The Changing face of Phoenix

the Changing Face

Frontier cattlemen would shudder at the thought, but modern man is now 'deodorizing' beef on the hoof All look forward to the day that citizens of the New West enjoy T-bones and prime ribs, then settle comfortably on their back porches and hear the romantic bawling of cattle in the sunset and sniff fresh evening air that might smell like orange blossoms.

The above quotation is from a United Press International release commenting on a Phoenix phenomenon.

From a helicopter whirling low over stockyards, a deodorant called GS 17 is sprayed over protesting bovines. Sometimes as many as 50,000 head in the cattle pens are treated in a single operation, resulting in cows that smell vaguely like flowers.

While the distinct aroma of congregated cows, bulls and steers would never have troubled an older Phoenix; in fact it would have been accepted as part of the local scene; the malodor is decidedly out of place today. The cow may stay, but her fragrance must go.

At first glance the whole business strikes as amusing. However, GS 17 symbolizes far more than the conquering of the odoriferous; it highlights the fact that Phoenix is changing from a city thought of as part of the "Old West" to a capital municipality that is a driving force in what the UPI terms "New West." The picture of Phoenicians sitting on back porches is a bit out of keeping, as regards to the city's personality. London may be noted for its fog, Edinburgh for its biting winds, Berlin for its massive gloominess, but Phoenix is easily a city of patios. If bouillabaisse connotes Marseilles, spaghetti Naples, baked beans and cod Boston, then surely Phoenix can claim the barbecue. From such seemingly insignificant considerations the stamp of personality emerges.

In the American scene the matter of a city assuming a new individuality and character via evolution is neither unique nor uncommon. Compare any large metropolis of today; physical condition, culture, horizons, limitations and possibilities, to what it was a century, halfcentury, quarter-century ago, and two positions strike clearly: the city hasn't altered drastically; or else the evidenced changes have come about slowly, traditionally, dictated by circumstances that normally accompany the passage of time.

of Phoenix BY TIM KELLY ...ACCELERATION SO DYNAMIC AND SWEEPING

unique nor uncommon. Compare any large metropolis of today; physical condition, culture, horizons, limitations and possibilities, to what it was a century, halfcentury, quarter-century ago, and two positions strike clearly: the city hasn't altered drastically; or else the evidenced changes have come about slowly, traditionally, dictated by circumstances that normally accompany the passage of time.

In Phoenix, contrarily, acceleration is so dynamic and sweeping that what is true of the city this month is not always apropos next month.

Yet, in some areas, the prognosis and present condition portend the same. Capital cities tend to monopolize population. Phoenix is no exception. Its statistical spiral in this respect is fascinating in both retrospect and anticipation. Within the incorporate limits of Phoenix in 1940 (9.6 square miles) lived 65,000 people. A decade later the size of the city had almost doubled and the population had leaped well over the 100,000 mark. At this writing (Phoenix moves fast enough to make this qualification necessary) the bounded area is approximately 222.6 square miles; the number of resi-dents is over 514,000. By 1970 Greater Phoenix should surpass a million population and it seems unquestionable that this metropolis will be the heart of a wide expanse of desert land stretching almost to the fringes of Los Angeles on one side and across to west Texas through New Mexico on the other, a vast frontier-land that will eventually host millions.

dents is over 514,000. By 1970 Greater Phoenix should surpass a million population and it seems unquestionable that this metropolis will be the heart of a wide expanse of desert land stretching almost to the fringes of Los Angeles on one side and across to west Texas through New Mexico on the other, a vast frontier-land that will eventually host millions.

Sentiment rides with the changing face of Arizona's capital. The fading of the "western saga" aspect is accompanied by an edge of sadness, the realization that the city will never again be as it once was, unassuming, rather remote, agricultural, "Old West." But there is a strong desire to embody the honesty of the older way of life in the newer, energized city.

Phoenix, the city of languid yet pleasant winters and nearly intolerable and depopulated summers has gone with, well stockyards that used to smell like stockyards.

Happily, the informality, friendliness and warmth that once lured people to the city remain, and though Phoenix must accept its new role, and does so willingly, it is surrounded still by towns that can boast of cowboys

that are real, vistas of desert beauty that remain as always breathtaking in natural splendor, and a way of desert life that cannot be easily duplicated.

Phoenix offers a consideration that is intriguing: Desert living coupled with thriving city life.

