Summer 2017

Volume 6 Issue 2

$4.99 Summer 2017

Serving Contracting Firms and the Arizona Community. . .

●Plane Fun: Sky Harbor's Terminal 1 ●Real Horsepower: Turf Paradise Airport ●Crop Dusting with Marsh Aviation ●Stan Jones: Ghost Rider in the Sky

●New Western rentals Celebrates 20 Years ●Bennie Gonzalez: Reinterpreting Ruins ●Arizona Takes Off During World War II ●Building Altitude: Construction Aircraft

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Arizona contractor & Community

Publisher William Horner Billy@arizcc.com Editor Douglas Towne Douglas@arizcc.com Contributing Writers Jim Baker Jim Bolek Tina Crigler W. Scott Donaldson Christia Gibbons Luke M. Snell Douglas Sydnor Isaac Windes Production Manager Laura Horner Laura@arizcc.com Magazine Consultant Chuck Runbeck Chuck@arizcc.com Publisher’s Representatives Shane Addington Shane@arizcc.com Tom Hogarty Tom@arizcc.com Rick Lafond Rick@arizcc.com Barry Warner Barry@arizcc.com Advertising 602-931-0069 Arizcc.com/advertise.html

Serving Contracting Firms and the Arizona Community… Then & Now 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 © 2017 All rights reserved.

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Summer 2017

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Isaac Windes - Writer Article on page 17

William Horner - Publisher Articles on page 50 & 70

Arizona State University student and freelance reporter Isaac Windes is a junior at the Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Isaac, a multimedia journalist, has produced content for various mediums.

Born and raised in Tucson, Isaac has had a life-long interest in journalism, which he is majoring in accompanied by a minor in political science. In just over a year, Isaac has covered a variety of events for the first-ever politics desk at the award-winning student publication, The State Press. He produced content for the Arizona Capitol Times over the last legislative session, notably exploring Arizona’s declining transportation infrastructure. He has also worked for CNN as a runner at the Democratic National Convention.

Isaac is interested in topics ranging from water policy and voting trends to construction projects and protests. Within the beat of water policy, he explored the binational relationship between Mexico and the United States in regards to water allotment and their future under the current administration.

Isaac will continue his education overseas this summer, in both London and Israel with the Cronkite School before reporting from Washington D.C. for Cronkite News.

Outside of journalism, Issac enjoys percussion instruments and the culinary arts.

Looking back after four decades, I’ve stayed pretty consistent to my childhood roots. While growing up, I loved Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone and William Wyler’s 1944 documentary, Memphis Belle on Bill Rose’s Channel 5 show. The latter program started my collection of World War II artifacts and building 1/48-scale aviation dioramas.

As an overactive child, my parents encouraged me to channel my energy into hobbies.

I enjoyed Little League baseball, drumming, and skateboarding. I still have the first practice pad I purchased at Arizona Music Center in Glendale along with my Rob Roskopp skateboard.

My father, who passed away ten years ago, was a talented baseball player, musician, humorist, and heavy equipment operator. As I try to accentuate his good habits and leave behind the bad, I realize the many valuable lessons I learned working with him.

As Arizona Contractor & Community magazine enters in its sixth year of publication, I have new challenges and mentors for guidance.

I sometimes tell people, “This magazine is construction with a Twilight Zone twist.” The magazine staff and close friends have listened to my ideas and helped incorporate them into the pages. After assessing the competition, I think we’ve succeeded in providing something unique for our advertisers and readers.

Summer 2017

Volume 6 Issue 2 Summer 2017

CONTENTS 10.

Editor’s Column: Arizona Takes Off: Pilot Training During World War II - Douglas Towne

13.

Construction Around Arizona: Projects • People • Practices

32.

Celebrating Two Decades of Equipment Supply: New Western Rentals

39.

40.

Back When: Ghost Rider In The Sky - Douglas Towne

46.

Terminal Talker: Sky Harbor’s Homespun Control Tower - Douglas Towne

48.

Faster Than a Speeding Thoroughbred: Turf Paradise Airport - Tina Crigler

50.

Building on the Past: 1956: First National Bank at Sky Harbor Airport - William Horner

52.

On a Wing and a Prayer: Arizona Aviation Adventures - Jim Baker as told to ACC magazine

56.

Arizona Aerial Warfare: Crop Dusting with Marsh Aviation - Jim Baker as told to ACC magazine

62.

Building Altitude: Piloting Construction Company Aircraft - Douglas Towne

66.

Architect’s Perspective: Bennie M. Gonzales, FAIA: Reinterpreting Ruins - Doug Sydnor, FAIA

70.

Digging Through the Archives: Constructing Sky Harbor - William Horner

75.

76.

Bid Results - Bidjudge

Plane Fun: Sky Harbor’s Terminal 1 Douglas Towne

ACC Advertisers’ Index

Front Cover A family exits their private plane at Sky Harbor Airport in 1965.

See story on page 46

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Summer 2017

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Editor’s Column Arizona Takes Off: Pilot Training During World War II Douglas Towne

A

rizona’s sunny skies helped produce a cornucopia of cotton and citrus by the early 20th century, but another even more lucrative crop took off in the late 1930s. On these fields, airplanes were raised as the U.S. Army took advantage of the state’s enviable climate in its rush to train aviators as the world descended into World War II. The military still operates three of the airfields.

Luke Air Force Base in Glendale came to be when the city of Phoenix purchased 1,440 acres of land and leased it to the military for a dollar a year in 1941. Originally named Litchfield Park Air Base, the base was renamed after local pilot Frank Luke Jr., who scored 18 aerial victories before dying in World War I. The airfield’s first building was constructed by the Del E.

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Webb Construction Company that same year.

One of the base’s challenges was retaining female employees. Young women often got married and left the job force, according to a 1942 Arizona Republic article with the headline, “Men-Haters Wanted.”

More than 12,000 pilots graduated from Luke during World War II, and the base continues training aviators today for the F-16 Fighting Falcon and the F-35 Lightning II. Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson started as a landing strip in 1925.

Two years later, Charles Lindbergh dedicated Davis-Monthan Field, which was then the largest municipal airport in the country. To celebrate the famed aviator’s

recent success flying from New York City to Paris, Tucson built a full-size replica of his plane, the Spirit of St. Louis.

This homegrown model was constructed of ocotillos and saguaros; its cylinders were made of barrel cactus and the propeller composed of prickly pear pads. White cholla flowers spelled out “Spirit of Tucson” on the fuselage. The airfield served both civilian and military airplanes, until exclusively becoming an Army Air Field in 1940. The base now houses the venerable A-10 Warthog, a plane designed for ground attack in the 1970s.

The Marine Corps Air Station Yuma began in 1962, but had been an Army training center since 1943. The base closed

Yucca Army Air Field was adaptively reused to become Ford Motors Yucca Proving Ground.

Summer 2017

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Images courtesy of Author

after the war and became the Yuma County Airport. It was reactivated by the Air Force in 1954 as a training facility called Yuma Air Base. Two years later, it was renamed Vincent Air Base for the late Brigadier General Clinton D. "Casey" Vincent, who commanded fighter pilots in China during World War II and became the inspiration for two characters in the comic strip, Terry and the Pilots. Currently, the base operates Marine F-35B jets.

Many other military air bases opened during World War II were converted to civilian aviation airports. Williams Air Force Base was active in Chandler until 1992, eventually becoming Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. Other conversions include: Mesa’s Falcon Army Air Field to Falcon Field; Thunderbird Field #2 to Scottsdale Airport; Douglas Field to Douglas Municipal Airport; Coolidge Army Air Field to Coolidge Municipal; Kingman Army Airfield to Kingman Airport; Ajo Army Air Field to Eric Marcus Municipal Airport; and Marana Army Air Field became Pinal Air Park, the largest commercial airline storage facility in the world.

Other airfields were adaptively reused for different purposes. Yucca Army Air Field became the Yucca Proving Ground for Ford Motors. Perhaps most famously, Thunderbird Field #1 in Glendale became the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University.

Every Arizona airfield has a unique story, but that each was created because the clear desert skies proved exceptional for pilot training. These military facilities, funded by the federal government, fasttracked much of Arizona's post-war economic development. Q

Top left: Luke Field.

Top right: Williams Field.

Above: The Spirit of Tucson plane constructed from various cacti.

Bottom: Luke Field.

Bottom right: A Terry and the Pirates comic book.

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Act now!

Construction Around Arizona Image courtesy of DPR

Gretchen Kinsella at the job site.

“Good” Hospital Renovations at Banner-University Medical Center Christia Gibbons

A

new Emergency Department’s opening June 27 launches a new era at Banner-University Medical Center Phoenix.

The hospital envisioned nearly a 100 years ago by a Methodist woman from Nebraska recovering from tuberculosis,

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became Good Samaritan Hospital in 1923, and opened with a 12-story tower designed by Chicago architect Bertrand Goldberg in 1978. In 2015, the hospital merged with the University of Arizona Health Network and took on its new name.

Since last year, almost 600 construction-related people are on site any given day, executing a plan that not only includes the new ED but a new patient tower, expanded parking and a new lobby fronting on McDowell Road by 2020.

Project executives Steve Eiss, on the Banner side, and Gretchen Kinsella for DPR Construction are overseeing the $418-mil-

lion project that includes 705,000 square feet of new building to the center’s campus and 50,000 square feet in renovations. HKS Architects rounds out the team.

“The biggest challenge, without a doubt,” Eiss says, “was the utility relocation.”

Kinsella points out that the answer to that puzzle exemplifies what works best about the mega project – collaboration.

“An idea chucked out on the table,” Kinsella said about what happened when the teams working together questioned how to best relocate all the utilities.

The answer? A bridge.

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Summer 2017

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Construction Around Arizona

Image courtesy of Banner

Instead of facing the potential cost impact and project delays of running utilities underground under Willetta Street to link to the hospital, “now we had to build over it,” Eiss says. “So we had to figure out a way to rerun everything through a series of above-ground bridges.”

Kinsella says keeping the project on track means “continual real-time updates” on costs and schedules. “We have it phased in a way we can change decisions and adjust our approach with creative solutions.”

In 2014 Eiss came on at the beginning of planning and design. Last June, the Brill Building (an empty medical offices building) was demolished to make way for a 1,100-spot parking garage, he says, adding that construction on the new ED was finished the week of April 10.

Kinsella says that is a prime example of the “zero defects” construction DPR strives for, which allows a client to take over a space without having to worry

Gretchen Kinsella at the job site.

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about construction workers still finishing up odds and ends.

The new ED department has 60, all private, rooms and a new Level One trauma area. A 40-bed observation unit on the first floor will open by the end of the year. An existing physician parking area gave way to the new ED and subsequent tower.

The 17-floor patient tower is set to open October 2018. The hospital is adding 256 new private beds and converting double-occupancy rooms in the existing tower to single rooms for a total bed count of 768. The project includes the remodel of a portion of the existing tower and demolition of the six-story West Tower, which is not the main tower.

“For people like me,” Eiss says, “the best part of the job is there is a tangible work product; seeing a building come out of the ground. It’s always the best part for me. … And just to see that amount of people get themselves focused into one goal is pretty amazing.”

For Kinsella, who is DPR’s youngest project executive in Phoenix at age 37 and new mother to Sloan, who was born Dec. 31, her everyday philosophy “is to just triage my world to see where I can be most effective – home life, personal health, project team; I don’t need to sit in meetings to be effective.” Q

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Summer 2017

Construction Around Arizona

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Isaac Windes

T

he last time work was completed on Terminal 3 of Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix was in the late 1970s.

Since then the security, technology, and flow of passengers have vastly changed the needs and logistics of air travel.

Sky Harbor rose to that challenge in 2014 when it committed to a six-year, $590-million modernization project. The money for the project is entirely from airport revenues, with no tax money going toward the renovation.

Art Fairbanks, the special projects administrator for the city of Phoenix Aviation Department, said there were some structural challenges in the construction process, including opening up the terminal for the aesthetic effect of natural lighting.

“A very complicated demolition of the 1960s-era precast T members and beams required the use of specialized equipment and confidence in structural integrity to open interior areas of the terminal to vertical circulation and windows that let in the Phoenix sun on average 320 days per year," Fairbanks said.

The changes include expanded security checkpoints, updated ticket kiosks, and expanded access to electrical outlets, which will double the 1,500 outlets boasted by the terminal before the renovation.

In the old terminal, there were two security checkpoints, complicating the www.Arizcc.com

process for both travelers and security. The renovation consolidates the two into one, bigger checkpoint.

Fairbanks said the consolidated checkpoint is meant to alleviate long lines and inconvenience created by the antiquated system. “Our new, larger security checkpoint makes the passenger flow more efficient,” Fairbanks said. “The large checkpoint easily accommodates an influx in passengers, especially during large events such as the NCAA Final Four.”

Fairbanks said the project was being completed in three phases to allow cus-

tomers to use the facilities as they are completed. “To minimize impact to our passengers, we are conducting the Terminal 3 Modernization Program in three phases,” Fairbanks said. “This allows us to effectively serve our travelers as well as minimizes impacts to our tenants and airlines.”

Phase One consists of the enhanced ticket counter space and larger consolidated security checkpoint, which was completed in December. The project currently is in Phase Two that involves the replacement of the South Concourse with a new

Cast onsite T Panels hoisted into place by the M.M. Sundt Construction Co. at Sky Harbor, 1961.

Image courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community magazine

Terminal 3 Renovation Speeds Transit

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their way around through such a large facility while it is under construction.

Durbin and Austin Commercial are experienced in this kind of work, recently having completed another airport modernization in South Carolina. "We recently completed the total renovation of the Charleston, S.C. airport and have worked for four decades at DFW (Dallas-Fort Worth) Airport modernizing various aspects of the existing terminals,” Durbin said.

Some of the complications in the actual construction during the modernization involved removing floor beams from the prior structure. "Structural renovations included removing floor beams to allow for open atrium space, numerous utility tieins, and constantly having to monitor landside airport vehicular traffic," Durbin said.

Steve Rao, the president of DWL Architects, said Sky Harbor had a unique architectural opportunity, given its proximity to the city.

“While many airports are not situated near the heart of a city, Phoenix Sky Harbor is,” Rao said. “The design definitely takes

Isaac Windes is a student journalist at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Q

Arizona contractor & Community

Construction Around Arizona

Images courtesy of Author

15-gate South Concourse and new customer amenities which is expected to be completed in late 2018/early 2019.

The final phase will entail improvements to the North Concourse, including new food and beverage outlets as well as new retailers and other amenities and is scheduled to be completed in 2020.

All of the renovations were designed by a group of architects including DWL Architects, Smith Group JJR and Corgan based out of Phoenix.

Peter Durbin, the vice president of aviation for Austin Commercial, the Dallasbased company working on the terminal, said some problems came naturally with working on such a large project. “Maintaining the facilities’ heating, cooling, electrical, fire suppression, and IT systems are constant challenges,” Durbin said. “Additionally, public safety and way-finding through the existing facility must always be coordinated with the airport’s numerous stakeholders.”

Wayfinding is the process by which employees and consumers locate and find

advantage of this and has an open, natural and intuitive flow with cutting edge amenities. The modernization of the existing terminal, as part of the larger holistic campus, provides monumental opportunities to create an identity and incorporate Phoenix Sky Harbor’s aviation legacy.”

Heather Lissner, the airport’s public information officer, said this was done by integrating a large art exhibit and museum, while still providing enhanced and modern facilities.

Rao said the whole terminal was reorganized to increase the efficiency and comfort of the customers. "This new design will improve the passenger experience by creating a natural flow with intuitive way-finding throughout the facility," Rao said. "In addition to these major upgrades, we also updated the look and feel with modern, hospitable finishes, abundant natural light, and passenger amenities."

Amenities include updated ticket kiosks that serve multiple airlines, expanded rest areas past security and an open and clear path that allows customers to find their way around. New businesses, shops, and restaurants also are part of the renovation process.

Most of the new renovations are after the security checkpoint. “Post security, passengers are provided with more new amenity options in the Great Hall such as access to restaurants, retail, clubs, passenger retreats and business centers throughout the secure side of the terminal,” Rao said.

For Information Contact: Brad Cable (602) 415-0449 • Cell (602) 763-8039 Email: bradc@rec-reuter.com

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W. Scott Donaldson

W

Images courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community magazine

hether used for making concrete, mixed with asphalt, placed as construction fill, or as an ingredient in the production of concrete blocks, rock products such as sand and gravel are the foundation for much of the construction industry. Fortunately for local contractors, Arizona has been a top producer of sand and gravel, and other stone products for the past two decades.

Much of Arizona’s rock production comes from public lands owned by the federal government and State Trust lands.

These two ownership groups comprise about 55 percent of the state. Rock production in Arizona is linked to population growth and economic activities, including the Great Recession, and the ongoing recovery.

Sand and gravel and other stone products can be mined and removed from Arizona's public and state lands under specific statutes and regulations.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), a federal agency, considers stone products to be saleable minerals, which must be purchased under the Mineral Materials Act of 1947. These sales are controlled by federal regulations, which

provide for noncompetitive sales, competitive sales, contract administration, environmental assessment, and other topics.

BLM will sell mineral materials at a fair market value established by an appraisal.

State statutes provide that the Arizona State Land Department (ASLD) may dispose of common variety minerals at auction and may execute common variety mineral leases offered at auction for their severance, extraction or disposal.

Common variety minerals include deposits of petrified wood, stone, pumice, cinders, decomposed granite, sand, gravel, boulders, clay, fill dirt, and waste rock. This includes deposits that, although they may have value for use in trade, manufacturing and the construction, landscaping and

decorative rock industries, do not possess an otherwise distinct economic value.

The construction industry uses these materials for road base, riprap, ballast, borrow, fill, facing stone, and landscaping or ornamental uses.

Limestone suitable for use in producing cement, metallurgical or chemical grade limestone or gypsum is excluded from the common variety minerals category.

State Trust land production numbers reveal trends similar to those from the public lands, influenced by construction activity. Statutes describe mineral materials auction and lease from State Trust lands. ASLD leases are limited to not more than one legal section of 640 acres, a 10-year term, rental based on appraised land value, lessee’s rights, production royalty established by appraisal and auction, and payment terms.

“Overall the experience has been positive,” says Bill Nichols, president of Kilauea Crushers, Inc., a company which has produced crushed stone from Arizona’s public lands for more than 30 years. “We have found ways to work with the State Land Department and the Bureau of Land Management. A good working relationship has developed with the employees of the agencies.”

Scott Donaldson focuses his practice in natural resources and public lands law. His clients include mining interests and other occupants of state and federal lands. He can be contacted through: www.wsdlaw.net. Q

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Arizona contractor & Community

Construction Around Arizona

Rock Star State: Stone Production Tops in Arizona

TWENTY TWO

Summer 2017

Construction Around Arizona

Images courtesy of Author

Museum-Quality Construction at the Heard

T

he challenge was considerable: How best to link five generations of buildings dating back almost 90 years at The Heard Museum of Native Cultures and Art, one of Arizona’s most renowned institutions? The solution to the compartmentalized layout was a crosswalk linking the two second-story floors. The Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust Crosswalk now connects the East Gallery Boarding School exhibit and the central Grand Staircase.

Improving the buildings’ flow will enhance the museum’s 120,000 annual visitor’s experience at the Heard Museum.

Architect Dan Clevenger with DLR Group | Westlake Reed Leskosky designed

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the project. Okland Construction in Tempe was the contractor on the project.

The construction project also renovated and combined the two east galleries to create more than 7,000 square feet of changing exhibition space. The new space, called the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust Grand Gallery, will include state of the art museum climate controls, digital communication platforms for interactive exhibit technologies, and 18-foot ceilings with expandable and efficient gallery lighting.

The larger space will be able to accommodate national touring exhibitions.

One of these is the new exhibition, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, which runs through August. “This is the only North American stop on a limited world tour for this exhibit, so it's a pretty big deal for the Heard,” says Jessica Pate of OHPARTNERS.

“It helps that they have this brand new gallery to showcase such iconic artists.“ Dwight B. and Maie Bartlett Heard founded the museum to house their personal Native American art collection, much of which came from the La Ciudad ruin located at 19th and Polk streets in Phoenix.

Famed local architect Bennie Gonzales designed portions of the museum. Q

Arizona contractor & Community

Gas Station in the Sky: the Final Flight of Copper 5 Construction Around Arizona

Jim Bolek

O

Images courtesy of Staff Sgt. Wes Parrell

n Saturday, March 13, 1982, three KC-135A Stratotankers from the 161st Air Refueling Wing set out on a routine refueling flight from the Air National Guard base at Sky Harbor Airport. They were headed north to Prescott, Winslow, then returning home. North of Phoenix, the formation broke, and two of the planes landed back at Sky Harbor.

The third jet, call sign “Copper 5,” gained altitude to practice instrument approach and touch-and-go landings at Luke Air Force Base in the West Valley. The sky had scattered clouds, with a ceiling between 2,300 and 3,000 feet.

Copper 5 called the tower “…final approach fix inbound, we’re Popeye [in the clouds]” as they made their descent.

Moments later, a civilian plane flying at the base of the clouds struck the tanker in the fuselage. The smaller plane exploded and spun as it crashed. The KC-135 split in two and dived nearly straight down, crashing into an empty field that was part of the Perryville Prison.

"The private plane hit the tail part of the big one, and then that little one exploded, and the right wing fell off the big one,'' says Rick Siefken, a corrections officer at the prison.

All four crew members of Copper 5 and the pilot and passenger of the civilian plane were killed. No one on the ground was injured. Debris from the wrecks was

scattered over several acres of desert.

Airmen from the Arizona Air Guard spent several weeks searching the site and protecting it from curiosity seekers.

Later investigation placed the blame on the civilian pilot for failing to follow Visual Flight Rules (VFR) procedures due to the cloudy conditions and the proximity to the air base.

The deaths of the airmen “…left a hole in our leadership at the wing, and it took all of us a long time to truly recover from that day,” remembered retired Colonel Mike Kelly. As a way to help ease that pain, a memorial was created incorporating the tail fin of a similar KC-135, marked to look like Copper 5. A ceremony is held at the memorial each year on the anniversary of the accident.

This year was the 35th anniversary of the tragedy, and a short, moving service was held for the families of the crew, friends, and members of the Arizona Air Guard. Colonel Edwin Slocum, the vice wing commander of the 161st Air Refueling Wing, presided. “Today is a tribute to their selfless service,” he said. “Time has passed, but as family members, friends and as a wing, we have not forgotten the ultimate sacrifice that was made that 13th day of March, 35 years ago.”

