Riding the rails to the country’s first chain restaurants, prim and intrepid Harvey Girls helped civilize the Southwest and bring
tourism to Arizona.
In 1949, 18-year-old Joan Haydukovich had her eye on a $90 green coat – a coat her mother insisted she buy with her own money. In search of employment, she set off down the dusty roads of Winslow to La Posada Hotel, the gem of an otherwise lackluster town.
Arizona’s First Governor
George W.P. Hunt (1859-1934) nicknamed himself the “Old Walrus” during his seven-term reign as Arizona’s first governor, but don’t be suckered by the self-deprecation – the one-time teen drifter was a skilled and nimble political operator. A colleague once described the bald, big-bellied populist as a “behind-the-scenes manipulator who presided in the manner of a stoic, benign Buddha, if one could picture Buddha with a splendid handlebar mustache.”
Goodyear makes a railroad connection with its pre-suburban yesteryear in honor of the Centennial.
In its heyday, the Litchfield Train Station in Goodyear served as a vital gateway to the outside world: Hollywood stars alighted on the West Valley to film Westerns and rusticate at their ranches, and executives chugged in from the East to tend to their burgeoning business interests. The station even served as a launchpad for the area’s cotton industry.
Downtown’s Centennial Way Project transforms a busy Phoenix thoroughfare into ground zero for Arizona’s 100th anniversary celebration.
More than a year ago, Karen Churchard pitched an idea to the Arizona Department of Transportation: Give Washington Street in Downtown Phoenix a facelift.
On the cusp of Arizona’s Centennial, a Phoenix woman is working to end age discrimination by celebrating Arizonans over age 100.
Just before Doris Krapell’s family moved to Arizona from chilly
Washington, her father told her she could run around barefoot in her sunny new home whenever she wanted. It was 1928, and Krapell was 17 – just eight months older than the desert state she would soon call home. Unfortunately, her father was misinformed – Flagstaff was just as cold as Bellingham.
Titillated by our feature Mad Men in Midtown? Check out more (PG-rated) photos from Phoenix’s Playboy Club.
Home to the Valley’s first high-rise residences and the late, great Phoenix Playboy Club, midtown was the most swinging neighborhood in Phoenix back in the sleek ’60s. Today, new generations are discovering the joys of our most urban enclave.
From the 1930s through the ’50s, one Arizona family dominated the local rodeo scene. Raised by a father who worked at Dobson Ranch when it was a massive cattle ranch and farm, the Finley brothers – Luther, Larry and Frank – learned horse culture quickly.
Celebrating its 100th birthday this year, Roosevelt Dam has provided the Valley with water, power and a lush history.
On March 18, 1911, President Theodore Roosevelt came out West and, in front of about a thousand onlookers, gratefully christened his namesake.
Not a stuffed toy bear, but another, much bigger namesake.
Traditionally nonpartisan and suspense-free, the Phoenix mayoral election goes down to the wire on November 8 with the city’s first runoff vote in six decades. Bye-bye, civil transfer of power. Hello, slashed tires and partisan bickering.
Downtown activists have come up with a creative use for the city’s desolate dirt lots: blooms for biofuel.
The only thing that flourishes on the dusty two-acre lot near Sixth and McKinley streets in Downtown Phoenix is blight. But that’s about to change. More than 20,000 bright yellow sunflowers are poised to bloom there, transforming the space into a so-called Valley of the Sunflowers.
Sky Harbor Airport’s Terminal 4 will soon be loaded with local eateries, but behind the scenes of the competitive bidding process, tensions are simmering.
Thirty-eight million travelers passed through Phoenix Sky Harbor last year, with approximately 80 percent of them trekking through Terminal 4, robotically snacking on overpriced Cinnabon rolls and reheated Pizza Hut pepperoni slices.
As Phoenix elects a new mayor, we’ve asked Valley movers and shakers to give the next leader an action plan for taking the city to the next level.
Dear Future Mayor
of Phoenix,
As you know, you’re taking the helm of America’s sixth largest city at a pivotal time. The state has been weakened by budget woes, Downtown is pocked with empty lots and abandoned businesses, and foreclosures run like fissures through the former backbone of our economy.
From 2012 doomsday survivalists to closet ‘preppers,’ more and more of our neighbors are secretly stockpiling food, water and weapons to guard against an approaching enemy: us, the unprepared.
After a fierce shootout last year in Chino Valley between members of the Hells Angels and rival bikers the Vagos, it seems a turf battle is brewing. Could Phoenix be a future battleground?
It was a peaceful Saturday morning like any other for Terrance and Judy Schafman – that is, until the outlaw biker gun battle erupted across the street.
