Miracle Mile

I don't know when the stretch of east McDowell from 10th Street to beyond 16th Street received this nickname. It's certainly not the legendary shopping destination of Chicago. But I do know it was Phoenix's first major retail-commercial artery outside of the downtown central business district. (Grand, Van Buren, and 17th Avenue/Buckeye were mostly motels, restaurants, and "curio" shops for travelers).

The Miracle Mile was special because it had an urban fabric missing from any other part of the city outside, even Midtown and Uptown on Central Avenue. The commercial buildings were densely packed, most right up on the sidewalk. McDowell was only four lanes wide. The result was walkability missing in most parts of a city built for the automobile.

McDowell's businesses continued beyond 16th Street and, going west, to Seventh Avenue. However, the Miracle Mile most exemplified urban authenticity. No wonder efforts are under way to reinvent the stretch. Included is a public art arch. Sadly, they face the headwinds of demolished buildings and a six-lane McDowell which is much more dangerous for pedestrians, especially at night.

A footnote: When I was around nine some friends and I rode our bikes along the mile, then turned around and came back — on the sidewalk but against traffic. I raced to catch up with them when a car pulled out from a side street. I hit the fender and tumbled over the hood, landing on the pavement. The terrified driver picked me up from the asphalt (which you shouldn't do) and carried me to the sidewalk. There an ambulance (Phoenix Ambulance, where I would work a decade later) took me to Good Sam to await my mother and grandmother. I got away with a mammoth bruise on my upper leg.

Come with me on a tour of the historic Miracle Mile (click for a larger image):

 

Before McDowell grew up, it was a residential street. Here's the Chalmers house at 230 E. McDowell. Phoenix tore down scores of these priceless shady haciendas, replaced by faux Tuscan schlock, surface parking lagoons, and empty lots. (McCulloch Brothers Collection/ASU Libraries).

George W.P. Hunt's "Governor's Mansion" at 1679 McDowell Road (Brad Hall collection).

The Miracle Mile was anchored by two medical institutions. One is the Grunow Memorial Clinic, seen in 1932 with shade trees and a grassy lawn. The building is still there but a surface parking lot is in front (and people wonder why the summers are hotter and last longer). Winnie Ruth Judd worked here as a medical secretary, as did the victims of the "Trunk Murderess." Below is another view of the clinic. (McCulloch Brothers Collection/ASU Libraries).

Good Samaritan was the other premier anchor nearby, starting at 10th Street and McDowell. This is in the 1940s. The shady grounds were much the same into the 1960s, with the nearby Deaconess Hospital turned into a nurses' dormitory. A two-story commercial building was on the northwest side of 10th and McDowell, but I don't have a photo. (McCulloch Brothers Collection/ASU Libraries).

Deaconess Hospital, east of Good Sam and also on the south side of McDowell, in the 1920s. Both of these exquisite buildings and their landscaping were leveled for new Good Sam buildings, including the horrid spaceship tower.

A postcard view of Good Sam in the 1940s. Cars were accommodated but they didn't overpower the streetscape.

Sixteenth Street and McDowell Road circa 1950.

Fast-forward to the 1960s. This is the Miracle Mile at 14th Street looking east. Note the dense businesses with doors right up on the sidewalk and parking lots in the rear. The photo below shows this same attribute in a closeup. (Brad Hall collection).

On the south side of McDowell and 14th Street was Dunkin Donuts and other shops, Christmas season 1962 (Brad Hall collection).

 

A Richfield Station at the southeast corner of Ninth Street and McDowell in the 1960s. Details of the era: local A-1 Beer, S&H Green Stamps, and a service station where an attendant would pump your gas, wash your windshield, check the air in your tires and oil level, and a mechanic was "on duty."

The north side of 10th Street and McDowell continues the abundance of useful small businesses, including a shoeshine man.

Dick's Drive-In, at 17th Street, when the avenue hosted a number of local drive-ins. Sandy's is below.

Brookshires 24-hour coffee shop stood on the northeast corner of 16th Street and McDowell. Phoenix was once full of these midcentury restaurants.

A block farther east this 1954 shopping strip has changed with the city's shifting demographics. It was renovated in 2019.

The Sportatorium features closed-circuit TV of a fight involving a young Muhammad Ali (Clay), who would go on to build a long relationship with Phoenix, including the Celebrity Fight Night fundraiser and the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center at Barrow Neurological Center.

An aerial view of McDowell now, including the Miracle Mile arch. Sadly, with the old businesses gone, the urban fabric shattered, McDowell dangerously wide, and the Banner University Medical Center — they couldn't even keep the historic name and a university is nowhere near — a massive, sterile hulk, revival of an authentic urban avenue will be difficult.

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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

[Dave Parish]

Nice review. As always, pictures present the visual story. Miracle Mile locations also had this name in NW Ohio and central Florida.

[Connie Midey]

So nice to read about and see these spots along the old Miracle Mile. It doesn't seem all that long ago.

[Kevin in Preskitt]

Before moving to Prescott in 2009, I was an occasional patron of some of the businesses on this stretch of McDowell. It had a very Mexican vibe.

