Architectural Memories

 

I stopped at a shop that sells all kinds of gift items and decorator pieces and I saw these framed prints.  They commemorate unique places in Arizona most of which no longer exist.  The first two on the left, Cine Capri & Trader Vic's are long gone.  Cine Capri is where I saw the very first Star Wars movie and Trader Vic's was a tropical-themed night spot in Scottsdale.

In the middle row we have Camelview 5, the movie theatre that closed in 2015.  I featured photos from Camelview before it was demolished.  The Safari Hotel in Scottsdale closed and was demolished in 1998.

On the far right, is the Tropics Motor Hotel in Phoenix which happened to be an Al Beadle building.  It is also long gone.  The one below is the Starlight Motel in Mesa and it is still standing.  It's undergone numerous renovations but the one thing that remains the same is that wonderful "diving lady" neon sign.

I found this photo of the sign on line so you could see this wonderful piece of neon art.  Back in October of 2010, there was a really bad storm that took the sign down.  The city helped to raise the money to have it restored and as far as I know, that lady still takes that big dive every evening after dark.  

Fiesta Mall - All Gone

 

When the plane was on the landing path last Sunday, I spotted some familiar territory in the city of Mesa.  I was shocked to see that the old Fiesta Mall had been totally scraped away leaving nothing but a big plot of bare land.  

The tall building to the left was once a bank building.  I featured the beautiful fountain in front of the building here.  

Back in 2016, I did two posts about Fiesta Mall with outside photos here and inside photos here.  It's all gone now.

Espiritu

 

I mentioned in Sunday's post that my friends and I had dinner in Mesa at a new restaurant.  The place is called Espiritu and it specialized in seafood with a Mexican/Asian mix of flavors.  

The place was small with a very "goth" look to it.  I snapped these two photos from our table toward the bar.  I love those dripping candles.

The food was great. We loved everything we had to eat.  

While we were there we noticed that a lot of people left via a back door and since parking was back there, we decided to go that way too.

The passageway toward the parking lot was narrow and very eclectic.  I just had to turn around and snap another photo.  This would be a good place to visit around Halloween.  

Symphony Night

 I went to the Symphony Friday night with my good friends David and Riley.  It was a great combination of music and performances.  The guest pianist was Conrad Tao.  He played Beethoven's Concerto No. 4 for Piano and Orchestra.  It's a complicated piece and it was amazing watching Tao's fingers scampering over the keyboard in a blur of melodic precision.  I snapped his photo as he came back to the stage for a short encore piece. 

This performance was at the Mesa Art Center so we had dinner before the performance in Mesa.  We chose a new place that turned out to be very good and very eclectic.  I'll write more about that experience in a future post.

I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today.  I'm visiting a church I walked past many times but never visited before.  

Another Move, Another New Home

 

Luckily, I sold the condo I featured yesterday long before it suffered from its current lack of care.  After another work transfer, I moved to the city of Mesa where I eventually purchased this townhouse.  It was also brand new when I moved in and I loved living here.  I stayed in this home for almost 20 years.  The only reason I moved from here is because most of my friends (some who lived nearby) had all moved to Phoenix.  I loved everything about his house.  If I could have picked it up and moved it to Phoenix, I would have.

I took this photo last winter when I took a drive out to Mesa.  It still looks great and the neighborhood is still as nice as it was when I left.  

A Little Variety

 

I have a little variety in my photos today.  Above is a colorful bus stop I saw in the city of Mesa a while ago.  I like the bright colors.

To the left is a fellow I spotted in a shop window in Scottsdale.  I took this back in April on one of my walks just after the first lockdown started.  I thought this guy was a funny parody of life during pandemic isolation.  Luckily, I never succumbed to sitting in front of the TV with plates of food.

Above is a set of spinner chairs that were on the Mesa Art Center grounds.  I wasn't sure what they were until a little kid came running over and jumped in one and started spinning.  I didn't try it.  I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to get out without help.

The photo to the right was taken last January at this time when I met a friend at AZ88 for a martini.  Ahhh....one day we'll be able to do that again.

I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today.  I'm visiting the 'other' Bellagio. 

The Thunderbirds

 

Remember those old slides I found last summer that I scanned?  Here are three more.  These slides didn't have dates on them which is surprising but I'm guessing these were taken in the late 70's.

I was working in banking back then and was a member of the Mesa Chamber of Commerce.  I served on the Military Affairs committee which worked as a liaison between the city and Williams Air Force base on the edge of town.  Consequently, I was always invited to special events on the base.  

