Today we are reviewing three books about the history of the City of Phoenix: one fiction, two non-fiction.
In April of last year, we bought “The Gold Spot” building in downtown Phoenix. The building, located at 1001 N. 3rd Ave. in the Roosevelt Historic District near downtown Phoenix, was built in 1925 and is considered one of the first shopping centers in the city. The building was completely renovated in 2002.
We are planning a big celebration of the 100th anniversary in 2025 and are researching the history of the building and neighborhood.
It is currently home to five businesses that contribute to the character of the area – Lola Coffee, Pita Jungle, Elevate Yoga, Salon RO5 and First and Last.
CITY OF DARK CORNERS
- “City of Dark Corners: A Novel” (256 pages, paperback, 2021) by Jon Talton: We bought this book and the next two because we are researching the history of The Gold Spot Building in Phoenix. Last year in April we bought the Gold Spot building that was originally built in 1925! We are coming up on the 100th Anniversary and plan to celebrate. The 12,000 sq ft building currently has five tenants, Lola Coffee, Pita Jungle, Elevate Yoga, Salon RO5 and First and Last. The Amazon description is: “City of Angels” is a noir detective, roman a clef story set in Phoenix in 1933. The Amazon description is: “Talton shines in weaving together the mystery elements of the plots with historical events from the Prohibition period. Fast-paced, gritty, and exciting, this one will have fans of both Depression-era and southwestern-set crime fiction begging for more!” Talton mentions Otis Kenilworth’s barbershop that was at Gold Spot in the 1930s. He also puts hard boiled ex-Detective Hammons (fired for wanting to tell the truth in the infamous Winnie Ruth Judd murder case, of course) in the Rexall at the Gold Spot.
-this is a REALY GOOD story.
-I was originally skeptical because of the author’s background: Jon Talton is a newspaper columnist… but he comes through with a great book in the ‘hard-boiled detective’, film noir genre, roman a clef…
-a brief aside on Jon Talton; as I said, newspaper columnist in phoenix, Denver, Charlotte, San Diego, Cincinnati and now Seattle. Fourth generation Arizonanone? Was raised in the downtown Phoenix area and had direct knowledge of it, including the Gold Spot. From his “Rogue Columnist: Growing up, in photos”: “On the northeast corner was the Gold Spot holding Rexall Drugs and Otis Kenilworth’s barbershop, where I got my hair cut (Brad Hall collection).” Here’s one of two mentions in the book, page 13:
-You can read his blog at jontalton.com. Lots of interesting stuff about how economics intersects politics intersects culture; especially in American ‘big cities.’
-let’s put aside judging book by it cover, or in this case by its author’s bio. This is a great story no matter who wrote it.
-the characters are well developed; the hero is of course a former detective who was fired for wanting to tell the truth about the winnie ruth judd trunk murder case. His brother is still on the force, and they still have a brotherly rivalry; not friendly. They even spent time in WW1; his brother an officer, he enlisted; more rivalry. Great interpersonal dynamics here and throughout the story with the other characters. Lots of hard boiled conversations…
-and now ‘roman a clef’: pronunciation: [ʁɔmɑ̃ a kle], anglicised as /roʊˌmɒn ə ˈkleɪ/), French for novel with a key, is a novel about real-life events that is overlaid with a façade of fiction. Many, most of the characters, were real life people; most notably Barry Goldwater…
-a short plot summary with some spoilers: Gene Hammons was a Phoenix detective; the Hat Squad. He made his career by solving a serial killer case. Until he was fired for wanting to tell the truth about the Winnie Ruth Judd trunk murderess case which he helped investigate. Now he’s working as a private detective with a hot, photographer girlfriend. His brother still works on the squad, and they are still fighting, about the past, the present and principles. His brother brings him into a case where a girl is sawed up. The powers that be say suicide. But it could be more than that, maybe a setup of Gene. He finds the two, and more, obvious suspects. Tracks it down to the end. Lots of wise guy dialog.