There was a restaurant called La Hacienda on the northeast corner of 16th Street and McDowell, where I once left my wallet, full of cash, on the table before driving to California for vacation. I realized it was missing when I stopped for dinner that night in L.A. Luckily, a kind employee had found it and turned it in to the manager, with everything intact.

There were a few dance clubs on this stretch where I spent many nights dancing to cumbia, salsa, and meringue music--styles that I learned to dance to while studying at Universidad International in Cuernavaca, Mexico.

I even got a haircut at El y Ella salon once, talking in español with the stylist the entire time.

It sounds like it's time for another visit to the Miracle Mile, to see what has changed and what is the same.

[Donna J Reiner]

Jon--I recently worked on survey of Miracle Mile for the city of Phoenix. It does have an interesting history. And at one point, one developer thought about calling a section of Central Miracle Mile. Ours started after WWII and first time used was late 1940s/early 1950s.

[Terry Davis]

Very interesting, as usual! I didn't know Phoenix had a Miracle Mile. I was familiar with Tucson's Miracle Mile. I move to Phoenix in 1959 from Tucson. Is the Miracle Mile deli named after this area of Phoenix?

[Rogue Columnist]

Terry, it’s named after the street nickname.

[Cal Lash]

A number of cities have streets called "miracle mile" I am slightly confused as to how this stretch in Phoenix came to get that designation. I don't recall hearing that.
But I'll check into it.

In 56 I used to go to Dick's Drive In
with Westside Jerry in his jeep.
That is where I met Claudia Threadgill and her Eastside friends.

In 59 I helped redo a number of Grunow Clinic's doctors patient rooms by applying "white coat." I think we also did some outside plaster and stucco repair. I was working for either Ora Hopper Construction or Coty Reburger Plaster and drywall company. Coty and I blew the stucco on the Catholic Church at 24th Street and Campbell.
Winnie Ruth Judd and I both did time at the State Hospital as patient and para medic.

The guy in the photo in the car on the south side of tenth street and McDowell is possibly Joe Bedia, from Spain. He owned a bar in the 40, 50 and 60's at about 1400 East Van Buren.

Another hot street was US 60/US 70/US 89, (Van Buren) was once the major Highway thru downtown Phoenix used by mobsters (and others) to get to LA. Some stayed here.
One year probably in the 50's or 60's a Phoenix police patrolman who became a Police Captain got the officer of the year award for arresting the most mobsters headed west.
He retired after many years. Something about a Madam I heard.

There is a Miracle Mile Buffet at 4433 N 16th Street. Still a family affair.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/dining/2016/01/22/phoenix-restaurants-stand-test-time/78431984/

Reminds me of the Old Weiss Guy Car Washes (7th avenue and Grand and Van Buren)
I think there is still a Weiss Guy's self service drive up car wash in Glendale

Miracle Mile story from 2015
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2015/10/27/phoenix-mcdowell-road-miracle-mile-refugee-immigrant-diversity/74682840/

[Jerry]

Did not know this even tho I know the area (currently my mechanic has a space there). Thanks Rogue!

[Jon7190]

I love photo collections like this. Thank you for the insights.

Like so many, I have often wished that Good Sam (or whatever they are calling it these days) could have kept their original building and built around it, like St. Joe's did. Memorial Hermann in Houston is another example. Like Banner in Phoenix, they are the largest hospital in town with numerous locations but the original central hospital is the biggest. The 1920's building is mostly hidden from the street because it is completely surrounded by newer structures and towers, but it is still there in largely the same shape and it's original interior charm preserved in at least one public area.

[Cal Lash]

In 62 my personal physicians office was on the SW corner of 12 street and McDowell. That spot is now a cache for runoff water.

[Cal Lash]

From Jon's Arizona news pages
What the Great Sonoran Desert needs
More people. NOT
https://www.builderonline.com/land/arizona-land-department-sets-unusual-limits-on-land-auction_c

[Pop Logan]

In the late 70s I used to go to a 24 hour pool room in a strip mall on the mile. Last time I remember looking,it was a furniture store catering to the Hispanic market. Was surprised to see that there was a Sandys restaurant, thought that was a midwest chain only. I still remember going to the Sandy's in Bloomington, Illinois. A short walk from the High school, where many of us still to young to drive would be picked up after football practice.

[Cal Lash]

The pool hall(the name will come to me) was just east of Brookshires restaurant at 16th Street and McDowell where the famous waitress Tiny prevailed. In 72 I arrested the first Crip to come to Arizona inside that pool hall based on an informant phone call. The Crip, Waymon, advised me and my partner, Oscar Long he was there to start the trade for the California Crips.
We took his "Barrel Whites" and locked him up as we had warned him a few weeks earlier to leave town when we found him in a house at 2400 East Adams during a search warrant
Tiny eventually spent a year or two at the Brookshires at about 51 West Vanburen before her death.

[Cal Lash]

Looks like Phoenix will be able to fill all those ugly new apartments.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/15/magazine/climate-crisis-migration-america.html?utm_source=The+Muck+Rack+Daily&utm_campaign=4f175c39c3-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_09_15_04_09&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_af2b2023a3-4f175c39c3-28068313