History

Nothing screams “the 1980s” like the Valley’s bygone shopping mall heyday. We go nostalgia-shopping at Chris-Town, Metro Center and other titans of ’80s retail.

A scandalous financing scheme at the Security Building went untold for 50 years after the Downtown building opened in 1928.

The Arizona Diamondbacks 20th Anniversary issue celebrates the achievements of the Valley’s Major League Baseball franchise.

Arizona’s bright days and balmy nights have lured generations of Americans. But will our ever-hotter and longer summers spoil the party? In the final feature of our Five Cs series, we explore ways people are trying to cool our cities and harness the power of our climate.

The 5 Cs of Arizona: Copper, cattle, citrus, cotton and climate – these were the staples of Arizona’s early economy, the sustenance of her salad days. They’re also the inspiration for this year’s showcase of reader-generated photographic excellence.

Technology developed by local air-conditioning pioneers created a livable climate indoors that fueled the Valley’s midcentury growth

Casa Grande will soon illuminate the city’s history with a new downtown park featuring its orphaned commercial signs.

When John van Hengel founded St. Mary’s Food Bank in Phoenix in 1967, he started a global revolution in food distribution.

Prior to superstardom, The Jackson 5 played to enthusiastic crowds in Winslow – the siblings’ first performances outside their home state of Indiana.

Celebrating its 75th anniversary, nun-run Xavier College Preparatory has changed as much as Phoenix itself – yet some habits remain the same.

In 1970, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner flew a gorilla from Baltimore in his DC-9 “Bunny Jet” hoping the ape would find love at the Phoenix Zoo

We bid a wistful adieu to our history-minded last page.

Phoenix’s Salad Bowl football game and parade debuted in 1948, only to wilt nine years later.

Once the state’s top crop, drought-sensitive cotton faces an uncertain future in Arizona. In this installment of PHOENIX magazine’s Five Cs series, we weave together the past, present and future of the fluffy fiber that built Goodyear, helped win two world wars and – somewhere along the line – became the fabric of our lives.