Thought I’d drive around the Phoenix area and share a random September day of what it looks like where Caroline and I live. If things look vacant, keep in mind that it’s Labor Day, so school is out, and many businesses are shut for the day. This view is from Scottsdale, looking over one of the many man-made lakes in our state, though this one is just aesthetics and not water supply.
From the hills of Paradise Valley, we get a great view looking northeast towards Scottsdale and the McDowell Mountains in the distance.
Downtown Phoenix is a study in sterility devoid of the attributes that engage a population and make it a desirable place to live, though city planners have been working on changing that equation.
Architecturally, there is very little in the Central Phoenix corridor that has historical reference since this has been a place constantly churning as it tries to reinvent itself. Plans from previous decades seem to have been designed to make Phoenix a place that flocks of people wouldn’t want to move to too quickly.
There are appealing-looking buildings along the way, but without a funkiness of cool places, a gentrified population that might afford a revitalized downtown core will not demand the kind of amenities that will attract creators, musicians, and freaks (I don’t mean junkies and meth heads, they are already here) that make a place hip like downtown L.A., San Francisco, or Seattle.
Broad streets are a perfect recipe for disaster unless you intend to feel like there’s no street life. Even when there are concerts or sporting events downtown, it doesn’t feel like meaningful other happenings are going on here; it only feels like it’s event-driven and temporary.
Whoever thought stadiums would be the big draw was smoking crack. Maybe another problem is that Phoenix and our surrounding communities simply do not like diversity but love conformity. Smart people move to Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and Seattle, while economic desperation to escape a smaller town brings people to Arizona, where competition is not so cutthroat.
We have the potential to be a cool place (well, HOT in the summer), but our politicians and leaders are isolated in wealthy enclaves and are afraid of alternative cultures.
Our great new Burton Barr Library, while being a great resource has also become a favorite cooling-off location for the multitudes of homeless that are scattered throughout Central Phoenix.
Getting into the suburbs of Phoenix, such as here in Glendale, we have a bit more of a quaint kind of old-town feel but still nothing for young people or those looking for diversity.
We have the new Tempe Town Lake that, if I’m not mistaken, will be surrounded by overpriced real estate that will do nothing to bring a new focal point to the region.
Arizona State University should be a natural place to find alt-culture, right? You’d be wrong. This is a partying school that doesn’t produce genius entrepreneurs like Stanford over in California or science prodigies as M.I.T. does in Boston. Nope, this is ASU, and while Caroline and I have been to several events at the campus featuring ethnically diverse performances (that are free for students), we very rarely, if ever, see students attending (unless enticed by extra credit). Why not, you might ask? Because they are over on Mill Avenue drinking.
Old Town Scottsdale, because we know how to draw in the old retiree who is looking for expensive western art for their Cape Cod estate.
So if you are looking for cactus tchotchkes for your grandkids, $10,000 sculptures, or a place to not have to see one immigrant or person of color this is your kind of place.
The Borgata is another high-end shopping center you never knew we needed. Doesn’t seem like anyone else knows we need it either because while I come here for lunch occasionally, I seem to be one of 10 people a day who visits.
The Scottsdale Airport is surrounded by office parks and a couple of resorts. Kind of boring out this way; oh wait, that’s what I’ve been maintaining this entire blog entry. Don’t get me wrong, it is beautiful to live in Arizona. The blue skies and perfect weather are the main attractions, and there’s a certain logic to living somewhere so boring that it makes everywhere else you go seem all the more amazing. When I was growing up in L.A. I thought that the city was boring and yet I never felt I needed to go anywhere else. In Phoenix, I’m always looking forward to where we might travel to.