Perhaps one of the more striking examples of change can best be illustrated by the present attitude of the city's Chamber of Commerce. Less than twenty years ago the image projected by the Chamber adhered closely to the sentimental ideal. The staff consisted of no more than a half-dozen people, full and part-time, the budget was infinitesimal and Phoenix was pictured as a town attractive to dudes in love with the legend of the cowboy, health-seekers, and tourists who might desire escape from a harsh Eastern winter. Lew Haas, Secretary of the organization, remarks: "There were some funny things about that old Cham-ber. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw what was being sent out! Pictures showing Phoenicians in beards." The beards displayed were not the neat collegiate types seen today, nor the wilder "beatnik" variety; rather the full growths once considered fashionable in the Victorian era and the scraggy bushes typified by prospectors and desert characters.

Lew Haas, Secretary of the organization, remarks: "There were some funny things about that old Chamber. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw what was being sent out! Pictures showing Phoenicians in beards." The beards displayed were not the neat collegiate types seen today, nor the wilder "beatnik" variety; rather the full growths once considered fashionable in the Victorian era and the scraggy bushes typified by prospectors and desert characters.

"If anything points up the difference between the old Chamber and the present one I'd probably answer 'beards.' "

What is interesting is the fact that World War II had ended when Haas first saw these photographs of the "typical Phoenician." The Chamber is now ultramodern and active, as interested in luring a new electronics plant to Phoenix as in a couple searching for a retirement spot. Both are encouraged and both are more than welcome. Indicative of the "new" Chamber is its announced goal of creating an average of 5,000 industrial jobs a year for the next seven years.

Here are some reasons why industry has chosen Phoenix: "Basic economic reasons influenced the choice of a Phoenix site for this division of our fifty-year-old corporation: availability of land and labor; suitable sub-contractors and suppliers to support our type of manufacture; good housing and climate, an inducement to the recruitment of employees.

"ARIZONA'S STATE CAPITOL" Aerial view of the Arizona State Capitol complex at 17th Avenue and Washington in Phoenix. 4x5 Speed Graphic camera; Eastman E-3; f.6.3 at 1/500th sec.; 6" Ektar lens; November; sunny day, cumulus clouds; 250 Norwood meter reading; ASA rating 64.

"PHOENIX BLACK CANYON FREEWAY" Aerial view of the Black Canyon Freeway in Phoenix just south of Grand Avenue, showing part of the industrial area between Black Canyon Freeway and 19th Avenue. The burgeoning economy of the community demands bigger and better highways and more of them. 4x5 Speed Graphic camera; Eastman E-3; f.6.3 at 1/500th sec.; 6" Ektar lens; November; 250 Norwood meter reading; ASA rating 64.

"PHOENIX CITY OF PALMS" Photo taken from top of the Phoenix Towers Co-op Apartment building on North Central looking south towards Downtown Phoenix with South Mountain in background. The modern and handsome Library complex is shown at left center. Many palm-lined thoroughfares feature this area. Linhof camera; Eastman E-3; f.45 at 1/5th sec.; 12" Xenar lens; sunny day; 150 Norwood meter reading; ASA rating 64.

"BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF PHOENIX" This view of Phoenix, taken from a plane, shows the Phoenix Country Club golf course and adjoining residential areas. Camelback Mountain, prominent Valley landmark, is seen in right distance. Home made 4x5 camera; Agfachrome CT 18; between f.8 and f.11 at 1/400th sec.; Schneider Xenon lens; full sun; meter reading 13 on Elwood; ASA rating 64.

For our solid propellant rocket activities we needed a location fairly remote, yet near a major city. We needed a dry climate and we needed a ready source of manpower. The Phoenix area was virtually tailor-made to these requirements.” I wanted a location that would help attract good men primarily. Phoenix offers good weather, with lots of sunshine and year-round outdoor activities.” (Daniel E. Noble, Executive Vice President, Motorola, Inc.) Such testimonials from industries that have moved into the Phoenix metropolitan area could go on without limit, boiling down to the essential fact that Phoenix offers not only ideal climate but the before-mentioned advantage of city life. As more residents arrive, the more “citified” becomes this once small town named after a mythical Egyptian bird.

Twenty-five years ago Phoenix could muster only the most meager signs of cosmopolitanism. (Its economy was generally dependent upon Arizona’s well-known five C’s: cotton, cattle, copper, climate and citrus). Any attempt at the “Big Town” was likely to appear as sham. Tourism existed, naturally, during peak winter months. Today tourism is on a year-round basis, just as the city is now a fifty-two week a year operation.

