Phoenix 101: City at night

Helsing's Restaurant, designed by architect John Sing Tang, at Central and Osborn.

The other night an Arizona Republic reporter tweeted desperately for a 24-hour coffee shop in downtown Phoenix. He was out of luck (somebody suggested a donut shop around 24th Street and Thomas, a common lack of understanding about where downtown Phoenix is located). This was not always the case. One (left) was located at Central and Van Buren, near the Trailways and Greyhound bus depots, with a lighted billboard on the roof. It survived until around 1970, when it was torn down for Valley Center, now the Chase Tower. Another, open at least into the wee hours and serving cocktails, too, was across the street on the northeast corner (Chambola's?) — after it was torn down in the '70s, the lot was vacant for decades. Yet another favorite was the Busy Bee on Washington Street, one of the many Greek-owned establishments, which (I believe) lasted until being bulldozed for Patriot's Square. These were not hipster hangouts with free wifi, but the old-fashioned coffee-shops-as-restaurants.

Beyond downtown, a number of late-night and 24-hour establishments were hopping well into the late 1970s. These included two Helsing's on Central, Shaefer's on McDowell at either Third or Seventh Streets and Denny's at Van Buren and Seventh Avenue. They were life-savers when I worked on the ambulance and we might not get dinner until three a.m. Bob's Big Boy anchored the corner of Central and Thomas and was the magnet for participants of weekend cruising on Central. Other popular chains were Hobo Joe's (with the hoho statue out front), Googies and Sambo's (a Sambo's building on McDowell across from the Phoenix Art Museum still stands, most recently a Thai restaurant). Helsing's and some of the others were works of art, but none still stand, unlike a few of their preserved sisters in Los Angeles.

Old Phoenix was not an all-night town. Which is not to say it wasn't a late-night town.

Until the late 1960s, Union Station was open all night or until very late. The eastbound passenger trains, especially, came through at those hours and plenty of express and mail sorting went on. Cabs queued up out front when trains came in. At least into the 1950s, the depot had a restaurant. The railroads were also busy with freight movements at night, including along Madison and Jackson streets facing the produce and other warehouses, with no vehicle traffic to interfere. Trains could block the north-south streets with fewer problems as they picked up and set out refrigerator cars and boxcars.

The Republic, in its old building on Van Buren (across Second Street from the new one) was also busy: Not just journalists but printers and pressmen putting out the morning edition, and truck drivers waiting to get their allotment of newspapers. The bars of the Deuce were open late. In the first half of the twentieth century, so were the gambling dens and prostitution operations, including on notorious Paris Alley. After midnight, the paddy wagons were picking up tenants for the drunk tank in the old city jail, located in the 1929 county courthouse-city hall building. Such were the wee hours in old downtown.

Before freeways, travelers and truckers were passing through Phoenix at all hours, along the neon corridors of Van Buren, Grand Avenue and Buckeye Road. A number of diners and coffee shops catered to these night owls.

Phoenix had great bars. Little holes in the wall, such as the Anchor and Kren's. Rough joints like the Mecca. Watering holes along Central where businessmen rubbed elbows with wise guys. The Band Box and Clown's Den, among many others in east Phoenix. The Pueblo on Scottsdale Road. Commenters can add their faves from different eras. Up into the 1960s, the Riverside Ballroom on south Central was one of the most beloved local institutions, covering big band, country and Latin music and dancing. Another was the Calderon Ballroom on 16th Street and Henshaw.

This city that came of age with the automobile was also a great place for drive-ins, both movie theaters and hamburger places. Among the first of the former was the Phoenix Drive In on Van Buren and 36th Street, with an impressive "frame" and marquee facing the street that held the screen on the other side, aimed toward the parking lot. With dry, pleasant nights for most of the year before the heat island took hold, these one-screen outdoor theaters proliferated, usually accompanied with large neon signs. Among them: The Rodeo on Buckeye, the Silver Dollar in South Phoenix, the Round Up in Scottsdale, Big Sky in Maryvale, etc. Before Jack in the Box and McDonalds took over, Phoenix also had a golden age of drive-in burger places, many locally owned, a great place to hit after the downtown movie theaters let out and before the parents expected teens home.

It sounds terribly dull compared with today's Phoenix. Back in the 1970s, one of my colleagues on the ambulance had a bumper sticker on her van that said, "Phoenix is boring." And it was, in its sweet, small-town way.

Today, Phoenix is still not an all-night city, but it offers infinitely more options for late-night entertainment, especially in Scottsdale. Great restaurants and truck food have made it close to a foodie paradise. Downtown has rebounded from near death, but Union Station is closed, the Deuce is gone and the newspaper is printed at remote sites. Even the bus depot has been relocated. And you can't find a 24-hour coffee shop in the downtown of the nation's sixth-largest city. Seattle still has at least three downtown, but they are a dying breed. When the Hurricane, 13 Coins and 5 Point — as well as Beth's out on Aurora — are taken down for skyscrapers or their owners die off, I'm not sure they will be replaced. The people with means don't want to run a greasy spoon. And in Phoenix, restaurants set "price points" to keep out undesirables. So my reporter friend will continue to be out of luck.

