Winter 2014

Volume 3 Issue 4

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Serving Contracting Firms and the Arizona Community…

• In It for the Long Haul: James Bond Trucking • Just a Façade: Old Town Scottsdale • Sunstate Hosts ARA of AZ Fall Fiesta • Radiant Roadsides: Millet’s Neon Legacy • Wespac’s “Grand” Mid-Century Facelift • Area 66: Alien Architecture along I-40 • Sun State Builders “Reframe” Bowling Alley • Turning Dirt into Gold: The Isbell Company

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Editor Douglas Towne Douglas@arizcc.com

Contributing Writers Lee Addis J.J.M. Czep Katie Mayer Gary Nelson Catherine Slye John Larsen Southard Doug Sydnor Maureen E. Towne

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Serving Contracting Firms and the Arizona Community… Then & Now

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Volume 3 Issue 4 Winter 2014

CONTENTS 8.

From The Editor: Alien Architecture Douglas Towne

10.

28.

30.

32.

Construction Around Arizona Industry Highlights Sunstate Hosts ARA Fall Fiesta - Katie Mayer In It For The Long Haul: James Bond Trucking Maureen E. Towne

38.

Radiant Roadsides: Paul Millet’s Neon Legacy Douglas Towne

43.

Turning Dirt into Gold: The Isbell Construction Company - J.J.M. Czep

47.

Finding unique Solutions to Solve your Changing Needs!

Concrete History: Valley Sidewalk Stamps Catherine Slye

48.

Just a Façade: The West’s Most Western Town John Larsen Southard

55.

Golfing Vision in the Desert: Paradise Valley Country Club - Doug Sydnor

58.

Digging Through the Archives: N.G. “Herk” Reynolds - William Horner

61.

62.

Certified Cranes Certified Operators Machinery Moving Site Surveys - Storage 480-967-0026

Bid Results - Bidjudge ACC Advertisers’ Index

Front Cover Top: Two belly dump trucks at the James Bond Trucking yard, ����.

Bottom: Vintage advertising on James Bond truck, ����.

Story on Page ��.

From the editor Douglas Towne

I

n my last editor’s column, readers were promised a “grand” issue covering Phoenix’s lone diagonal thoroughfare, Grand Avenue. I’m upping the stakes this issue by tackling a topic that’s literally out of this world: buildings with paranormal accoutrements. Although everyone loves a good ghost story, tales of haunted places pale in popularity compared with extraterrestrial visits. Roswell, New Mexico bases its tourism marketing campaign on the alleged nearby 1947 UFO landing. The Little A'Le'Inn has become an unlikely tourist mecca in remote Rachel, Nevada because of purported interstellar spacecraft at nearby Area 51. Absent such celebrated UFO occurrences, it takes a truly remarkable architectural design to have a structure become linked with visits from little green Martians.

One such rare building is the Dinesphere, which has also been referred to as the “Arizona Death Star” or the “Cosmic Golf Ball.” This elevated, 40-foot-diameter

geodesic dome is located near Interstate 40 in Yucca, a small community southwest of Kingman, Arizona. The Dinesphere is currently the centerpiece of “Area 66” which includes a convenience/curio store, a flying saucer and other alien spacecraft, and a stationary, lime-green Volkswagen bug “driven” by a similarly colored space creature. The attraction’s name stems from a nearby 1952 realignment of Route 66— and the other worldly appearance of the Dinesphere and its UFO accessories.

The Dinesphere has a bizarre history that matches its current incarnation as a base for interplanetary life forms. It was originally designed as an elaborate restaurant and night club to attract attention to a real estate development called Lake Havasu Estates. Construction started in 1972 and the shiny exterior that looks like an iridescent golf ball on steroids is actually fiberglass covering plywood sheathing. Architectural plans called for a row of tall water jets in front to hide the

building’s supports and to provide the illusion that the dome was suspended in space, riding on a huge fountain of water.

“It would have been an impressive site out there in the desert,” Mohave County historian Dan Messersmith says.

The architectural sophistication of the Dinesphere, however, was not matched by the scrupulousness of the development, which promoters claimed could one day house 75,000 residents. “It was more a land scam than a land development,” Messersmith says. In a classic mid-century Arizona land development swindle, buyers paid premium prices using low cost installment plans for sight unseen home sites they believed offered scenic lakeside views, according to an article in the Kingman Daily Miner (July 4, 1979). Promotional materials aimed at out-of-state buyers

…It takes a truly remarkable architectural design to have a structure become linked with visits from little green Martians.

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several years of remodeling, the interior was split into three levels with 3,400 square feet of living space. From bottom to top are a kitchen, living room, and bedroom, with a bathroom on each floor. As if their home wasn’t striking enough, the Schimmel’s riffed off the Space Age architecture and parked a 12-foot diameter flying saucer outside. The couple eventually sold the Dinesphere to John and Patricia Grady, who came up with the Area 66 theme, added a store and additional spacecraft, and hope to open a UFO museum on the grounds.

The only things the site lacks are actual extraterrestrials, but that’s if you discount the alleged crash of a flying saucer northwest of Kingman at Red Lake in 1953 according to UFO magazine (April 1976).

Witnesses claimed to have seen "three small bodies packed in dry ice" that had large heads and brownish skin. Perhaps alien survivors from this 1953 crash have simply relocated to the Dinesphere and are doing their best to fit in with their Mohave County neighbors by purchasing a mobile home and selling jerky, soda, snacks, beer, tobacco, ice, groceries, and tchotchkes to curious earthlings.

Wyoming couple converted the dome into to a private residence, as there had long been concerns the structure would not meet Mohave County commercial fire codes. After

Images courtesy of Douglas Towne

featured distorted maps showing Lake Havasu, a large reservoir created on the Colorado River by Parker Dam, as just a hop, skip, and a jump away. In reality, the water body was located 40 miles distant.

Moreover, the “home sites” were nothing but unimproved desert lacking utilities or roads. Eventually the development scheme went bankrupt and work was halted on the incomplete Dinesphere.

It’s no surprise that such a unique structure sitting vacant became the subject of redevelopment plans and wild rumors.

There was a proposal to reopen the geodesic dome as the centerpiece of a truck stop in the late 1970s. In the same decade, the Dinesphere became the stuff of urban legend when an unsubstantiated tale surfaced about a drug deal gone bad, ending with a woman’s dead body dropped out of the dome’s bottom floor in an effort to make the “murder” appear accidental, according to the Kingman Daily Miner article.

The Dinesphere was eventually purchased by Hank Schimmel as a birthday present for his wife, Ardell, in 1981. The

Across page top: Dinesphere and associated billboard image, early 1970s.

Across page bottom: Flying saucer at Area 66 Top left: Dinesphere Bottom right: Martian using VW Bug to reach his UFO.

Arizona Contractor & Community

Image courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Construction Around Arizona

Construction Around Arizona Freeways ● Roadways ● Commercial

Above: Two men going over plans at the Maryvale Shopping City site. In the background is a John F. Long Wagner Tractor with Be-Ge can setup, 1958. Story on page 12.

Left: Progress on the new Grand Central Tower, Wespac Construction. Story on page 16.

Ten

Katie Mayer

Images courtesy of author

Construction Around Arizona

School District “Targets” Building at Former Maryvale Shopping City

T

he once-bustling Target building at Maryvale Shopping City sat vacant for years and suffered extensive vandalism, but the store now has a fresh look and new purpose. The 81,000-square-foot building, located near 51st Avenue and Indian School Road, is now home to the Cartwright School District’s new food storage facility and office.

Mesa–based Chasse Building Team began converting the old Target building into the new facility and office in late February, said Martin Kroeger, assistant project manager for Chasse Building Team.

“We basically came in and stripped the inside and took out all of the existing walls,” Kroeger said. “Then, we had to renovate and put in all the new equipment for the commercial refrigerators and coolers and get drywall up everywhere.”

Kroeger said his crew also had to remove existing concrete slab to build an insulated slab for the district’s freezer. A surprise emerged when the crew realized

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that Target had poured its slab directly over the Maryvale Shopping City parking lot, revealing the original parking lot and painted parking spaces. “It was kind of like going into a time machine when we were digging,” Kroeger said.

The construction crew also found and preserved one of the original concrete masonry unit (CMU) columns from the front entrance of Maryvale Shopping City. The CMU column will stay in the loading dock area of the new building.

After the Target building – built in 1974 – closed its doors, the government purchased the site and operated it as a Census location. But for more than five years it sat vacant.

The recent state of building was a stark contrast to the once popular and wellmanicured shopping plaza which was the largest of its kind in the West.

Maryvale Shopping City was created with the purpose of being fun, according to a 1959 article in The Arizona Republic.

Designed with updated Pueblo-style architecture, it offered a lush courtyard and fountain for shoppers to enjoy while strolling by the shops. It included 120 stores on 120 acres and provided enough parking for 9,000 vehicles.

The recent Cartwright School District project was completed in two phases, allowing the food service department to move in, followed by the district’s administration.

Some of the subcontractors on the project included electrical contractor Clean Energy Contractors, HVAC contractor Midstate Mechanical and plumber A Professional Plumbers.

Top left: New facade of the Cartwright School District No. 83. Top right: Preserved original concrete masonry unit (CMU).

Bottom: Rendering for Wards store at the Maryvale Shopping City designed by Victor Gruen Associates, 1960.

Construction Around Arizona

Sunnyslope Bowling Alley Reframed for DES Douglas Towne

T

he former Castle Sports complex located at 11420 North 19th Avenue in Phoenix’s Sunnyslope neighborhood is being rehabilitated to serve as office space for the state’s Department of Economic Security (DES). Sun State Builders is the general contractor for the $4.5 million dollar renovation. The building is owned by Harrison Properties. Work started in August and is expected to be finished in late 2014.

The project’s focus is saving the majority of the original construction, including the building’s signature brick veneer. “The interior will be completely renovated updating all aspects of the building to today’s codes and building out the interior space per DES needs,” Sun State Builders Project Manager Erik Powell says.

“The most challenging aspect of the project is structural issues with the existing building and bringing it back to being a safe structure. The construction timeline is also very short to get the tenant in, so everything has been planned down to the smallest details to ensure we are successful.”

The building has been a Sunnyslope landmark for over 40 years, but recently has been unoccupied. “The area is going through a major transition. This project will keep the historical core of the building and give it a beautiful new look to enhance the neighborhood,” Powell says.

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The building was initially the Spanish Trails bowling alley, a structure designed to evoke a medieval castle because of the original owner’s, Dr. Kenneth Hall’s obsession with Spanish architecture. Dr. Hall owned and operated the nearby North Mountain Hospital, a resort-like medical facility that was razed in the late 1970s. To finance construction of Spanish Trails that started in 1963, Dr. Hall eventually tapped an unwise source of money. “I remember when the headline in the New York Times read, ‘Doctor in Arizona using Medicare funds to build a bowling alley,” his son says sadly. The project floundered after Dr. Hall’s hospital and medical license were revoked.