Century or so to hubs like and including New York, New Orleans, St. Louis, Atlanta, Chicago and Baltimore and a place of set size, controllable influx of population and a discernible culture is extant. Attempt to do the same with Phoenix and you’ll come upon “... nothing but an Indian village in the center of the desert” as one historian described the setting.

Nor should we overlook that memorable statement by one short-sighted reporter to the Congress of 1858: “The region is altogether valueless. After entering it, there is nothing to do but leave.” The name of the city wasn’t used in any official sense whatsoever until 1868, according to records. For 350 years prior to this time, unnamed Phoenix was part of a rough wilderness invaded periodically by Indian war parties and momentarily settled by some tribes. In the 1820’s French, Canadian and American trappers, including Kit Carson, were said to have wandered through the area, beaver trapping. (Beavers are longgone from the ranks of Phoenix fauna.) And to reach even further back, the Valley of the Sun, of which Phoenix is a portion, was home to the famed Hohokam Indian civilization. But for the sake of contemporary evaluation specifics aside, the city can loosely consider a century as its age.

The townsite of Phoenix (320 acres) filed officially in the U. S. Land Office at Prescott on February 13, 1872. The “Old West” was true enough, for the city listed in operation three years later sixteen saloons, four dance halls, two monte banks and one faro table. One year before the incorporation of Phoenix (1881), its population was given as a robust 2,453.

Phoenix, Phase I, ended, theoretically, with the construction of Theodore Roosevelt Dam, which gave the city an assured water supply, the right signal for growth in a desert location. (The Supreme Court, on June 4, 1963, gave Arizona the right to take more water from the flow of the Colorado River than it presently does. A decision that opens the way for the proposed Central Arizona Project, a system for water storage and use bound to increase the productivity of the state considerably, while enabling Phoenix to meet the increasing demands of its cosmopolitan-metropolitan complexion.)

CENTER PANEL

“EAGLE’S EYE VIEW OF PHOENIX” Phoenix, a half century ago, hardly more than a small, dusty village, has becoming one of the West’s important cities. With a population over one-half million, Phoenix is becoming the economic hub of the Great Southwest. Growth of the community since World War II has been phenomenal. Home made 8x10 camera; Agfachrome CT-18; between f.8 and f.11 at 1/400th sec.; Super Angulon Schneider lens; September; full sun; 13 Elwood meter reading; ASA rating 64.

“PHOENIX – PLEASANT LIVING IN THE SUN” The four aerial photographs on pages 8 and 9 (preceding color pages) were selected to show various views of a gracious, pleasant city. In the upper photograph, page 8, is seen one of the major canals bringing water to thirsty farm lands in the Salt River Valley from dams on the Salt and Verde Rivers. Camera Information upper page 8-4x5 Speed Graphic camera; Eastman E-3; f.6.3 at 1/500th sec; 6" Ektar lens; November; sunny day, cumulus clouds; meter reading 250 Norwood; ASA rating 64. Camera information lower page 8-Hasselblad camera; 120 E-3 by Eastman; f.5.6 at 1/50th sec.; 250mm telephoto lens; September; dusk; ASA rating 160. Camera Information upper page 9-4x5 Speed Graphic camera; Eastman E-3; f.6.3 at 1/500th sec.; 6" Ektar lens; November; sunny day, cumulus clouds; 250 Norwood meter reading; ASA rating 64. Camera Information lower page 9 Home made 4x5 camera; Agfachrome CT-18; between f.8 and f. 11 at 1/400th sec.; Schneider lens; September; bright sun; Elwood 13 meter reading; ASA rating 64.

From 1911, the date of the dam's dedication, to 1939, can be considered Phase II. People came to Phoenix, viewing it as a great health center, especially when tuberculosis, the "White Plague" was discussed. "All over this country and even in Europe," Eleanor Roosevelt wrote, "there are people who will remember Bishop Atwood. (Julius W. Atwood, founder of St. Luke's Home, the first tuberculosis hospital in Phoenix.) As long as I can remember Bishop Atwood used to tell me the stories of people arriving in this health-giving climate with tuberculosis, a family, a car and no place to live.

To accompany the "5 C's," early Phoenix resorts advertised the "3 R's:" restoration of health, rest and relaxation. Indeed, so detached from the hustle of other cities was Phoenix at the turn of the century that men and women interested in settling here were advised to contact the town's "Immigration Commissioner."

