Volume 4 Issue 3
•Arnold Machinery Company Celebrates 25 Years in Arizona • New AZUCA Membership Directory • The Overpass that Changed Phoenix • Wired In: JFK Electrical Contracting • Humble Haulers: Mundall Trucking $4.99 Fall 2015 Serving Contracting Firms and the Arizona Community …
• Prescott's Hipster Hideaway • Mr. Magoo at Maryvale Mall
Firing-Up Phoenix: 80 Years of the Phoenix Brick Yard
Fall 2015
Fall 2015
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Arizona contractor & community
Publisher William Horner Billy@arizcc.com Editor Douglas Towne Douglas@arizcc.com
Denver, CO
Phoenix, AZ
Contributing Writers Sherry Downer Christia Gibbons Jennifer Giralo Katie Mayer Donna Reiner Luke Snell Doug Sydnor Maureen E. Towne
Huntington Beach, CA
Production Manager Laura Harley Laura@arizcc.com
Bremerton, WA
Circulation Tina Crigler Tina@arizcc.com
Aberdeen, SD
Magazine Consultant Chuck Runbeck Chuck@arizcc.com 602-881-0907 Advertising Manager Chuck Runbeck Chuck@arizcc.com 602-881-0907
Camden, NJ
Hometown
Publisher’s Representatives Tom Hogarty Tom@arizcc.com 480-559-2327 Barry Warner Barry@arizcc.com 602-920-7325
Serving Contracting Firms and the Arizona Community… Then & Now Printed at Lithotech Arizona Contractor & Community (ACC) magazine is published quarterly (spring, summer, fall, & winter). ACC is a professional publication designed for the contracting industry, engineers, architects, equipment rentals, suppliers, and others interested in Arizona and its history. Content including text, photographs or illustrations may not be reproduced without the written permission from the publisher. The publisher does not assume responsibility for unsolicited submissions. ACC reserves the right to reject any editorial and advertising material and reserves the right to edit all submitted content material. Arizona Contractor & Community Copyright © 2015 All rights reserved.
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Fall 2015
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Arizona contractor & community
Volume 4 Issue 3 Fall 2015
CONTENTS 8.
From The Editor: A Blissful Industry - Eloping To Arizona Douglas Towne
10. Construction Around Arizona: Projects • People • Practices 30. Construction Art: The Freeway Overpass That Changed Phoenix - Donna Reiner
33. Special Advertising Section: AZUCA Membership Directory - 2015
49. Another Brick In The Wall: The Phoenix Brick Yard Legacy William Horner
56. Renovating To The Beat Of Their Own Drum: The Motor Lodge In Prescott - Maureen E. Towne
60. Mr. Magoo and A Bond Girl Too: John F. Long’s s 4 issue , r a e y 1 ues $16 s, 8 iss r a e y 2 at $2 8 e online Subscrib cc.com www.ariz
Maryvale Shopping City - Douglas Towne
65. Special Advertising Section: Arnold Machinery Company Celebrates 25 Years In Arizona
81. Architect’s Perspective: Edward H. Nelson, FAIA: Structural Expressionism - Doug Sydnor
84. Humble Haulers: Mundall Trucking And The Family Driving Its Success - Katie Mayer
88. Digging Through the Archives: RoBil Contracting William Horner
93. Bid Results - Bidjudge 94. ACC Advertisers’ Index
Front Cover - A load of bricks is lifted onto a delivery truck at the Phoenix Brick Yard in 1961.
