VOLUME 10 ISSUE 1
$5.99 Jan-Feb 2021 Serving Contracting Firms and the Arizona Community. . . Then & Now
Downtown Phoenix’s Lost Neon Outposts David Murdock Banks on the Future of Downtown Phoenix Taking Phoenix to the Next Level: Porters Western Wear Giddy-Up to Porters Saddle Shop for Leather Craftsmanship The Heart of Phoenix: Three Iterations of the Hotel Adams
Arizona’s Timeless Magazine
Skousen : Three Generations of arizona road contractors
a look at DOWNTOWN PHOENIX
Dicey Construction:
The Security Building’s Scandalous Financing Scheme Katerra creates a “Kenection” downtown
Chasse starts John Mccain school
Cliff Co’s New Workshop Keeps the Valley’s Machines Running
Elite Sports wins top honors
Insurica SW has contractors’ backs
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Completed my January goal by finishing the garage addition A nine-month ‘date night’ with my wife!
Editor Douglas Towne douglas@arizcc.com
Helping sea turtle hatchlings return to the ocean in Cabo More time to write The arrival of our second grandson!
THE LEADER IN PROVIDING TEMPORARY POWER GENERATION SYSTEMS IN THE GREATER PHOENIX AREA
Best thing in 2020?
Publisher William Horner billy@arizcc.com
Contributors Andrew Atkinson Alison Bailin Michael Bernstein Jeff Kronenfeld Luke M. Snell Doug Sydnor Bill Tippett
Our agency learned to work so well together, while apart Donated New Jersey fossil collection to Drexel Univ Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel
Production Manager Laura Horner laura@arizcc.com
Publisher’s Representative Spending more Barry Warner time at home barry@arizcc.com with my wife In Memoriam Charles “Chuck” Runbeck 1928 - 2020
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Advertising 602-931-0069 arizcc.com/advertise Subscriptions: Online at arizcc.com 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, 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 © 2021 All rights reserved.
Jan-Feb 2021
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YEARS IN BUSINESS SINCE 1984
480-641-3500
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68 BELLY DUMP-SUPER 16-END DUMP-LOW BOY SIDE DUMP-EXCAVATOR-LOADER-GRADER
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From The Editor - Lost Neon Outposts of Downtown Phoenix - Douglas Towne Construction Around Arizona: Projects • People • Practices Back When - Giddy-Up to Porters Saddle Shop Douglas Towne Skousen: Three Generations of Arizona Road Contractors - Douglas Towne Taking Phoenix to the Next Level: Porters Western Wear Store - Douglas Towne Dicey Construction: The Security Building’s Scandalous Financing Scheme - Douglas Towne The Heart of Phoenix: Three Iterations of the Hotel Adams - Douglas Towne Building on the Past - 1960: Banking on the Future of Downtown Phoenix Architect’s Perspective - Arizona’s Round Architecture - Doug Sydnor, FAIA
Digging Through the Archives - W.R. Skousen and His Blue-Ribbon Blacktop Crews - William Horner
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Bid Results
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Advertising Index
Front Cover - Chris Pachen Corp. of Chicago refinishing exterior brick face of the Security Building, 1957. Inset - Security Building 1930s postcard
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Image courtesy of ACC
“TELL US WHAT YOU NEED AND WE WILL WORK WITH YOU TO MAKE IT HAPPEN”
Contributors - Andrew Atkinson & Bill Tippett
Jan-Feb 2021
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Contributors P R I N T | PA C K A G I N G | M A I L I N G | F U L F I L L M E N T E C O - F R I E N D LY S O L U T I O N S
Andrew Atkinson Article on page 29
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ndrew brings to INSURICA Southwest a thorough and practical understanding of commercial insurance, with a specialization in workers’ compensation. He engages with clients to improve their Experience Modifier (E-Mod) score, lower their total cost of risk, and win contracts at the bidding table. As a thought leader and Master Workers’ Compensation Advisor (MWCA), Andrew is frequently invited to speak to various trade associations, symposiums, panel discussions, and conferences. He takes complicated workers’ compensation and commercial insurance concepts and breaks them down into easily understandable decisions. Andrew has been with INSURICA Southwest since 2008. In that time, he’s implemented his “E-Mod Lowering and Stabilization” techniques into more than 100 businesses. These methods have directly resulted in E-Mod reductions of 20 to more than 100 points, which have saved millions of dollars in unnecessary work comp premiums. Workers’ compensation is the only line of insurance coverage that carries a definitive score, and Andrew enjoys delivering measurable results. Outside of the office, Andrew enjoys spending time with his three-year-old daughter Adalyn, his wife Ann, and their three dogs. He competes in Arizona Golf Association tournaments and is ranked as one of the top amateurs in the state. Andrew worked alongside Wink Ames for many years and considers him a mentor who taught him a lot about how to help, and more importantly, treat people.