It is generally conceded that the "Phoenix boom" began shortly after the conclusion of the Second World War, although during the war years, a vibration of expectation was in evidence. Many service men werestationed in the Phoenix area during this period, coming and going; the three primary military installations near Phoenix being the Litchfield Park Air Station, Luke and Williams Air Force Bases. Many were impressed by what they saw. Phoenix offered a leisurely way of life that was both new and interesting. The roar and tearing tension of nervous industrial cities was totally absent, the scenery was spectacular, the weather with the exception of the summer was gentle and bracing, warm days and cool nights. People were friendly and hospitable and a manana philosophy that cautioned "Slow down and enjoy life" was enchanting. So, thousands who might never have seen Phoenix, save for the war, got an idea of the place. Many decided to return and bring their families with them; the first nudge to a population swelling that would soon become agitated, expand and explode.

There's no denying that health continues to play a role. Thousands of families have sought out the city so some member of the household might be more comfortable. The migration to Phoenix presents an endless list of problems for a city saddled with acute growing pains. Employment of new residents not the least among them. The economy expands with new population, granted, but a lag in employment exists, as well. Material sent to prospective newcomers is candid: "Jobs are not plentiful... because people are moving here at a rate unprecedented in history. The variety and depth of employment is restricted. As a result, many people locating here find they have to change their 'line' or profession to earn a livelihood."

"SLOW DOWN AND ENJOY LIFE"

This is by no reasoning an inhibiting factor, rather a caution extended on the assumption investigation is preferable to disenchantment. In less than four years, the new industries that have settled here, sparked by the Chamber of Commerce, have provided jobs for close to 200,000 persons.

The emphasis with industry in metropolitan Phoenix is on cleanliness. Here no ugly smokestacks insult the Arizona sky, no growl of monotonous machines harshly stamp their audible imprint. Smoke emitting from factories would aggravate the budding problem of smog, a menace Phoenix is anxious to stop before it gets afoot. Being in a valley, automobile exhaust is troublesome enough, a problem typical of many to come for Phoenix. The stagecoach in France, introduced in the 17th century, killed more people annually than the railroad that followed, and so it is that its modern counterpart, the automobile, presents for Phoenix the dilemma of highway safety and traffic control, plus air pollution. Industrial compounds aimed at expansion have usually indicated the progressive destruction of open spaces. But the plants that are in Phoenix area are not at all as they are in innumerable other cities, grim and gray. They are, instead, neat, attractive, quiet; models in many cases of laudable architectural design.

The electronics industry, especially, favors Phoenix. The city's mid-point location between the electronic manufacturing research center in Los Angeles and the newer plants in Houston and Texas is enticing. Today, Phoenix, a comparatively short time after this industry began to move into the area, is regarded as the third largest electronics center in the West.

Apart from returning servicemen, health reasons, a vitalized Chamber of Commerce, other factors have acted and continue to act on the changing tempo of

FORTUNES HAVE BEEN MADE HERE...

this city's life. The United States has always been a nation on the move. The West has always had its allure for the citizen of Paris, France, to the citizen of a New England coastal town. As a nation, we have moved West. Many reasons are given, all valid. Dismissing the more obvious, the intangibles present themselves. Phoenix is a city that is not bound by tradition or preconceived attitudes. In short, Phoenix offers "a chance" to the adventurous. Fortunes have been made here that could not have been made in other cities. Phoenix is restless, a plastic society that has yet to find its true personality. Understandable and stimulating. Tradition cannot influence when a city hasn't really any to begin with. Only the most self-assured and calculated city can progress with an ancient cultural heritage wrapped around its neck like an albatross. Phoenix is no such city.

Even its society, the capital "S" variety that would interest a social arbiter like Cleveland Amory is skittish here. Consider the description of Phoenix writer Maggie Savoy. "Any definition of Society is impossible. It changes form and boundary with the constant shifting of the scene. That does not mean there is no Society, though a blue book of Phoenix would have to be the only blue book with loose leaves. It does mean that Society with the capital 'S' is like no other Society in the world it is a Society made up of those who do rather than those who have a 'right to be' . . . One cannot claim Society by virtue of money. Too much of it has been made here; too much is still in the making. Made by ex-carpenters and dirty-booted cowboys, daring bankers and straggly-haired miners, and slick-haired investors.