Read about more of old Phoenix and its history in the Phoenix 101 archive.

 

Comments

[phxSUNSfan]

We were supposed to get a 24 hour diner in CityScape. That never happened and in its place we got an upscale nightclub called Gypsy Bar. http://www.gypsybarphoenix.com/

There are many good 24 hour spots: I like 5 & Diner on 16th Street and Guy's NY Pizza in Tempe (24 hour delivery service). We do need a 24 hour spot in downtown Phoenix though. We only have late night options (until 1 or 2 am) like Hanny's, Carly's Bistro, and Fez (in Midtown). Of course there is still an IHOP on Central.

Thanks for the history lessons. Very informative and detailed. I get bits and pieces from older family members but the cityscape has changed so much that they have trouble recalling locations of many stores they used to frequent.

[cal Lash]

Downtown Phoenix is like Sun City, the lights go out at 7 PM.

The after effect of too much coffee is to need to pee. That reminds me about my note on the last blog about Brewers brain.
I see she has hatched another PEE brain idea about pee testing folks. I only hope legislators have to go first.

[krazy bill]

Old Ed at Kren's at 6 A.M., the brothers that owned the Anchor Inn had a Russian surname, i can't think of it now, Shaeffer's at 7th st.; fond mem'ries of the graveyard shift at AiResearch!

[ptb]

Not the kind of coffee shop I wish we had, but there is the IHOP on Central near Thomas for those desperately needing a cup of joe and a booth in the wee hours.

[Steve Weiss]

Bill Johnson's Big Apple still serves breakfast lunch and dinner AND you can get a drink with any of the meals. Here's a link to my article. Sadly though, they finally got rid of the floor sawdust. http://javamagaz.com/September2012Page34and35.html

[Chuck Halnan]

Mid 60s spots for me with my grandparents that lived on Seventh Ave and Glendale were:

Grubstake on Seventh Ave and Missouri or so. The Monster was their biggest and best hamburger and I remember the first time when I ate two by myself.

Puffs was on Osborn or Thomas and Seventh Ave. Great hamburgers and shakes.

Pine Cone steak house on Seventh.

My parents would take me to:

Woody's El Nido on McDowell (?)

Bob's Big Boy, of course.

Upton's, across from St Joseph's on Thomas.

Once I was 19, my beer drinking friends and I killed billions of brain cells at Jones Tavern on, I think, Seventh Street and Missouri. A cold Bud was 35 cents. They had a bowling machine that we would play on for hours on end. God only knows how we made it home safely.

Fond memories!

[hot songs]

WOW. It's a real shame more folks haven't heard about this site, this article had exactly
what I needed today

[cal Lash]

Upton’s still is going but not open all night and in my opinion the coffee at I Hop is like dark weak water.
Woody’s El Nido was at about 200 West McDowell, next to Bert Easley’s adult fun store and across the street from the Bell Telephone building. Woody’s is now Macayo’s at 3600 N Central. Coincidently I am having lunch there tomorrow.
I had a personal experience with Bill Johnson and learned that he could be a very humble and caring person.
Too bad about the saw dust, gone like Rabbit.
The Busy Bee was near the corner of 1st avenue and Washington. The Police station was in the West wing of the Maricopa County Court House at 17 South 2nd Avenue. In 68 I had booked a bad guy into the city jail and at about 2 AM went to the Busy Bee for Biscuits and gravy as I recall. Upon leaving I stopped a car as it drove by very (“suspiciously”) slowly. Observation revealed a bag with money spilling out on the rear floor board. The driver denied its existence. I took said character to the Detective room at 17 S 2nd Avenue to run a background check. He was allowed a phone call while I ran the check. Shortly thereafter the night detective sergeant advised there was a phone call for me. I was ordered by a high ranking official to give the man the bag of money back and to let him go. I learned a few year later that this was the night take from Bugsy Siegel’s wire operation ran out of 12th Street Auto Parts by Gus Greenbaum and a relative of an attorney that would later become my divorce attorney.
I had less than a year on as a cop and was somewhat puzzled. Consequently I decide to think it over at Dunking Doughnuts at 8714 N 7th Street while having coffee and a cop doughnut before ending the night shift.

PS Jon dont forget Brookshires at 3rd Street and Dunlap! That was you sitting in the shadows in your Ambulance to go!

[blurry eyed]

Mecca days, Mecca ways. Where hath thou gone.

[jmav]

Good old 13 Coins. A sister restaurant exists on Sukhumvit Road Bangkok. Thailand owner worked at 13 Coins Seattle while attending college. Now there is a late night city.

[cal Lash]

Note: For clarification Bugsy Siegel and The Greenbaums had been murdered by the Chicago mob for skimming before my stopping the bag man, however the Gambling wire that Bugsy and Gus had ran was still up and running when I was a young cop in Phoenix. And a number of old time cops were still around and in on the take. Charter government wasnt about getting rid of gambling but it did want to clean up the Phoenix police department. Charter government was about the dawning of a new day in crime, called zoning. And the outfit made a deal with Arizona politics to help make gambling look somewhat non existent in Arizona. The deal was not to allow legalized gambling to happen in Arizona. But that AG and others that insured that deal are gone. It's a new day in Arizona. The Indians got it( might want to follow the money there) leaving the gringo politicos to try and wring more bucks out of building houses.

