So today I stumbled across the awesome photo blog
365 Days in the Valley which describes itself as:
"CREATED BY AMY BROWN, A PHOENIX BASED PHOTOGRAPHER. THE PROJECT PROVIDES A CREATIVE VISUAL OF PHOENIX/METRO'S OFF THE BEATEN PATH."
I'm not sure how "off the beaten path" some of these locales are as they're on Central Avenue, the path of paths here, but there still lovely photo's that give a nice, new, unique look at life in our desert Valley.
Here's a random sampling of some of my favorite photos from there:
Barry Goldwater memorial statue near Camelback Mountain, Paradise Valley
Hinkley's lighting, North Central Ave
Revolver Records, Roosevelt Row
Cheese N' Stuff, North Central Ave
Beefeaters sign, 300 W Camelback. This was formerly an upscale restaurant, now its deteriorating into waste.
Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, new Spring home of the AZ Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies
Tempe Town Lake bladder dam
Town of Gilbert water tower. Water towers are everywhere in the midwest but are a rare sight in AZ where we get our water via canals.
Tempe Center for the Arts
Joe's Real BBQ, Gilbert
Leisure World, gated retirement community in Mesa
Vaquero's Carne Asada, Mesa
Hambone bar in Mesa, open at 6am!
A Paradise Valley mansion
Building in Downtown Chandler
A shrine sits in front of this Chandler home
the sun-bleached "Sun Bright" corner in Old North Phoenix is becoming quite the happening place
The Bridle Path, North Central Ave
Walter The Bus
Renaissance Square, Downtown Phoenix
Downtown on an empty morning
Arizona Puppet Theater
Cluttered front yard in Maryvale
Clarendon Hotel, Midtown Phoenix. It was on the street in front of this Hotel where AZ Republic reporter
Don Bolles as murdered in his car by a bomb placed by the mafia.
Casey Moore's Oyster House, Tempe
Boutique's in Uptown Phoenix
The brutalist Wells Fargo Tower, Downtown Phoenix
Outdoor ice skating in the desert on a 70 degree day
Old County Courthouse, Downtown PHX
new pedestrian bridge/sun dial in Downtown Scottsdale by famed architect/visionary/cooke Paolo Soleri
Catholic Vietnamese Church, NW Phoenix
Downtown house that loves the USA
The Madhouse on McDowell
Greenbelt near Tempe/Scottsdale border
The Shackelford House. The last remaining mansion of what used to be a "Millionare's Row" along Central Ave
Gun shop in Scottsdale
Citrus Warehouse, Mesa
Power Plant & Sunset, Tempe
St Mary's, Tempe
Idylwilde Park, Central Phoenix
Date Palm sunset over Arcadia neighborhood in East Phoenix
Memorial Hall on the site of the old Phoenix Indian School, Central Phoenix
Durant's, this legendary Central Ave steakhouse was once the hangout of local mobsters
One of the many mural's along
Calle 16
Duppa House. This adobe hut was the home of Englishman Darrell Duppa who named both Phoenix and Tempe
Governor Hunt, the 1st Governor of AZ is buried under this pyramid. He was an amateur Egyptologist and alleged sun worshiper, hence the odd tomb.
Papago Park with Camelback Mountain in the distance
Papago Lagoon
Monti's Steakhouse and the flour Mill on Mill Ave, Tempe
Frank Lloyd Wright's Gammage Auditorium, Tempe
United Church of Christ, Central Phoenix
University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale. Home to the AZ Cardinals
a dirty hippie's van in Tempe
Encanto Park Lagoon, Central Phoenix. The Midtown office towers can be seen in the distance
Historic Orpheum Theater with the new Phoenix City Hall rising in the background
Agave Library, designed by local Starchitect Will Bruder. Happy Valley, AZ
South Phoenix is still pock marked with working farms, ranches & vineyards
Arizona: home to the world's best sunsets
Farmland and a canal on the Salt River Indian reservation
Sunnyslope Rock Garden
Midtown Phoenix Skyline
This historic Glendale neighborhood always reminds me of the episode of the Twilight Zone "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street"
Clifftop Condos, Sunnyslope
One of Phoenix's most recognized landmark signs
Mr Lucky's, formerly a popular Honkey Tonk bar, now abandoned
Monsoon over Phoenix
Grandvelt. The corner of Roosevelt and Grand (Grandvelt) is beginning to go through a renaissance
The awesome Mid Century Modern "Valley Ho" hotel in Scottsdale
Shrine in Guadalupe
The Sandra Day O'Connor Federal Courthouse. One of the worst buildings ever, its giant glass forms make it impossible to cool and its a super block that kills downtown. Thanks Richard Meier.
a summer night on a canal
Lee's Oriental Rock Garden near Camelback Mountain, Phoenix
Phoenix's oldest house, from 1879.
Sugar Beet factory, Glendale. This building now sits empty waiting a re-use.
Bikini Lounge, from 1947, an original Tiki bar.
Brophy College Prep Chapel, Central Phoenix
"Praying Monk" rock formation on Camelback Mountain
No explanation needed here...
Chihuly at the Desert Botanical Garden
Scorpion Gulch, a fake old west town built by eccentric Bill Lundsford in the 30's near South Mountain
Mystery Castle, South Mountain
Arizona LDS Temple, Mesa
The Farm at South Mountain
House in the Alvarado District, Midtown Phoenix
Sapna Cafe (now sadly closed) in the old Braggs Pie Factory on Grand Ave, Phoenix
The head of Camelback and the Praying Monk
Lola Coffee, Roosevelt District, Downtown Phoenix
The "haunted" San Carlos Hotel, Downtown Phoenix
An awesome adaptive re-use of a vintage gas station, Copper Star Coffee in the Melrose District of Midtown Phoenix
Sahuaro Ranch Park, Glendale
Phoenix Children's Museum (interior), Downtown Phoenix
eery shot of Downtown. The horizontal Federal building in the front can be seen quite a bit in the terrible Clint Eastwood movie "The Gauntlet"
Aldea at Tlaquepaque, West Phoenix
palm lined street, Roosevelt District, Downtown
1st Baptist Church, Downtown. Now missing its roof and most of its interior due to a fire its awaiting re-use.
Solar Array, Peoria.
Industrial sunset, Laveen.
Rail bridges, old and new, over Tempe Town Lake
Tempe Center for the Arts
The Westward Ho. For many years the tallest building in Phoenix and its most glamorous hotel, its now HUD housing for Seniors. Downtown Phoenix.
Arizona Falls, a small hydroelectric power station on the Canal in Arcadia (East Phoenix)
Anyway, I thought Ms. Browns photo's were interesting, hope you did too. She seems to enjoy eschewing the presence of human life in most of her pictures which gives them a somewhat creepy and suspended in time feeling.