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Jennifer Giralo
Tom Hogarty Laura Harley
Luke snell
Jennifer Giralo - Writer Article on page 12 Hometown - Poway, CA. Hidden Talent - Longform Improvisation. Comfort Food - Bean and cheese burrito. Favorite AZ town - Flagstaff – it’s beautiful all year. Three people I'd invite to dinner I would invite three homeless people that need a meal. I would get to know their story: their past, their current state, and their future goals. Luke Snell - Writer Article on page 24 Hometown - Tempe, AZ but born in Potsdam N.Y. Hidden Talent - Concrete Historian - I’d like to find out how we developed our technology. Comfort Food - Ice cream with real maple syrup. Favorite AZ town - Tempe - it’s home! Three people I'd invite to dinner Helen Sheppard, a hospice nurse in Mongolia; Chief Justice John Roberts to find out how our constitution is shaping our society; and the Dali Lama to discuss how to live a peaceful life. www.arizcc.com
Tom Hogarty - Publisher’s Representative Hometown - Queens, N.Y. Hidden Talent - When I lived in California I sang lead in a Barber Shop Quartet (I’m presently looking for a tenor, baritone, and bass to sing with in Arizona). Comfort Food - DQ Blizzard Extreme. Favorite AZ town - Where I live Scottsdale. Three people I’d Invite to dinner General George Armstrong Custer, actor James Cagney, and reporter Ernie Pyle. Laura Harley - Production Manager Hometown - Bury St Edmunds, England. Hidden Talent - I love to sew bow ties for my puppies, Bobby and Mia. Comfort Food - The vegan delight pizza at Pizza Heaven in Phoenix. Favorite AZ town - Bisbee Home of the Shady Dell Vintage Trailer Park! Three people I'd invite to dinner My late papa James Preacher, my favorite actor,Cary Grant and the romantic in me would invite novelist Jane Austen.
Arizona contractor & community
Editor’s Column: A Blissful Industry: Eloping to Arizona Douglas Towne Actually, quite a bit in this issue. There’s the upcoming ACC nuptials between designer Laura Harley and publisher Billy Horner. The charismatic couple plans to tie the knot this fall in their Phoenix backyard, all the more convenient for their four-legged “children” to attend the ceremony. There’s also the historically odd fact that weddings were once a booming commercial activity in some unlikely places in Arizona. The most popular wedding site for impatient lovebirds in the Southwest was the Colorado River town of Yuma, Arizona. Only after World War II did Las Vegas take over as the most famous wedding capital. Although most couples today would select Sedona for their Arizona “destination” wedding, there were good reasons more than 17,000 marriages
eight
were recorded during one year in Yuma, back when the town only had 5,000 residents. Starting in 1928, California required a three-day waiting period between receiving a marriage license and getting hitched. The “gin marriage” law was intended to delay ill-conceived nuptials, allowing the sometimes intoxicated participants time to sober up and think twice before going through with the ceremony. The California law, however, sometimes funneled the love-struck to nearby Arizona and Nevada, which had no such ardor-dampening delays. Arizona didn’t require a blood test, and pegged the age of consent at only 15. For border towns such as Yuma, marriage by eloping Southern California couples was big business for almost three decades. This tradition of marriages transacted across state boundaries to avoid restrictive
laws originated in 18th century Scotland, which had lax requirements for marriage. Gretna Green, the first Scottish town on the London-to-Edinburgh stage route,
Image courtesy of Ashley LaPrade
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hat does Cupid have to do with a construction magazine?
