Postcard Collection: Greetings From Phoenix
6 Comments Published August 21st, 2007 in Obligations, Obsessions, Trash, Treasure
I first discovered Michael Monti’s “100 South Mill Avenue” blog after he dropped some praise on my scans of an old menu from his family’s La Casa Vieja restaurant. “As a restaurateur and history buff,” He wrote, “I can assure you that these will be appreciated as a goldmine of nostalgia and useful information about trends in dining and pricing.” Sentiments after my own heart. Michael writes from the vantage point of both a restaurant entrepreneur and a steward of Phoenix’s cultural history. His family happens to do business in one of the area’s most cherished landmarks.
Built in 1871 near the banks of the Salt River, the Monti’s La Casa Vieja was part of a compound that included a ferry service as well as a flour mill. According to its web site, the restaurant is the oldest continually occupied structure in the Phoenix area. Monti is uniquely positioned to report on ongoing efforts to protect Phoenix architectural history in the face of both encroaching developmental opportunism and an increasingly challenging economic landscape. For his part, Michael Monti’s love of local history is tempered by a sensitivity to the prerogatives of the business community to which he belongs.
His dual perspective is on display in his recent article about the Hayden Flour Mill, which still stands, right across the street from his restaurant. Despite his appreciation for the boarded up “eyesore,” he none the less defends the current plan underway to annex the older structure to a hideous modern box of glass and steel, which he insists is the best way to preserve the structure without blighting the surrounding area. Still smarting from the fight to save his own structure, Monti doesn’t have the luxury of bloggers and print journalists, who view any such developmental activity as an abomination.
We’ve written on this subject before, and must be included among the ranks of hand-wringers. As a life-long Phoenix resident, I still remember when orange groves and dairy farms occupied spaces now filled with tract houses and strip malls. I never venture into town any more without my camera on hand to document an old friend before it gets a visit from the wrecking ball.
The cards this collection are souvenirs of a Phoenix from almost 60 years ago. You can just barely make out Hayden Mill in the postcard below depicting downtown postwar Tempe. It’s the white smudge clear at the end of the right side of the street. Followers of more recent history will find the view of the Central Avenue post office more interesting. It was at this location that longtime Phoenix celebrity Cris Kirkwood beat up a security guard, gaining in the process a prison sentence and bullet in his back.
6 Responses to “Postcard Collection: Greetings From Phoenix”
- 1 Pingback on Aug 22nd, 2007 at 3:27 pm
I never knew lush palm trees once stood in Patriot’s Park. Thanks!
Since the smug folks over at 365 Days Project rarely let a critical comment through their tight security, I figured I’d post here…so, at least you could read it.
The one thing about 365 Days Project that has always bugged me is the fact that many of the “curators” (people that send in mp3s and write some opinionated mumbo jumbo) have a complete disregard for the albums (or individual songs) they contribute.
It’s odd to me that you would contiribute an album (D.C. and Company – Let’s Dance the Night Away) that you obviously despise (re-read your post and try to find something at all positive in your description of the album)
I know post-modern irony was big on the internet about 8 years ago, but it’s now 2007 and individual cultural artifacts (like old LPs, uh…postcards) need to be treated with at least a small amount of respect.
On the surface, 365 Days Projects appears to take a loose and “scholarly” approach to showcsing old music…
But (if I’m not mistaken) a true scholar or true “lover of music” shouldn’t insult the heck out of the music they pretend to appreciate….something’s just not right about that kind of approach.
Honestly, I couldn’t even bring myself to begin to listen to your apparently vile (and vintage) bad disco jazz album. You just didn’t make it seem that appealing…maybe if you’d simply written: “strange album…I really don’t like it” I would’ve listened
thanks for reading (if you did)
long live the Wobblies
KB in CA
Nah — I don’t despise that album. That’s far too harsh a word. I don’t listen to it every day, but then I don’t listen to anything every day. I will admit that I can appreciate it more on a non-musical level, if only as cultural artifacts.
I agree with your basic point, that it’s lame to post something just because you dislike it, or in order to hold it up to ridicule. However, I’m willing to take the chance that despite the fact that there is a large majority who would just laugh at it, a small few might actually appreciate it, possibly even for reasons completely unlike my own. Just like you have an ax to grind for reasons that are entirely your own.
As someone who loves to go digging for interesting records, I wind up with an awful lot of duds — or at least things that I wind up having no interest in. They fall off my radar almost as soon as they leave the turntable. I don’t bother to write about them. I like the DC & Company album. The disco songs are hilariously bad, and the non-disco tracks are a painful adventure. But taken as a whole, the album engages my imagination and evokes my curiosity about the artists, their milieu and their motivation. In the meantime, it would be unkind to my readers if I did not warn them about the possible consequences of their download!
Sorry what I wrote not only didn’t encourage you to download the album, but caused you to write off both the album and me. By the way, I’ve enjoyed your site for years. Thanks!
hello,
l’m french and l’ll wish to know hour’s of your market ?
my english is not good,excuse-me !
in arizonasecond-hand dealing for to buy postcards,coin’s old …please?
l to collect switzeland postcards and a village in italie (dolomite) : voltago-agordino and next village
thank-you
I go along with you actually, I presume! May this become practicable so that you can have yuor web blog translated directly into German? English is my 2nd language.