Dr. Hall planned for the Spanish Trails to be the first in a nationwide chain of massive bowling alleys featuring a French restaurant and multiple nightclubs. The cavernous, 65,000-square-foot bowling alley finally opened in 1980 after Dr. Hall received a $300,000 loan to settle a bank fraud charge. The charge was associated with a deed transfer involving convicted land fraud swindler Howard Woodall that occurred in the 1970s. There were no disco balls or escargot, only shoe rentals and hamburgers.

Dr. Hall and his wife, Nancy, ran the 32-lane alley for a year before the property was

foreclosed.

The building subsequently became Pruitt’s Furniture, Apollo College, a church, and Castle Sports Club.

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Construction Around Arizona

of material were excavated through hard caliche with footings installed 30 feet below grade. The building featured #18, 2¼ inch reinforcing bars normally used for dams. When viewed from a distance, the Guaranty Bank building originally had a light blue appearance. It became Phoenix’s tallest building replacing the Westward Ho Hotel, but only held the distinction for five years.

The building’s exterior was remodeled in the late 1980s when it was renamed the Meridian Bank Tower.

T

he Guaranty Bank building became the city’s tallest structure and made the cover of Newsweek magazine when it was completed in 1960. More than a half century later, the International style skyscraper has been renamed the Grand Central Tower and is undergoing renovations by Wespac Construction.

“The project consists of an exterior and interior remodel of the building located at 3550 North Central Avenue,” Wespac Marketing Manager Darci Van Camp says.

“The scope encompasses the renovation of the outside plaza, painting of the exterior of the building, demolition and remodel of the east and west entrances, and re-paving the parking garage.”

The renovations will give a new look to the exterior and front lobby, and create spec suites throughout the building. “These renovations are intended to give this older building a ‘face lift’ to attract new tenants, as well as extend the life of the building,” Van Camp says.

One of the project’s biggest challenges is renovating a building that is over 50 percent occupied. “Currently, we have to direct foot traffic to other entrances while we are working on the two major building entrances,” Van Camp says. “To ensure minimal disruption to the building’s tenants, careful phasing and coordination of construction and delivery of materials is of the utmost importance.”

The renovation will give the building a “modern” look by adding limestone cladding and wood slat walls. “To ensure the building could handle the renovations, we had to Sixteen

reinforce the structural steel underneath the building,” says Wespac Project Manager and Engineer Kyle Hershberger. “Going underground and seeing structural steel from 1959 was one of the most interesting things I’ve done in my construction career.”

The building was designed by architect Charles Polacek and constructed by the Henry C. Beck Company for developer David H. Murdock at a cost of $6 million. For the structural support, over 10,000 cubic yards

Image courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

“Grand” Mid-Century Tower Receives Facelift

Construction Around Arizona

Image courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Mid-Century Plaza Revealed in Uptown Renovation Katie Mayer

ifty-nine years after Del E. Webb Partners, which also designed Kierland Construction Company shopping center Commons and Scottsdale Quarter.

Uptown Plaza opened its doors on August General Contractor Kitchell Contractors 25, 1955 to thousands of eager shoppers, and Vintage Partners will try to preserve as construction crews broke ground on a renovation of the landmark development.

The renovation aims to restore the bricklined mid-century modern appearance of the shopping center, which is “buried under decades of stucco” and “suffering from chronic vacancy” said Vintage Partners Principal David Scholl.

Commercial real estate development and investment company Vintage Partners is leading the redevelopment of the 11.89acre Phoenix shopping center, which is located on the northeast corner of Central Avenue and Camelback Road. The renovation plans were designed by Nelsen Top: Northeast view of Uptown Plaza, 1958.

Right: Interior of current renovation process.

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much of the original red brick façade and interior walls as possible, but the project will also combine new landscaping and modern amenities, including rebuilding the original

Image courtesy of Vintage Partners

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Construction Around Arizona

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15-foot shade overhangs and cantilevers, Scholl said.

“We felt this landmark property needed an infusion of capital and a carefully thought out renovation and re-merchandizing to restore Uptown Plaza as one of the Valley’s most desirable retail destinations,” Scholl said.

In 1955, newspaper headlines and residents acclaimed the development as one of the largest and most modern shopping

suburban shopping mall experience that was unique in the Valley at the time.

Former tenants included upscale Navarre’s restaurant, which is currently Sweet Tomato’s; Helsing’s Coffee Shop, which was demolished; grocery chain Piggly Wiggly, which is now AJ’s Fine Foods and Jerand’s of Arizona fine fashions, and Bostrom’s department store, among others.

In the renovated shopping center, Vintage Partners plans to pair boutiques and local eateries with national brands.

Phase I of the project, which is the East/West run on the north side of the property, is scheduled for completion in fall 2015, according to Casey Treadwell of Vintage Partners. The anchor space will define Phase II. “We’ve demoed sections of available interior space to uncover the bones of the building, giving us a better understanding of exactly what we’re able to preserve,” centers in the Southwest. The $4.5 million Treadwell said. “The project has a rich project featured 23 stores, shops, and history, so the more the better, when it restaurants located in an L-shaped structure comes to preservation.” covering more than 125,000 square feet of floor space.

Phoenix architect H.H. Green designed Uptown Plaza as a one-story masonry construction featuring stores faced with Top left: Applebee's restuarant is situated at stone, brick, marble, and ceramic tile. the former location of Helsing's Coffee shop.

Brightly lit display windows often stayed Below: Vintage Partners rendering of illuminated until 11 p.m., creating a refurbished plaza.

Twenty

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t was the Area 51 of Arizona industry, hidden behind high berms, fences, vegetation, and anything else that could deflect prying eyes. And for the longest time, it was far enough from civilization to keep most of those prying eyes away. But now the General Motors Desert Proving Ground is only a memory. Gone are the test tracks marked “90 mph minimum,” the offices, the garages, and virtually every other trace of the giant lab where for nearly 60 years General Motors (GM) put its models to whatever hellish tests were necessary to make them road-worthy.

But then, all of that was so 20th century.

The property’s new owners have their eyes on the 21st – and beyond. They aim for nothing less than a world-class urban center in southeast Mesa, linked directly to global markets, with virtually limitless housing and high-end employment options.

Such an outcome would only burnish the already fascinating history of the place, which began in 1951 when GM bought 2,280 acres for hot-weather vehicle testing. Famed auto designer Harley Earl was on hand for the Proving Ground’s official opening in 1953.

Over the years, the GM Proving Ground’s secretiveness was all but legendary. If vehicles did roll off premises for real-world tests, they often did so in disguise, much to the chagrin of neighborhood kids hankering to glimpse the cars of the future.

DMB Builds City for 21st Century And Beyond Gary Nelson

Images courtesy of GM 2014

Construction Around Arizona

I

The future, of course, would bring other things besides cars. Most notably, the irrepressible tide of urban growth brought homes to within a literal stone’s throw of the facility. Even while expanding the site to its final 5,400 acres, GM was growing uneasy with all its new neighbors. The company announced in 2000 that it would eventually

Over the years, the GM Proving Ground’s secretiveness was all but legendary.

move, piquing the interest of the Scottsdale development company DMB Associates.

“We just knew someday it would turn into something very meaningful,” said Dea McDonald, the DMB senior vice president in charge of the project.

In late 2006 DMB paid GM $265 million for the Proving Ground’s northern 3,600 acres – prime real estate directly abutting Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport and only a mile from the burgeoning Polytechnic campus of Arizona State University and other research centers. That started the countdown to GM’s departure in June 2009, when the company moved to a facility shared with the Army near Yuma.

Even before GM left, DMB spelled out a soaring vision for its project, which it initially called Mesa Proving Grounds. And the City of Mesa was on board. “From the time we knew GM was moving forward with selling the property, we wanted to see something new and creative happen with this property,” said John Wesley, the city’s planning director.

Top: Oldsmobile Super 88 coming around curve at GM Proving Grounds, 1957.

Left: Chevrolet Corvair prototype pulling a dynamometer, 1960.

Twenty two

Image courtesy of Norman J James

In early 2012 the land was rechristened “Eastmark, the heart and hub of the East Valley.” anticipated large-scale development over the coming decades in Pinal County.

With all that in the air, Mesa hustled to complete the largest and most innovative zoning case in its history. Rather than a parcel-by-parcel prescription, the “community plan” divides DMB’s property into nine irregularly shaped “development units,” each with an overarching land-use theme. Housing is allowed in each area – a total of 15,000 units for the entire project – even if the neighborhood’s overall theme is industrial.

Image courtesy of GM 2014

Construction Around Arizona

Wesley said his interest only grew when DMB emerged as the buyer. “I started a dialogue … about their intentions and expressed our willingness to try something different for this area.” That led to a new general plan category – “mixed-use community” – and innovative zoning concepts. The aim was flexibility while adhering to high design and development standards. As Wesley fine-tuned those ideas, DMB in 2007 began hosting highprofile community forums to ensure public buy-in.

John Bradley, who was managing the project for DMB at the time, said it would evolve in phases over generations. “We expect it to have a true urban component, relatively high density, and we expect it to attract jobs that no one has thought of attracting into this environment before,” Bradley said. Bradley is now the senior vice president of Brookfield Residential Properties, Eastmark’s strategic partner.

The vision included potential future high-rise business corridors, one at the now-desolate corner of Elliot and Ellsworth roads. The proximity to the airport led several planners to use the term “aerotropolis” in early presentations, the word denoting cities owing their existence largely to airports rather than vice-versa.

According to Trevor Barger, a designer hired by DMB, that vision emerged from several others that were considered early on. An urban center seems the most likely outcome, he said, because the land is smack between the already existing East Valley and

Twenty four

Mesa annexed the DMB parcel and approved the zoning in October 2008. But although the city and DMB wanted to fasttrack construction, the economy had other ideas. Early plans for a large resort complex near Elliot Road are on hold as the resort industry pulls out of the recession.

Homebuilding was delayed, too.

But a lull of two or three years won’t break a project designed to unfold over the course of at least that many decades. And the slowdown gave DMB time for several things. One was to rethink the project’s name, aiming at something more evocative of the future than the past. In early 2012 the land was rechristened “Eastmark, the heart and hub of the East Valley.”

Another was to jump on board with Mesa, the state, and economic development agencies when First Solar Inc. of Tempe was siting a massive solar-panel factory in early 2011. Eastmark won the project.

A third was demolition. GM had left 59 buildings, 74 miles of test track and piles of furniture, all of which had to be removed.

DMB contracted with Reclamation Sciences LLC of Phoenix to recycle almost everything, down to and including the blacktop.

Eastmark seemed to have suffered another setback when First Solar mothballed Top: Testing of the futuristic Firebird III prototype at the GM Proving Grounds, 1958.

