I was looking at Shadow Mountain (Pusch Peak for purists) on the west end of the Santa Catalina mountains the other day from my mother's home in northwest Tucson, thinking about the fact that it hasn't changed a bit from my boyhood. I grew up there. We moved there in July, 1963. My father was faculty at the University of Arizona. I remember one of the times I accompanied him to work that summer as he was getting settled in. It was a hot day. On the way home, we had to stop at the stoplight at Grant and First Ave. Looking north, one could see the road all the way up into the foothills. We stopped at Frostop between Grant and Glenn, which had the big mug of root beer sign.
Today I still come home from my job at the UA through that intersection. Frostop is long gone, and several businesses have tried to make it a go in that same location. The sign is different now, but still has a small vestige of the old days - a small mug, but painted like beer. The Chevron station on the NE corner of Grant/First is gone, but a Shell mini-mart has replaced it. I was at that intersection in the fall of 1987 when Tom Dillon, then the voice of the ASU Sun Devils, rather disgustedly stated that the UA-ASU football game was ending in a 24-24 tie.
On Oracle Rd., Mr. Quik did a hot business beside Amphi High School. I was at Amphi one night in the late 60's when Ed Hochuli (now an NFL ref) and CDO went up against Kim Hornbeak and the Panthers in football. I don't recall who won, which means that Amphi probably did.
At Oracle and Ina roads was Sharp's Market, in Casas Adobes Plaza, the only grocery that far north. It has changed hands many times, currently a Wild Oats market. The other corners of that intersection were desert. Tohono Chul park was then the Wilson residence. Farther north, at Magee and Oracle, where the Rural/Metro fire station now sits, was a lone building and a tree, the La Chiquita Escuela kindergarten. Northern Avenue on the west side of that parcel of land was but a dirt road, made only for Tucson Gas & Electric to service the power lines. Hence, its informal name, Pole Line Road.
For a time I rode my bike on that road, down to Magee, then to Paseo del Norte, south to Winifred Harelson school, the elementary school "...in the desert, air so clear..." We sang the school song at the time to the accompaniment of Winifred herself.
Our family lived on Hardy Rd. I won't say which house because as I mentioned earlier, my mom still lives in our original house. Oro Valley was a name for a region; the town wasn't dreamed of yet. There is a Brian Keith movie, "Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came?", where there is a scene that was filmed at Oracle Rd. and First Avenue long before there was a Fry's, Home Depot, and everything else that's there now. Shadow Mountain (Pusch Peak for purists) is a nice background for it.
Many things have changed; but the mountains stay the same.
Hey there, Jalapeno! You're a north-side Tucson desert rat like myself. We moved here in Sept. '61 from Nebraska. The only reason we moved from there was the humidity was literally killing my infant little brother. The Doc in Lincoln told my late parents that "the kid is gonna die within a month UNLESS YOU GET HIM TO A DRY CLIMATE. It was the same reason that most everybody moved to the deserts of Arizona.....breathing problems. It cured my little bro completely in a short while....a miracle...for real. Now...it's the WORST place to come if you have breathing problems, as all the pollens that were transported from everywhere else in the automobiles and shoes and pant cuffs of Midwesterners like us have taken root here and flourished. Sorry about that, folks. Jalapeno, you must have attended CDO high. I did, graduating in '73. The area was vastly different back then. I love Tucson still....but inwardly, I yearn for the way it used to be. I realize it's a worthless subject to ponder....as the genie is out of the bottle....long long ago. I give thanks that I was born in the generation that I was born into....and that we knew Tucson when it was still basically a little podunky-town. Jalapeno.....are you able to declare your family's last name?? I'll bet we know each other. BTW...you mentioned Eddie Hochuli. He was 5 yrs. older than me....I remember him running over people in football....he was as tough as they come. His and my old football coach....Art Mangels...is still alive and very well..and looks great. I see Coach Mangels and his gorgeous years-defying wife Pat from time to time. Wonderful people. Like I stated earlier...I thank the Good Lord I came along when I did..in school I was surrounded by a lot of good teachers that tried hard....same with our football coaches. They were touch on us....but truly readied us for the bumps of life, and for that I am SO GRATEFUL. I understand by good authority that nowadays, the kids in school would NEVER put up with the abuse that we took from the coaching staff. Nothing out of line in our day....but we were ridden hard, and discipline was damn sure enforced. Again...we were being readied for a hard world when we got out of high school. But yeah....these kids now...they won't put up with it like we did. And that's sad. I am particularly glad that we didn't have kids...my wife and I. Never regretted it, really. Anyhow....I didn't mean to pontificate. But I saw what you wrote and I HAD to respond to another desert rat of my age group! God Bless joel ewing
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