"Brought in by presidents of corporations, retired boards-of-directors, chairmen, ex-movie stars, heiresses, Broadway columnists, famous band leaders, nationally known artists and cartoonists, best seller authors, department store execs, big-ten bridge players, racing drivers, millionaire realtors, All-American athletes."

Phoenix's attraction for many doesn't preclude disinterest for some. A city searching for its identity, raw around the edges, different from most, and depending on the individual as much as the individual seeks to depend on it, can be disquieting and disturbing. Despite the aura of containment, Phoenix harbors much of the tension that propels any new city in the making.

Those taking pleasure in cities set in their ways, or governed by a long standing protocol, cities where everything has its place and everything in its place, will not like Arizona's capital city and anyone imbued with the "but it's not done this way in such-and-such a city" had better keep moving, for in this regard Phoenix will only frustrate.

The expression "years ago" so long favored in longestablished cities doesn't count for much in Phoenix. "Years ago" is replaced by "last year," "last month," "last week" even "yesterday."

Phoenix, oddly enough, can be considered a melting pot Americana. New population pours in from every corner of the nation, bound to achieve an enviable cross culturization as good for the city generally as it is for its refinement specifically. In the early days of Phoenix's boom, when it began to touch on the total realization of what a city should be, it was afflicted by something akin to galloping inferiority. Unsure of itself, taking its first steps a mite uneasily, it relied on imitation more than creation in many, not all, respects. With imitation there is constantly the danger of caricature.

Restaurants cropped up with names aped from famed Eastern niteries, fashion shoppes displayed "Eastern designs," and plays that had not made a name on the Broadway stage a year or two before were rarely seen.

But, not so strangely, this tendency for imposing a cultural and civic milieu that didn't quite fit, drained of energy quickly.

Much of Phoenix' former rawness is gone, the rest is going fast without sacrificing any of the hallmarks that give the city its charm.

There are any number of examples that a Phoenician can relate from his own experience that will illustrate the changes occuring daily. As far as growth is concerned, statistics and charts no longer impress the citizens of Phoenix. The visual metastasis is amazing. One day you can drive by an empty field and use it as a marker.

A few weeks later this reference point has disappeared in a development of attractive, moderately-priced homes. From where I sit typing these words, I can look out the window and see high-rise buildings dotted along North Central Avenue: The twenty-story Guaranty Bank Building, seventeen-story gold and white Del Webb building, the twenty-two story Executive Towers Apartments, though a very short time ago this artery, which travels northward from downtown Phoenix to the west of Squaw Peak and famed Camelback Mountain to the east, was a residential street.

OPPOSITE PAGE "THE DESERT GARDEN OF PHOENIX" BY DARWIN VAN CAMPEN. One of the

One of the show places of Phoenix is the Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden in Papago Park, a show place of Mother Nature, if there ever was one. Here have been gathered together every conceivable desert plant obtainable. The annual spring show in the Botanical Garden, when many of the cacti are in bloom, is attended by thousands. 4x5 Linhof camera; Ektachrome; f.32 at 1/25th sec.; 150mm Symmar lens; July; bright sunlight; Weston Meter 400; ASA rating 64.

...PHOENIX...HAS LEARNED HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY COMBAT SUMMER HEAT...

Five years ago the houses I can see nearby didn't exist. An alkali bed occupied the land. Less than a year ago, this very magazine you are reading had to be printed outside the state because no Phoenix concern could handle its intricate requirements.

I recall going into a now well-established French restaurant in the Phoenix area three years ago. Every thing was laudatory until a waiter appeared hovering over the salad with a pepper mill, held shoulder-high and menacingly. In a panhandle drawl, he queried: "Do you want a blast?"

Rough around the edges? Without question. And an example that appears at first glance without consequence. Today the waiters in that same restaurant are from Swizerland and France. They never ask dinner guests if they'd care for a "blast."

The inherent virtue is that as Phoenix changes, it manages to maintain the genuine qualities of openness and geniality, hence a more sophisticated city is in the ascendancy, but one comfortable in its own style. The cowboy with those muddied boots would be as welcome in this French restaurant today as he was three years ago. Without a necktie? Definitely.