Left: Oldsmobiles at GM Proving Grounds, 1957.

Construction Around Arizona Top left: Eastmark Community Center, 2014.

Right: New BASIS Mesa School building, 2014.

Twenty six

chunk of any city. But DMB aims to create a place that is more than the sum of those parts. McDonald said DMB’s aspirations have not dimmed in the nearly eight years

…aimed at creating a community that will evolve organically over time - and that could mean, literally, centuries.

Images courtesy of GM 2014

its factory before production could begin.

But in a historic case of turning lemons into lemonade, DMB and its governmental partners again hustled in 2013 when a large company – identity at first unknown – vetted the plant for its own operations. That company turned out to be Apple Inc., which leased the plant to a subsidiary making high-tech glass for consumer products.

The Apple deal made world headlines and put an exclamation point on a year when Eastmark began to emerge as a true community. Under the flags of seven highquality builders, Eastmark opened its first residential neighborhoods in June 2013, just north of Ray Road. On-site education is available from BASIS, one of America’s leading charter schools. In addition, Sequoia Pathfinder Academy at Eastmark offers a STEM-based elementary-level program. Up next: An active-adult community south of Ray Road, debuting next year. Planning for a commercial center and an “executive enclave” of high-end homes also is under way.

Of course, you’ll find homes, factories, stores and schools in any five-square-mile

since it bought the land. “We haven’t lost focus on the vision of the community,” he said. “We’re very focused on trying to attract major employers.” He said interest from large-scale users has been strong ever since the Apple deal was announced.

Barger said Eastmark’s entitlements are aimed at creating a community that will evolve organically over time – and that could mean, literally, centuries. “So many places in suburban America are designed as beautiful static places,” he said. “When they are completed and sold, the only thing allowed to grow is the landscape. Eastmark strives to be a beautiful and alive place.” The innovative zoning already in place will allow for natural change – for example, people living in apartments above their own businesses.

Even the Great Park winding through the middle of Eastmark will play a role, Barger said. In time it could be a “major civic destination much like Central Park in New York City, but likely with a little less density surrounding it for the first 150 years.”

Eventually, he said, someone could be born, grow up, work in and grow old in Eastmark. “The best, most sought-after towns and cities in the world manage to provide these simple, yet often elusive, qualities. Eastmark strives to be just such a place.”

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Industry Highlights ADOT Concludes Interstate 11 Feasibility Study The glittering lights of Las Vegas might just become a little closer to the Valley if a proposed new Interstate highway is built.

The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT), in partnership with the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT), has spent the past two years working on a feasibility study for the proposed Interstate 11 corridor that would link the two states.

Interstate 11, if built, would connect Phoenix to Las Vegas, and possibly continue south to Nogales and north to Canada.

The feasibility study is the initial step in the Interstate 11 project, and analyzes the need for investing time and resources into further development and construction of the highway. This particular study, which was completed and submitted to the Arizona State Transportation Board on October 10th, recommended that the state move forward in developing Interstate 11.

The next step is a three-year National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) study that is required in order to receive Federal funds.

The Arizona State Transportation Board, however, has yet to fund the estimated $60 million NEPA study.

Interstate 11 would benefit the Intermountain West as a multi-modal corridor, according to the feasibility study.

More than just improving U.S. Highway 93 that currently links Phoenix and Las Vegas, the corridor also has possibilities for both freight and passenger rail. Interstate 11 would also facilitate international commerce in the region by making it easier to move freight through Nogales, which is a major port of entry along the Mexican border.

For the complete feasibility study, see http://i11study.com/wp/. - Lee Addis local WineCafe, Postino which opened in 2001.

Renovation Brings Joy to The Joyride Taco House project was Gilbert’s Heritage District designed by the architectural firm Shepley Bulfinch and included the construction of a The historic downtown Gilbert building dining room, full kitchen, extensive bar area, that formerly housed the Grainbelt Grill restrooms and patio seating. The 3,400 House, and four previous restaurants, has square-foot space features splashes of color been renovated for the Joyride Taco House from floor to ceiling, most noticeably from at 302 North Gilbert Road. The adaptive the custom-made concrete tiles imported reuse project was undertaken by Hardison from Mexico and the salvaged steering Downey Construction Company, Phoenix. wheels and headlights, all working together For Upward Projects led by owner Craig to create a vintage-inspired vibe. Signature DeMarco, who looks for buildings with garage doors adorn both the front and back architectural and/or historical significance of the building, creating a breezeway and for their restaurants. The Upward Projects two distinct patios that provide a laid-back group currently operates six other dining experience. restaurants including the Valley’s original Horizontal Directional Drilling Academy Learn about the planning, designing, and construction of utility and pipeline projects from industry leaders while earning 1.8 CEUs in Tempe on February 18-20, 2015.

This program is for all levels of stakeholders within the utility pipeline industry including owners, regulators, contractors, and engineers. For more information and/or to register, visit hddacademy.com or call 330467-7588. Register before January 1st and save $100, limited seating available.

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NAU Students Served by Hardison Downey Project The Hardison Downey Company officially began construction on the Northern Arizona University (NAU) Student & Academic Services (SAS) Building with a groundbreaking ceremony on September 16th. University officials and dignitaries, including NAU President Dr. Rita Cheng, were on hand and spoke at the event. “Part of helping students succeed is removing obstacles in their path,” Dr. Cheng said. “This one-stop shop will go far toward making their lives at NAU easier.”

The project consists of the construction of a four-story, 83,000 square-foot building situated on a one-acre site in the middle of the NAU campus. When completed, the building will be the new home for student services including admissions, financial aid, registration, and orientation; faculty and staff offices; the new Lumberjack Mathematics Center; and a 5,000 squarefoot auditorium with seating capacity for 154 people. The project will seek Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification.

Hardison Downey, which has been laying the utility groundwork for this project since the summer, will turn the building over to NAU in October 2015. The university will open the SAS building in January 2016. Once complete, the convenient location will offer easy access to the NAU Bookstore, University Union and San Francisco Street parking garage.

Sunstate Hosts ARA Fall Fiesta Katie Mayer

A

group of about 50 gathered on October 23 at Sunstate Equipment Company in Phoenix to dine, learn, and network for the American Rental Association (ARA) of Arizona’s fall meeting and elections. The evening kicked off with a cocktail reception, followed by dinner, door prizes, and updates from ARA Board Vice President Larry Cox and ARA Director of State Government Affairs Alysia Ryan. U.S. Congressman David Schweikert was on the evening’s agenda, but did not attend.

“It is just before the election, so we want to make sure people are really plugged in,” Cox said. “We really wanted to be of

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value and make a contribution to local and national legislation.”

Located in Moline, Illinois, ARA is the international nonprofit trade association for the equipment rental business, including manufacturers and suppliers of rental equipment. The ARA has about 4,000 member companies in every U.S. state and Canadian Province, and in more than 30 countries worldwide. In Arizona, there are about 50 companies represented.

The ARA of Arizona meetings are held each spring and fall and are hosted by different companies in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Patrick Gallagher, a sales rep with Ditch Witch, attended the fall event with other members of his company, which sponsored the evening’s Mexican food dinner. “We wanted to make sure our fingers are on the pulse of the industry and also find out what we can do to support ARA,” Gallagher said.

ARA Board Member Ross Richards, of Ross Aerial Equipment in Phoenix, called ARA of Arizona “cohesive” and said he appreciates the fellowship among members.

“It’s a neat thing when all of our competitors

and associate members can get together and benefit from one another,” Richards said.

During the meeting, members elected Spencer Nally, who works for Apache Rentals and is the son of current Board President Bob Nally, to the board as well as Roger Curtis, national account manager for Sunstate Equipment Company. The two will join the board January 1, when the terms end for Bob Nally and Larry Cox. The board also expressed interest in electing Ross Richards as the next president.

Following elections, Ryan provided the legislative update to the group and reminded members of the importance of voting in the upcoming election. Ryan also updated the group on Section 179 – an initiative that the ARA has made a priority for the past decade. A key bill backed by ARA and approved earlier this year by the House of Representatives would restore applicable expenses to $500,000 annually on purchases or leases of qualified equipment of up to $2 million. The bill is awaiting action in the Senate.

At the state level, the ARA of Arizona was successful in encouraging the passage of important legislation, but were unable to see the results, as all of their key bills were vetoed by the governor.

Still, the board believes the future is bright, as the ARA Rental Market Monitor

Images courtesy of author

five-year forecast is anticipating steady growth in 2015, which will continue through 2016. Also, North American rental revenue is predicted to reach $51.7 billion and the ARA remains engaged in Washington D.C. Earlier this year, nearly 80 ARA members from 37 states traveled to the Capitol to meet with U.S. representatives and• senators during ARA’s National Legislative Caucus. Members also advocated for key industry-related causes through supporting ARAPAC, which is the ARA Political Action Committee that focuses on advocating ARA policy in Washington D.C. Ryan said she will continue working with the state associations to help them

“find their voice and a passion for advocacy.” She added, “It’s about being of service to people and adding value to the rental industry.”

For more information on the ARA of Arizona visit http://az.ararental.org/ Across top, left to right: ARA Regional Director Beth Hoff Blackmer and EDCO National Sales Manager Tony Calcopietro; Ross Richards and Larry Cox presenting information; Larry Cox of Sunstate Equipment Co. and Rory Robinson of Appel's Rent All. Top left to right: Ross Richards, owner of Ross Equipment Rental and Doug Click, owner of Arizona Hi-Lift; Bo Adams and Darryl Switzer with

Vermeer Sales Southwest; Sales Manager Rick Penkert with Genie Company, and Roger Curtis, National Account Manager with Sunstate Equipment Co. Across bottom left to right: Spencer Nally, Apache Equipment Rentals and Ryan Yocum, Meridian Pacific Sales; Larry Long, owner of Oracle Road Rent-All in Tucson and Sky Jack Territory Manager Steve Floe; Ron Checketts of Apache Equipment Rentals, Larry Cox of Sunstate Equipment Co., and Shawn Porter of Apache Equipment Rentals; Patrick Gallager, sales representative with DitchWitch of Arizona who was the raffle winner of the ¼ page ad with Arizona Contractor & Community magazine.

In It for the Long Haul: James Bond Trucking Maureen E. Towne

An Arizona Sand & Rock Company Marion power shovel loads a James Bond truck (JB-1), 1948.

Image courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

I

n the 1950s while fictional British Secret Service agent James Bond sauntered around penthouses in his tuxedo with a martini, shaken not stirred, the real James Bond was hauling material in one of his growing fleet of trucks in an equally beautiful location near the Vermillion Cliffs in northern Arizona. Bond and his trucking company were helping construct a 25-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 89A from Bitter Springs to Page. With each load, Bond passed the region’s stunning red rocks and marveled at their changing colors. This was his most interesting job - and he had many exciting construction projects in Arizona before he retired at age 83 in 2003.