Bill Tippett Article on Page 25
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ill enjoys adages like “You get what you inspect, not what you expect,” and “We’re hired to solve problems, not cause ‘em.” He not only tries to live by these maxims but uses them as guiding principles at his company Networx Cabling Systems (dba NCS, Inc.), which he founded with his father and brother in 1988. While the original intent was to install local area networks, Bill decided he preferred working outdoors and changed the companies direction to providing outside plant construction services. His decision was influenced when he landed his first gig trenching for Bob Lawson of Greenway Construction to build cable television plant in North Scottsdale, Carefree, and Cave Creek. Raised in Yuma and schooled in Tucson, Bill’s career has taken him to the state’s four corners. From Portal to Littlefield and Mexican Water to San Luis, Bill has experienced just about every city and town in Arizona. But Bill feels that he’s only just scratched the surface of what he thinks is the greatest state in our country to live in and explore. The past president and board member of Arizona Utility Contractors Association, Bill believes we have an obligation to our industries and communities to be good stewards. His long run in the utility construction industry has provided him with a great network of industry specialists and professionals whom he also considers good friends and confidants. When he’s not working, Bill enjoys spending time with his family, reading, or riding one of his motorcycles off the beaten path on Arizona’s back roads. Jan-Feb 2021
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Images courtesy of Author
Image courtesy of John Margolies
From the editor:
Lost Neon Outposts of Downtown Phoenix Douglas Towne
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High Chop Suey was the place for late-night food, located at Third and Madison streets. The restaurant, which opened in 1928, was a remnant of Phoenix’s Chinatown. Top left: Sing High Chop Suey House, 1979. The menu seemed unchanged since those Top right: King’s Cocktails, 1991. early years, which was part of its allure. or a “shot of Jack with a Coke back” to When the America West Arena was built help make the world seem a better place. in the early 1990s, Sing High moved to a The most evocative sign, new location a few blocks King’s Cocktails at 434 the tennis facility has at away. It closed in 2018. North Central Avenue, Another option was similarly double-faulted boasted a blinking neon the Matador Restaurant, Manhattan served with a perfect for chips, salsa, and a cold cerveza cherry that even teetotalers found alluring. after a serve-and-volley workout three The building was briefly repurposed before floors above. The street-level eatery was being razed to make space for Civic Space located in a four-story parking garage at Park. the southeast corner of First and Adams For those seeking a livelier venue, streets, which featured four city-owned there was the Silver Dollar Club at 417 tennis courts on the rooftop. The Matador East Madison Street. The bar became a closed after 35 years of operation in 2012, hotbed of underground music during its with a reported hefty back tax bill, and the short existence, before closing to make tennis facility has similarly double-faulted. way for Bank One Ballpark in 1993. Notable And then there were those beacons bands appeared at the industrial nightclub, for barflies who were looking for a Schlitz including Green Day, Meat Puppets, Fugazi, Dead Hot Workshop, and personal favorite, Below: Silver Dollar Club, 1991. Left: Silver Dollar Club concert poster, 1991. Tucson’s River Roses, who performed there while touring behind their 1991 release, When We Fall. These places are all history now, products of urban renewal and changing tastes. It’s easy to get nostalgic about the establishments and their customer mix of hipsters and a previous generation living on the margins. At times I miss their ambiance and certainly their neon displays, but not the stale cigarette smoke. Images courtesy of Author
t’s stylish, and it’s trendy. People want to eat and party in Downtown Phoenix and work and live there too. But in the notso-distant past, this high-rise landscape had a far different vibe. Thirty years ago, the business district rolled up its sidewalks after 5 p.m. Weekends were equally quiet. The only signs of life were the occasional happy hour celebrations at Tom’s Tavern, visiting conventioneers, and Herberger Theater or Phoenix Symphony patrons. But the lack of commercial activity did allow some old-timey businesses to survive, and low rents attracted edgy new venues. When I lived near Downtown, Sing
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Jan-Feb 2021
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Projects . PEOPLE . PRACTICES
CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects
CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA
Revving Up: Cliff Co’s New Workshop Keeps the Valley’s Biggest Machines Running Jeff Kronenfeld
C
liff Wixson is a throwback to America’s burly industrial past, much like the big machines his company keeps alive. When he started the business, it was just Wixson and a service truck. Now Cliff Co Repair boasts 20-plus employees, a fleet of vehicles, and a new 16,000 square-foot machine and repair shop. While standing beneath one of the shop’s multi-ton bridge cranes and the massive metal frame holding them up, it’s hard to imagine that Wixson and another employee built most of the internal apparatus in four months. Of Above: Cliff Co’s workshop floor. Right: Cliff Wixson. arizcc.com
course, for Wixson, who rides rodeo to unwind, doing what others might call crazy is old hat. Growing up, Wixson’s mother told him stories of hardworking individuals starting business empires with little more than a vehicle and gumption. Before Wixson could emulate them, he had to gain the necessary know-how. To this end, he got an associate’s degree in agricultural science from Central Arizona College and an automotive and diesel technologies degree from the Arizona Automotive Institute. After saving money and selling a motorcycle and other vehicles, Wixson started Cliff Co in 2008. Only 23-years-old at the time, he already had a vision for what his company could become. In the beginning, it was just Wixson driving around repairing diesel engines, but he also built the occasional horse corral, pool fence, or whatever else needed
welding. Slowly but surely, he branched out into heavy equipment repair. He established a reputation as a hard worker, not afraid to tackle complicated jobs. This ability to engineer unique solutions on the fly is still at the heart of Cliff Co’s success, although the jobs and problems have gotten a little bigger over the years. As Wixson hired more employees, he
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