VOLUME 11 ISSUE 1
$5.99 January February 2022 Serving Contracting Firms and the Arizona Community. . . Then & Now
Phoenix’s “Cunning” Shopping Center: Chris-Town Mall The Exotic Landscapes of Phoenix’s Miniature Golf Courses Life in the Fast Lane: Manzanita Speedway Goes Full Throttle Scottsdale’s Lost Dog “Protects” Sonoran Preserve Ambiance Arizona’s First All-American Soap Box Derby Coasts to Success Buffalo Springfield: Machines and Music that Rock and “Rolled”
Arizona’s Timeless Magazine
Castles n’ Coasters: Phoenix’s Small But Mighty Amusement Park
ARIZONA OFF-THE-CLOCK:
THE LEISURE ISSUE
Del Webb “Constructs” A Good Life: His Baseball and Sun City Ventures Stantec Moves iconic sky harbor Mural
BPG Sponsors arizona Construction Career Event
KE&G Tackles “Steep” Mining Challenge
CHASSE VP Goes to Bat for Spring Training
180 Degrees Rescues Mid-Century APS Panels
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SLOGAN THAT BEST DESCRIBES 2021?
The Eagle has flown
Contributors Allison Balin John Bueker Jason Clark Cory Jorbin Marty Ley Tom Pickrell Luke M. Snell Doug Sydnor
Best year of the 2020s so far!
Still hopeful!!
Family has never been more important Production Manager
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Arizona Contractor & Community (ACC) magazine is published bi-monthly (Jan/Feb, Mar/Apr, May/June, July/Aug, Sept/Oct, Nov/Dec). ACC is a professional publication designed for the contracting industry, engineers, architects, equipment rentals, suppliers, and others interested in Arizona and its history. Content including text, photographs or illustrations may not be reproduced without the written permission from the publisher. The publisher does not assume responsibility for unsolicited submissions. ACC reserves the right to reject any editorial and advertising material and reserves the right to edit all submitted content material. Arizona Contractor & Community Copyright © 2022‑ All rights reserved.
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Contents Contributors - John Bueker & Marty Ley From The Editor: Eating Away at the Term, “Buffet” Douglas Towne Construction Around Arizona: Projects • People • Practices Back When - Phoenix “Slides” Into the Future Douglas Towne Del Webb “Constructs” A Good Life: His Baseball and Sun City Adventures - Douglas Towne The Wild Ride That Created Castles n’ Coasters Amusement Park - Tom Pickrell Around the Globe in 18 Holes: Phoenix’s Classic Miniature Golf Courses - John Bueker Phoenix’s “Cunning” Shopping Center: The Magical Mall Called Chris-Town - John Bueker Oval But Not Forgotten: Manzanita Speedway’s Full Throttle Days - Douglas Towne Old School Equipment: The Buffalo-Springfield Roller Company - Douglas Towne Building on the Past - 1947: Arizona’s First All-American Soap Box Derby Architect’s Perspective - Celebrating the McDowell Sonoran Preserve and Its Trailheads - Doug Sydnor, FAIA
Digging Through the Archives: Mark Habgood Billy Horner
92
Bid Results
94
Advertising Index
Front Cover Spring training fun with Joe DiMaggio and Del Webb playing ball at Phoenix Municipal Stadium, 1951. Article on page 48. Image courtesy of Del Webb Corp. Photographs, Greater AZ Collection, ASU Library
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n (almost) native Phoenician, John joined Arizona Contractor and Community as an original staff writer in 2012. He specializes in wistful reminiscing about local mid-century shopping centers, restaurants, amusement parks, and the like. In this issue, he writes about miniature golf, including the Alpine Valley course, which he absolutely adored as a youth. He’s the author of a variety of Phoenix history websites, an award-winning 50-year-old local street newspaper called the Joan De Arc Crusader, and a popular book about the vanished Arizona theme park Legend City. John is also notable for a long-standing fanatical devotion to vintage board games, the result of which is a rather phenomenal collection of old Parker Brothers and Milton Bradley classics. Highlights include an assortment of antique Monopoly games dating back to the 1930s, the first ten editions of the Concentration game (some in mint-in-the-box condition), and TV-based rarities such as the Wild Wild West, The Outer Limits, and Tennessee Tuxedo board games. When pressed, he will invariably cite the famous Monopoly “White Box Edition No. 9” from the 1940s as his all-time favorite board game. In 2019, the Tempe History Museum housed an exhibit featuring a representative sampling of John’s extensive game collection. John lives in Glendale with his remarkably tolerant wife, Sue, and a menagerie of fourlegged friends.