Bond is a self-made man, known for his trustworthiness and unfailing work ethic.

Beyond his business savvy, Bond is an innovator who solved big problems in bold ways. And yet, he is modest about his accomplishments.

He started out as a determined teenager, making a name for himself in Flagstaff during the Great Depression.

Eventually, he built up his Phoenix-based business, the James Bond Trucking Company, to 100 vehicles, a fleet unheard of in the construction business.

Born in Oklahoma in 1920, Bond moved when he was five years old with his parents to Flagstaff due to his mother’s health. “It really agreed with her,” recalls Bond. “She lived to be 102 years old.” Raised on a farm, Bond had an early start behind the wheel.

“I drove trucks hauling water to cattle when I was 10 years old. I knew how to change gears and all that.”

In 1936, when Bond was 16, Lee Moor Contracting Company was servicing U.S. Highway 89A from Flagstaff to the top of Oak Creek Canyon. It was summertime, and as soon as he was out of school, Bond asked to ride in the trucks to see what they were doing. “In those days an old farmer with a truck would work wherever he could

find it, and these were the guys hauling material for the Lee Moor job,” Bond says.

“Most didn’t know how to drive very well.”

The driving job, however, required a chauffer’s license which one had to be 18 to obtain. So, armed with teenage moxie, Bond stretched the truth about his age and passed the test. He displayed his new chauffeur’s license at the Lee Moor jobsite and said, “Let me show you how to drive this truck.” Bond was hired since he already had a reputation as a hard working and reliable young man, with mechanical expertise. He continued working there for seven years when jobs were scarce because he could take a load quicker than anyone else. Bond had a reputation for staying until the job was done and wouldn’t leave if something had to be fixed.

Bond bought his first truck and trucking permit in 1943 from Andy Anderson, who had been doing Phoenix deliveries for Don Kelly of Arizona Sand & Rock Company (ASR) for 14 years. Before the purchase, Bond approached Kelly and verified that if he

bought the truck he would continue Andy’s hauling work for ASR in Phoenix. Bond completed the purchase and hauled asphalt, hot mix, sand, gravel, and Redimix for ASR for the next 14 years.

Bond subsequently purchased two more trucks. He later bought 17 more trucks from his old boss, J.D. Williams. However, Bond would not hire any of William’s drivers as he trained all of his staff himself. Back then, all contractors were union members.

Next, Bond helped finance a shovel used to feed rock crushers, which would be

operated by two associates from Pine, Arizona. The more talented operator eventually quit over a disagreement with the other and left to work in South America in 1948. Bond was left with the payments and a shovel he didn’t especially want. So, he approached Kelly with a proposal. “I have a shovel I don’t have any business with. You have a lot of trucks you don’t have any business with.” In exchange for all of Kelly’s trucks, Bond gave him the shovel. With such a large fleet of trucks, a solid working relationship, and a reputation of excellence,

the James Bond Trucking Company was subsequently called for every job ASR had until Kelly sold the business.

The James Bond Trucking Company eventually spread out over Arizona for work after Kelly sold ASR. Yet, construction projects came easily for Bond since there wasn’t a lot of competition and he had a great reputation. “I had a good name before I ever got in the trucking business. I worked real hard,” Bond recalls. “Now, most small material companies haul their own material.”

Bond’s next major contract was with the Wallace and Wallace Contracting Company which hired his firm for the construction of the Grand Canyon Highway, stretching from Jacob Lake to the North Rim. Bond explained that Wallace told him, “Anytime you say you’ll do all of my work, I’ll sell all of my trucks and give it to you.”

Once Bond’s U.S. Highway 89A job was finished, his company acquired additional trucks and did all of the hauling for Wallace and Wallace.

Another major account awarded because of Bond’s reputation was with Kiewit Construction when they entered the Arizona market. Bond’s company also hauled material for the auxiliary airstrip at Goodyear, where ASR laid “road mix.”

Material was mixed on site, dumped into Bond’s trucks which would feed the Barber Greene laydown machine. Bond also worked for M.M. Sundt, hauling all the asphalt for Davis Monthan Air Force base in 1953-54. For this project, they built up a three-axle truck to haul 30 tons of asphalt to keep on schedule.

In the early 1970s, the North and South runways at Sky Harbor Airport were scheduled for rehabilitation, and Bond’s company worked on both projects. The existing North runway had been built on silt, and due to heavy rains and the weight of larger airplanes shifting the ground below, the runway was in poor shape. The contractor was Mesa Paving, which hired Bond’s company for all the hauling. Initially, the job required removal of river rock and silt, 15 feet in depth, with a LeTourneau paddle scraper. An innovation of Bonds made the job easier. He attached a 60-inch conveyor belt to the LeTourneau so that the silt could be scraped up, and the paddles would deposit material directly onto the conveyor, which dropped it into the trucks.

As a counterweight, Bond attached a oneinch-thick, steel plate box on the scrapers

Images courtesy of Mike Denny MDI Rock Image courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

opposite side so they wouldn’t tip over. The new system could load 44 yards of material in 44 seconds. Since the operator and truck driver could see each other, they were able move in unison. This innovation was later used by other companies, including M.M. Sundt.

While Bond was operating his trucking business, he concurrently owned the Desert View Farm dairy in rural Glendale. The dairy benefitted from his innovative ideas.

Disliking wooden corrals, with their rusty nails and constant maintenance, Bond became the first in the region to build steel pipe corrals. He was also a pioneer in constructing a concrete slab for the manger, so that a Massey Ferguson tractor could Top left: Interior of a James Bond truck. Top right: Bond used 80 and 100 ton trucks for the Sky Harbor project, 1970. Top: Wabco elevating scraper and attached conveyer upgrading Sky Harbor runway for 747 jumbo jet aircraft, 1970.

Right: Bond and ASR out at the Sky Harbor Runway project, 1949.

Arizona Contractor & Community

Image courtesy of Sundt Construction, Inc

scrape off the cow manure. “We would keep it clean, it was really nice,” Bond recalls. He also built a large shade structure for his dairy cows, which was later adopted by other dairies.

When he retired in 2003, Bond’s company had 100 trucks and employed 50 full time drivers at their facility at 12 East Hidalgo Avenue in south Phoenix. Bond speaks highly of his former employees, excellent drivers that he could depend upon.

“That’s how you keep track of 100 trucks,” Bond says.

Like the fictional James Bond, the real Bond is remarkable in his own right. At the same time, he is similar to so many men of his generation. Bond made his own way, ethically, through hard work and determination. “It just takes a lot of work.

Stay on the job and don’t get mixed up in the alcohol and all that,” Bond says in response to his business success. “There

aren’t many people that work like I do. And there are not many people’s wives who would put up with it. We’d been married 75 years; we were just kids when we got married. We had three children, a girl and two boys.” At this, he beams with pride.

After all of his accomplishments as a businessman and innovator, James Bond is most proud of his family.

Top: James Bond delivers asphalt to M. M. Sundt at Davis Monthan base, 1953.

Billy Horner and I had the pleasure of meeting James Bond this summer courtesy of his friend, Mike Denny of MDI Rock. We met at MDI’s remarkable new headquarters in north Phoenix. It’s the kind of place that is too manly to describe as “gorgeous,” but it is impressive. Denny benefitted from the coaching of Bond when he started his company in 1988.

With a fleet of his own crisp trucks, emblazoned with red flames coming from their grills, Denny also has two of the original trucks from the James Bond Trucking Company. You’ll find these old beauties displayed out front of his company’s offices at 815 East Rose Garden Lane in Phoenix.

Right: James Bond and Mike Denny pose by vintage James Bond dump trucks at MDI Rock.

Thirty six

Image courtesy of author

Uncovering James Bond

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Radiant Roadsides: M Paul Millet’s Neon Legacy Douglas Towne

Thirty eight

any dream of seeing their name in neon lights, but only a select few are able to construct such dazzling public displays. These talented craftsmen skillfully balance artistry and engineering to erect signs that are alluring painted structures by day and mystical glowing spectacles at night. The symbols and designs they use to advertise businesses contribute to the cultural landscape, shaping each community’s sense of place.

Although their roadside creations are viewed more frequently than acclaimed art in museums, sign makers are largely anonymous artisans.

One of Arizona’s most prolific sign fabricators was Paul Millet, who worked during the golden age of the American roadside that blossomed after World War II. The many signs his company created influenced how people perceived the state, especially the East Valley. Some are still aglow and one, the “Diving Lady” sign in Mesa, has become a celebrated Americana landmark after being recently refurbished thanks to community donations led by the Mesa Preservation Foundation. “My father was very proud of his work,” his daughter, Deborah Nelson, says. “As we traveled around Mesa, he would point out the signs he constructed. There were so many, it was exhausting.”

The Paul Millet Sign Company began in 1948 and crafted countless neon displays when there were few sign regulations and such roadside lights were standard advertising for businesses. The company survived subsequent decades when neon signs were often viewed as garish blight and ordinances limited their size and placement.

Millet, fortunately, lived long enough to experience the pendulum swing back as a new generation appreciated the artistry of his signs. “I never expected to get to this point where there’s such an awareness of how signs were part of our commercial development and how they affected people’s lives,” Millet told the East Valley Tribune in 2001.

Millet, whose glowing creations were unconsciously burned into the memories of generations of Valley residents, found his calling as a teenager. His family owned a citrus nursery located at Southern Avenue and Mesa Drive that supplied trees for most of the orchards that were planted in the East Valley. Although his family wanted him to take over the horticulture business, Millet worked as a produce manager at Wright’s

The many signs his company created influenced how people perceived the state.

Market, a grocery store that was popular in Mesa in the 1930s. It was during this time that he discovered his talent, drawing sales signs on butcher paper for display on the store windows. “Mr. Wright was a long-time friend and a good resource for Dad in his career,” Nelson says.

Millet did purchase his parent’s nursery and dabbled in the sign business before enlisting in the Army during World War II in 1943. He participated in the Okinawa invasion and was later part of the occupation forces in Korea after the Japanese surrender. “My father was shocked by the terrible poverty he encountered there,” Nelson recalls.

The Korean post proved important to Millet’s career, as he became friends with military sign painter, Stan Russon. After being discharged, Millet worked briefly for the Guerrero-Lindsey Sign Company in Mesa. They wouldn’t pay him journeyman’s wages, however, so he launched his own sign business. Soon afterward, he hired Russon who was in Salt Lake City attending college and working at an art studio. “We started in 1948 in a little cinderblock building he had built on his farm property at South Mesa Drive,” Russon says. “Except for five years after I was married in 1951, I worked for him until 1968. During that time, we expanded our operation four times.”

The company employed talented artists, salesmen, sheet metal and steel workers, painters, and electricians. Millet was familiar with all these skills but excelled in sign painting. ”Dad did freehand painting

and had beautiful handwriting,” Nelson says.

“I think I can recognize his signs by how he formed letters on them.”

