Arizona Trivia Question

Friday's Arizona Trivia Question:

Q: What POP Culture Icon film a movie in 1968 in Tucson?

Extra credit: if you can name the studio and film?

Prize
Be the first to answer the trifecta correctly, and become the proud owner of a T-shirt from Marshall Shore: Retro Spectacular. [caption id="attachment_399" align="alignleft" width="304" caption="100 % up-cycled T-shirts created by Marhall Shore"][/caption]

Large Golf Ball and UFOs in the High Desert

[caption id="attachment_391" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Golf Ball House near Yucca, AZ"][/caption]While driving north on 40 you will pass a large golf ball looming of the road near Yucca.

The lore of this place is that it was built by a nephew of Henry Ford. Why? What used to be the Ford Proving ground for testing autos, now owned by Dodge. The original idea is that this building would be a restaurant, the kitchen was under ground and the Golf Tee is really a dumb waiter that would have delivered food to the main floor. The business never opened, because a single ramp was the only way to get in and out of the joint and it couldn't pass the fire code. A while ago a couple bought the place and finished as a house. Instead of landscaping they located two UFOs that had been built for a museum, attached them to a cherry picker and instant lawn ornaments. Some nights when the couple got board they would plug in the Christmas lights on the UFOs and raise and lower the cherry picker, causing a spike in phone calls to Federal agencies and reporting UFOs. [caption id="attachment_392" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="UFO at Golf Ball home "][/caption]

Having recently sold, the new owner have added a concession stand to fuel tourist and preserving this unique home for others to enjoy.

Does Phoenix Have an Official Cocktail?

[caption id="attachment_380" align="alignleft" width="101" caption="Manhattan Cocktail"][/caption]With the trend of vintage cocktails in full swing I wondered about the story behind the Mahattan cocktail.

Basic recipe:
3/4 oz sweet vermouth
2 1/2 oz bourbon whiskey
1 dash Angostura® bitters
1 maraschino cherry

There was a story about the drink being created at the Manhattan Club for Winston Churchill’s Mother, but this is not true. In reality it was a drink made to celebrate the isle of Manhattan. There was also a Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx and Staten Island.

Begging a few questions:

Who makes the best Manhattan in the Valley? My experience is Mabel’s on Main in Scottsdale makes a great one, Hanny’s makes a good one, and Durant’s as expected and delish. What about you?

For you Mixologist? Arizona Centennial is quickly approaching and I think it time for some Arizona themed cocktails. What would a Scottsdale, Phoenix, Tucson, or Bisbee taste like?
Bisbee could have a silver Tequila for the Shady Dell RV Motel
Phoenix - Napolitos
Scottsdale - a hand cut ice cube like Roca Akor
Tucson - a cocktail with recently revived A-1 beer.

Last show of the Season

The 2nd Season of Marshall Shore: Retro Spectacular comes to and end on Thursday, April 14, at Phoenix Metro Retro located at 708 W. Hazelwood St. at 7p.


With Centennial coming I have hung Hist-O-taner for hire shingle out and have be talking with some folks about other events. If you would like me to come speak at you next event, contact me.

Hist-o-tainer for hire

I want to bring Arizona History to you!
Centennial is rapidly approaching, with past Marshall Shore: Retro Spectacular venues including the Heard Museum, Design Within Reach in Scottsdale, and regular shows at Phoenix Metro Retro. Also, named a Best of Phoenix by the Phoenix New Times.

Want to learn Arizona history, have fun and being entertained? I am officially hanging my shingle out as a Hist-o-tainer for hire. That's right! I want to chat with you about opportunities to bring Arizona history alive to your club, office, school ... whatever group.

Marshall Shore: Retro Spectacular will take armchair tourists on a rollicking illustrated ride through the Valley during its midcentury heyday. This live presentation celebrates unique people and architecture in a theatrical blend of images and storytelling.[caption id="attachment_368" align="alignleft" width="269" caption="Marshall Shore wearing a Ladmo shirt"][/caption]


Give me a call and get let's make a date.
Marshall Shore
(602) 373-5421

Celebrate with a March Show

Thursday, March 10 @ 7p is the next Marshall Shore: Retro Spectacular at Phoenix Metro Retro (708 W. Hazelwood St.) Celebrations in the Valley will the featured topic.