Marty Ley Article on page 27
M
arty is currently pursuing two bachelor’s degrees in Journalism and Business Law at Arizona State University. He hopes to attend law school to become a corporate attorney eventually. As a freshman, Marty worked for both Blaze Radio and The State Press, two student news organizations, where he was introduced to his love for the world of journalism. He enjoys the journalism classes that allow him to go out into the field and interview prominent community figures. For Marty, every interaction is an opportunity to learn something new and broaden his understanding of the world around him. In one class, Marty wrote a story about a fictional mall project for an exercise, in which he learned that covering stories about new developments and construction was a passion. Marty was born and raised in Nogales, Arizona, and appreciates the small, tight-knit community. Living in a transitional space with both Mexican and American cultures taught him valuable lessons about inclusivity and diversity. Nonetheless, he enjoys his new home in Tempe and the energy of a bigger city with more professional opportunities such as writing for Arizona Contractor & Community magazine. In his free time, Marty enjoys hiking the trails in the area and spending days on the lake to wakeboard and water ski.
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Images courtesy of Sky Harbor International Airport
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EDITOR’S COLUMN:
EATING AWAY AT THE TERM, “BUFFET” DOUGLAS TOWNE
T
he theme for this issue is “Leisure,” so it seemed only appropriate to write a column that wouldn’t require too much work. Why not just assemble some vintage images of Arizona drinking places that would be a fun trip down memory lane for readers? Despite my best intentions, this seemingly breezy topic turned into an etymological rabbit hole when I noticed the word “buffet” appearing on some odd businesses. I associated the word with the diet-shattering smorgasbords made famous in Las Vegas. These buffets were Top: Copper State Buffet in Phoenix, 2000 and 1991 (l-r). Below: Postcard and matchcover of Saratoga Café & Buffet in Phoenix.
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loss leaders offered by casinos to entice patrons to gamble afterward. The concept was sort of like a cafeteria on steroids, where you served yourself as much food as you wanted, and the idea spread across the country. Customers love to sample a wide variety of food for one low price. But in my research, I uncovered a vintage photograph of the neon sign at the Copper State Buffet in Phoenix on Washington at 20th Street. There was no “AllYou-Can-Eat Special” advertised, but rather the place touted “Cocktails,” “Dancing,” “Live Music,” and “Package Liquors,” along with a mural of a dancing couple outfitted in 1970s attire. If the buffet offered food, it was a decided afterthought. So, was the word “buffet” historically used in Arizona as another term for bar or
nightclub? It sure seemed so, as a check of an old Yellow Pages listed Copper State Buffet under cocktail lounges. But the same reference under the “Buffets” heading, noted, “See Restaurants; Also Cocktail Lounges.” Saratoga Café & Buffet, once located at Central Avenue and Washington Street in Phoenix, was in the Yellow Pages under “Restaurants.” Ephemera from the business, which promoted itself with the motto, “Good Food is Good Health,” seemed to support the notion that this place was meal-oriented. But looking at its vintage postcard, the buffet has a separate entrance from the café, and the business is officially called “The Saratoga Café and Cocktail Lounge.” So maybe, the buffet was the cocktail lounge? This definition is supported by evidence from the long-shuttered Hotel Del Sol in Yuma, which advertised its cocktail lounge as “Yuma Buffet.” Also in Yuma, the Valley Café is featured on a vintage postcard in five views: front of the building, palm room, dining room, coffee shop, and buffet, which depicts a bar. Delving deeper into the mystery, I explored newspaper archives. One ad announced the opening of Charles Bauer’s Montezuma Buffet, located in the Montezuma Hotel in “Nogales, Arizona’s Bright Spot,” in 1940. The “Gala event of the year on the border” was deemed to “Be just like New Year’s Eve,” and featured Mexican charros in the Buffet, a talented singer and pianist in the cocktail room, and dancing in the Montezuma Hotel Lobby to the tune of music by a highclass orchestra.” Four years later, The San Carlos Club Buffet and Rose Room opened in Coolidge. The business was “Pinal County’s first, DeLuxe January February 2022
Images courtesy of Sky Harbor International Airport
Images courtesy of Sky Harbor International Airport
Cocktail Lounge…for the recreation and relaxation of Ladies and Gentlemen in a pleasant and quiet atmosphere.” On a Facebook page dedicated to Arizona history, I asked what the term “buffet” meant. The responses were varied: •
• • • • • • •
“No real idea, but possibly making an establishment’s focus more on din ing than on drinking made it easier to license,” “So your kids can come in with you,” “There was a bar in Globe called the Owl Buffet when I was a kid,” “Interesting question, I sure don’t have an answer, but I don’t think it has any thing to do with food,” “LOL, we had a piece of furniture in the dining room called a buffet,” “The buffet is the free pretzels and peanuts on the bar!” “Good question. There was an Owl Buffet in Gila Bend and Shamrock Buffet in Buckeye,” and “Many ‘bars’ and ‘grills’ became ‘buf fets’ when alcohol sales were out lawed (wink, wink).”