Sign painting is a skilled profession, given the variety of letter styles and fonts.

“Consider the range of demands: would you use the same lettering for a sign advertising a tractor as for a dainty handkerchief?”

Russon asks. “It would be interesting to know how many company logos were created when a painter lettered a sign on a truck door or store front.”

Millet became a self-taught neon artisan. “Dad hired a neon tube bender who quit after not getting a raise,” Nelson says.

“My father had studied him at work and figured out how to do it himself.”

“Paul became a proficient tube bender, competing with the best,” Russon concurs.

“He would heat and form a glass tube, attach electrodes at each end, and pump gas into it before sealing off the ends. The patterns for shaping these neon lights were on asbestos sheeting so the red-hot tubes

wouldn’t set them afire. The tubes were supported on glass stands and powered by a transformer.”

When Millet started his sign company, the post-war economy was soaring from pent-up demand for consumer products.

“Everything was worn out or had been improved so much, that business was phenomenal,” Russon recalls. “There were restaurants, motels, hotels, theaters, driveins, and shopping centers full of businesses which not only needed simple identification, but wanted a flash that would get some attention.”

Two of the most notable signs Millet’s company created were the Round Up DriveIn Theater in Scottsdale that featured a 30-foot-tall cowboy and an animated Across page: Paul Millet. Top right: The cowboy atop the Round Up Drive-In Theater, Scottsdale. Bottom left: Harman's Ranch Restaurant, Mesa. Bottom right: Northern Drive-In Theatre, Phoenix.

Arizona Contractor & Community

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The company’s most famous creation was their first animated sign: the Starlite Motel’s “Diving Lady” in Mesa. greyhound at the Apache Junction dog track.

They also created signs for Harmon’s Ranch Restaurant in Tempe, the Sands Drive In, Motta’s Restaurant, the Lost Dutchman Lodge, Pete’s Fish and Chips, and Jack Adam’s Alligator Farm in Mesa.

“The alligator farm went out of business, probably in the early 1960s,” Nelson recalls. “There was an urban legend that the alligators were let loose in Saguaro Lake but none were ever found.”

The company’s most famous creation was their first animated sign: the Starlite Motel’s “Diving Lady” in Mesa. The motel was built in 1958 by Bud and Dick Kaesler from Syracuse, Kansas. “The brothers took turns running the motel every other week,” says Marta Kaesler-Maroon. “The customers stayed for months at a time, the same ones year after year. They were very social and became good friends to our family and one another.”

“The Starlite had a beautiful swimming pool and the Kaeslers asked for something that would draw attention.

Paul suggested a diving girl in motion,” Russon recalls. “I drew it up with her at the top of a dive, then two full-length bodies descending into a splash. After we made the sale, I laid out the patterns for the metal bodies and neon tubes and painted it.”

"I loved to create things. I came up with the idea about the girl, and Stan put it on paper. He and I could really connect," Millet told the Arizona Republic in 2007.

The majority of Millet’s customers were in the East Valley, but the company also erected signs in Flagstaff, Tucson, Globe, Holbrook, Show Low, PinetopLakeside, and Springerville. Millet had a small sign shop and camping trailer in Lakeside, which facilitated work in the White Mountain communities.

In his later years, Millet also taught neon classes and did custom design work, such as the neon display featured in singer Eddie Rabbit’s TV special in the early 1980s. He enjoyed keeping in touch with his former employees including Sam Gaona, Mars Roulier, Leo Himmelberg, Bruce Hancock, John Cormick, Jim Moore,

Artimus Millet, Noble King, Jack Nagle, Bill Horner, Maynard and Stan Russon, and Bernard Bolden. Millet also began to reflect on his impressive legacy. “These weren’t just signs, these were real art. I made some real beauties in those days, especially for the drive-in theaters,” he told the Arizona Republic in 1997.

Millet had an impressive half-century run with his company, but there were some challenges. “His older brother said that Dad wasn’t a businessman, he was a sign man. He could have made a lot more money if he hadn’t underbid so many projects,” Nelson recalls.

His company also suffered from the “Beautify America” campaign and passage of the Lady Bird Johnson Highway Beautification Act of 1965. “The first lady saw all signs as eyesores,” Nelson grumbles. “Paul also fought the City of Mesa, which increased sign restrictions and fees. He tried to avoid working in Tempe and Scottsdale because of these reasons.”

Millet had trouble letting go of the sign business, even when it pertained to his daughter’s homework. “I had to do some posters for school and purchased stencils to use,” Nelson recalls. “Dad was so displeased with the results that he insisted on doing the posters himself.”

This personality trait carried over to Millet’s business. “His grandson, Rob, worked with him for many years and could have taken over the company but father let the business fold,” Nelson laments.

Millet sold the shop in 1998, moved the business to his house; many of his artistic sign renderings and some salvaged signs were lost in the transition.

Millet passed away in 2008 at age 88 but his work lives on. “Visible signs of Paul Millet will linger in Arizona for a long time,” Russon reflects.

Across top left clockwise: The Roundup Theater, Scottsdale; Nutmeg Motel, Velda Rose Motor Hotel, Winter Garden Motel, Lost Dutchman Motel, and Watson's Flower Shop, all Mesa.

Right: Starlite Motel, Mesa.

Arizona Contractor & Community

Turning Dirt into Gold: The Isbell Construction Company

Images courtesy of John Ward

M

J.J.M. Czep

ules aren’t used for much these days, aside from carrying tourists into and out of the Grand Canyon. These beasts of burden, however, were once the foundation of a company that grew to become one of the leading construction outfits in the West: the Isbell Company. Specializing in highway construction and later open pit mining, the company was formed in the early 1910s in San Diego as a partnership between John Wesley (J.W.) Isbell, and his four sons; Clement (C.V.), Wilmer (W.J.), Guy (G.V.), and Roy (R.S.). The business relocated to Nevada in 1924 and was formally incorporated in 1931 in Carson City. Isbell later moved to Reno where their gravel pit eventually became the lake at the MGM Hotel, now called the Sierra Grand Resort.

For more than 50 years until the company dissolved in 1965, the forte of the family-run operation was moving material for building roads, highways, airports, and earth-fill dams. Isbell also did road paving, but earthmoving was their specialty. When open pit mining became prevalent in the 1930s, Isbell was a leader in transporting overburden and ore in the pits. Besides Nevada and California, the company worked on construction projects or mines in Arizona (where they had a regional office), New Mexico, Oregon, Idaho, Washington, Utah, Colorado, and the Northwest Territory of Canada.

Isbell got their start building roads in San Diego County using mules which hauled Fresno scrapers and dump wagons. Out of a team of 30 mules, J.W. had a favorite pair named Red and Blue. After moving to Nevada, R.S. wanted to purchase a Top: Isbell family, G.V., W.J., and R.S. (l-r, standing), J.W. (sitting) and C.V. Left: "Mike" drives mules as R.S. Isbell (with hat) works the grader in California's San Joaquin Valley, 1918.

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Tucson

(520) 682-4063

Sierra Vista

(520) 378-2321

Globe

(928)425-5775

Phoenix

(602) 416-2652

Flagstaff

(928) 526-5250

Prescott

(928) 443-9207

Camp Verde

(928) 567-0893

Yuma

(928) 343-4150

Bullhead

(928) 763-1022

Images courtesy of John Ward

motorized shovel to facilitate road construction. J.W. and his other sons, however, harbored a fondness for using beasts of burden.

The company’s transition from mule to mechanized power was influenced by a tragic accident. One evening, the mules escaped from their corral and wandered into a narrow passage. Unfortunately, it was a railroad pass and a Southern Pacific train wiped out much of the herd. To help fund the purchase of a motorized shovel, J.W. had to sell off the surviving mules including his beloved Red and Blue. The sad story though, has a nice ending. “Many years later, J.W. was driving on a country road and heard the calls of a pair of mules,” his grandson John Ward says. “J.W. felt sure he recognized their voices and met the new owner of Red and Blue. The mules were well and working hard for their new master.”

R.S. was tasked with learning how to operate Isbell’s new mechanical shovel. He became skilled with the machine and was a mentor to a young man, Cotton Newton, who would work as a shovel operator for the company for more than 50 years. Isbell eventually added Best and Caterpillar tractors, more power shovels, and pneumatic-tired trucks to their fleet. Other upgrades included replacing a steam roller with a power roller, and motor graders replaced the pull blades.

The Isbell family members led conservative lives amid the 24-hour excitement of the gambling and divorce mecca of Reno, and were noted for their serious, quiet, and hard-working demeanors. “They are notably thrifty, and

take care never to throw away anything that could possibly be used on future jobs,” notes a company brochure. “Their credit has always been good, they have a reputation for being able to work and work hard, and they are constantly taking on bigger and more difficult jobs."

The Isbell’s did, however, have lighter sides. On a highway construction project, the Isbell Company was required, for aesthetic reasons, to remove any loose rocks that did not blend in with the natural redcolored geology. When a road cut blast showered white rocks along the highway, W.J. decided to simply paint some boulders to match the background color rather than moving them.

C.V., who has been called the father of open pit mining, was credited as being the key to the Isbell’s success by Edward L. Pine, who was the company’s last president in the 1960s. C.V. was one of the first to show that highway equipment could be used to cut costs in open-pit mining. C.V. convinced Consolidated Copper Mines in Nevada in the 1930s to move material with a truck and shovel rather than on rail cars in open pit mines according to the University of Reno website, knowledgecenter.unr.edu/specoll/ mss/94-44.html. Vehicle roads could be built on steeper slopes than was possible with railroad tracks, thereby allowing excavation of deeper pits. The Isbell Company later expanded to Arizona to

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two lead-zinc mines in Washington; sulfur and uranium mines in New Mexico; two manganese mines in Nevada; and a manganese mine in New Mexico. To transport personnel and field repair materials to these widely dispersed jobsites, the Isbell Company owned five airplanes.

Especially with highway construction, often there was no road to travel by vehicle to the jobsite so Isbell personnel found it more efficient to fly.

Isbell had so many construction projects throughout the West that new employees like Bill Conover didn’t immediately realize

Top left: Shovel operator coaxing a large bolder onto the Euclid (Yuke or Euc) rock truck in an Arizona mine. Top right: At his desk, Bill Conover with Branco Machinery, 2014.

Bottom: Isbell Construction with new service truck at their yard on 83rd Ave and Olive avenues, 1962.

Images courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

capitalize on the booming copper mining industry, but they also constructed roads in the state too, including working on Route 66 from Williams to Flagstaff.

J.W., the company patriarch, retired in 1949 and passed away four years later. The four sons took over the operations, each managing one aspect of the company: C.V. was the administrator and negotiated contracts; W.J. was in charge of the mechanical equipment, gravel and asphalt plants, and repair shops; G.V. managed the financial affairs; and R.S. organized the jobs.