If I remember correctly, this was a semiannual event where the Thunderbird flying team came to the base for an impressive show of their precision flying skills.  Serving on that committee was so much fun.  You would not believe all the things I got to do and see.  Sadly, the base was closed in 1993.  We only have one Air Force base left in the vicinity.  Luke Air Force Base is way over on the far west side of the valley.

Weekend iPhone Photos

I have a few iPhone photos from this last weekend, another busy one for me.  First up is the scene inside the Mesa Art Center Gallery.  It was opening night for a new exhibit and a pretty good sized crowd had turned out for the opening.

This was my favorite piece in the exhibit.  It's a painting on silk called SanTan Sunset by Cheri Reckers.  There are some mountains south of Phoenix called the SanTan Mountains so that is where the name comes from.

After the gallery opening we stepped next door to the Art Center to hear a concert by Renee Fleming.  We had balcony seats as you can see but her beautiful voice carried perfectly up to our ears.

My friend Glenda was dog-sitting for Tucker again and I couldn't resist a photo (or two or three) of this cute little fellow.  You might remember that I photographed Tucker a little over a year ago.

Dinosaur Escape

Back in the early 80's, I was living in the city of Mesa and I served on the Museum and Cultural Advisory Board.  That was long before the amazing new Art Center but, the Arizona Museum of Natural History was a thriving museum.  However, there was not a huge dinosaur bursting out of the side of the museum while I was on that board.

What a surprise it was to see this fellow looking as though he was about to pounce on my car.  That is quite a sculpture.  I was very impressed.

I was also impressed to see sculptures on almost every corner in Mesa's downtown area.  Old Humpty Dumpty was looking pretty proud of himself sitting on that wall.  Mesa has come a very long way since the time our board was struggling for funding for the arts.

Biophilia

The third exhibit at the Mesa Art Center that I saw was called "biophilia" and it consisted of just two pieces from Arizona artist, Mary Meyer.  She specializes in mixed media sculpture and installations.  The two pieces in this show were huge panels covered with clay objects.  The dark one above was all about seeds.

The white panel was on the opposite wall and it featured leaves.  They are quite interesting to look at. I found myself getting close to each panel and looking at all the little pieces that made up the whole panel.

Flora & Fauna

There were four distinct exhibits on at the Mesa Art Center when I visited last Friday.  I featured the "Medieval Piñata" exhibit yesterday.  Today I'll feature a few pieces from the "Flora & Fauna" exhibit.  This one featured pieces from many different artists all depicting the beauty of nature.  I was surprised that I recognized the work of several of the artists represented.  Like this piece by Frank Gonzales.  He had a one-man show at the Desert Botanical Garden back in 2018.  His paintings of birds, animals and cactus are wonderfully life-like.

This artist also had a show at the Desert Botanical Garden just last year.  Do you remember her sculptures that are created with recycled materials and found objects?  The artist is Michelle Stitzlein.    Her huge pieces are eye-popping.  This one used all black, white and gray materials.

The artist Mayme Kratz is well known in the valley.  She works with natural materials and resin.  This particular piece is made from resin and grass and it's called "Sunspot 2".  I saw a show of her work back in 2015.  Her work with resin and natural objects is very appealing to me.

(The links take you to past posts I did showing more works by each of these artists.)

This last one I'll show you is an oil painting by Brian Mashburn.  This artist was new to me but I loved this painting so much, I had to share it with you.  It's called "Old Growth".  Isn't it beautiful?  The world would be very dull without the vast amounts of wonderful art that one can find everywhere.

I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today.  I was reminded recently of some dark history in Argentina.

Garden of Earthly Delights

I drove to Mesa yesterday to see an exhibit at the Mesa Art Center that is about to end.  I had seen a few photos from the exhibit and I was intrigued and I wasn't disappointed.  I enjoyed everything in the exhibit but, these colorful sculptures were a favorite.  They are exquisite.

The artist is Roberto Benavidez, a California sculptor who creates these sculptures from fine paper.  This particular show was called "Medieval Piñata"

They are based on fanciful creatures found in medieval manuscripts, especially Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights.

I love the way these were displayed.  Each was hung from almost invisible fishing line.  They would move and turn with the air currents in the room.

I loved them all!

Places I've Worked

Prior to moving to Phoenix, I used to live and work in Mesa Arizona, a city east of Phoenix.  It's a large city and I was proud to be involved in quite a few community activities serving on boards and commissions.  My first job in Mesa was as Assistant Manager of a bank branch for the locally owned Continental Bank in this building that is still there today.  The bank passed through couple of different owners and is now part of the Wells Fargo system.

