Watch a good movie then, and here ya go. I was at Carroll Speedway when I was a baby, my dad raced there. [video=youtube;i_OFRxh5D2Q]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_OFRxh5D2Q[/video]Man it is quiet on here today.
Did the Grand Poobah ban everyone?:stir:
Even though I spent up to till the 4th grade, and on the beach in Torrance Cali (can't remember learning to swim) I too fell in love with the desert, and in a area not far from where you were. Horses, oh yeah! My folks went to a place called The Curve, Restaurant bar, out on Black Canyon Hwy, and they had a stable out back. Well I hung out there so often while my parents were enjoying the company at the establishment, that pretty soon I was trailing hayrides on weekends and had permission to ride just about any horse I wanted to. My favorites were little Ann, a little speedster Quarter Horse, and BIG RED, a retired thoroughbred. Damn, life was simple and good then, wasn't it?Interesting Kenny,
In 1947 I traveled by train from Cleveland to Phoenix with my mother. I was a strapping 12 year filled with the wonders of the desert.
To this day, I do not know why she took me out there other than I was ill. We were there for three months. We stayed at a place called the
Desert Lodge and I believe it might have been on Lincoln Rd. I do remember it was a dirt road. There was a short landing strip and a place
that looked like a Turkish house. It was white and quite pretty, but way out of place. Camelback Inn was just up the street.
When I wasn't being home schooled I was allowed to ride a horse anywhere I wanted. I used to ride over to Scottsdale which was a dirt crossroads
with a couple of Indian trading shops. I rode up Mummy Mountain one time, through a blocked off area and they were building homes there.
Someone set off a dynamite charge and the horse went one way and I went the other. The horse came back and when I woke up was just standing there.
I rode up Camelback part way, but the trail was blocked off. I remember riding through the desert up around Scottsdale with all the orange groves and there
were tons of sheep loose around them. I fell in love with one but she wouldn't come back to Cleveland with me. Don't blame her.
It was really a wonderful experience for a young kid. I became a pretty good rider, but still spent a lot of time cleaning off the dust from my butt. Oh, there
was another memory. The McCormick ranch was a real ranch with beautiful Palaminos. The cowboys would let me help work them out. They would laugh
their a$$es off watching me trying to saddle them because I was really pretty scrawny and couldn't get those damn heavy saddles up on the horses.
To this day the memories are some of my happiest. Unfortunately, when I drive through there they seem so far away.
You have me laughing, thanks. You meant THE Indians School, right? And both Indian School, and Camelback are roads Jack, so do you remember the road Camelback, or is there a establishment named Camelback that charges high prices for drinks, or were you drinking in the road?I remember Indian School. They used to play polo on western saddles and ponys. It was quite a sight.
I remember a little about Camelback, but Kay and I went there about twenty some years ago to look around
and maybe have a drink or two. Well, we had two Bloody Mary's and the bill was about$16.00. I knew then
it was too rich for this old boy's blood. I can't keep up with the Rich & Famous...LOL
I knew Billy at Arcadia, he ran around with Billy Nichols the hitman, after high school both of the formed a company called Guns For Hire and became movie stuntmen.Spanky Spangler and I went to Kachina in the fourth grade together, and then my family and I moved into the Putnam's Spanish style Adobe on 40th street and I transfered to Tavan that was only a short distance away as you well know. Spanky and I remained good friends, and rivals through the eight grade. Man we had a ball fishing and playing in the old crosscut canal, and Cudia city was our playground too, as well as all of Camelback mountain.
I ran into Spanky up here in Prescott during the frontier days a few years ago, and I called him out as he was crossing the street from the square to Whiskey row. When I saw him I yelled HEY YOU, and loud, as I walked toward him pointing my finger at him in a aggressive way. When I met in in the middle of the street (it was closed) I said, "didn't I go to school with you buddy". His eyes got big, and then he said, "KENNY, man you were faaaast". We stood on the sidewalk there for a least a hour talking about how lucky we were to not only be alive LOL, but about how lucky we were to have grown up in that neighborhood, and at that time. I left back for Cali in 62/63, and Spanky damn near went to the moon..LOL
"death defying stunts all over the world since he was 12 years old". And that would have been us high diving into the crosscut cannel..LOL Who is Spanky Spangler?
Oh, do you remember the Putnam's house on 40th, it's still there. If you remember the Putnam's owned all the Citrus groves in that area at one time, and I was blessed to have lived on that acre, and in the great house growing up.
Did you know the Stevens family, or remember the Tally Ho apartments on 15th ave. and Baseline and the Silver Dollar Drive InI was raise in South Phoenix so I didnt know there was a Camelback, Mummy mountain, Adams Hotel etcit I didnt even know we had a down town until i was like 12. LOL
I remember my mom taking me downtown a number of times and I do remember her buying jewlery but don't remember the hotel.We moved out to Phoenix mid 1940's c. 1945/6 - Did you ever get to downtown Phoenix and the old Adams Hotel where the Hopi and Navajo's sold jewelry and blankets. When they were building I17 my friends and I used to race our horses and and out of the construction trucks - got yelled at a lot. Was a different city then - a different world.
What years was that? I go by it once in awhile just to check it out and I'm always amazed that no one ever did a damn thing with it, not one plant or tree, not a thing in over 50 years except take out the refrigeration unit, and put some junk on the roof in it's place. I've watched that place going to hell since I came back to AZ in 85, and at the time the lady that lived in it let me show the interior to my wife and kids.A friend of mine Bob Toller lived in that house when we were teenagers.
Crosscut, its the same canal Kenny, it came out of the Grand canal at 48th street and Indian School, we caught catfish, suckers, bluegill and one year there were some trout. probable from the Salt River system, that feeds the Grand Canal. It had maybe not ponds but 2 deep pools, between Indian School and Osborn, where the fish would accumulate, it is a parkway, my mom still lives there. Its probably the same house, it would have been around 1965 or 1966.What years was that? I go by it once in awhile just to check it out and I'm always amazed that no one ever did a damn thing with it, not one plant or tree, not a thing in over 50 years except take out the refrigeration unit, and put some junk on the roof in it's place. I've watched that going to hell since I came back to AZ in 85, and at the time the lady that lived in it let me show the interior to my wife and kids.
Are you sure it's the same house, it's on 40th Street and Claradon righ below Indian School road.... Oh my! I'm looking at it right now on Google earth, and it's being called Acadia lofts Condominiums, so I guess the roads complete and hell it is..LOL
Must be a different crosscut Bill. The crosscut ran North to South and was one of the first canals, or big ditches to ever run in the Phoenix area. In places it had cut into the ground 30' feet or more, and we called it our little Grand Canyon It was way over a 100 years old then. They filled it in for safety reasons in the 70's I believe. Its now a parkway. It never had ponds, at least up that way, and the only fish were the one's that came into it from the Reservoir, Bass, bluegill, catfish,etc.
Only the Silver Dollar Drive In. We used to sneak in under the fence and sit by the speakers all the time. sometimes escorted out too. lolDid you know the Stevens family, or remember the Tally Ho apartments on 15th ave. and Baseline and the Silver Dollar Drive In
Yep, and you could hide under the falls that fell into one of them when the water was running pretty good. Spangler and I got in a little trouble at that spot... We'd stage a fight as a car was coming our way, and after taking a fake punch, one or the other of us would fall about 15 feet into the water as the "attacker" ran off. Whoever had taken the "fall" would then come up under the falls and out of sight. If, ( they always didn't) they stoped to see if the kid needed help, he was no where to be seen. Need I go on. :-DIt had maybe not ponds but 2 deep pools,