-it is loving tribute to phoenix (see his brief history of phoenix book, next) with all its faults and warts. He does not divide the characters into good and evil. Everyone has a touch of the first; and mostly the last.
-Highly recommended.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF PHOENIX
- “A Brief History of Phoenix” (144 pages, paperback, 2015) by Jon Talton: We bought this book and the previous and next because we are researching the history of The Gold Spot Building in Phoenix. Last year in April we bought the Gold Spot building that was originally built in 1925! We are coming up on the 100th Anniversary and plan to celebrate. The 12,000 sq ft building currently has five tenants, Lola Coffee, Pita Jungle, Elevate Yoga, Salon RO5 and First and Last. The Amazon description is: “In 1950, Phoenix ranked 99th among the largest cities in the United States; today it ranks 6th, a growth driven by a remarkable quartet of men who promoted sprawl instead of personal spoils. This book, written by a fourth-generation Arizonan, is the first to outline the shady side as well the sunshine promotions that fueled this growth. It’s a brief account in just 134 pages [sic]; but Talton balances lyrical detail and sordid scandal.”
-Jon Talton, see above, tells the story of how Phoenix grew from ‘nothing’ to the 5th largest city in the USA in only 100 plus years.
-I appreciated the intro where he makes some points that I have privately thought: three examples: suburb of Mesa is bigger than lots of commonly known cities; Cincinnati, St Louis…haboob a ‘new’ word, for obvious reasons (see below, mile high dust storm, from 2011 the night before we left for Italy), …p11 “Phoenix is one of the great accomplishments of American civilization.” I am tired of modern writers who must put everything down to show that they are ‘in the know’, cool, hip, jaded…
-the first chapter on Jack Swilling, founder, is great. He gives the bio of Swilling; warts and all. And on p 17 he defends him, “But Swilling deserves better.” See last para on page:
-he has historical knowledge, p 20 “Farming meant something very different in the nineteenth century than it does today.” He can put aside his ‘modern’ glasses and see the world as they did, the founders.
-p 32 “Whiskey’s for drinkin’, and water’s for fightin’ over.’
-p 33 “Roosevelt Dam, highest masonry dam for a while. “Reclamation in Phoenix was the most widespread experiment of social engineering in American history.” Is this true?
-p 111 “…mixed use Kierland Commons, which had a Phoenix address and sent taxes to the city while claiming Scottsdale’s growing cachet.” We almost bought a building in Scottsdale with a Scottsdale address but phoenix taxes, water, trash; in Kierland Commons. Two years later sold to convert to apartments.
-p 112 “Palo Verdes three reactors are cooled by effluent water from valley cities.”
DOWNTOWN PHOENIX
- “Downtown Phoenix (Images of America)” (128 pages, paperback, 2012) by J. Seth Anderson, Suad Mahmuljin, Jim McPherson: We bought this book and the previous two because we are researching the history of The Gold Spot Building in Phoenix. Last year in April we bought the Gold Spot building that was originally built in 1925! We are coming up on the 100th Anniversary and plan to celebrate. The 12,000 sq ft building currently has five tenants, Lola Coffee, Pita Jungle, Elevate Yoga, Salon RO5 and First and Last. The Amazon description is: “I have to admit that I follow J. Seth Anderson’s blog and am familiar with his writing. As such, I was incredibly excited to read this. First, the images in this book are amazing. I imagine he had to go to great lengths and do a ton of research to find these pictures. I used to live in Downtown Phoenix, right by the Hotel San Carlos, the Rialto and Orpheum Theatres (pages 44, 47 and 117) actually, and I feel my heart flutter when I see those pictures. Everything is so different now, but it’s so cool to see what it used to look like in the 1920s!”
-picture book, all black and white, from historical sources with short intro paragraphs for each major heading
-more building oriented than people, but there are a fair amount of persons
-The Gold Spot is featured on page 124:
