Volume 7 Issue 5
$5.99 Sep-Oct 2018 Serving Contracting Firms and the Arizona Community. . . Then & Now
Arizona’s Timeless Magazine
The Valley’s lost film theaters The “Hot” Tale of Mesa’s Buckhorn Baths Andrew P. Tell: Devout Industrial Developer Govway: Phoenix’s Shopping “Coliseum”
Motel Arizona: Overnight Exotic Themes 2018 AZUCA Membership Directory 45 Years of Construction: Sun State Builders
Publisher William Horner Billy@arizcc.com Editor Douglas Towne Douglas@arizcc.com
Making sure the garage door is down
My car keys
Contributors Crystal Alvarez Michael Bernstein John Bueker Heather M. David Patti Luttrell Jay Mark Luke M. Snell Doug Sydnor
Whats the one thing you can’t leave home without?
My work boots and rock hammer
Making sure my head is screwed on straight
Production Manager Laura Horner Laura@arizcc.com Magazine Advisor Chuck Runbeck Chuck@arizcc.com
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Serving Contracting Firms and the Arizona Community… Then & Now
Arizona Contractor & Community (ACC) magazine is published bi-monthly (Jan/Feb, Mar/Apr, May/June, July/Aug, Sept/Oct, and Nov/Dec). ACC is a professional publication designed for the contracting industry, engineers, architects, equipment rentals, suppliers, and others interested in Arizona and its history. Content including text, photographs or illustrations may not be reproduced without the written permission from the publisher. The publisher does not assume responsibility for unsolicited submissions. ACC reserves the right to reject any editorial and advertising material and reserves the right to edit all submitted content material. Arizona Contractor & Community Copyright © 2018 All rights reserved.
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Training Arizona Electricians since 1943
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Contributors
Michael Bernstein
Heather M. David
Article on page 25
Article on page 68
ith a background in geoloeather M. David is a culturW gy and a little experience Hal historian and freelance in land surveying, Michael writer. She is the author of the
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Bernstein entered the environmental consulting industry as a report editor in 1986. Since 1989, he has performed Phase I Environmental Site Assessments of commercial, industrial, military, and multi-family residential properties in 35 states, Canada, Mexico, and Germany. He has conducted asbestos building surveys in accordance with City of Philadelphia regulations. Mike has authored fulllength journal articles on the subjects of coastal plain geology, maritime history, and industrial history. A member of the Society for Industrial Archeology, he authored an article that was the primary reference in a successful nomination to the National Register of Historic Places. His archive pertaining to the shipbuilding industry on the Delaware River during World War I was recently transferred to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania for permanent preservation. An avid fossil hunter, Mike has donated part of his collection to the New Jersey State Museum and Rider University. The remainder of his fossils will be bequeathed to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. In 2012, he donated to Rowan University artifacts that he collected 30 years earlier at an archeological site located just off campus. Mike’s time in Arizona includes visits to Luke Air Force Base and the Barry M. Goldwater Range, where he watched A-10 Warthogs strafe and drop live bombs.
books Mid-Century by the Bay and Motel California, and numerous articles on American popular culture and historic preservation. While Heather calls California home, she frequently visits Arizona to explore the historic connections between the two states. Heather is an advocate for the preservation of mid-century modern architecture, art, and signage. Her primary focus is Northern California Modernism, with a particular interest in roadside architecture. As a writer for the Society for Commercial Archeology, she covers the West Coast. In 2017, Heather celebrated the release of Motel California – a book ten years in the making. In 2018, Motel California was accompanied by an exhibit of the same name at the Museum of Neon Art in Glendale, California. For the past two years, Heather has been documenting the history of Electrical Products Corporation (EPCO), once the largest electric sign maker on the West Coast. EPCO was based in Los Angeles but its Southern Division covered Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff, and Yuma. Some of the most spectacular signs in California were the work of EPCO – including the Hollywoodland sign in Hollywood, Coca Cola Weatherbird sign in Fresno, and Hamm’s Brewery sign in San Francisco. Less is known of EPCO’s presence in Arizona.
Sep-Oct Jul-Aug 2018
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contents 10
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Construction Around Arizona: Projects • People • Practices
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AZUCA Memebership Directory 2018
41
Sun State Builders Celebrates 45 Years
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From The Editor: Bear “Happy” to Find Refuge in Museum - Douglas Towne
84
Back When: Phoenix’s Polynesian Palace Douglas Towne From Fire to Empire: The Remarkable Story of Mesa’s Buckhorn Baths - Jay Mark A Devout Mid-Century Industrial Developer: Andrew P. Tell - Douglas Towne Motel Arizona: Exotic Overnight Themes Heather M. David Reshaping Sahuaro: Elementary School Passes the Test of Time - John Bueker Building on the Past: 1958: GE Brings Good Things to…Computers? Architect’s Perspective: Lost Film Theaters Doug Sydnor
Digging Through the Archives: The Govway Building: A Shopping “Coliseum” - William Horner
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Bid Results - Bidjudge
92
ACC Advertisers’ Index Front Cover -
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The Fox Theatre features Sky Above and Mud Below, which won the 1962 Academy Award for “Best Documentary Feature.” The film featured a team that ventured into unexplored areas of what was then Dutch New Guinea. Article on page 80.
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Editor’s Column: Bear “Happy” to Find Refuge in Museum Douglas Towne
I
n April, the cry went out across Arizona to save an endangered bear in Phoenix named Moe Allen. The rescue would be costly, require specialized equipment, new habitat, and it needed to be accomplished ASAP. Jim McPherson of the Arizona Vintage Sign Coalition directed the heroic rescue. McPherson raised more than $1,000 in contributions on short notice and enticed Cook & Company Signmakers, a Tucson firm, to drive their machinery to the Valley, gently rescue the “Happy Bear” in about four hours, and transport him back to their equipment yard. The bear had advertised the Moe Allen Auto Body Shop at 3325 North 16th Street in Phoenix since 1955. But the business had recently closed, the buildings were being razed, and the historic neon sign on which the bear was featured was soon to be demolished.
Images courtesy of Jude Cook
“Saving the Moe Allen sign is a bright spot in efforts to spotlight how meaningful vintage signs are to Arizona’s heritage.”
TEN
The commercial parcel is being redeveloped and will feature a 125,000 square foot, three-story self-storage facility. “The building itself was interesting but aged,” says John Badura of Noblewest Properties, who purchased the parcel. “There had been a lot of haphazard additions over the years, some of which may not have been permitted, so it made sense to start fresh.” McPherson, who serves as the president of the board of directors of the Arizona Preservation Foundation says, “Saving the Moe Allen sign is a bright spot in efforts to spotlight how meaningful vintage signs are to Arizona’s heritage. We’re hoping the outpouring of support on social media for this rescued sign will translate into financial support for future sign preservation.” Happy bear signs have been used in sign advertising since at least the 1940s. The Bear Manufacturing Company headquartered in Rock Island, Ill., was estabSep-Oct 2018
Image courtesy of RoadsideArchitecture.com
lished in 1917 as an auto luggage rack producer and used the slogan “Let Bear Lug Your Luggage,” according to architecture historian Debra Jane Seltzer. “By the early 1920s, the company began producing wheel alignment tools,” Seltzer wrote in the Fall 2017 issue of the Society for Commercial Archeology Journal. “During this time, Bear developed the yellow “Happy Bear” character which was used in print and signs across the U.S. The bear symbol indicated that those auto shops had been trained by Bear and used Bear wheel alignment and diagnostic tools.” At one time, there were hundreds of happy bear signs nationwide. Seltzer’s re- with most of them in Southern California. search concluded that there are only about During the Phoenix building’s demothree dozen of these signs remaining, lition, many individuals stopped by to pay their respects. “People kept coming up to say their mom and pop used to come down here,” Badura says. “One of the demo guys even remembered his grandparents coming to the shop. Moe Allen certainly had a lot of notability, and those big bears were popular. “ The late Moe Allen would be in disbelief over the interest in his old sign, according to his cousin, Bret Mason. “Moe was a simple no BS man. So all this hoopla over a sign he probably came up with in a pinch while finishing off a fifth of bourbon before passing out would bust him up with laughter.” The Moe Allen sign will be featured in the Ignite Sign Art Museum in Tucson, according to Jude Cook, owner of Cook & arizcc.com
Moe Allen Auto Body Shop, Phoenix.
Company Signmakers. Although the sign’s neon lightning has not worked for many years, Cook plans to bend new glass tubing to relight it. “The paint is in pretty good shape, so I don’t plan on touching it,” he says. The 7,000 square-foot museum will feature many types of signs, especially neon. Most of the signs are from Tucson. A soft opening is scheduled for this October. Classic rock fans might do a double-take when they see the refurbished bear sign. The Grateful Dead used a dancing version of the bear logo in the early 1970s. In her article, Seltzer says that it was used without permission, but Bear Manufacturing never pursued legal action against the band. Fortunately, the recent move will allow the “Happy Bear” sign to “Keep on Truckin.”
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Sep-Oct 2018
PROJECTs • PEOPLE • PRACTICES
Douglas Towne
T
he Camelback Inn was started in 1936 by Jack Stewart and financed by John C. Lincoln, in a then-remote area called Paradise Valley. Now called the JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort & Spa Camelback Inn, the resort is proud of its past but interested in staying relevant, which included a recent upgrade. The Paradise Ballroom is a state-of-theart conference center that opened in June 2018. The new space features floor-to-ceiling windows with views of Mummy Mountain and a unique amenity in the Marriott hotel portfolio: J. Willard Marriott’s Western art collection. “My father would go into Scottsdale back in the 1970s and negotiate the best prices to get the best art,” J. Willard “Bill” Marriott Jr., his 86-year-old son, says. Concord General Contracting of Mesa arizcc.com
is building the Paradise Ballroom. Paul Rossi, director of food and beverage at Camelback Inn indicated that the construction company is having the same challenges as the resort. “Finding quality employees to fill jobs is tough right now,” he says. Rossi said that glass walls with inspiring views have become standard for ballrooms throughout the Marriott chain. But sometimes the rooms need to be dark for meeting presentations and functions. Finding window shades that overlap so as not to let any light shine through has proved difficult. “You would think that something simple would have been worked out, but we’ve had to work with the shade manufacturer for almost a year to accomplish this,” he says. The ballroom will be customizable, with adjustable walls that create up to eight separate meeting spaces. The smallest conference salon will accommodate up to 80 guests, while the largest will provide for up to 480 guests. With all of the walls removed, the full Paradise Ballroom will expand to 15,000 square feet, with the ability
to accommodate large groups of more than 1,500 guests. The ballroom will feature a relic salvaged from the inn’s original meeting space - the Peace Pipe painting. Rossi indicated the art would be redisplayed after undergoing restoration. Set on 125 acres of Sonoran Desert landscape, the Camelback Inn features 453 guest rooms and suites, each with a private entrance and garden patio or balcony. The resort also offers 36 holes of championship golf, six tennis courts, the Spa at Camelback Inn, two swimming pools, and seven restaurants and lounges.
Images courtesy of Dean Stevenson
“Paradise Found” in New Camelback Inn Ballroom
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