Top right: Col. Edwin Slocum salutes after placing a wreath at the 35th Annual Copper 5 Memorial at the Goldwater Air National Guard Base, March 13, 2017.

Left: Staff Sgt. Wes Parrell.

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There were four crewmen on the Copper 5: ● Lt. Colonel James Floor, the pilot, remembered "for his soft-spoken demeanor" and "dedicated professionalism.” He was the commander of the 197th Air Refueling Squadron. A fighter pilot with more than 100 missions during the Korean War, he received the Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Air Medal seven times. ● Major Truman Young was the co-pilot and had served two tours in Vietnam. He had been awarded the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Air Medal 14 times. He was also a prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Phoenix. ● Lt. Colonel Ted Beam was the flight’s navigator and the wing’s director of aircrew training. ● Technical Sergeant Donald Plough was the flight’s only enlisted member. He was a veteran of the Marine Corps, and joined the Air National Guard as an aircraft mechanic and boom operator. He was “one of the most-liked members of the unit.”

At the end of the ceremony, Tech Sergeant Plough's dog tags and a wreath were placed in front of the memorial. Roll was called, and after the four men’s names were called, there was only silence. Q

Arizona contractor & Community

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Summer 2017

Grocery Turnover: Oldest Bashas’ Store Closes

“H

Images courtesy of Author

ere’s Everything: Truly a Dream Come True,” touted the Bashas’ advertisement about the Grand Opening of its new store located at Seventh Avenue and Osborne Road on November 15, 1956.

For a devoted group of grocery shoppers, the store lived up to its billing for more than 60 years.

The market ended its run of being the oldest continuously operating Bashas’ in Arizona when it closed on April 28, 2017.

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The site will be redeveloped for apartments by Dallas-based developer Trammell Crow. It is not known if portions of the Bashas’ building will be preserved.

The shopping center was designed by A.E. Hansen, a Los Angeles architect. The

market featured an unusual mezzanine floor above the main shopping area, where shoppers could sit, enjoy a snack, and take in a bird’s eye view of the store. A Skaggs Drugstore occupied the space to the north, a location later used by the China Doll restaurant. An Osco Drug store, which closed some years ago, was the last occupant of the southern portion of the building.

Construction of the building was done

by R.H. Hamm, who had built several other Bashas’ Markets in the Valley. The building featured cream and red Norman brick and native stone for planter boxes.

A few days after closing, the Christy Sign Company removed the Bashas’ signs from the building. Dane Christensen, the sign company owner, said they had to have been installed by one of three sign companies in 1956: Myers-Leiber, Virgil Moss or Guererro Lindsey.

“My guess is Guererro Lindsey, which had been linked to the grocery store chain for more than 30 years," he says. Christensen added that after Guererro Lindsey closed a few years ago, his company was finally able to work with Bashas’.

Christy Signs is temporarily storing the Bashas’ neon signs at their facility. “One of them will probably be moved to the Bashas’ warehouse museum in Chandler,” Christensen says. “We hope to add others to the signs we have displayed at our sign yard.”

Many long-time customers made a bittersweet final visit to the Bashas’ store and enjoyed an ice cream cone in the mezzanine, which overlooked the mostly bare aisles. They nostalgically contemplated the store’s somewhat dated ambiance that was called, when it opened, “the state’s largest complete food store with wide aisles for your leisure shopping, air conditioning for your comfort, self-opening doors, and warm, restful decorative color schemes.” Q

Arizona contractor & Community

Construction Around Arizona

Douglas Towne

TWENTY EIGHT

Summer 2017

T

he surveyor's wheel, also called the measuring wheel, goes back to Greek and Roman times. The device was first used to estimate the distance between towns and follows a simple mathematical principle that we learned in grade school.

The circumference of a wheel is defined by the equation C = π D, where C is the circumference of the wheel in feet, is constant, or 3.14159, and D is the diameter of the wheel in feet. Thus, if we know the diameter of the wheel and the number of times the wheel completes a revolution, we can calculate the distance between two points.

Alexander the Great used a surveyor’s wheel in 300 BC to estimate the distance between two cities on the Silk Route that were more than 500 miles apart. These measurements had 99.8 percent accuracy when checked with today’s modern equipment.

An auto's odometer uses this method, which measures distance by determining the number of revolutions that the tire turns. Of course, this is assuming that the tires are of specified size, diameter, and do not have appreciable wear.

The surveyor's wheel is a refinement of the "walking wheel" developed by John Metcalf. He used this equipment to build roads and canals throughout England in the 18th century. The wheel had a counter that kept track of the number of times the wheel had completed a revolution to determine the distance.

Today, there are many modifications to the surveyor’s wheel. There are small wheels for flat interior surfaces and bicycle-sized wheels suitable for outside use.

These wheels have calibrated counters so that they directly provide the distance between two points.

There are several things to keep in mind when using the surveyor’s wheel: 1. Make sure the wheel surface is clean.

2. Set the gage to zero when you are at the starting point.

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So what type of accuracy can you get with a surveyor’s wheel?

A research project done while I was a Professor of Construction at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, examined the accuracy of a surveyor's wheel on various surfaces. The study was conducted utilizing different students using a bicycle-sized surveyor’s wheel measuring a distance determined using a steel tape.

Surface

Distance (ft) Grass 300 Sidewalk 300 Building Interior 300 Gravel Parking Lot 100 Roadway 250 Roadway 1000

Wheel Accuracy 99.72 99.96 99.74 99.74 99.72 99.80

learn how to use, and allows a person to take measurements at a speed of walking.

The device has become the preferred measuring equipment for realtors, farmers, police departments (for accident reconstruction surveys), road and pipeline maintenance crews, and field engineers on projects when 99 percent accuracy is sufficient.

There are several types of surveyor’s wheels available; which is best depends on its intended use. For utilization in buildings, the small wheel unit is recommended to get the equipment closer to walls and create better accuracy. For outside use, a bicycle-sized surveyor’s wheel is best.

During our research several inexpensive plastic surveyor’s wheels were used.

These provided similar accuracy but didn’t prove durable. They are recommended only for occasional use and must be carefully used and stored.

The surveyor's wheel will never replace the conventional surveying equipment needed on most construction projects. However, when a quick estimate of distance is required, the surveyor's wheel is often the device of choice. Q

Construction Around Arizona

Luke M. Snell

3. Walk as straight a line as is possible.

4. Keep a steady pace.

5. Take your reading of the distance directly from the equipment at your ending point.

6. Remember that this is an estimate of the distance.

7. There are many YouTube videos on how to use the surveyor's wheel including many provided by manufacturers.

8. Read the instruction manual which should provide detailed instructions.

9. Try out the surveyor’s wheel on a known distance to develop confidence using it.

The surveyor’s wheel follows the contours of the ground or surface while conventional surveying measures the distance in a straight line between two points.

Thus, the surveyor’s wheel will be expected to be less accurate and will likely slightly overestimate the distance.

From my observations, most of the measurement errors resulted from the users deviating from a straight line, not keeping a uniform pace, and inexact positioning of the surveyor’s wheel at the start and ending points. Our research indicates that individuals with minimal training could still achieve 99 percent accuracy on a variety of surfaces.

So when is it logical to use a surveyor’s wheel?

Images courtesy of Author

A “Revolutionary” Distance Calculator: the Surveyor’s Wheel

The surveyor’s wheel is lightweight, easy to carry to remote locations, easy to

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J

oseph Herzog is a principal with Shepley Bulfinch, a national architecture firm known for design excellence and innovation with offices in Boston, Houston, and Phoenix When you were first captivated by architecture?

I had an uncle who was an architect, owned his firm and lived in a house that he designed. He worked on a variety of projects, from schools to airports to homes, and I loved hanging out at his office and shadowing him to watch him work. This was my first glimpse into the world of architecture, and I was hooked.

Top right: Joseph Herzog Below: Next student housing in Tucson.

Bottom: Hoover House.

What was your experience before Shepley Bulfinch?

While in architecture school, someone who knew acclaimed Phoenix architect Will Bruder suggested I talk to him. I arrived on his doorstep one Saturday morning, portfolio in hand: after one look, he hired me.

I worked nearly full-time for Will during my three years of graduate school. Upon graduation, I worked with him for an additional three years, and that was my true training in architecture – frankly, so much more than school.

After my time with Will, I worked with Wendell Burnette for a year. I began thinking about projects that truly inspired me, ones that could make a difference to a whole community. In 2004, I co-founded merzproject. Our first project was the groundbreaking After Hours building in Phoenix. Soon we had a reputation as a young, progressive architecture firm and won Architectural Record’s 2009 Design Vanguard Award.

How is working for Shepley Bulfinch different from having your firm?

Merging with Shepley Bulfinch has been the greatest professional decision of my life. The firm has the resources for me to create forward-thinking designs and act on them. The larger platform gives me the chance to work on a variety of projects, including higher education facilities. As the son of a college professor, I wondered how I could be a part of the college experience from an architectural standpoint. Being a part of Shepley Bulfinch – with its history of higher ed work – gives me that opportunity. Campuses need branding these days, and great design is a major contributor to that.

What was different about renovating the Phoenix Financial Center building in which your company would be the occupants?

When designing your own building, you have no illusions about the process.

You can embrace that it won’t be perfect the first time which frees you up to be more experimental. The most important part of any renovation is the last 10 to 20 percent when, ideally, you should understand how the sun is affecting users in the space, test the acoustics, note where people are congregating, etc., all of which can only be validated through experience.

Then you can do the final stage six months later. This process normally doesn't work with clients, but it's a valid way to approach a project.

What's your current project?

I’m working on a housing project in downtown Phoenix at Third and Pierce streets, and a student housing project at Arizona State University, Tempe campus.

We will soon be starting work on the next renovation of the After Hours building and the next phase of en Hance Park.

What should the construction industry know about architects?

I honestly don’t think there is much mystery anymore. Our projects are so collaborative and often involve co-location, where the design and construction teams work together for a substantial portion of the time. For the Banner University Medical Center project in Tucson, for example, the entire project team co-locates and works together in what we call “The Big Room” for three days every week.

Q

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Shepley Bulfinch: Interview with Joseph Herzog, AIA

CONGRATULATIONS NEW WESTERN RENTAL ON 20 YEARS IN BUSINESS Speciality Companies Group, LLC God Bless You

GABIONS

THIRTY TWO

(623) 582-2385 • (623) 581-7454 fax specialtycompaniesgroup.com

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single, simple phrase characterizes New Western Rentals: “Customer Service.” Whether the issue is a mechanical breakdown, a billing inquiry or a question about machinery, all it takes is a quick call for a resolution. The company’s dispatcher answers the phone and steers customers to a knowledgeable employee to solve the problem.

The family-run company is based in Glendale and serves the Valley and Central

Arizona. Since its start in 1997, customer service has been the number one goal, and has fueled the company’s growth for 20 years. "The biggest value we provide is our service, and we stand behind it," says Phil Fox, who owns the company along with his three sons, Andrew, Josh, and Cody Fox. “You get top-notch service with a family touch, and the owner is always involved no matter what the question.”

Phil Fox with his sons, Cody, Andrew and Josh Fox.

THIRTY FOUR

Operations manager Andrew Fox echoes his father’s expectations. "If a piece of equipment breaks down, within five minutes of receiving a call, we've put the tools needed to fix the problem in a repair truck, and we’re on our way. The only thing slowing us down is the distance and the traffic.”