There are two other factors that have a tremendous influence on the emerging new Phoenix. The value in housing is one. Housing in Phoenix with its emphasis on the economically imaginative represents a point of departure from the general norm. Houses, decently priced, with four bedrooms, two full baths, family room, wide carports, living room, spacious storage capacity and patio are the rule rather than the exception. Unlike Tucson, true Spanish culture in Phoenix has never been overtly strong. Prior to the boom, architec tural patterns were varied. There were some fine old Spanish homes, now replaced by office buildings or turmed into public establishments, like the Heard Museum of Primitive An. Low adobe structures were common and that southwestern style, the psuedo-Spanish compact dwelling, was rampere. But when men like builder John Long appeared on the scene offering three-bedroom homes with swimming pool for $11,600, housing in Phoenix started to change. There is no other city in the United States that, dollar for dollar, can offer the value to be found in Phoenix. Low cost housing remains one of the strongest factors in the changing face of Phoenix.

You can drive through the city and still find older dwellings topped by a peculiar room-like affair, fully screened, on the roof. This is a remembrance of things past, when people would use this roof space as a sleeping area during the hot summer months, when even the elevation of a few feet supposedly brought reliet. And you continue to hear the remark from older residents, "Oh, yes, before we used to moisten the sheets down." The "before" means before refrigeration. Deciding just what is meant by refrigeration (does Is it mean air-conditioning? cooling?) is something of a sport in Phoenix, but happily its result is easy enough to gauge. Because of refrigeration, for both home and business (automobile, too), Phoenix no longer sluts down in the summer, things go on as usual, a circum stance thet has brought about a perceptible change in the city's life. Resorts formerly thought of as solely winter attractions now have thrown their doors open for year-round business. There is perhaps no better example of what air-con ditioning can do than Phoenix's huge shopping center, Chris-Town, built by the Del Webb Corporation, and the new Thomas Mall. Here are the Southwest's finest enclosed malls, completely air-conditioned, where shop pers can stroll in comfort while outside the thermometer pushes over 110 degrees. Phoenix has done far more than learn how to live with the summer heat; it has learned how to successfully combat it. The changing face of Phoenix is eliminating seasonal definition.

The listing of reasons for the boom can go on, but in doing so it mustn't omit some vitally important fac tors: the people who stimulate change, the cultural development that rides with change and ominously the dangers that can accompany such speeding transfor mation.

Phoenix can take justifiable pride in what Lew Haas calls "the will to do." The frontier vestages may be rapidly diminishing in Phoenix, but the frontier spirit remains. The Civic Center, close to downtown, is one example of such spirit. In an attractive, accessible location, stands the Phoenix Little Theatre, Phoenix Public Library and the Phoenix Art Museum. The first two components were erected in the early fifties. The theatre to accommodate the growing interest in live drama. It's a handsome building, seating well over four hundred, comfortable, refrigerated and continually in use, a far cry from the carriage house quarters that sheltered the muse in previous years. Shortly after the theatre opened, the new library opened, large, spacious and ready to accommodate the community. In 1959, the Art Museum opened and to show the change in Phoenix is not a slow, laborious process, one has but to assess the value of the Museum's permanent collection. Before the Museum opened the value of its exhibitable paint ings barely made it to the feeble $3,000 mark. Today the value of the permanent collection is in excess of $2,000,000. And each of the integrals of the civic center is seekoing to expand in order to better serve the booming influx of newcomers. Beyond the visual reality of these buildings, streams run into other currents. Phoe nix is often called a "Do It Yourself" city, one of those rare places where if you think you can do something better, you have plenty of opportunity to try. That chance exists. Countless experimental theatres now dot the city. Standout among them is Arizona Repertory Theatre, offering Off-Broadway fare in a well designed, compact playhouse that wasn't there last year at this time. Included in this troupe's repertoire are such items as Jules Feiffer's Crawling Arnold, Frank Kafka's The Trial, Berthold Brecht's The Three Penny Opera, The Hostage, The Floor is Bright with Toys, Night of the Iguana productions that even five years ago would have played before cobwebs and a handful of drams aficionados.

There are now a baker's dozen of theatrical troupes in metropoliten Phoenix, offering drama, chamber opera, children's theatre and musicals, and the services of pro fessional directors and stage designers are being employed increasingly.

This season the Phoenix Star Theatre opened with a seating capacity of over 2,000, presenting musicals and star attractions. The last two years have witnessed theatrical road companies arriving in Phoenix in unprece dented numbers.

Howard Taubman of The New York Times: "One can only laugh at the childish parochialism of a certain kind of Broadwayite who clamors that the sun, moon and stars must rise and set in the light of the theatre on Broadway... The truth, of course, is exactly the oppo site. Broadway which over the decades has earned the right to be considered the theatrical capital of North America has everything to gain from new and reinvigor ated regional theatres. Such a statement is more than interesting when con sidering Richard Charlton's Sombrero Playhouse, for its establishment was founded on this very principle fifteen years ago.

