriously cool feature called Harmony Park, with public percussion instruments. Some ambitious gang of jazz percussionists ought to arrange (and record) a jam session.
Future Peoria
Highly uncertain. Even aside from the miseries of the pandemic for a saloon keeper, Chris Lucidi of Lucidi Distilling Co. has been frustrated by the lack of civic interest in Peoria’s downtown. “I love that area,” says Lucidi, who opened his distillery in 2015. “I bought a firehouse thinking firefighters would come there. They really don’t, except for retirement parties… We don’t have that kind of venue on the westside; people go to Scottsdale. I’ve done nine weddings, but it could be so much more.”
2020 Population: 196,000
2050 Population: 312,000 (est.)
source: MAG