New Western Rentals can usually reach its customer’s in the Valley within the hour. This is in contrast to some con-

1997 - New Western Rentals - 2017 Phil celebrates his 22nd birthday with his parents Richard and Margaret, June 1985.

Phil and Richard Fox 2010.

tractors who have rented from big national outfits only to be delayed by broken equipment a few weeks.

A Company Founded on Service New Western Rentals was established one blistering hot summer day in 1997 when Richard Fox and his son, Phil Fox, recognized a business opportunity while working for their company, Modern Paving.

Richard Fox had founded Modern Paving with his partner, Dan Selby, in 1983. They joked it should be called “Antique Paving” since they bought used equipment to start the company.

A native of South Bend, Indiana, Richard Fox had begun in the industry as a sales representative for Costello Paving in the late 1970s and eventually worked for Universal Paving and Metropolitan Paving.

“My father sold the work, but after not getting his commissions, he’d quit, and move on,” says Phil Fox. “Then the companies did shoddy work, and they went under.”

Richard Fox bought out Selby, and Phil Fox had joined the firm when Modern Paving was completing a project in 115-degree weather for Hardison Downey. The superintendent, Mondo, asked Modern Paving if they would refuel the generator Hardison Downey had rented from another outfit.

“We did and billed him for that,” recalls Phil Fox. After four weeks, Modern Paving left for another job, but Mondo called to inquire if they could still have their generators refueled. “I told him we’d have to bill them for the transportation, and they said no problem.”

After a month, Phil Fox popped the question to Hardison Downey: “If I buy a generator, will you rent it from me if I come by and refuel it? Mondo said sure, and that’s how it started.” As the owners of Modern Paving, Richard and Phil Fox knew a lot of builders, and once they found out that New Western Rentals fueled generators, they began attracting customers.

“Refueling was a big deal; it wasn't a service most rental companies provided,” he says. “It’s expensive to own a fuel truck and to have a well-trained driver.”

New Western Rentals started with three generators that they bought at the Ritchie Bros. Auction for $3,000 each. The business evolved when their customers asked if they had a water truck or a skip loader. The company has since grown to more than 500 items for rent, including generators, graders, loaders, lifts, light towers, water trucks, and other heavy machinery. “We’re filling in the equipment gaps for all these contractors; we’re their extra fleet when they need it,” Andrew Fox says.

But it's not just the company's equipment that attracts customers; it's their

“Our staff is well trained, knows their jobs, and this makes us successful”

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1997 - New Western Rentals - 2017 Cody Fox, in seat, with Josh Fox with one of New Western's first backhoes.

service. Recently, a New Western Rentals salesman arrived at a job site at the same time as a competitor. Their customer told the other firm’s representative that there was nothing they could offer him as New Western Rentals always took good care of the account.

“When our customers are that loyal, it makes what we do easy,” says Andrew Fox. “There have been many times companies have rented from our big competitors, and the customer has been idled two weeks with broken machinery. So they cancel their contract and rent from us, knowing if it breaks down with us, it's fixed within the day. We take pride in providing good, late-model equipment and taking care of it, so it keeps running.”

Secret to Success New Western Rentals has a conservative mindset and focuses on slow, steady growth. “My dad, Richard Fox, who passed away in May 2011, always cautioned not to build too fast,” says Phil Fox. “We’ve

THIRTY SIX

seen a lot of companies come and go. They buy all new equipment and then when the economy has a downturn they go bye bye.”

The Great Recession of 2008 impacted New Western Rentals, but while much of their competition closed up shop, they just slowed down buying machinery. “We sold off some generators to get some cash flow, but most of our equipment in the yard was paid off,” says Andrew Fox. “When the construction market takes a hit, we take a bigger one if there aren’t any equipment gaps to fill.”

New Western Rentals' distinguished service is a team effort. The company’s 20 employees are empowered to take the initiative to make sure their customers are satisfied. “Our staff is well trained, knows their jobs, and this makes us successful,” Andrew Fox says. “We give them the authority to make decisions, and their only goal is to make the customer happy. They enjoy the freedom and tell us it’s so much better working here because they’re used to having their hands tied at other jobs.”

The company’s greatest service challenges are Monday mornings, especially after a long three-day weekend. That’s the time batteries to go dead, tires go flat, and crews discover vandalism. “The drivers start at 3 a.m.in the morning, so they have First Cat 950F loader, 1992.

1997 - New Western Rentals - 2017 time to correct most problems,” Andrew Fox says. “The complications all seem to come in waves, as nothing ever breaks down on a nice schedule.”

New Western Rentals’ goal is to minimize breakdowns of their rental equipment with rigorous maintenance standards. "We maintain the equipment to manufacturer's specifications, so it works well for our customers and lasts a long time for us," says Andrew Fox.

Powering Up Special Events Although most of New Western Rentals’ work is with construction companies, they also set up for special events. These include school fairs and holiday celebrations like the Fear Farm at Halloween and the Christmas decorations at the Happy Valley Towne Center at Interstate-17 and Happy Valley Road. “Imagine hanging ornaments 10-15 feet in diameter,” exclaims Andrew Fox. Another holiday event is the CityScape ice skating rink in downtown Phoenix.

“People often ask us what’s going on,” says Andrew Fox. “We tell them we’re putting up an ice rink. A few don’t believe it and say, ‘There’s no way you can keep ice frozen in Phoenix!’”

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New Western Rentals also helps first responders. “Every day you wake up you do something different,” reflects Andrew Fox. After monsoon damage, they worked with Century Link, following the communication company’s crane with a truckload of generators which they set up to maintain the phone lines. They sent crews to Alpine and Sierra Vista for communication assistance when wildfires threatened the towns.

“Our trip to Sierra Vista was strange," recalls Andrew Fox. "The town had been evacuated, but we still had to keep the phone lines going in case of a 911 call.

Driving through an abandoned town was like something from a movie.”

A Company - and Office Like No Other

billiard table for customers sits in the spacious lobby. “The table is a conversation piece whenever someone comes in the office,” says Phil Fox. The company often holds meetings at the table instead of in their more formal conference room. “We find people can just relax, have a little fun, and have a good business conversation while playing billiards,” says Andrew Fox. But beware if the good folks at New Western Rentals offer to play double-ornothing in an eight-ball game for your rental fee; they have talent with the cue.

New Western Rentals 7909 W. Glendale Ave. Office 623-847-3594 Cell 602-859-8692 Dispatcher Billy and Andrew in the office.

Please contact New Western Rentals for your equipment needs. The company knows how tough construction work is and will do their best to help your business meet project deadlines. "These contractors have to do all the hard work. We have our challenges in the rental business too, but they're different,” says Phil Fox. A visit to New Western Rentals will also reveal a unique business office. A

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Light Towers | Generators | Earthmoving Equipment Aerial Equipment | Track-Out Shakers Water Trucks | Water Towers | Backflows Operators available upon request, small jobs such as jobsite prep, grading & cleanup.

THIRTY EIGHT

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Back When: Ghost Rider in the Sky Douglas Towne

A

rizona rolled out the red carpet when Stan Jones landed at Sky Harbor Airport. The songwriter /actor was met by his fan club, along with Governor Ernest McFarland, who declared it to be Stan Jones Day in Arizona on September 14, 1957.

A native of Douglas, Arizona, Jones played Deputy Harry Olson in the TV series Sheriff of Cochise. As a songwriter, Jones

Image courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community magazine

Back When

composed music for several Western films directed by John Ford and the theme song for the TV series, Cheyenne.

But Jones’ most famous composition was a timeless song he wrote while working for the National Park Service in Death Valley in 1948. “Ghost Riders in the Sky” was selected by the Western Writers of America as the best Western song in 2014. The familiar tune has been recorded

by artists as varied as Burl Ives, Bing Crosby, Peggy Lee, the Ventures, Tom Jones, Elvis Presley, Marty Robbins, Johnny Cash, Deborah Harry, Dolan Ellis, The Tubes, Concrete Blonde, R.E.M. and the Dixie Chicks.

Jones died of cancer in 1963 at the age of 49 and is buried in his hometown at Julia Page Memorial Park. Q

Tower

Control

Original

Sky Harbor’s

Image courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community magazine

T

he 100,000 passengers that pass through Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport on a typical day are to be excused if they think the city is mathematically challenged. Terminals 2, 3, and 4 teem with flight activity, but Terminal 1 is mysteriously absent.

Having ushered in modern airline transportation into Phoenix when it opened in 1952, the facility formerly known as Terminal 1 was razed in 1991, after 38 years of service. Subsequently, the name “Terminal 1” was retired, causing the odd terminal numbering scheme.

Terminal 1 remains extant, however, in the recollections of travelers who flew during the golden age of air travel. In those days, Sky Harbor was a destination for sightseers and fine-dining fans as well as travelers including celebrities sometimes behaving badly. It thrived in an era before necessary modern nuisances like TSA lines and baggage carousels, when even a short hop to Los Angeles was imbued with glamour and excitement.

Forty two

"People liked Terminal 1 because it Avenue and Thomas Road. Limited comreminded them of the friendlier days of mercial flights began soon afterward, and flying," retired Sky Sky Harbor was purHarbor maintenance chased by the City of Navigating the employee Bob Phoenix in 1935. The Erikson says. "Pas- terminal was a breeze; facility then included sengers came lighted runways, a there were no dressed up, men in hangar, and a small, suits and ties, ladies 30-passenger termiconcourses or in their Easter nal. security features dresses.

People Airport improvethought flying was ments, including a something special, so they wore something new terminal building, were recomspecial." mended by the city in 1943, but it would Before Terminal 1 was constructed, take a post-war air travel boom to jumppassenger amenities at the airport were start construction. Mardian Construction limited. Scenic Airways built the first Company was awarded the $856,500 conrunway at Sky Harbor in 1928, and folded tract to build the new terminal and an the following year on the heels of the Black access road. The road was named “Camino Friday stock market crash, leaving ownership of the airport in the hands of the Acme Top: Terminal 1 under construction, 1952.

Opposite page, top right: Western Airlines, Investment Company.

The first official landing was a Ford business card, 1960s.

Opposite page, left: Terminal 1 under Tri-Motor aircraft that touched down after construction, 1952. flying from an airstrip located near Central Summer 2017

Images courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community magazine

al Cielo” or “Roadway to the Sky,” but was later changed to Sky Harbor Boulevard.

Terminal 1 was dedicated on September 12, 1952, in a celebration that included tours, live music, and gifts for its first passengers.

To commemorate the event, Bonanza and Trans World Airline passenger planes managed almost simultaneous landings. The terminal had “facilities worthy of a progressive city... Everything is designed to present the best side of Phoenix to the public,” according to a 1952 Phoenix Gazette article.

The curving brick building featured a picturesque air traffic control tower at its midpoint. Parking cost a nickel.

Navigating the terminal was a breeze; there were no concourses or security features. Departing passengers checked their luggage in the terminal and walked outside past landscaped medians to climb the mobile stairways into the plane. Anyone could meander onto the tarmac to admire the aircraft.

“As a kid waiting for our stepdad’s flight, we noticed that our younger brother was missing,” former airport employee Michael D. Jones says. “Moments later, we found him with a pair of Continental Airlines’ wings on his chest. While he was looking at a 727, a Continental Airlines pilot had given him a tour of the airplane.”