Detective Story, Dear Lim, Natural Affection had their world premier at Phoenix Sombrero Playhouse, bringing people from the West and East Coast to view theatre rather than the other way around. The Sombrero enclave also includes the Backstage Club with its restau rant of international reputation and award as well as the Galaxy Gallery which corals exhibitions that would cause admiration in any city of size.

A POOL OF READY TALENT THAT IS UNAVAILABLE ELSEWHERE.

The Phoenix Symphony Orchestra has nearly ninety professional members and performs sixteen subscription concerts in a season. Operating at present on a budget of $150,000 this orchestra, under the direction of Guy Taylor, is looking toward becoming one of the major orchestras in the country within five years.

As for private art galleries, Phoenix now offers a retinue that presents everything from the masterworks of Frederick Remington to the extremes of Jackson Pollack.

Phoenix is a searching city, always trying to shorten the lag between what it must become via necessity and what it hopes to attain. Soon a new Civic Auditorium, designed for symphonies, dance and a season of opera will be under construction. Plans call for a seating capacity of approximately 5,000. And a state center capable of seating 15,000, designed to handle a wide range of sports events, livestock shows, rodeos, circuses, conventions and the like, is being given serious appraisal. In every direction the new Phoenix intrudes. The newly constructed additions at Sky Harbor Airport, a zoo not yet two years old, a sprawling rival to Disneyland, Legend City, incorporating the stories of the West in fancy and fact, less than a year old. And more.A fast glance at the situation with Phoenix High schools gives a clear insight to the growth picture. Until 1938, the city had one lone secondary school, Phoenix Union. In 1939 an additional high school, North, was erected. A decade passed. West opened in 1949 and then the jumps and leaps appeared. Two new high schools, South Mountain and Camelback, opened in 1954. Three years later two more joined the roster, Carl Hayden and Central. In 1962, Alhambra, 1963, Maryvale. Currently under construction is East.

There are eighteen AM radio stations licensed in metropolitan Phoenix, eight FM stations. Seven of the AM stations are new since 1958 and four of the FM. The city now boasts five television channels; KAET, the educational outlet, opened in 1961.

In 1963, besides the Arizona Republic and the Phoenix Gazette newspapers, two new dailies appeared: The Arizona Journal and the Evening American. The Phoenix Sun, at present a weekly, is considering going daily in the bargain.

Phoenix lays claim to Point West Magazine, Handsomely produced Point West, a fairly recent entry, is often referred to as Phoenix's New Yorker, concentrating as it does on profiles, entertainment, short fiction, controversial articles, good dining and cultural pursuits. Its reputation for quality has gained national recognition.

It has often been said that Phoenix is at the mercy of transcontinental railroads and highways. With its location this is, in part anyway, fairly accurate (the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe railroads service Phoenix. So do over thirty interstate truck lines. Seven airlines offer jet flights to New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas and Los Angeles, among others).

There appears to be some odd commodity in the Phoenix atmosphere. Retirees find themselves pleasantly enmeshed in activities that don't coincide with the retirement picture. They serve on various boards, offer their talents, singularly and collectively, to an endless list of social services and contribute know-how and experience to the mushrooming city.

This is a circumstance that enables Phoenix to have a pool of ready talent that is unavailable elsewhere.

Unlike most cities now concerned with renewal, rebuilding, rejuvenation, Phoenix is possessed of the desire to avoid the pitfalls that have cursed other metropolitan areas. The philosophy is the old standby "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." To this end an incorporated and tax exempt organization, "Valley Beautiful Citizens Council" has come into existence.

The Council is headed by a leading citizen, Lewis Ruskin, who, typically enough, came to Phoenix to retire, but, like so many, has found something of a new meaning for that word: "Contribution to the community." There are twenty-two members on the council, each heading a specific division of from five to nine members, e.g., Calvin Stack, professor of Architecture at Arizona State University, heads "Project Planning;" Walter Bimson, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Valley National Bank, "Community Art;" Henry Luce, Luce Publications, "Further Projects;" Victor Corbell of the Salt River Project, "Utilities;" Mrs. Grady Gammage, wife of the late Arizona State University president, "Beautification," etc.

