Good thread, combusean. Was this prompted by the column discussing the Deuce in the "Phoenix Republic" a few days ago? I was struck by three things in that column: first, that Phoenix tore down nearly
150 buildings in the Deuce; second, that the teardowns took place en masse until 1994 (I guess I sort of knew that as America West Arena opened in 1993, but it is still striking because the massive urban renewal projects that wiped out entire neighborhoods in other cities had pretty much stopped by the 80's, let alone 1994); and third, that the site of Ernesto Miranda's death (and possibly his arrest?) was where US Airways Center now sits. There's no testament to that fact anywhere that I know of-- and in a city that always gets slammed for having "no history"-- Miranda's life, as ironic as this is, is a pretty important part of American history because of the court decision that bears his name.
I can't find that Republic column online, but there's a blog on azcentral that discusses the column and fleshes out a couple facts:
http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/Deanne/27028
http://downtownphoenix.blogspot.com