[Matthew]

I recall well the Big Sky Drive-In, perhaps for the wrong reasons...

Down the road apiece from the Big Sky was the Thunderbird Drive-In, nicer than the Big Sky, and it had a sand-covered play area. The two theaters were in competition, and the Big Sky was losing. The Thunderbird had the family fare market cornered, so the Big Sky became a sort of Cinemax After Dark, with campy, soft-core tease porn on offer.

Young boys in the neighborhood quickly learned that if one rode their bike out behind the theatre, it was easy enough to peek over the metal fence and see the screen. They pursued this activity with vigor. (Or so I've heard. It's not like I know myself, for I would never have done such a thing. Ahem.)

Kids today...they can access about 635.9 terabytes of anything imaginable, on their phone no less, while standing in the school lunch line. They will never know the secret thrill of balancing on a flimsy fence in the dark, hoping to be rewarded with a glimpse of sun-dappled breasts that were sixty feet tall.

Their loss.

[Petro]

Kids today... They will never know the secret thrill of balancing on a flimsy fence in the dark, hoping to be rewarded with a glimpse of sun-dappled breasts that were sixty feet tall.

Their loss.

Hear, hear. :)

[Petro]

One thing that can be said about Blogger.com - it's pretty good at filtering out spam-bots like "hot songs."

:)

[Kathleen Moore]

The only thing I know about old Phoenix is that the man who murdered my grandmother in an orange grove in southern California in 1945 fled to Phoenix and then committed suicide. Would love to find out more details about all that someday - she had an "interesting" life that might make a good book.

[AzRebel]

Happy Martin Luther King weekend everyone.

We had to agree to have a MLK holiday and in exchange we would get the Crudinals football team.

Boy did we get screwed.

[phxSUNSfan]

Arizona already had the Cardinals by that time...I believe it had something to do with the Super Bowl.

[phxSUNSfan]

What did you guys do with the real Jan Brewer?

"Gov. Jan Brewer unveiled an $8.9 billion budget for the coming fiscal year that follows up on her call earlier this week to put more money into programs that help Arizona’s more vulnerable populations, including children and lower-income families.

Her plan calls for $317.8 million in new spending in the budget year that begins July 1, with education getting the most generous share. Other priorities are child safety, technology and debt reduction.

Brewer’s plan to expand the state’s Medicaid rolls, outlined in her State of the State address on Monday, actually saves the state money, an estimated $82 million in the coming year."
http://www.azcentral.com/news/politics/articles/20130117gov-brewer-proposes-xxx-new-spending.html

Emil, it looks like someone at the Republic finally read your emails regarding the state actually saving money with Medicaid expansion.

[cal Lash]

Well we will see
here com da legislature

[cal Lash]

Coffee. Best Americano. Urban Bean

[Petro]

Yes, from what I recall, we lost our first shot at hosting the Super Bowl because of Mecham's negative input on the matter with his holiday rescindin'. Which reminds me that I participated in the protest marches on MLK Day two years running. The Republic caught me in one.

I Have a Dream

That's me at the bottom in sunglasses with the bandito mustache (defacement of the photo by my boss at the time, who had posted this on the bulletin board. It was a "conservative environment" - I had to burn a vacation day to participate in the march, after all.)

[Suzanne]

Nice photo Petro. The indelible marks add personality to the quality of the image. Strange thou, to mark you as terrorist.

[Nathaniel]

Aside of Heart cafe on 5th street and Garfield is open 5pm-3am daily and does brunch starting at 10am Saturday and Sunday. Lots of options for food and drink, good stuff too.

[Petro]

Strange thou, to mark you as terrorist.

Typical conservative bloviating. To be fair, this was more than a decade before 9/11...

[cal Lash]

Ev and many like him considered blacks ("Pickanninys") terrorists. Its only recently that blacks have been told they can join the LDS. No rush sems to have occured.

[Suzanne]

Ev was a kook. I don't remember exactly, I think it had something to do with tax exempt status that persuaded the LDS to think again about their exclusion of dark skinned (Ev's Pickanniny) people.

[cal Lash]

I heard it was their god

[azrebel]

Osama bin petro.

It doesn t quite roll off the tongue, but when it comes to looking cool petro has the other dude beat by a mile.

[Petro]

when it comes to looking cool petro has the other dude beat by a mile

Clearly, it's the mullet.

[cal Lash]

Where do atheists drink coffee on inauguration day?

Three bibles, Obama is swearing in on three Christian bibles? What about those of us that aint christian?

Listening to a BBC analysis of Obama and the inauguration and the religious symbolizing should be enough to make Tom and Abe roll over in their monuments. Made me turn my ear phone off and listen to the comforting wind on the mountain.