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Flying into Phoenix, it took just minutes to depart the plane using both front and back exits and to retrieve luggage outside by the curb. “It was very convenient; however, in the summer you could still melt waiting for the bags,” ASU history professor Heidi Osselaer says. “Then the entire contents of your luggage could be soup by the time you got home.”

One of the terminal’s signature features was the observation deck, where aviation enthusiasts watched propellerdriven airliners like the DC-3, DC-6, and Lockheed Super Constellation. “ T h e r e were these boxes that, for a coin, would broadcast the air controllers as they spoke to the pilots on take-off and landing,” independent film promoter and Phoenix native Steve Weiss says. “Luckily, there was also a switch to set it to previous broadcasts or information about the airport on a tape. Because there were so few flights, it would generally be dead air.”

Another popular attraction at the terminal was Sky Chefs, a classy, glass-enclosed dining establishment the Phoenix Gazette called “a symphony in chrome, leather, and soft-toned wood.”

"In the early 1960s, a big night for our family was to head to the airport to eat at Sky Chefs," Weiss recalls excitedly. "It served the best French onion soup I ever had." The restaurant was also the site of an important civil rights victory in Phoenix.

Sky Chefs refused to serve band leader Louis Jordan and his party in 1952, citing the local custom of not allowing AfricanAmericans in upscale restaurants. Since the airport was a municipal facility, however, Phoenix Mayor Hohen Foster said the city “will take necessary steps to see that

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Forty four

Summer 2017

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people are served, regardless of color,” according to Jet magazine.

Terminal 1 entered the commercial jet age inadvertently in 1959 when a Boeing 707 passenger plane bound for Los Angeles had to make an unscheduled landing because of bad weather California. Among the inconvenienced passengers on the American Airlines jetliner was actress Marilyn Monroe.

A decade later, another sex symbol had a more ignoble experience at Terminal 1. Doors singer Jim Morrison and a friend were arrested as they exited a Continental Airlines plane. Flying to Phoenix to attend a Rolling Stones concert, the pair allegedly threw glasses and used vulgar language on board. The charges were eventually dropped, according to the book Desert Wings: A History of Sky Harbor Airport by Michael D. Jones The terminal also had its own fame, serving as the backdrop in scenes from two movies. Mixed Company is a 1974 comedy in which the Phoenix Suns are greeted at the terminal by a group of diehard fans. In the 1978 film Fire in the Sky, Phoenix residents are in the terminal frantically trying to board Air Force transport planes sent to evacuate the city before an impending meteor crash.

Over the years, Terminal 1 changed names and narrowly survived two proposed demolitions. The facility was originally known simply as “the Terminal,” but when Terminal 2, known as the East Terminal, opened in 1960, Terminal 1 was slated for removal. It survived, however, because of increased air traffic and was renamed the West Terminal.

When Terminal 3 was completed in 1979, the old facility was once again scheduled for demolition. Airline deregulation delayed its demise due to increased flights, and it was officially renamed Terminal 1.

After Terminal 4 was finished in 1990, however, Terminal 1 was demolished.

Located to the west of Terminal 2; its former parking lot is now the West Economy Parking Lot. By that time, the interior of the terminal bore little resemblance to its sleek 1952 appearance. The chic Sky Chefs restaurant had been replaced by a utilitarian coffee shop. “In the latter years, the underground

Perhaps the greatest legacies of the pipes were corroded, and the electrical system was overworked," Erickson says. "It terminal that brought modern passenger service to Sky was tough to keep the terminal oper- “Anyone could meander Harbor, however, are the ational." onto the tarmac to fond memories Parts of Teradmire the aircraft.” of those who minal 1, including experienced the the control tower, survived the demolition. Vintage bathroom early days of air travel. “Flying from Termiceramic tiles decorated with motifs of nal 1 was so easy,” 81-year-old attorney various airlines and famous aircraft were Charles Fine recalls wistfully. “I'll take Terminal 1 over any of the present Sky saved for employees.

Harbor terminals.” Q

Top: Terminal 1, 1964.

Bottom: A Boeing 720B flown by Western Airlines at Terminal 1, 1962.

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T

he new air traffic control tower that soared over Terminal 1 became an immediate architectural landmark when it opened in 1952. The cylindrical tower was composed of underground fuel storage tanks that had been welded together and topped with a stylish, art deco control cab equipped with the latest communication technology. The tower's appearance was even lauded by architect Frank Lloyd Wright, though the building did have its shortcomings.

“As beautiful as the tower was, the structure lacked such amenities as a restroom and an elevator, which made going for snacks and toilet breaks a real adventure,” says former airport operations assistant Michael D. Jones.

Early Sky Harbor air traffic controllers were a hardy bunch. The control cab was air conditioned but the interior of the tower, which contained the 129-step spiral

since 1985. The control tower still lacks an elevator and air conditioning in the stairwell. Q Top: Sky Harbor control tower, 1952.

Bottom: A barbershop quartet sings to greet actor Art Baker (center), 1953.

Bottom left: The Sky Harbor Control Tower was more than 125 feet high and built of steel tubing 9 feet in diameter, which was the first of its kind in the world.

Opposite page: Terminal One under construction, 1952.

Forty six

Images courtesy of Author

Image courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community magazine

staircase that led to the air traffic communication center, was not.

"The final test to see if you could work up in the control tower was to do the climb when it was 120 degrees in the summer and survive," retired Sky Harbor maintenance employee Bob Erikson says with a laugh.

After 25 years of service, the Terminal 1 tower was deemed too short to provide adequate air traffic control. The control tower handled its final commercial airline landing in 1977.

“Continental 56 cleared to land Runway 8R. New tower from old tower, it’s all yours – am shutting down. Enjoy that elevator!” was the last official transmission according to the book Desert Wings.

Unlike Terminal 1, the old tower found a second life. Cutter Aviation relocated the structure to its Sky Harbor facility and has used it for directing general aviation traffic

Summer 2017

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Image courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community magazine

M

any associate Turf Paradise racetrack with the traditional procession of the call to post or frenzied shouting of encouragement to their jockey in an exciting photo-finish. But a select few aging aviators remember it for the site they first touched down behind the controls of an airplane.

My father is one of those increasingly rare pilots who operated a plane out of the Turf Paradise Airport. “When I was 17 in 1966, I was granted my pilot’s license at Turf Airport,” he says.

“I flew a Shinn 2150 airplane, a two-seat trainer airplane with the passen-

Forty eight

ger seat behind the pilot seat,” he recalls.

“It was a stick-controlled monoplane with a low wing and a greenhouse canopy.”

But why did Turf Paradise at one time double as a landing spot for fast horses – and airplanes? The two modes of transportation were linked by their owners.

Skeptics asked the question, “Paradise in the Desert?” when Walter Cluer bought 1,400 acres at 19th Avenue and Bell Road in 1954. He planned to build one of the largest horse racing tracks in the nation, Turf Paradise. The racetrack opened on January 7, 1956.

Cluer built Turf Paradise in a remote area, which previously experienced only tumbleweed racing as the rolling weeds made their way down the empty dirt lanes.

Only a few poorly maintained roads led to the horse track.

That isolation helped create a 2,500foot runway paralleling the back straightaway of the horse track.

“They built the airport for the convenience of their flying clientele, primarily

farmers and ranchers who would come in from all over Arizona,” writes Otis Hammonds in the book, As the Hawks Free of Earth’s Bounds. “On the weekends during the race season, we would see many transit aircraft, mainly Cessna 172s, a Piper Tri-Pacer, and even Beech Craft Bonanzas.”

Another major user of the Turf Paradise Airport was the Turf Soaring School owned by Roy Coulliette. He had moved his glider operation from Chandler Airport because the many farm fields near Chandler didn’t produce enough rising air or thermals. Instead, cotton and other crops created cooler air that was stagnant or even descending air, known as “sink” in glider talk.

At the time, there was much open desert near Turf Paradise Airport, with the rocks absorbing heat and producing rising air. The gliders and the airplanes that towed them, along with flight schools and incoming horse owners, made the airport a busy facility.

My father was influenced to fly from the many television shows he viewed as a kid about World War II. “They made flying seem cool,” he says, when asked about his inspiration to become a pilot in 1965.

At the age of 17, his parents had to drive him to the airstrip because he was too young to get a driver's license. I'm sure that my grandmother could tell remarkable stories about dropping Dad off and

Summer 2017

Images courtesy of Author

heading straight to the Turf Paradise Clubhouse to enjoy a cocktail and a day to herself. By the next year, my dad had earned his pilot's license at Turf Paradise Airport.

His first solo flight from Turf Paradise Airport, a short but intense 10-minute trip, is still vivid in his memory, as are the logistics and layout of the airport. “On a typical day, there were approximately 20-25 planes tied down, and maybe ten planes in operation," he recalls.

"The air traffic at the airport was "uncontrolled," requiring a pilot to be extra aware of his surroundings

while in flight," he says. "To learn how to work with, and take instructions from an air traffic controller, the pilots would fly from Turf Paradise Airport to the nearby Deer Valley Airport, which was larger and had controlled air traffic."

My dad discovered that he needed glasses as a pilot on a cross-country flight with his instructor, going from Turf Paradise to Gila Bend, Casa Grande, and back.

“After doing a touch-and-go landing at the Gila Bend Airport, I continued heading east for the Casa Grande Airport,

but started to fly over the Gila Bend Gunnery Range,” he recalls.

“Flying in this airspace was forbidden as it was used by the Air Force to practice bombing runs. My instructor quickly steered us to safety but immediately gave me an impromptu eye exam when we landed,” he says. “I failed the test.”

The exact year of the construction of Turf Paradise Airport is unknown; it did not appear on maps until 1959 and didn’t initially have much airplane traffic according to pilot Jack Young. "Back in 1959, while getting qualified in taildraggers, I used to fly an Aeronca Champ at Turf Paradise,” he says. “I never saw another airplane there while I was using it."

The airport operated into the late 1970s though the exact date of its closure is unknown.

Horse racing at Turf Paradise, however, is still going strong even after five ownership changes though the horse owners no longer have the option of flying in to watch the races. Q

Top left: Sixteen-year-old Mark Crigler next to a Shinn 2150 trainer that he flew.

Top middle: Mark Crigler coming in for a landing at Turf Paradise Airport.

Top right: Crigler checks the fuel tanks before takeoff.

Left: Crigler's Student Pilot License issued in 1966. www.Arizcc.com

Arizona contractor & Community

Building on the Past 1956: First National Bank at Sky Harbor Airport

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Images courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community magazine

s air traffic increased at Sky Harbor Airport after World War II, businesses began banking on the transportation hub as an excellent location for future expansion. The First National Bank constructed a “fly-in” branch at the airport in 1956. Designed by architect H.H. Green, the 3,000 square-foot building was located next to a Texaco aviation fuel station and across the street from Sky Riders Hotel, famous for its Cockpit Cocktail Lounge, all close by Terminal 1.

The E.L. Farmer Construction Company was awarded the $59,854 construction contract. Arizona Sand & Rock Company did the initial earthwork and paving. The new facility included two drive-up tellers and a

walk-up window, which served pilots or their passengers who taxied their planes to within a few feet of the teller window to do their transactions. Many ranchers and farmers flew in to do their banking this way.

Sky Harbor was the nation’s second busiest airport, mainly due to around 425 private planes based there.

The bank’s interior featured a mural showing historical flights completed by artist Jay Datus.

A new First National Bank was built and the original building repurposed in 1970.

The construction of Terminal 3 resulted in the destruction of these commercial buildings in 1977. Q

Image courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community magazine

Jim Baker, as told to Arizona Contractor & Community magazine

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Marsh Aviation crop dusting in Glendale, 1947.

www.Arizcc.com

y the 1950s, trains were so yesterday and highway travel passé. What Americans aspired to was a private plane.

This mindset was prevalent in Arizona with its ideal weather for flying.

Many airfields had been built in the state to train pilots for World War II. More airports were later constructed to serve small private planes. Almost 90 airports, including all sizes from Sky Harbor and Luke Air Force Base down to runways with unpaved landing strips with minimal facilities, once operated within 30 miles of Phoenix www.sierraestrella.com /ports.html.

However, this emerging transportation system was still working out its kinks and came with a cost.

“At one time I could name more acquaintances who had died in airplane crashes than in car wrecks,” former pilot Jim Baker says.

Particularly dangerous was the nascent industry of crop dusting. This field hired talented former military pilots, but the era's relaxed flying standards seem incongruous today. "There were stories of crop duster pilots landing near a bar at Toltec for a beer or two after a morning of dispensing pesticides," Baker recalls.

Baker has a unique perspective on postWorld War II aviation in Arizona, having worked as a pesticide loader for Marsh Aviation in 1952 and later earning his pilot’s license and flying with the Civil Air Patrol.

Crop dusting could be a dangerous job with inherent hazards such as power lines and trees. Baker, however, recalls only one accident while working for Marsh Aviation.

But the fatal collision made a huge impression on the teenager.

One morning in August, Baker flew out of a crop duster airstrip near Surprise, northwest of Phoenix. Another airplane, a Stearman belonging to Koiner Aviation, worked from the same field. “We had an opportunity to visit with Koiner's loaders while both airplanes were out applying dust,” recalls Baker.

That same evening when Baker reported for work, his manager, Bob Neece, gave him the night off since the crop duster he helped load with pesticides required maintenance.

“Just after ten p.m. that night I woke to hear gravel crunching, then the sound of tires sliding outside,” Baker recalls. “The door flew open, and my brother charged into the mobile home. When he saw me he collapsed against the door jamb, hands shaking. He was never an emotional person, and I had never seen him so worked up.”

Arizona contractor & Community

Image courtesy of Jim Baker

planes,” Baker recalls. “After that, we rode in the fuel truck with several hundred gallons of aviation gas.”

“Fate is strange but that first morning I wound up at the same duster strip where the Koiner pilot and his helpers had died the previous evening,” Baker says. “The burned hulks of both airplanes still sat where crews had pushed them just off the runway.”

“At one time I could name more acquaintances who had died in airplane crashes than in car wrecks”

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With teen curiosity, Baker and his co-worker examined the wreckage. “When I looked inside the Koiner plane, there was charred cloth stuck to the bottom of the hopper,” he recalls. “Instantly an image entered my mind: one of the broadcloth shirts worn by one of the boys I had met just hours before he died.”

Top: Jim Baker beside a 1943 Stearman owned by Jimmy Stewart of Phoenix.

Right: Billy Horner runs a blade along a runway near Picacho Peak.

Image courtesy of Barry Warner

That night his brother, Bob, heard on the car radio that one of Marsh’s crop dusters had been in a head-on collision with another plane.

“A Marsh airplane and a crop duster from Koiner Aviation collided almost nose to nose on a runway, one landing and the other taking off,” says Baker, grimacing. “It was caused by a pall of dust hanging over the airstrip from a recently departed plane. Our pilot survived the flaming wreckage with minor injuries. The pilot and two loaders died in the other aircraft, the very same loaders I had met from Koiner Aviation that same morning.”

The next morning, Baker learned his days of flying from Sky Harbor to unimproved airstrips with his fellow pesticide loaders were over. Previously for the flights, Baker, and his coworker took turns positioned in either a single fold-down seat or scrunching down in the insecticide hopper. Neither location offered a seat belt for the passenger.

“Bill Marsh, the owner, decided loaders would no longer ride in the air-

Summer 2017

It would be a dozen years before Baker’s interest in airplanes became kindled again.

Baker later learned to fly in the Air Force and piloted various training aircraft including T-34, T-37, and T-38s. He then obtained his private pilot's license and joined the Civil Air Patrol.

He believes most aviators can remember ill-advised maneuvers. “While flying, I once dove towards a small lake," he recalls.

"Suddenly, thousands of birds began coming up from the water, and I missed them all - or maybe they successfully dodged my airplane.”

It was a disaster Baker narrowly avoided.

As crazy as crop dusting sometimes seemed with airplanes, Baker thought it was safer than using a chopper. Once in Yuma, Baker ran into a friend who flew for a helicopter crop-spraying outfit. They went up together one morning in the whirlybird. “I took the controls for a few seconds before my friend rescued me,” Baker says.

“I appreciate the old saying that airplanes are inherently stable, and helicopters are inherently unstable.”

His friend subsequently demonstrated a spraying run. "We flew at 70 knots, no more than five feet above the cotton plants," he declares. "A power line spanned our path; I kept wondering if he intended to go under or over the wires."

Baker had decided they would go under when the pilot pulled up in a sharp climb and went into a hover a hundred feet above the ground. "It reminded me of doing a hammerhead in an airplane, except you don't do it on a plane right off the deck."

A few years back, Baker came full circle, returning to the aircraft he first worked aboard. Another former Marsh loader, Jim Pleasants, contacted him and offered him a ride in a friend’s restored 1943 Stearman, which was one of the planes used for crop dusting by Marsh Aviation.

“I have much more respect for the World War II instructor pilots who trained student pilots in Stearmans," Baker declares. "From the front seat, where the instructor sat, all you can see in front is the engine, even in a level flight. I flew it around for a half hour or so, but wouldn't attempt a landing. That is the last time I have been in a small airplane." Q www.Arizcc.com

Arizona contractor & Community

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Jim Baker,

Image courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community magazine

fter World War II during the golden days of American aviation, the nation’s skies were buzzing with aircraft, especially in southern Arizona.

Former military pilots took to the air in droves in surplus planes left over from the war, taking off from makeshift airfields.

This aerial activity included the new industry of crop dusting, with an important mission, talented pilots, and a lethal arsenal of pesticides. It also exposed a new generation just coming of age to the wonders of flying.

“I had only been on an airplane once before my job assisting crops dusters,” says Jim Baker, who later became a pilot. “Being in an open-air cockpit proved to be a heady experience, as sometimes small ripples danced across my cheeks from the air pressure and rain provided a painful massage. Usually, my face felt numb for several minutes after we landed.”

Before Baker could soar with the eagles in Arizona, however, he first had to escape a hardscrabble life in the Texas Panhandle.

As a youth, Baker helped in his dad’s blacksmith shop in the small town of Amherst, Texas. “During the summers, I often chopped weeds and picked cotton,” he recalls.

His break came in 1952 when his older brother, Bob, invited him to Phoenix for the summer. The teenager soon learned Marsh Aviation was hiring high school kids.

“I applied with no idea of what the job entailed,” Baker says.

But anything must have seemed better than farm labor.

Marsh Aviation was founded in 1945

by Bill Marsh, who had invented the sheetmetal device mounted on the belly of a crop duster that more evenly spread insecticide dust. The firm had operations at Sky Harbor in Phoenix, Falcon Field in Mesa, and near Casa Grande. Marsh Aviation was called “the largest year-round spraying operation in the U.S.” by the Arizona Republic in 1960.

Baker became a pesticide loader, one of two assigned to each crop duster. The planes were World War II tandem-seat biplane trainers, either former Army Air Force Stearmans or Navy N3Ns. “The planes appeared similar except for the landing gear,” Baker recalls. “Our favorites were the N3Ns because they were easier to load since their fuselages sat lower. Both had new 450-horse-power

as told to Arizona Contractor & Community magazine

Bill Marsh, far right, director of training at Thunderbird Field, 1943.

a ‘biscuit gun,’ a tube that concentrated the light into a narrow beam.”

The flights to and from outlying crop duster airstrips were exciting rides. The hoppers had a single fold-down seat, so the second loader had to scrunch down in the insecticide compartment. "We took turns, swapping places each day," Baker recalls.

The pilots avoided any risky maneuvers since the loaders lacked seat belts.

"Our pilot flew straight by the book--no hijinks, no fun," Baker declares. "On a typical morning, we took off about 5 a.m.

Weathermen often talk about inversion layers, but in an open-cockpit airplane you can feel the temperature change as you climb into a stratum of warmer air."

The details of these flights remain vivid decades later. “Air currents propelled past the hopper sucked up remnants of the dusting powder and swirled it in our faces.

Sitting just a few feet behind the air-cooled Below: Marsh Aviation dusting near the Camelback Inn, 1947.

Opposite page: Marsh Aviation flight line of crop dusters, 1947.

Images courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community magazine

Pratt and Whitney engines with Hamilton Standard propellers.”

Since the crop dusters lacked radios, pilots used other methods to communicate with the control tower when departing Sky Harbor. “The pilot checked the wind sock to identify the active runway, then taxied to the run-up area,” Baker recalls. “After checking magnetos and moving the propeller control through its range, the pilot turned the airplane to face the tower.

When the controller thought it safe for us to take off, they flashed a green light with

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engine, I felt a constant blast of heated air, tempered with the smell of hot oil and the burnt-match odor of insecticide.”

At the airstrip, while the crop duster idled, the loader on the ground opened about 20, 50-pound pesticide bags," Baker recalls. "He tossed them up to the other guy who was standing on the wing, who dumped the contents into the airplane's hopper, and threw the empty sack where prop wash carried it away. It just took a few minutes to reload the plane."

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This process was repeated, with many of the insecticides targeted at cotton pests such as bollworms or boll weevils. By 9 a.m., thermals usually kept the pesticide from settling, so the loaders kicked the remaining dust out of the bottom of the hopper and climbed in to ride back to Sky Harbor.

After landing, Baker headed back to his brother’s mobile home near 36th and Washington streets to shower, have breakfast, and take a nap until reporting back to the airport at 5 p.m. "The pilots usually

flew until sunset. Applications continued seven-days-a-week," he says. “I made a buck an hour, around 70 dollars a week, including overtime.

The mobile home’s bathroom was outside on a concrete slab. “Cockroaches initially scurried when I turned on the bathroom light,” Baker recalls. “After a few days of tossing my work clothes in the bathroom, I noticed there were no more cockroaches.”

Working with the pesticides, Baker, and his fellow loaders only wore surplus

A Global Ready-mix, Aggregate, Asphalt & Cement Supplier

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Images courtesy of Jim Baker

Army Air Force leather helmets and goggles and kept a bandanna around their neck to pull over their nose.

Insecticides were usually a mixture of sulfur, DDT, and lindane. “Marsh also used a dust containing pyrethrum, but he considered it too dangerous for teenagers and Top left: Baker flying for the Casa Grande Civil Air Patrol squadron.

Top right: Interior cockpit of a Marsh plane at Falcon Field in Mesa, 1947.

Above: Cessna T-41 Mescaleros; the nearest plane belonged to Baker.

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only let adults handle it,” Baker recalls. “At that time liquid sprays were just beginning to come into use.”