"Here (Phoenix) we are," says Ruskin, "a city of half a million and we know there are going to be a million more in X years. We see a tremendous facelifting being accomplished in Pittsburgh, Denver, Detroit at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars merely to restore taxable property that was once valuable, but because of the fate that befalls many areas, is no longer valuable. Now we know we're going to grow, therefore, we have a chance to plan ahead. Many cities didn't know they were going to expand and these cities have run into trouble over the years. Wherever you see a city that was carefully planned you will still see things of beauty: Central Park in New York, Lake Front in Chicago, the many parks in Seattle. Usually, ugliness in a city will exist beyond the area that was originally planned for."

OPPOSITE PAGE "PHOENIX CITY OF OUTDOORS"

Because of the climate, outdoor recreation is one of the attractions Phoenix offers to resident and visitor alike. A desert picnic, shown here, offers fun for all the family. Crown Graphic camera; Ektachrome; f.16 at 1/50th sec.; Ektar 4.7 lens; March; bright sunlight.

"DESERT LIVING"

"Photograph was taken in one of the Phoenix suburban areas. Here is a residential home built to take advantage of the desert terrain. 4x5 Linhof camera; Ektachrome; f.32 at 1/25th sec.; 210mm Symmar lens; September; bright sunlight; Weston Meter 400; ASA rating 64.

"Phoenix knows from research that it can't grow without assistance: coordination on a municipal, county and local level. What we want to do is develop one or more ideal plans on what this area should be like in 1980."

Executive Director of Valley Beautiful Citizens Council is Harry Coblentz whose experience ranges from aiding in the rebuilding of a London dockside neighborhood following World War II to that of planning for the fast-growing Toronto Township in Canada.

What Phoenix should be like strikes the interesting note. For Phoenix is in the throes of planning for its future, perhaps the most vital step in the changing picture of a former "cow town."

Frank Lloyd Wright, still a commanding presence on the Phoenix scene long after his death, remarked once, "Cities are great mouths." A description that is a bit alarming.

If a city swallows itself, it is likely to destroy itself. It is in this theoretical area that the council is reaching for the answers to provide for future freeways, roads, One of the council's major aims is the retention of native desert beauty.

What the council is doing is finding out what precisely the citizen of Phoenix wants. Where does he want to shop and how does he want to arrive at his destination (car, public transportation), where does he want his schools located, where will the city's recreational areas be situated, but most important of all: "What is lacking in his effort to find the good life in Phoenix?"

Man has moved to Phoenix probably to enjoy desert living as previously stated, but at the same time he wants the advantages of city life and this is one of the considerations with which the council concerns itself.

One of the most interesting aspects of future civic planning is the question of the downtown area. At present, Phoenix spreads itself out in all directions. Restaurants, theatres, recreational parks are far and wide; yet new apartment houses are being built, closer and closer to what now suffices as "Downtown Phoenix." With the proposed new auditorium and new construction scheduled in the heart of the city there is the possibility that Phoenix will have a strong "downtown heart," a nucleus of activity not dissimilar from Downtown in a city like San Francisco.

A most piercing question before the council is: "Will Phoenix become a series of suburbs in search of a city?"

Phoenix is not a city lost in apathy, glumly awaiting what fate sends it.

The naming of the city was prophetic. A century back when a settlement first sprung up around a crude irrigation canal, any number of names were suggested. "Mill City," due to the establishment of a mill by a storekeeper named Helling. Earlier designations were Ditch Town, because of the canals and Salina because of the nearby Salt River. Stonewall had been suggested in honor of Stonewall Jackson. But the moment of naming belonged to Phoenix's famed English remittance man, Darrel Duppa. ". Let us here, on the ashes of a forgotten civilization (HoHokam Indian) build anew. Let us build another civilization rising finer, greater, more beautiful . Let it be Phoenix."

Transmuting Duppa's words into reality is the most exciting aspect of the changing face of this bursting city. It has been written of the men and women behind Phoenix's galvanic development, "(They) share a sense of self-sufficiency, of well-being. of boundless confidence that if the desert can be turned into a thriving oasis nothing in the world is impossible."

And the journalist quotes attempting to capture the essence of the new Phoenix are equally flattering: "This glittering city ." "Queen City of the Desert ." "This friendly Western city ." "Today in Phoenix reigns as the hub of commerce and industry for the entire state ." "Thriving Oasis ." soon to be the cultural center of the entire West."

Other large cities may say "Look where we've been." Phoenix chooses "Look where we're going!"