Clothing creates community connection "to a t"

Last week, Taz Loomans started a conversation about the wearable art I have been creating.  The past several months I've designed a shirt a month using iconic images from the Valley's history.  The art is custom one-of-a-kind drawn by hand, silk-screened individually, and the t-shirts/shirts are 100% recycled.  The result is a unique work of art.

You might ask, "where you can browse them?"  There is a selection of shirts available at:

• Marshall Shore: Retro Spectacular.  The next show will be Thursday, March 10, at 7 p.m. at Phoenix Metro Retro, 708 W. Hazelwood St., (602) 279-0702


• Zinnia's.  724 W. Indian School, (602) 264-4166


• ecOcentricity.  137 W. McDowell Rd., (602) 281-2725

I've been working on getting an Esty store up and running, but not yet.  It will be called FoundAZ like my blog.

And now for news and views of a couple of my designs:

Log Cabin Motel was located on 24th St. and Van Buren, and demolished the summer of 2010.  It was really the end of an era for Van Buren that at one time was filled with resorts and motels catering to travelers heading to Las Vegas, LA, or beyond.  When it opened, it had a golf course and a large water wheel out front.  It had declined and was the last hourly rate hotel in the city.

The first couple buying this shirt told me about wearing them to a local diner.  The waitress asked about the Log Cabin and they were able to tell her about it during a conversation that lasted quite sometime.  Why just this weekend, while wearing this shirt, a woman told me about how her parents spent their honeymoon at the hotel.

Neon Diving Lady at the Starlite Motel in Mesa.  Probably, the most famous sign on Mesa's Main St. came down during a storm last October.  The Mesa Preservation Foundation is trying to raise funds to get her diving for all to enjoy -- again.

Bali Hi/ Grand Ave.  Imagine back when Grand Avenue in Phoenix was filled with resorts and the automobiles most seen were Lincoln and Cadillac's.  The Bali was an upscale motor court along Grand Ave., the epicenter of Phoenix  Tiki culture directly across from the Bikini Lounge in an era that predated the interstate system.

The Sahara Inn.  While filming the movie "Bus Stop," Marilyn Monroe stayed in the penthouse of this fab hotel in the heart of downtown Phoenix.  Most recently it was ASU student housing, but deemed by the City of Phoenix and ASU to be a safety hazard to be torn down to become a parking lot.  A valiant attempt was undertaken by many downtown and community advocates to (a) save the building and (b) consider some portion of the one-acre parking lot to be a dog park.  Alas, it was not to be (to the detriment of our downtown).

Kon Tiki was a Ralph Haver designed hotel owned by Jay Newton of Beef Eaters on W. Camelback fame.  Glen Guyett was the sign designer.  It was briefly seen in the Morrissey video My Love Life.  Long ago torn down, it still holds a place in local lore about how amazing it was in its hey day.



"Be BOLD or move to suburbia" was the first t-shirt I created.  Yuri Artibise posted this via Facebook from a Canadian condo marketing campaign. The moment I saw it I knew it was a slogan that needed to be in Phoenix.

October 16, 1931! Yes, this is the 80th anniversary of one of the most sensational crimes in Arizona history.  The infamous train trip (back when passenger trains came through the Valley) by Winnie Ruth Judd from Phoenix Central Station to LA with her two roommates.  The roommates were in three trunks.  You do the math.  This t-shirt was created for the Trunk Space that for several years held Winnie Fest, including a screening of  Winnie Ruth Judd- Murderess, a feature film done with vintage marionettes.

"Glendale, The City of Modern Convenience," is from a 1926 ad promoting Glendale, Arizona (not California).  The confusion is understandable with all those tall buildings. Glendale, Arizona did not look like this in the late '20's nor today... though it is quite convenient.

What t-shirt art would you like to see designed and worn with pride?