Marsh called these chemicals “not highly toxic” and said it was “nonsense” that that the insect poisons killed birds and wildlife in a 1960 Arizona Republic article. However, both lindane and DDT were later banned, the latter after causing the near-

extinction of the peregrine falcon and sharp declines in the bald eagle population.

These pesticides take many years to break down. The loading and mixing sites for pesticides later became places of extensive and expensive soil remediation.

Baker recalls most pilots were former World War II aviators, including Max Palmer who flew a

Although normally wellbehaved, crop dusting pilots weren’t immune from mischief.

Summer 2017

from the rear, and buzzed the tractor,” Baker says. “He pulled up, did a wing over and looked back. The farmer had stopped his tractor and was shaking his fist at the airplane.”

“The pilot decided to double his fun, so he dropped down and made another high-speed run at the tractor. That time the farmer threw a heavy wrench, creating enough damage that the pilot had to make an emergency landing in the cotton field,” Baker says. “I imagine the farmer had

another wrench in hand when he had a face-to-face interview with the airman.”

Baker recalls the job as providing some juicy fringe benefits. “At one strip, after filling the hopper for the last time, our pilot told us about a nearby watermelon patch,” he says. While the pilot made the pesticide application, we grabbed two watermelons each and hurried back to the strip.”

Upon their return to Sky Harbor, they threw a big watermelon bash. Q

P-51 Mustang escorting bombers over Germany. “Max said his engine temperature gauge often approached the red zone while on these missions,” Baker recalls. “He would rub his handkerchief over the dial and the needle returned to the safe zone. He knew the engine was still hot, but it felt better psychologically.”

Although normally well-behaved, crop dusting pilots weren’t immune from mischief. Baker recalls how one pilot told a story about seeing a farmer plowing his field. “The pilot dove down, approaching

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Arizona contractor & Community

Building Altitude: Piloting Construction Company Aircraft Douglas Towne

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hil Berger's career took off while he was working for a handful of construction companies starting in the 1960s. Although much of his work occurred in a subterranean environment as the chief estimator for underground utilities such as gas, sewer, and water lines, another part of his job description took him soaring into the heavens.

Becoming a pilot was part of Berger’s life plan, ever since the age of five when he flew in a private plane sitting on the pilot’s lap. Growing up on a dairy farm south of Mishawaka, Indiana, a small town near South Bend, Berger obtained his student pilot license through the Flying Farmers of America program.

Berger gravitated more towards the flying part, and less towards farming. After graduating from high school and working the season’s harvest, he and a friend moved to Arizona. “I had been milking a herd of 30 dairy cows since the eighth grade,” he recalls. “When my dad indicated he was going to buy a neighboring farm and add 100 cows, I knew I had to leave.”

Sierra Vista was his destination. Berger had been raised a Jehovah’s Witness and knew church members who had moved there. Berger began working for Sierra General Contractors, which did mostly underground utilities along with some

Top right: Edward S. Kelton in his ESKCO company plane, 1971.

Right: Ed Kelton and his employees examine a McCulloch J2 Gyrocopter in Lake Havasu, 1971.

Opposite page top, clockwise: Berger’s first plane ride in 1945.

Berger poses by an air coupe plane while a senior in high school, 1958.

Berger next to a B-17 diorama, 2017.

Berger (left) with Achen Gardner pilot, Jerry Harris in Las Vegas, late 1980s.

Berger with Swingel-Robbins' A36TC Bonanza plane, 1980.

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www.Arizcc.com

Arizona contractor & Community

house pads. He later moved to Phoenix where he worked for M.S. Shumway.

He obtained his private and commercial pilot’s license at Turf Paradise Airport, where he bartered airport maintenance work for flying time. “Don Emos ran the airport and collected used motor oil from service stations and sprayed it on the runway,” Berger says. “On weekends I’d blade and then roll it.”

Emos was a real character, who ran an outfit called Sonic Air Express that flew freight from Phoenix to El Monte, Califor-

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nia, recalls Bergen, who sometimes worked for the company. “It was a crazy outfit carrying all sorts of strange cargo.

One time I brought back a cadaver in a body bag for a mortuary.”

Berger was hired by Ed Kelton and flew for his ESKCO contracting company from 1965–1980. He recalls Kelton as being a good guy with an unforgettable personality. He says that Kelton flew illegally for years on a student’s license, which a friend of Kelton’s would renew annually. "Finally,

his buddy passed away, and Ed was forced to take a two-week class to get his license.”

After he had moved to another company, Berger saw Kelton’s plane at the Flagstaff airport. He asked his former boss who was flying his airplane since he had heard Kelton had recently had quadruple bypass surgery and was not medically cleared to pilot the plane. “Who do you think?” Kelton replied. “Me! To heck with them, what are they going to do, tell me I can’t fly?”

Berger recalls that Kelton was a good pilot, but notorious for taking risks and damaging airplanes. One mishap occurred when Kelton was returning to a landing strip he owned at Montezuma. A thunderstorm developed and he decided to land nearby at Cottonwood. “A downburst slammed his plane into the runway, but Kelton survived with just a few bruises,” Berger says.

Kelton also flew helicopters and was famous for taking his bright red, Red Fox whirlybird out to job sites. “He had a crusher going at Deer Valley, and something wasn’t to Ed’s liking,” Berger says.

“He landed, chewed out the guy and jumped back into the helicopter to take off, swung it around and knocked off the tail rotor.”

Berger piloted helicopters a few times but didn’t care for them. “I’m a fixed-wing guy,” he says. “There’s no visible means of supporting helicopters as 200 precision parts are working in perfect harmony to destroy each other. The only reason they fly is that they’re so ugly, the earth repels them.”

Berger also worked for Swengel-Robbins Construction, having dual roles as an underground utility estimator and company pilot from 1980-85. He continued to fly and became the Aerospace Officer for the Scottsdale Squadron of the Arizona Civil Air Patrol in the 1980s.

When Berger turned 70, he had a heart surgery and never renewed his license. After more than 50 years of flying, he retired, never having dinged an airplane or received a citation.

He continues working as a senior underground utility specialist for Markham Contracting. Berger’s piloting trips, however, are far from over, since he purchased a flight simulator for his office. “Now I can fly anywhere in the world,” the 78-year-old former pilot says. Q

Summer 2017

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Arizona contractor & Community

Architect’s Perspective: Bennie M. Gonzales, FAIA: Reinterpreting Ruins Doug Sydnor, FAIA Doug_sydnor@outlook.com

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ennie Gonzales’ architecture blends a contemporary design approach with a reinterpretation of indigenous ruins found in Mexico and the southwestern U.S. He was influenced by local culture, building materials and skills, and our unique climate. Gonzales was an architect who struck an emotional chord by designing structures that were responsive

supplied material to the Arizona Biltmore Hotel. He saw architect Frank Lloyd Wright visit the resort, which was still under construction. The respect given the famed architect by the construction workers made a big impression on Gonzales, and he would eventually pursue a career in architecture.

Gonzales became a part-time carpenter as a teenager and helped build an adobe house with his uncle. After graduating from Phoenix Union High School in

Images courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community magazine

Top right: Groundbreaking for new Shure electronics plant on Peoria and 21st Ave, Bennie at left, 1968.

Bottom: Valley National Bank Grand Canyon Office, Bennie Gonzales, 1966.

Opposite page, top: Nogales Library.

Opposite page, bottom: Arizona Medical Association.

to the harsh conditions of the Sonoran Desert.

The future architect was born Barnaby Montague Gonzales on June 11, 1924, in Phoenix. Gonzales came to value his rich family heritage that he called an “Arizona Potpourri,” as his parents were German/Native American, French/Irish and Mexican. After his father died when Gonzales was seven years old, his family moved to 16th Street and Van Buren Road.

Gonzales described the neighborhood as “Mexican Town,” where “all the adobe workers, bricklayers and plasterers lived.

So if you grow up making mud pies, it’s hard to get it out of your system.”

As a youngster, Gonzales worked for his uncle’s adobe brick factory, which

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Images courtesy of Author

1942, he joined the U.S. Coast Guard, serving during World War II. A military recruiter gave him the nickname, Bennie, which he would subsequently use.

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Gonzales married Lupe Baca and entered Arizona State University in 1947.

He and Frank Henry were the first two graduates of the School of Architecture, in 1953. He accepted a grant to attend the

University of Mexico in Mexico City for post-graduate work the following year; the nearby ancient ruins would have a tremendous influence on his future architectural design.

Gonzales worked for several Phoenixarea architects and firms including James Elmore, the founding dean of the ASU Architecture School; Frank Lloyd Wright apprentice Blaine Drake; Weaver and Drover; and Haver Nunn Jensen. During this time he was one of the first MexicanAmerican architects in Arizona. He started an architectural firm, Gonzales and Ludlow, in 1958, which became Bennie M. Gonzales Associates, Inc. two years later when his partner, Carl Ludlow, a civil and structural engineer, left the firm.

For more than 40 years, from 19582000, Gonzales completed 300 projects, including residential, commercial, hospitality, educational, religious, and public commissions. His designs, which can be seen all over the Valley, received more than 130 professional awards. After a lengthy illness, Bennie M. Gonzales died in 2008 in Nogales; he was 84.

When asked about his architectural style, Gonzales said it was a “regional style, but goes beyond regional [with an] inherited philosophy that the materials are present in Arizona.” The following are a few examples of his beautiful work.

Bennie Gonzales’ first major commission was the 1961 Nogales Public Library in southern Arizona. Despite the project’s limited budget, Gonzales delivered an

Arizona contractor & Community

This Page: Villa Bianca

Images courtesy of Author

expressionistic, functional and modern library. He used burnt adobe from Mexico for the bearing walls and a beamed ceiling with wood from the White Mountains. The roof was dramatically sloped to capture the diffused northern light for the back book stacks. It was also raised to create a clerestory and introduce daylighting throughout the interior. Adobe walls received very tall arched openings that stretched the structural nature of adobe beyond the conventional limits. The library received numerous awards and it continues to be a source of pride for Nogales.

Gonzales enjoyed designing libraries as he visited the Phoenix Public Library in his youth, and went on to create other libraries in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Sedona, and Wickenburg.

The 1970 Arizona Medical Association building is a 15,300 square feet, two-story commercial office building located at 810 West Bethany Home Road in Phoenix. The well-maintained structure is submerged a half level below the natural grade, thereby lowering its overall height within the residential neighborhood. The main entry is located at a prominent corner facing the street and defined by a recessed porch with oversized columns and rising steps behind the colonnade. The columns are reminiscent of Gonzales’ earlier 1968 Scottsdale City Government Complex. The exterior character is wall-like with minimal windows, which communicates appropriateness in the desert. Its design approach is fitting for the solar angles and intense summer heat.

The 1972 Villa Bianca D’Oro at 7770 East Camelback Road in Scottsdale is a residential development composed of attached patio homes. Each home has an

individuality as reflected in the shifting plans between units, broken roof profiles, and varying exterior wall textures. All units are focused on an outdoor community greenbelt and a swimming pool with a shade pavilion. This site plan was effective at capturing a sense of community and is a well-scaled and appropriate character for the Sonoran Desert.

In a time when we often experience architecture that is not responsive to this special place in the desert and harsh climate, it’s refreshing to look back to Bennie Gonzales, FAIA, for an appropriate Arizona architecture.

