Remembering a Part of Phoenix

Today as I picked up my buddy Frank Sacco to head to Prescott for the Democratic State Committee meeting, I passed by the old Christown Mall, later called Phoenix Spectrum Mall, and now Christown Spectrum Mall. There is a site for those who remember it in its glory days and want to stroll down memory lane, when it was the place to shop in Phoenix (and Arizona). It was Arizona's first indoor, air conditioned mall, stationed in the city's new, outlying suburbs when it opened in 1961. But in the early 1970's, a newer, "better" mall (Metrocenter) was opened a few miles up the road, in a newer, "nicer" neighborhood. Christown was no longer the place to shop. The neighborhood around it began to age and decline. Old higher end anchors pulled out, and were replaced by the likes of Walmart. The latest owners have decided the mall needs some TLC, and although it will never again be "the place to shop," at least they are trying to keep it from being a blight to the neighborhood. JC Penney's is now opened as a new anchor (they were an original anchor), Harkins Theatres has put in a new movie theater, and a SuperTarget is on its way. And it will be at the end of the new light rail route.

Growing up in Scottsdale and northeast Phoenix, I never much frequented Christown, but I have seen the similar pattern of decline throughout our Valley. One thing I love about Tucson is that you can set your watch by that town. Not much changes. The theaters where I saw movies in college in the 90's were listed in the Arizona Daily Star the day man landed on the moon in 1969 (oddly, I found a reprint of the Daily Star from that day in the National Air and Space Museum). Here in Maricopa County, however, all the old movie theaters I saw movies in as a kid are gone - the theaters in Thomas and Los Arcos Malls, the Kachina in downtown Scottsdale, and the original CineCapri. It's amazing how some communities cherish their history, while others join the throw away society that finds neighborhoods, employees, and old appliances to be dispensable. Why fix what is old when you can just start over with the new? Okay, it makes sense to discard old appliances, but why do we subsidize big businesses to create new, low paying jobs in the outskirts of our cities and create more sprawl, instead of using our tax dollars to reinvest in revitalizing our own existing communities? I just returned from vacation in San Francisco, and as expensive a place to live as it might be, I'd rather see Phoenix turn into San Francisco than Detroit.