Their respective personalities were described in a company brochure: ● "C.V. is tense and dynamic and is noted for keeping his mind on his work at all times and generally falls asleep while still talking business. He superintends the stripping operations at Ray, Arizona." ● "W.J., on the other hand, is more cautious and relaxed. His headquarters is at Reno, managing the head office and all highway contracts and generally acting as a brake upon his more impetuous brother.” ● “G.V. and R.S. are in the field supervising the Kimberly and Silver City operations respectively. During the company meetings they serve as a balance between the two older brothers."

During the 1950s, the Isbell Company was a huge outfit. Besides many highway projects, the firm had jobs in nine copper pits in Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico;

the extent of the company. “One afternoon I was standing outside the machine shop and I saw this plane coming in low,” Conover says. “I thought for sure it was going to crash into the building because there were no airports nearby.” The plane did indeed come down, but without a crash, or a fuss. As Conover walked to the far side of the buildings, he was shocked to see that Isbell had a landing strip and there was the plane parked on it. When Conover found out the passenger was the company’s head mechanic, the apprentice knew he wanted the job one day.

Conover was subsequently awarded “Apprentice of the Year” and later was named head mechanic. The new position allowed him to fly to distant Isbell projects.

Seeing the West was a job bonus but it was the joy of working for this family-oriented company, however, that gave Conover the most satisfaction. He and his fellow employees felt as though they were part of something special during their time with Isbell.

As the four Isbell brothers aged, conflicts emerged about the company’s future as early as 1944. The transfer of stock shares to their children, beginning in 1950,

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only added to management disagreements.

Starting in the 1950s, the company also had problems with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) because of incorrect accounting methods for depreciating heavy equipment, according to the University of Reno website.

In 1960 the Isbell Company bought out the eldest brother, C. V. By 1961, the company could no longer obtain bonding because of family animosities and IRS problems. Ed Pine was elected president of the company in the early 1960s to solve these problems but resigned in 1965. That year, R.S. became too ill to function as director, and the decision was made to sell the company. The youngest of the brothers had already passed his 70th birthday.

The Isbell Company was eventually sold to A. N. Pritzker of Chicago in 1965. Pritzker turned around and sold all the mining equipment to the Duval Company. The inventory of the Arizona division of Isbell’s highway construction equipment was auctioned in Peoria, AZ beginning on February 28, 1966. Bidders came from all over, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Belgium, and Africa; it was called the largest sale of its kind in Arizona’s history. The following month, another auction occurred in Reno to sell off the company’s Nevada division equipment.

Although long gone from the construction business, the Isbell name is still envied by many for their honesty, workmanship, and reputation. The groundbreaking construction methods the company pioneered, especially with openpit mining, dramatically changed the industry.

Top left: Walking an Isbell shovel at a mine in Moab, Utah.

Top right: Building a road to the summit of Kitt Peak to the site of the National Solar Observatory.

Forty six

Images courtesy of Catherine Slye

M

y art project started literally beneath my feet, with my camera in one hand and a leash in the

other.

While walking my dog, I started noticing sidewalk stamps around downtown Phoenix. When I'd encounter an unusual or older imprint that I found fascinating I’d photograph it. I've always been interested in evidence of the past, especially signage, markers, and buildings.

My friend Marshall Shore, “Arizona's Hip Historian,” and I came up with the idea for an art show party on 2012 New Year's Eve. It was my impetus to capture one dated stamp for every year of Arizona's statehood for the upcoming centennial celebration.

My goal was to photograph 100 stamps.

My search for the stamps became a treasure hunt! There was no guarantee that I'd capture all 100. Every day I'd plan to walk a yet undiscovered section of Phoenix. I kept track of all the years I had and all the named but undated stamps that I found. Soon it was apparent that I was running out of places to walk, some old areas of Phoenix simply do not have sidewalks. By the close of 2012 I had amassed more than 150 sidewalk stamp images. Some were handwritten and these craftsmen’s signatures exuded pride in their work.

Sometimes, the stamps revealed how an entire neighborhood was constructed, street after street, in the same year by the same company. In the end, when I had 100

Concrete History: Valley Sidewalk Stamps Catherine Slye photographs printed and ready for the show, I did feel I accomplished my goal, which was to celebrate Arizona's Centennial.

I basically composed each shot the same; including my feet and/or my dog's feet is to show the only time these stamps are visible is when you walk. I also wanted to connect to the human element, to the people who did this skilled work.

These historic stamp images have significance as, over time, the concrete breaks and the sidewalk stamps are replaced with new material. Someday all the stamps I photographed will be gone, and the evidence of the people who created them will be erased.

This was more than an art or historical project for me. I wanted to show what is literally beneath our feet, a human history of what the people who came before us created. I think that is important to remember.

Catherine Slye is a Phoenix-based mixed media artist whose work focuses on the built environment. Working off her urban photographs, she creates new city vistas using paper, fabric, thread, and pencil. www.sewslye.com Arizona Contractor & Community

Just a Façade: The West’s Most Western Town John Larsen Southard

L

iberty Valance never walked the streets of Scottsdale, nor was there ever a 3:10 to Scottsdale or hordes of grizzled prospectors roaming the town’s saloons and back alleys in search of drunken debauchery. Indeed, Scottsdale’s founding postdates Geronimo’s surrender, the shootout at the OK Corral, and Frederick Jackson Turner proclaiming the American frontier closed. Despite this, midcentury Scottsdale leaders chose to recreate their once humble agricultural town into a roughhewn albeit glamorous destination presented as “The West’s Most Western Town.” Following the 1947 adoption of this still-in-use motto, business owners began recasting their modest looking town with a rather unexciting history into a charmingly rugged community with a captivating backstory. Their effort achieved great success and remains a key tenet of Scottsdale’s identity, as reflected in the city’s retention of the “Most Western Town” claim and the Scottsdale Convention & Visitors Bureau’s ongoing Western-themed

Forty eight

marketing campaigns. What prompted postwar Scottsdale leaders to eschew their town’s mundane-yet-respectable past and architectural heritage in favor of a Wild West narrative and a built environment that could be the backdrop for any number of Gunsmoke episodes?

The “Most Western Town” claim signified the beginning of Scottsdale’s new identity, a rebranding effort of lasting import. Following the lead of local business owner Malcolm White, Scottsdale merchants embraced a largely imagined Western-style architecture featuring posts, board-and-batten walls, hitching posts, and wood-shingled shade canopies. White, a longtime resident, drew on sources outside of his time in the town to visualize what would become Scottsdale’s new architectural persona. Reflecting upon the process of creating a frontier-like look for his buildings, White informed an Arizona Highways writer, “I’d just think about the pictures of towns I’d seen that looked western.” White’s style, alternately

described by observers and critics as “Western Revival,” “Dodge City western architecture style,” the “western harmony theme,” or “frontier movie set” led many to lightheartedly characterize the town’s look as “movie-set façade.” Some publications were more critical in their assessment, with Western Family magazine reporting, “the [West’s Most Western Town] slogan was coined for the tourist trade,” and “is a gross exaggeration.” A 1960 Saturday Evening Post article described how “the town shook off its dust and put on Western make-up for the vacationers,” but warned,” there is a good deal less to this cowboy act than meets the eye.” As an example, the Post reported, “one of the few businesses that failed in Scottsdale was an enterprise offering rides in an authentic stagecoach. Motor traffic was too heavy.”

The heavy automobile traffic cited by the Post reflects the significant transformation then unfolding in many postWorld War II Sunbelt cities. Historian Gerald Nash credits the war and its associated military facilities and defense plants with bringing the American West four decades of growth within the span of just four years. A creeping uniformity often accompanied this expansion, aided by the rise of ever-larger housing developments, the growing prominence of nationwide chain stores, and the homogenization of American culture resulting from the advent of nationally broadcast television programs. Scottsdale, soon to engage in a protracted annexation war with Phoenix, identified a need to differentiate itself from the rapidly swelling municipality to its west. While Phoenix is said to have gained its name because the modern community rose from the ashes of an ancient civilization, Scottsdale leaders adopted the “West’s Most Western Town” brand in an effort to engineer the somewhat fanciful rebirth of their not-yet-incorporated town. A 1952 Arizona Highways feature about the community notes, Scottsdale “[was] not thought of as a Phoenix suburb for it [had] a complete personality all its own.” That personality, summed up in the

Images courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Scottsdale leaders adopted the “West’s Most Western Town” brand in an effort to engineer the somewhat fanciful rebirth of their not-yet-incorporated town.

capturing the dollars of the many “tourists playing cowboy” found in the growing community. Press coverage of the town’s makeover included mention of winter visitors “seeking the relaxed simplicity of

article with the line, “you can go farther might be described as a Western look and west but you can’t go further,” was fully feel. Western clothier Saba’s soon opened embraced by the town’s residents and a Scottsdale location in the hopes of leaders. Phoenix had demonstrated community growth and prosperity through replacing adobe structures with more solidly constructed brick buildings and following contemporary architectural trends.

Scottsdale neglected to follow Phoenix’s progression from Victorian to Renaissance Revival to Art Deco and, in the post-World War II period, Modernist architecture, and instead looked to the past — real or imagined — for its new identity.

Scottsdale founder Winfield Scott was a Baptist minister who sought to harness the waters of the Arizona Canal to transform his desert parcel into an agricultural paradise.

Early residents engaged in farming, passed a temperance ordinance, and typically lived in tent houses with attached brush ramadas.

Aside from being known as an agricultural community, the town developed a reputation for being a tubercular retreat.

Just 75 residents called Scottsdale home at the turn of the twentieth century, a point at which the settlement was still two decades away from having electricity. The interwar period brought an increase in the number of winter guests and facilities to accommodate these visitors, many of whom sought out stereotypically Western activities and increasingly expected what

Bottom left: “The Town Pump” at Leo Miller’s Esso Gas Station in Scottsdale, 1964.

Top: Saba’s Western Store in Old Town Scottsdale, 1966.

Image courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

western living as they rode the desert trails and sang to the moon around chuck wagon fires under clear Arizona skies,” and reported, “if it was the west they wanted then Scottsdale would give it to them.”

Scottsdale’s newfound ‘Western heritage’ found its start in 1947 when the Chamber of Commerce declared the community “The West’s Most Western Town.” Beyond coining the new slogan, Chamber officials encouraged a Westernstyle design for new buildings and an Old West reimagining for existing commercial structures. Architect and Scottsdale Architecture author Doug Sydnor accurately summarized this request as one “to construct and remodel buildings with… a

Hollywood version of the Western Revival Style.” Commitment to this theme ran deep enough to warrant suggestions that residents and shopkeepers dress in a Western manner, causing one writer to remark, “Central Casting couldn’t have found more appropriately clad actors and dress extras for the little movie set town.”

Businessman Malcolm White initiated the trend of manufactured Old West architecture, or what author Jane Fudala describes as “Hollywoodesque Old West style” when he remodeled the first of his many buildings to resemble something that may have been found in the Wild West.

