More shots in the '30s and '40s

A few days ago, we lost the Golden West Hotel, formerly the Steinegger Lodging House, at 27 E. Monroe Street and built in 1889. It held Newman's cocktail lounge as late as 2005. But even with all of Phoenix's losses, the preservation police could not save the oldest building in downtown. Duran Lugo documented this act of civic vandalism on Facebook's Phoenix Shadetree History page.

In memory, let me clear my desktop of some historic Phoenix photos that likely haven't been on this site before (click for a larger view)

. And a final thought: If the Golden West isn't safe, what about Union Station?

This is Seventh Avenue looking north toward Osborn in the 1940s. The image perfectly captures old rural Phoenix, including abundant shade trees. No palo verdes of gravel to be seen.

Busy Central and Washington in the same decade. Unlike today's suburban feel, downtown looked like the business core of a real city.

Thanks to Brad Hall, here's a high-resolution shot from Monroe and Central looking toward the South Mountains in the '40s. Note the Santa Fe Railway ticket office in the Professional Building. A few steps farther to the left is the Golden West. South of the Professional Building is the Hotel Adams, demolished in the 1970s.

Here's Central south of the railroad tracks looking toward Madison Street in 1939, before the New Deal-funded underpass was built.

Here's Central at Madison looking south as construction is beginning.

In 1937, Civilian Conservation Corps workers take a break from restoring Pueblo Grande to swim in the Grand Canal, one of the original Hohoham canals.

Back in rural Phoenix in the 1940s, we're at 27th Avenue and McDowell with Crooks Grocery at left and shade trees everywhere. Tens of thousands were cut down to widen streets and not replaced.

This oasis shot is Southern and Central in 1930. Many parts of south Phoenix kept this kind of rural beauty into the 1980s.

Same decade, Indian School Road is about to cross the Santa Fe tracks at Grand Avenue. Today it's a sun-blasted expanse of wide roads and a fly-over.

Charming and lost: The Mountain Bell Telephone Building at Adams and Second Avenue. Imagine the artists' lofts this could have become.

The verdant Thomas Armstrong House on north Central Avenue. These haciendas started at McDowell and ran north.

One of the lost and forgotten Art Deco gems of downtown Phoenix was the Western Savings building. It stood on the southeast corner of First Avenue and Adams Street.

This was once a Western city and for decades the premier event was the Rodeo of Rodeos. Here's the parade in 1937 at Central and Adams. Curiously, Denver still has the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo, even though it is much more cosmopolitan and enjoys a far better economy than Phoenix.

The American Kitchen, a Chinese restaurant, on Central south of Adams Street circa 1940 (Library of Congress).

The same scene in 1955 (Brad Hall collection).

In the 1940s, the city limits were at 28th Street and Van Buren. Note the dignified logos compared with today's "Joe Cool" Phoenix bird.

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My book, A Brief History of Phoenix, is available to buy or order at your local independent bookstore, or from Amazon.

Read more Phoenix history in Rogue's Phoenix 101 archive.

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Gail Luck]

Thank you very much for the beautiful photographs. This is the Phoenix my mom and dad grew up in. I lived on 7th Ave all my life at Vernon. I now live at 7th Ave and Osborn.

[Cal Lash]

friends tell me the swimming hole was still around in the 50 and 60's.

[Ruben]

Gail, you did get out to see the rest of the world outside of Vernon and Osborn, right?

I worked with a lady who at the time was in her 40's. She was born in Phoenix and had never been anywhere besides Phoenix. She bragged on it and had no intention to travel anywhere else.

[Ruben]

Please note comment in "What happens now" thread.

[Kevin in Preskitt]

Outside of Downtown, Phoenix in the old days looked rather like Chino Valley does today.

Growing up in Maryvale in the 80s and 90s, there were still remnants of "rural Phoenix" in my immediate vicinity, even old farmhouses tucked in amongst the subdivisions. Almost all are gone now.

My grandpa died this March, and lived in Maryvale until the end. The neighbors check in on Grandpa's 88-year-old widow, my step-grandmother.

Practically all the families that I knew growing up in "Scaryvale" have moved out, mostly to suburbs further out. I have moved to Prescott. But, at least on Grandpa Joe's street, Maryvale really doesn't seem very scary. Quite the contrary.

[Ruben]

I liked Prescott when it was Pop. 5,000

Kevin, do you recall the following aspect of the west valley that was unique to the rest of the valley:

Major streets heading west shifted from two lanes to one lane with no signage and no warnings. One rainy night I was headed west on one of the west side streets, suddenly the lane was gone, replaced with a large puddle. I hydroplaned on the water, left the road and ended up in a field.

[Kevin in Preskitt]

Ruben, I do remember major streets doing that, such as Thomas Road at 91st Avenue, where a transition from housing to farmland occurred. It could definitely take you by surprise if it was your first time driving down such a street.