From my position at the branch above, I was promoted to Manager of the Fiesta Mall Branch when it opened.  That branch was located in this building that is now a dental office.  Where that fence to the right is located used to be the drive-up window and those bells in the bell tower actually played music from time to time.  Continental Bank bought a carillon so we could play Christmas music during the holidays to entertain all our neighbors.

Thanks for letting me take you down memory lane!

After Dark

When I was at the Mesa Art Center last Thursday evening, I took a few "after dark" photos around the building.  It really is a spectacular facility with several theatre spaces available, an art museum and art education classrooms.  When I lived in Mesa almost 20 years ago, we dreamed of an art center like this.  In fact, I served on the Mesa Arts Advisory Board and we started the long and bumpy road to getting a facility like this built.  It didn't happen until long after my board service ended and a while after I moved to Phoenix.  It was completed in 2005 and is the largest arts campus in the state.  Bravo Mesa!

Those cactus in the top shot look just as good as shadows up against that turquoise plexiglass wall.

In another location, there is an other plexiglass wall with barrel cactus planted along it.

The theatre space houses four separate performance spaces with the largest being the one I pictured last week at 1600 seats to the smallest with just 99 seats.  I posted some daytime photos of the arts center last year.  You can see them here.

The View from the Stage

A friend of mine gave me tickets to an event at the Mesa Arts Center which was called "A Conversation & Book Signing" with Sarah Vowell and Daniel Handler.  If those names don't sound familiar (they didn't with me at first), Sarah Vowell is an author who refers to herself as a 'social observer' and Daniel Handler is also an author and the creator of Lemony Snicket.

The event started on an unusual note when instead of sitting in the audience, ticket holders were seated on the stage.  It was a great opportunity for me to get a quick photo of this magnificent theatre from a vantage point that would otherwise be impossible to get.  The event was very enjoyable with lots of humorous stories about how the two authors conceived of their most current books and other hints into their creative processes.

I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today.  I'm visiting a place in Washington D.C. that many visitors miss.

Copper Dome

Our state capital building isn't the only building in the valley with a copper dome.  This newish shopping destination in Mesa has one too!  Actually it has two but I only took a photo of one of them.  This shopping complex was just beginning to be built when I moved away from Mesa 12 years ago.  And, it was within walking distance from my old house.  Since I moved to Phoenix before it was finished, I never got to enjoy its proximity or its stores.  Sometimes when I find myself in Mesa, I'll stop by for a look around.

Bus Stop

All over the Valley of the Sun (the Phoenix metropolitan area) there are artistic bus shelters in certain locations.

When I was in Mesa last weekend, I found this bus stop shelter right in front of the high-rise building I featured yesterday.  This has to be one of the most elaborate bus shelter I've spotted around the valley.

I found out it was designed by Joe Tyler and placed there in 2002.  The design consists of a dome supported by artificial palm trees.  Perhaps the artist was inspired by all the palm trees that surround the building.

Glass, Water & Palm Trees

Across the street from Fiesta Mall (featured yesterday) is one of Mesa's few high-rises buildings the 16-story glass tower called the Mesa Financial Plaza.  When it was built the building was called the Western Savings Tower but Western Savings was a financial business that failed back in the 80's when we went through the Savings & Loan crisis.

I was happy to see that the building appears to be thriving with Bank of America being the major financial tenant now.  I always loved these two gorgeous fountains in front of the building. There used to be interesting sculptures on the property but, those appear to be gone now.

I loved the way the water was reflected in the glass building.

It's one of the prettiest fountains in the area!

Death of a Mall....Part 2

I took a drive out to Mesa on Sunday and while I was there, I decided to go inside Fiesta Mall, the mall I featured at the end of last month.  I was curious to see what it looked like inside.  I remembered it as being a new and attractive mall back in the 80's.  From the outside I got the impression that Sears and Best Buy were the only two stores still open.  I was wrong.

Although there were quite a lot of empty stores, there were still lots of stores that were open.

Then I noticed that Dillard's was open which surprised me.  I saw hardly any cars on that side of the mall.  When I went inside Dillards I noticed that there were signs everywhere saying "Inventory Closeout" and it had that warehouse look to it with racks and racks of sale items.  It looks like Dillard's will be closing soon.

I stopped by the food court for a quick peek.  I was there at noon and as you can see, not many people were getting lunch.

On the end of the mall by Sears, there was a very nice playground that was being used by quite a few children. 

One thing that impressed me was that the mall was quite attractive.  I think I was expecting it to be a bit run-down but, that wasn't the case at all.  It was just very, very quiet.  Not at all what it's like when I visit Scottsdale Fashion Square.  I'm glad I stopped to see what it is like now.