White’s well-received action set the stage

for the town’s coming Westernization schtick.

As stated in a 1950s tourist booklet, Scottsdale’s businessmen were “only too glad to cooperate” with the Chamber’s embrace of the town’s newly manufactured history. Scottsdale’s iconic cowboy wrangler sign, still standing in the heart of Old Town, first appeared in 1952. Companion lassobearing cowboy signs sprouted up alongside roadways near the town, signs announcing “horses have the right of way” stood at the city limits, and nighttime visitors were guided through the faux frontier town by “old-time gas lights.” Malcolm White’s remodel, a somewhat restrained prototype when compared to later Wild West-themed projects, boasted a wooden false-front, covered sidewalk, and “frontier-style lettering.” His interpretation of the Old West was followed by numerous other projects seeking to capture the frontier essence.

The Stable Gallery began life in 1927 as a modest home. Post-war changes to the then commercial structure conformed with the new Western ideal, including a wood façade, canopied sidewalk, frontier-style signage fashioned from rope, a hitching post, and decorative wagon wheels added for good measure. Lulu Belle, a popular Gay Nineties-style restaurant, was cited in the national press as “a $1,000,000-a-year culinary gold mine dressed down with clapboard, wagon wheels and shingles” where “you may sit within eyeshot of Bing Crosby or the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.” Similar remodel projects transformed an existing gas station into Jim Frederick’s Auto Livery Stable, an anachronistic garage housed in a building faced with board-and-batten walls and crowned with wooden shingles. The incongruity of the wood-faced service station paired well with the driver’s license office touted in a guidebook as “an excellent example of the business district’s western architectural theme.” Even the town’s new 1955 baseball stadium was bedecked in board-and-batten siding and other Western accoutrements. By 1956, a LIFE Magazine article entitled “Sands of the Desert Turn Gold” announced that the town “[had] spawned some 100 rustic shops with wooden fronts.”

More plausible applications of the Old West architectural style include the 1955 Top left: Promotional image for the United Way fund.

Arizona Contractor & Community

another article referred to Scottsdale as “more mink than manure, more Cadillac than cowboy.”

First National Bank building, described in a tourist booklet as having a “Wells Fargo Stage Station aspect,” the Bank of Douglas building that featured a roof-mounted covered wagon as its pièce de résistance, and the Territorial-style Valley National Bank building. Situated on the southeast corner of Scottsdale and Indian School roads, the Valley National office rewrote Scottsdale’s history in both a literal and symbolic sense as its location was first occupied by the nineteenth-century tent house of the Elliott family. Just as Valley National diverged from its standard course of midcentury branch design in deference to Scottsdale’s adopted theme, two national retailers also chose to do so in an effort to fit in with the local style.

The Sprouse-Reitz drugstore chain

constructed a Western-themed building noted in a city report for “departing from their signature corporate design” and Woolworth’s erected a “Western motif” building at the corner of Scottsdale and Main. The Howdy Dudettes, a group of Western-attired high school girls formed in 1959, was tasked with greeting tourists, participating in parades, and welcoming conventioneers to the ever-expanding Western wonderland.

While out-of-towners and visiting journalists may have understood the kitsch factor of the Old West look and chuckled at the irony of the many false-front façades and otherwise Disneyfied structures standing in town, it seems as if some locals bought into the idea of a gun slinging past

— or, at least they sold it as if they did. LIFE Magazine highlighted the town’s distinctive affluence and newness by stating, “among the communities now springing up over the sun-baked country, none has such conspicuous glitter as the gold-plated town of Scottsdale, Arizona.” A 1960 Saturday Evening Post article titled “The Town Millionaires Built: Scottsdale, Arizona, is a Dazzling Western Town Full of Culture, Offbeat Enterprises and Money, Money, Money…” detailed the town’s many lavish shops and well-heeled residents, while another article referred to Scottsdale as “more mink than manure, more Cadillac than cowboy.” The Post did acknowledge the area as having “the nation’s thickest concentration of ranches,” although these were not operations of the Ponderosa variety, but rather, “ranches devoted to breeding magnificent Arabian show horses to the specifications of the ranch owners, mostly retired Eastern and Midwestern businessmen.” Local pamphlets and guides, however, referenced the town’s highly salable yet largely nonexistent past with great zeal.

The Authentic History of Scottsdale, Arizona, a locally-published 1956 tourist booklet, claimed, “Scottsdale has preserved a truly western atmosphere, complete with hitching posts, wooden overhangs shading the sidewalks, and store fronts which look as though Billy the Kid might come storming out at any moment, blazing away with his six shooters and laden with loot.” A 1970s tourist booklet continued the preservation theme, informing readers that, “Scottsdale residents take great pride in their southwestern heritage, and they get particularly excited about the history of their town. Consequently, the Old Town area… has been designated by town officials as a

of the Western character of Scottsdale.”

Today’s leaders still aim to preserve the Western look of Old Town Scottsdale, as demonstrated by numerous reports and guidelines issued by the city Historic Preservation Office and other agencies.

While the likes of Liberty Valance may never have been known to hang around early Scottsdale, the playful-but-elite John Ford-

like midcentury incarnation of the town did host Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, and other big names, making it culturally and historically significant in its own right.

Left: Lulu Belle restaurant, "#1 for Food n' Fun," mid-1960s. Bottom: Pink Pony restaurant and First National Bank building at Scottsdale Road and Papago Street, 1961.

Images courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

place where the old western flavor of daysgone-by will be preserved.” As an example of this supposed Old West heritage, the booklet announced “western week” events including “robberies and hangings, where the bad guy finally gets his” as part of the Parada Del Sol itinerary. The Parada Del Sol, an annual Western-themed parade and rodeo dating to the immediate post-war years, also featured “square dances and a big western barbecue.”

The rustic-style architecture designed to represent a faux history is now historic in its own right. The city recognized the economic significance of Old Town’s look and feel, evident to business owners from the beginning, in a 1961 planning report that spoke of the area having “developed a special character with a Western motif that is reflected in its activities and its architecture” and identified the “Western character as an economic asset.”

Accordingly, the report commended town leaders who had “taken steps to preserve [that] character in both tangible and intangible ways,” and cautioned that “future growth should be guided in such a manner that it will not conflict with the continuance

I

n the Valley in the 1950’s, there was a positive attitude in the air and a pervasive belief that absolutely anything was possible in this paradise oasis with its blue skies, bright sunshine, and palm trees swaying in the breeze. During this time period, the area attracted many retired professionals from the Midwest and East. A common vision among a core group was to develop an outstanding country club and golf course in Paradise Valley. At the time, there were only a couple of country clubs in other parts of the Valley and these gentlemen were determined to create one in their neighborhood. Much of their story comes from an invaluable commemorative history book, The Silver Story: A History of Paradise Valley Country Club’s First Twentyfive years, March 7, 1953 – March – March 7, 1978.

Tom Darlington, a local real estate broker who later co-founded the Town of Carefree, hosted the initial meeting to assess the notion of a private golf club on November 7, 1952. Such a facility would support local resorts and enhance real estate opportunities. Seventeen sites were initially evaluated and, over the next month,

were narrowed to four locations. The group eventually focused on two sites at McCormick Ranch and Camelback Inn, but there was concern about sufficient groundwater availability for irrigating a golf course. Subsequently, Jack Stewart of Camelback Inn, John C. Lincoln, George Babbitt, Louise Kerr, and Collice Portnoff jointly offered for the project - at no cost 180 acres northeast of Tatum Boulevard and Lincoln Drive, located between Marshmallow Hill and Mummy Mountain.

The land was valued at $360,000.

The spectacular location was officially approved at a meeting on January 12, 1953.

The Articles of Incorporation were filed on March 6, 1953 by Attorney Frank Snell and membership and playing privileges were confirmed at the first corporation meeting.

With the organizational formation and policies in place, they selected Lawrence Hughes as the golf course designer and Hiram Hudson Benedict as the clubhouse architect in April 1953. The latter was very prolific in Paradise Valley during the 1950’s and 1960’s.

Contractor Porter Womack negotiated an agreement with the group, now called

the Paradise Valley Syndicate, for a loan guarantee that financed the golf course and home sites development on July 8, 1953. By this time, the total property grew to 373 acres through various gifts and purchases, of which 200 acres was dedicated for the golf project. About 100 home sites would also be sensitively-sited and required about 139 acres. Some land was left undeveloped and the total cost was four million dollars.

Construction started on the desert golf course in August 1953. The 18-hole course stretched 6,878 yards for men and 6,326 yards for women. Par for the course was 72 for the men and 77 for the ladies. The holes varied in distance from #12 at 140 yards to #6 at 520 yards. Despite the rolling topography, grades were not more than 15 feet at any hole. The linear green fairways weaving their way through the rugged, and often rocky, terrain proved aesthetically quite dramatic. A temporary clubhouse was constructed at the northeast corner of Tatum Boulevard and Lincoln Drive.

Al Zimmerman was hired as the golf professional by Gray Madison, a golf champion and car dealership owner.

Landscaping was provided by nurseryman

Exterior of Paradise Valley Country Club, 1958.

Image courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Image courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

James Berridge whose Berridge Nursery still operates in Phoenix. Berridge was assisted by donations to the ‘Madison Tree Fund’ for Eucalyptus trees, which still visually define the golf course. The first round was played in early 1954 and, a few weeks later, Zimmerman shot a 63 to set the course record. The dramatic links officially opened for play on April 10, 1954.

For the proposed clubhouse, Hiram Hudson Benedict teamed with architect Ed Varney, who brought experience, design skills, and staffing to the project. Porter Womack’s construction company beat other contractors including Homes & Son and Del Webb with a low bid of $218,000 for the clubhouse and a swimming pool in July 1954.

The Homestead ranch revival clubhouse commenced construction later that year and

was completed in early 1955. The Homestead had a comfortable, warm, and intimate scale. The interior framed a panoramic view of the octagonal-shaped swimming pool, which during club parties had a row boat placed in it as a floating bar.

The clubhouse, pool, pro shop, and snack bar buildings cost $288,000.

Growing club membership quickly triggered the need for a major expansion in 1956. Architect Ed Varney was selected to prepare a new clubhouse plan in conjunction with Hiram Hudson Benedict.

P.W. Womack Construction was again the low bidder at $377,900, beating out proposals by T.G.K., Mardian, and Wasielewski in early 1957.

The new two-story clubhouse was constructed of natural stone, concrete

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masonry units with vertical precast concrete inserts, tall glazing, and cantilevered overhangs with precast architectural concrete panels. The design was likely influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright’s organic approach, with its overall horizontal composition, natural materials, and decorative panels. This approach appears to have also influenced Edward L. Varney’s other period designs, including the Valley Ho in Scottsdale, the Phoenix Country Club, and the Moon Valley Country Club. The new clubhouse was completed and 1,400 attended the grand opening in early 1958.