Still confused, I turned to my “go-to” authority on the state’s heritage, Arizona state historian Marshall Trimble. In his hometown of Ash Fork, he recalled Gummies Buffet in the 1950s, which Frank and Nora Gum owned, that was called Gummies Bar by the 1970s. “The place was where you could find the town doctor if he wasn’t in his office,” Trimble says. “I don’t recall them serving any food except maybe hardboiled eggs from a jar.” Trimble added that there are several definitions of buffet. “One is a piece of furniture. It also means to strike repeatedly. I think it is most commonly used to describe serving yourself.” But Ash Fork’s buffet was most certainly a saloon. “Maybe Frank and Nora just
liked the sound of a French word because it placed their establishment on a higher plane than the other bars in town,” reflects Trimble. Top left: Valley Café in Yuma, 1942. Top right: Yuma Buffet at Hotel Del Sol in Yuma, 1991. Below: Marshall Trimble at Gummies Bar in Ash Fork, 1970s.
Demion Clinco, executive director of the Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation, had an interesting idea. “I think it’s a nod to the buffet cars on American trains that served drinks and light snacks,” he wrote. “The Buffet Bar in Tucson references the connection in the graphic of the sign, which is a yellow streamline train on the outer edge.” arizcc.com
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Projects . PEOPLE . PRACTICES
CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects
CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA
THE PHOENIX MURAL REBORN AT SKY HARBOR RENTAL CAR CENTER
A
treasured mural welcomed travelers to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport’s Terminal 2 for almost 60 years. The terminal was demolished but the mural has a new home. Artist Paul Coze’s three-piece work, The Phoenix, was unveiled by Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego on a wall at the airport’s Rental Car Center in October 2021. Global design firm Stantec, working with general contractor Kiewit, and International Chimney Corporation, facilitated the move of the three-panel, 75-foot-wide mural. It was the City of Phoenix’s first piece of commissioned art where the public was invited to participate in the process. The mural is made of 52 different materials, some are traditional such as oil paint and mosaic tiles and some are nontraditional media like aluminum sheeting and sand gathered from around Arizona. arizcc.com
“The Phoenix is well worth the visit as it’s in great shape, and you can stand right below each of the panels,” Ed Dobbins, a Phoenix historian, says. “They look better than I ever recall seeing them, especially since 9/11 resulted in reconfiguring Terminal 2, making it hard to see all three. There are also displays with a nice explanation of their meaning, how they were made, and an artist’s bio.” A unique part of the $49 million work was the mural created by Coze, a Lebanon-born artist who moved to Phoenix in 1951, where he founded an art school and created eight other public art pieces in the city. The mural represents Phoenix’s past, present, and future, which took Coze 18 months to complete, for which he received $10,000. The artwork relocation is part of Stantec’s more extensive project, which includes Terminal 2 demolition and the subsequent construction of a new aircraft parking apron. Terminal 2, which closed in
Top: The Phoenix mural from the spotting scopes. Above: Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, Director of Aviation Services Chad Makovsky, Vice Mayor Carlos Garcia, Phoenix City Councilwoman Betty Guardado, Phoenix City Councilwoman Yassamin Ansari, and Terry Cole of Kiewit Construction (l-r) at The Phoenix mural unveiling.
February 2020, outlived its intended life by about 20 years. Its removal provides space for larger aircraft operations and parking positions near the Terminal 3 South Concourse. Arizona Contractor & Community