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became famous as a wedding site for eloping English couples. In America, several towns became known as “Gretna Green” destinations because of their lenient marriage requirements. Thousands of weddings took place in Elkton Maryland, the state’s closest county seat to New York and Philadelphia, during the 1920s and 1930s. Celebrities who wedded in the “Elopement Capital of the East Coast” include Debbie Reynolds, Willie Mays, and Pat Robertson. In the West, Reno, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Yuma benefited from the California “gin marriage” law. Luminaries who wedded in Yuma include Joe Louis, Bette Davis, Tom Mix, Charlie Chaplin, and Stan Laurel, who tied the knot there three times. The town’s most popular venue was the Gretna Green Wedding Chapel, which claimed it was “the oldest and most famous establishment of its kind in the entire Southwest.” The venue was operated by Yuma Justice of the Peace R.H. Lutes. “My father would sometimes perform more than 200 weddings a week,” Bob Lutes, his son and the present owner, says. While most eloping California couples drove to Arizona, some Hollywood types took to the air on all-expense wedding trips called “Cupid’s Specials,” according to a 1939 Popular Aviation article. These celebrity elopements were often to avoid publicity—or get some. The Phoenix Chamber of Commerce and American Airlines together built a Spanish Mission style wedding chapel at Sky Harbor
Airport to serve them in 1937. The $115 roundtrip ticket from Los Angeles included services attended by “Cowboys and Indians.” The Sky Harbor Chapel was razed in the 1940s. Or couples could fly roundtrip from Burbank to Yuma in Roscoe Turner’s “Honeymoon Express” plane for $125. The Travelair cabin plane featured Cupid with drawn bow and quiver full of arrows, painted on the side. Turner’s plane was also featured in the 1937 Columbia Pictures movie, Criminals of the Air. Yuma’s wedding bonanza died off after 1956 when the marriage laws between the two states became similar. Still, the town’s Gretna Green Wedding Chapel survives, offering $150 services plus the $76 wedding license, available even on weekends. “We still get couples stopping by seven days a week,” Lutes says. “It’s a nice place for people who want to get married quickly. A lot of our business is military or comes from Imperial Valley or Tijuana.” The historic chapel spans generations, having become a family affair in more ways than one. “People often stop by who got
“My father would sometimes perform more than 200 weddings a week"
married here, bring their families, and take pictures,” Lutes says. “We’ve even had several ceremonies with a child of a couple who got married here.”
Images courtesy of author
Across page, top: Laura Harley and Billy Horner. Bottom: Postcard of the Gretna Green Chapel, 1930s. Bottom right: United Airlines Cupid's Special airliner, late-1930s. Bottom left: A fly-in couple getting married at Sky Harbor Airport, late-1930s.
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Construction Around Arizona
Image courtesy of UEBMulti
Construction Around Arizona
Projects ∙ Practices ∙ People
All Eyes on New Downtown Phoenix Development
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hat unusual construction project in Downtown Phoenix inspires flyovers by aerial drones and daily Facebook postings by intrigued neighbors? It’s Portland on the Park, three towers of condominiums located in Downtown Phoenix between Portland and Margaret T. Hance parks. Constructed by UEBMulti, the project will “create a contemporary interpretation of urban living” according to the development’s website, http://www.portlandparkcondos.com/. The projected $75 million development by Habitat Metro includes Ten
four, 12, and 14-story concrete buildings, with most of the 170 lofts oriented to the north. “The largest 14-story tower will use 20,000 yard of concrete, 1,300 tons of rebar, and 200 tons of post-tension slab tendons,” UEBMulti Senior Superintendent Dave Gigger says. “The towers are in a very cool downtown location near Deck Park,” Gigger adds. “This is high-end construction, with lots of emphasis on city views.” UEBMulti is trying its best to be good neighbors to the current downtown residents. “We would normally start pouring concrete at 4:30 am, but due to the constraints of having neighbors on all sides, we have to wait until 6 a.m. to start,” Gigger says. “This necessitates having to use additives such as ice and chilled water to cool the concrete.” “Concrete construction means stability and structural integrity. Like the
community Portland on the Park is a part of, concrete gets stronger over time. It's fire-resistant and energy–efficient. It's built to last,” states the project’s website. Besides residential space, the development will feature a wine bar, coffee shop, restaurant, bike storage, electric car charging stations, workout facility, and a luxurious pool. Portland on the Park is UEBMulti’s largest project to date. “It’s just been a good community project, everyone is excited about it,” Gigger says. “We have webcams on our website where people can view the construction progress. We also take a photo every day of the construction progress and provide a time-lapse photo to our clients at the end.” Construction should finish in November 2016. The construction webcam is at http://ueb.net/webcam10.html Fall 2015
Fall 2015