A sampling of other Bennie M. Gonzales Associates Inc. Projects: ● 1965 Russ Memorial Medical Building, Phoenix, AZ ● 1965 Scottsdale Bible Church, Paradise Valley, AZ ● 1966 Tierra Verde Village Center, Litchfield Park, AZ ● 1966 Gonzales Residence, Paradise Valley, AZ ● 1966 Russ Lyon, Jr. Residence, Paradise Valley, AZ ● 1966 Western Savings, Yuma, AZ ● 1966 Los Cuatros Apartments, Scottsdale, AZ ● 1967 Christ Church of the Ascension, Paradise Valley, AZ ● 1967 R. W. Franz Residence, Carefree, AZ ● 1968 Heard Museum Expansion and Renovation, Phoenix, AZ ● 1968 Scottsdale City Government Complex, Scottsdale, AZ Douglas B. Sydnor, FAIA, is Principal at Douglas Sydnor Architect + Associates, Inc. and author of three architectural books. Q

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y younger teenage sister took her first 747 flight across the Atlantic Ocean 19 years ago this summer.

I vividly recall the smiling British Airways’ flight crew and attendants walking by single file as the high school students boarded the jet for their European trip.

During the send-off, my grandmother spoke fondly about Sky Harbor, recalling when my grandfather worked for Mesa Paving, grading the expanded runway to handle 747 Jumbo Jets in 1970. When the project was complete, workers and their families were invited to the airport to watch the first 747 airliner land.

Besides my grandfather, many construction workers have contributed to upgrading Sky Harbor, which has become one of the busiest airports in the nation. Here’s a sampling of post-World War II projects that expanded the airport.

The Daley Construction Company was awarded a $219,600 contract in the late 1940s to grade the eastern half of the eastwest runway, as well as prepare subgrade and ABC (aggregate base course). Arizona Sand & Rock was awarded a $517,000 contract to grade the western half of the same runway. The company produced 1,400 tons of ABC and 1,000 tons of asphalt paving per day.

These two jobs were part of five contracts awarded for a three-year airport expansion program. Other construction contracts were awarded to H.L. Royden, New States Electric, and Johannessen & Girand, an engineering firm.

Arizona Sand & Rock was awarded another contract of $237,726 for runway and taxiway construction in January 1949. The bid

Digging through the Archives:

Images courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community magazine

William Horner

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Top left: An Arizona Sand & Rock portable crushing plant producing ABC, which James Bond Trucking transports to fill areas, 1949.

Left: Arizona Sand & Rock equipment at the end of a shift, working on the west end of the runway, 1949.

Bottom: Fisher Contracting with portable crusher plant next to the Salt River, 1950.

Arizona contractor & Community

Images courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community magazine

included excavation, grading, subgrade, ABC, paving, utility holes, electrical ducts, runway cable lights, storm drains, and concrete structures for electrical systems.

The project was completed within 120 days.

That same year, Fisher Contracting Company of Phoenix completed a $713,924 contract for taxiway additions, parking areas, sidewalks, curbs, and lighting installations. Fisher utilized a mobile electric crushing unit to keep up with the demanding ABC schedules.

Additional construction at the airport included commercial businesses such as the Sky Riders Hotel and Sky Cove Cocktail Lounge located west of the control tower.

By the late 1950s, Sky Harbor was ranked as the second busiest airport in the nation. This impressive ranking was mainly due to the 425 privately owned aircraft that were based at the airport, whose takeoffs and landings counted statistically as much as a large passenger airliner. Q Above: Arizona Sand and Rock Co. grades the parking lot of the new Sands Hotel at 3320 East Van Buren, 1954.

Right: American Airlines 747 Jet landing at Sky Harbor, 1960s.

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Summer 2017

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5626 S 43rd Ave, Phoenix AZ 85041 dynamicdieselrepairinc.com

Office: 602-237-3377 • Fax: 602-237-3944 • Cell: 602-376-1448 www.Arizcc.com

Arizona contractor & Community

Special SunnySlope Issue coming this Fall North MtN hospital • Cloud 9 restaurant

Seventy four

Summer 2017

Past Project Awards Summer 1951 3/24/2017 Parks TI Riordan Bridge FNF $13,985,792

4/5/2017 Ryan Road Alignment Sunland Asphalt $2,430,231

Five Buildings Plus Road Work Davis-Monthan AFB, Tucson M.M. Sundt Const. $308,000

3/24/2017 Lake Mary Road SWP $7,371,644

4/11/2017 15th Ave Union Pacific Railroad Benchmark $166,750

Bekins Van & Storage Central & Indian School Rd., Phoenix Mardian Const. $200,000

3/27/2017 Glassford Hill Road Tuscany Way Asphalt Paving & Supply $157,951

4/12/2017 Drainage Improvements Blue Ridge Hatch $770,743

Observation Control Tower Sky Harbor, Phoenix New State Electric Co. $7,571

3/28/2017 24th Street Lift Station LPC $965,800

4/12/2017 Street Resurfacing MR Tanner $114,340

Agriculture Building State Fair Grounds C.L. Morris Const. $21,390

3/28/2017 Park Valley Roadway Sunland Asphalt $361,760

4/13/2017 Wildwood Drive Mill Overlay Fann $279,435

Two New Phoenix Schools Washington School District, Phoenix E.J Wasielewski Const. $434,000

3/29/2017 2017 Spring Pavement Rehab Combs $833,596

4/17/2017 (CMAR) West Park Haydon Bldg $15,000,000

Street Improvements Buchanan & 40�� St. Phoenix Phoenix-Tempe Stone Co. $6,563

3/30/2017 Asphalt Path Lincoln $72,930

4/18/2017 Grand Canal Phase I Combs $3,620,983

Water Mains & Fire Hydrants McDowell Rd., 20�� to 28�� Sts., Phoenix J.H. Welsh & Son $115,898

3/31/2017 Water Infrastructure Improvements Ashton $986,777

4/18/2017 First St McKinley Blucor $2,534,258

Luke Field Runway Extensions Fisher Contracting Co. $309,487

4/3/2017 RHIP Phase I & II Waterline Ellison Mills $1,137,408

4/20/2017 Acker Park Stormwater Detention Basin Fann $1,069,723

Womack Street Improvement 15th-17th Ave, Glenrosa Ave. and Westview Dr. R.C. Tanner & Sons $89,788

4/4/2017 Mingus Avenue Waterline Kinkaid $1,125,614

4/20/2017 Wilmot Road 12 inch Water Main Innova $1,597,809

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Arizona contractor & Community

Advertisers’ index PLEASE Patronize our advertisers, they make this publication possible!

A To Z Equipment 480-926-5203 a-zequipment.com

P. 61

Elite Sports Builders 602-899-9200 elitesportsbuilders.com

P. 32

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

P. 9

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

P. 7

Allstate Rent a Fence 602-233-1433 allstatefenceaz.com

P. 70

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

P. 64

Osha Phoenix 602-320-4140 phoenixoshatraining.com

P. 20

Team Fishel 800-829-4520 teamfishel.com

P. 55

American Fence Company 877-819-2483 americanfence.com

P. 5

EYE SITE 855-4NoTheft goeyesite.com

P. 16 & 20

Pacwest 480-832-0855 pacwesttrading.com

P. 45

Tee Pee 480-545-6131 teepeecontractors.com

P. 5

Arizona Materials 602-278-4444 arizonamaterials.com

P. 78

FleetWest 480-736-8800 fleetwest.net

P. 14

Pavement Recycling Systems 800-966-7774 pavementrecycling.com

P. 65

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

P. 69

Arnold Machinery 801-972-4000 arnoldmachinery.com

P. 24

GenTech 800-625-8324 gentechusa.com

P. 18

R Directional Drilling 602-374-3173 drillrdd.com

P. 77

Top Job Asphalt 602-832-7537 topjobasphalt.com

P. 16 & 20

Atlas Copco 623-780-0200 allstatefenceaz.com.com

P. 22

Hagen Business 602-570-7289 hagenbusiness.com

P. 18

RDO Rents 877-90-RDOIC rdoic.com

BC

Trafficade 602-431-0911 trafficade.com

P. 18 & 22

BidJudge 602-456-BIDZ bidjudge.com

P. 32

HD Trucks & Equipment P. 77 602-510-5444 hdtrucksandequipmentsales.com

Red Mountain 480-477-9400 redmountainrentals.com

IBC

TSR 602-253-3311 tsraz.com

P. 16

Branco Machinery 480-892-5657 brancomachinery.com

IFC

Herc Rentals 602-269-5931 hercrentals.com

P. 6

Reseco Advisors 602-753-4250 resecoadvisors.com

P. 16

Vermeer Sales Southwest 480-785-4800 vermeersouthwest.com

P. 26

Cemex 602-416-2652 cemexusa.com

P. 59

Independent Tire 602-510-3585

P. 9

Reuter Fabrication 602-415-0449 reuterequipment.com

P. 20

William Scotsman 800-782-1500 willscot.com

P. 3

CJS 602-866-8641 cjs-ent.com

P. 14

Joel Westervelt Architect 928-567-2255 joelwesterveltarchitect.com

P. 32

Risk Management Advisors 602-753-4290 teamrma.com

P. 70

Woudenberg Properties 480-620-8555 woudenbergprops.com

P. 3

Contract Sweeping 602-499-5823 contractsweeping.com

P. 69

MDI Rock 602-569-8722 mdirock.com

P. 22

Ritchie Bros Auction 602-269-5631 rbauction.com/sell

P. 6

WSM Auctioneers 623-936-3300 wsmauctioneers.com

P. 30

Courtesy Chevrolet 866-809-7065 courtesyfleet.com

P. 12

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

P. 18

Road Machinery 480-545-2400 roadmachinery.com

Diamondback Materials 623-925-8966 diamonondbackmaterials.com

P. 69

Metro Traffic Control 623-879-0610 metrotrafficcontrol.net

P. 20

SafeSite 602-606-8882 safesitellc.com

P. 58

DitchWitch 602-437-0351 ditchwitchaz.com

P. 28

Mundall Trucking 602-469-0863 mundalltrucking.com

P. 8

Skytal Trucking 602-278-7877 skytaltrucking.com

P. 26

Dynamic Diesel 602-237-3377 dynamicdieselrepairinc.com

P. 73

New West Oil 602-759-5559 newwestoil.com

P. 78

Specialty Companies Group 623-582-2385 specialtycompaniesgroup.com

P. 32

ECCO Heavy Equipment 602-276-2040 eccoequipment.com

P. 73

New Western Rentals 623-847-3594 newwesternrentals.com

Sunland Asphalt 602-323-2800 sunlandasphalt.com

P. 8

Seventy six

P. 33-38

P. 4 & 74

Advertise with us 602-931-0069 Arizcc.com/advertise.html

Summer 2017

Your Wholesale Outlet For Commercial Trucks & Equipment

HD TRUCKS & EQUIP LLC Apache Junction, AZ (602) 510-5444 www.HDTrucksAndEquipmentSales.com

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Arizona contractor & Community

“PRODUCTS YOU KNOW, PEOPLE YOU TRUST” -Locally owned and operated -Ultra Premium Diesel -Valvoline Lubricants -Loaned Equipment -Lube and Fuel Equipment service

602-759-5559

Seventy eight

-Used Oil, filter and coolant Collection -Burner Fuel -Oil Analysis Program

newwestoil.com

Summer 2017

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