In addition to the country club, the master development included home sites Top: Exterior shot of the elaborate architecture and stone walls, late 1950s.

that were known as The Club Colony at Paradise Hills. Besides spectacular views and desert vegetation, the home sites had minimum one-acre lots requiring at least a 2,000 square feet house, and a total cost of at least $5,400. An architectural board reviewed house designs to assure they were attractive additions.

These home sites would eventually comprise one of the finest collections of midcentury contemporary residences in the Valley. The original owners sought out the finest architects to design their custom homes and they delivered extraordinary results. The following is a partial chronological list.

H.C. Price Residence, Organic, Frank Lloyd Wright, 1954 Allison Residence, Organic, Blaine Drake, 1955 Gray Madison Residence, Ranch Revival, Weaver and Drover, 1955* Fennell Residence, Organic, Charles Montooth, 1955 Schaffner Residence, Organic, Paul Christian Yaeger, 1957 Kramlich Residence, International, Alfred Newman Beadle, AIA, 1960* Douglas Driggs Residence, International, William F. Cody, FAIA, 1962 6835 East Pepper Tree Lane Residence, Contemporary Southwest, Straub/Kutch, 1964* Weir McDonald Residence, International, William F. Cody, FAIA, 1965 Gary Driggs Residence, International, Alfred Newman Beadle, AIA, 1970 * denotes those that have been demolished.

Changes have occurred over time at the development. The Town of Paradise Valley, which failed in its first attempt at annexation in 1956, finally succeeded almost 30 years later in 1984. As the club membership grew, there was need for new space, and preference for a more eclecticstyled architecture. The original clubhouse and related structures were demolished in 2002. The Scottsdale-based architectural and planning firm, Swaback Partners, PLLC, were the architects for this major reconstruction project that occurred in two phases through November 5, 2004.

The Paradise Valley Country Club leadership implemented a grand vision and, tested over the years, successfully adapted

his work has received over 60 professional design awards, and is a Senior Architect at Gensler. Mr. Sydnor has authored three books including the 2010 Images of America: Scottsdale Architecture, 2011 Plugger: the Architecture of Reginald Sydnor, and 2013 Images of America: Paradise Valley Architecture. In 2011 he received his Douglas B. Sydnor, FAIA: Received his American Institute of Architects Fellowship.

Bachelor of Architecture Degree from Arizona State University and his Masters in Architecture from Harvard University. He has practiced in Arizona for over 37 years, to political, financial, spatial, technical and operational challenges. Currently with more than a 1,000 members and a waiting list of over 100, its popularity is clear testimony to the club’s enduring success in maintaining their original vision of “a place of pleasant association.”

ASR on their Sky Harbor project. Assistant Superintendent, Herk Reynolds (left) and Superintendent, Don White with Cat 12 blade in the background. September 17, 1956.

Job Superintendent Herk Reynolds (left) gives a cigar to Grade Foreman Nate Bingham to celebrate the birth of his son, Gregory, March 1959.

N

. G. “Herk” Reynolds is another humble man I had the pleasure of interviewing for a look into Arizona’s construction past. In the early 1950s, Reynolds was hired as a construction estimator by the Arizona Sand & Rock Company (ASR) and recalls selling a product produced by ASR called “Hot Mix.” Along with Phoenix street improvements, ASR had the Arizona Public Service account for street patches related to electrical work. “Instead of using barricades, we put out kerosene pots full of sand at night so local traffic could see the prepped potholes before we fixed them the next morning,” Reynolds recalls.

After seven years with ASR, Reynolds and Vice President John Ryan left to start the short lived firm, Tovrea Construction.

Fifty eight

Reynolds subsequently went to work for the Phoenix Tempe Stone Company, where he was a construction estimator and job superintendent on the first section of freeway in Arizona: Interstate 8 between Gila Bend and Casa Grande. His foreman was Nate Bingham (see profile in Arizona Contractor and Community, Summer 2013).

“Nate taught me what excavation was all about, he was a great man,” Reynolds says.

After the company’s owner retired, Phoenix Tempe Stone was bought by the Vinnell Corporation based in Alhambra, California.

Reynolds subsequently worked with his friend, James Bond, doing various types of construction-related work. Soon, however, Bond decided to concentrate on the trucking business while Reynolds took a job as a

construction estimator with Vinnell. The company sent him to the town of Littlefield on the Arizona Strip to run the Interstate 15 construction project. After completion, Reynolds supervised another highway project in Barstow, California.

Reynolds left Vinnell and worked as a construction estimator for various firms, ending up in San Diego with the Daley Corporation which was headed by Don Jellison, a former vice president with Vinnell.

Reynolds eventually retired from Daley Corporation and travelled the country for eight years before settling in Surprise, Arizona.

Through my interview with Reynolds, I mentioned that James Bond was still around the Valley.

The two renewed their friendship. “I had the great experience of having lunch with Mr. Bond after all these years,” Reynolds says. “We reminisced about the old days and had a chance to briefly catch up on today’s working world in Arizona. It was a pleasure to get together, with James in his 90s and me in my mid-80s, to look back on ‘our days!’”

Herk Reynolds, Project Manager and State Highway Engineer J.R. Vanhornon at a Vinnell Corp. highway project early 1960s.

Vinnell Corp. dirt spread, 1960s.

Arizona State Highway construction billboard along I-15, Reynolds at left, 1960s.

Paving by ASR at the Sky Riders Motel, late 1954.

While Herk Reynolds was working for the Arizona Sand & Rock Company in 1952, the firm had a $784,000 contract to extend runways, taxiways, and the apron adjacent to what was Sky Harbor’s first modern passenger facility, Terminal 1. Other Phoenix firms with Sky Harbor runway contracts included Daley Construction Company ($805,000), Fisher Contracting Company ($713,000), and H.L Royden ($83,000) according to Arizona Builder and Contractor (August 8, 1952).

As the Valley’s population grew in the 1950s, the City of Phoenix strove to improve the airport. The city had new facilities constructed at Sky Harbor to compliment Terminal 1 including the Sky Harbor Garage, the First National Bank, and the Sky Riders Hotel.

The latter airport lodging facility was also built by the Arizona Sand & Rock Company.

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p. 23

DDI 602-2435243 Ddiequip.com

p. 3

Liberty GMC 866-212-3229 libertygmcaz.com

p. 17

Reuter Fabrication 602-415-0449 reuterequipment.com

Apache Equipment Rentals 602-272-7368 apacherentals.com

p. 31

Direct Sales LLC. 602-930-8415 Directsalesllc.com

p. 21

Lithotech 602-254-2427 Lithotechaz.com

p. 49

Road Machinery 480-545-2400 roadmachinery.com

AZBEX 480-709-4190 azbex.com

p. 6

Ditchwitch / Doosan 602-437-0351 ditchwitchaz.com

p. 27

Maricopa Health Foundation p. 37 602-687-9031 maricopahealthfoundation.org

Shanes Grading & Paving p. 27 602-992-2201 Shanesgradingandpavingservices.com

Arizona Desert Broom p. 15 480-688-7980 azdesertbrooms-sweeping.com

Drake 480-607-3999 drakeus.com

p. 50

MDI Rock 602-569-8722 mdirock.com

p. 19

Sunland Asphalt 800-540-4413 sunlandasphalt.com

p. 42

Arizona Hi-Lift 602-462-1315 azhilift.com

p. 29

ECCO Heavy Equipment Rentals p. 25 602-276-2040 eccoequipment.com

Metro Engineering & Survey 623-466-6640 metroaz.net

p. 21

Sunstate Equipment Co. 888-456-4560 sunstateequip.com

p. 11

Arizona Materials 602-278-4444 arizonamaterials.net

p. 13

Empire Sales Center 520-582-2050 empirecat.com/eloy

Metro Traffic Control 623-879-0610 metrotrafficcontrol.net

p. 27

Tempe Crane & Rigging 480-967-0026 Tempecrane.com

p. 6

Arnold Machinery 801-972-4000 arnoldmachinery.com

p. 54

EyeSite 855-4NoTheft Goeyesite.com

Motley Design Group 602-254-5599 motleydesigngroup.com

p. 56

Titan Rentals 602-269-3221 titanmachinery.com

pp. 46 & 57

Atlas Copco 623-780-0200 atlascopco.us/phoenix

p. 13

Flaska JCB 602-761-2525 Flaskajcb.com

p. 5

Mundall Trucking, Inc. 602-276-0331 Mundaltrucking.com

P. 37

Trafficade 602-431-0911 trafficade.com

pp. 17 & 21

Bidadoo Auctions 877-bidadoo bidadoo.com

p. 37

Forklift Exchange Inc. 602-454-9808 forkliftexchange.com

p. 42

New Western Rentals 623-847-3594 newwesternrentals.com

p. 19

TSR 602-253-3311 tsraz.com

p. 23

BidJudge 602-456 BIDZ bidjudge.com

p. 52

GenTech 800-625-8324 gentechusa.com

p. 23

O'Brien Concrete Pumping 602-278-8926 obrienpumping.com

p. 42

Vermeer Sales Southwest 480-785-4800 vermeersouthwest.com

p. 25

Blueline Enterprises 928-308-1901 bluelinegrizzly.com

p. 15

Hagen Business Systems 602-570-7289 hagenbusiness.com

p. 21

Pacwest Rentals 480-832-0855 pacwesttrading.com

p. 34

Williams Scotsman 800-782-1500 willscot.com

p. 3

IFC

Hertz Equipment Rental 888-777-2702 hertzequip.com

p. 17

Palecek & Palecek PLLC 602-522-2454 constructionlawyersaz.com

p. 21

WSM Auctioneers 623-936-3300 wsmauctioneers.com

p. 60

Joel Westervelt Architect 928-567-2255 joelwesterveltarchitect.com

p. 27

RDO Equipment Co. 877-90-RDOIC rdoic.com

P. 7

KMG Construction 480-614-1955

p. 29

Red Mountain Rentals 480-477-9400 redmountain.com

Branco Machinery 480-892-5657 brancomachinery.com Cemex 520-682-4063 cemexusa.com Conveyer Sales 602-273-1455 conveyorsales.com

Sixty two

p. 44

BC

p. 50

pp. 15 & 19

IBC

p. 31

pp. 4 & 53

PRSRT STD U.S. Postage PAID Phoenix, AZ Permit No. 3418

CSC

CONVEYOR SALES COMPANY

602-273-1455 Phoenix, AZ

inquiry@conveyorsales.com

www.conveyorsales.com Supplying mineral processing and bulk material handling conveyors to the construction and mining industry locally and worldwide for over 50 years.

Whether you need a single piece or multiple units CSC has 30 acres of inventory to choose from.

All Trade-ins will be considered.

Please let us know about your excess equipment. We are Prepared to provide a cash offer on quality equipment.