Cool "Back-in-the-Day" Video of Patriots Square Park in 1982

[Azndragon837]

I found this "Basement Tapes" footage on the azcentral.com website (Channel 12, NBC) about the redevelopment of Patriots Square Park in 1982 to make way for that huge underground garage for the proposed Renaissance Square.

Look at the historic buildings that were knocked down to make way for the two towers! And look how lush the park used to be...it had grass and trees! OMG! This was one year before I was born, and I hope more photos and videos pop-up about downtown development over the decades. Enjoy. Also check-out the other tapes from 1982. Pretty cool, somewhat.

http://www.azcentral.com/video/

Go to the center column, all the way down to the end (under "Basement Tapes"), and click "Talk about Patriots Park being torn down."

-Andrew

[HX_Guy]

Wow, it actually looked like a park with somewhat tall trees that actually seemed to provide shade. Too bad it turned it what it is today, hopefully it will be better with the CityScape project but probably won't be better then what it was back then.

Speaking of "old" downtown, here are four photographs taken from the same vantage points. These were scanned in from a book I picked up at Sky Harbor Airport called Phoenix THEN AND NOW. Great book, worth picking up if you run across it.

This is the site of Patriots Park, the parking lots directly north and the site of the Bank of America tower. The first photograph was taken from the Maricopa County Courthouse tower in 1884, and the second from present day.




These two photographs show downtown from San Carlos Hotel in 1949 vs today. It's amazing what you can see...the rooftops of buildings where Chase tower now sits, as well as the block where the Chase tower parking garage is now.

OMG what a terrible shame about the original park. WTF were they thinking???

[Upward]

Phoenix, not surprisingly, was suffering the destructive effects of "urban renewal" much later than other cities.

[HooverDam]

Wow, interesting photos/video, very cool. Was the redevelopment when they added the laser light show? I never actually witnessed that in person, but I've heard about something about this that was eventually shut down due to high cost I believe.

[vertex]

The park wasn't rebuilt until 1988, six years after that video clip, and 3 years after Renaissance bldgs were already completed. They ran the laser light show for about 2 years, until airlines out at sky harbor voiced concerns about the lasers.

[vertex]

The photos from the San Carlos (1949/today) really show the surge in car use. Looks like parking was a real bitch. Not surprisingly, 1949 was the year after trolley service was suspended in downtown.

The 1949 shot really shows the organic growth in the city, represented by the slow evolution in building styles. But you can also see just what a small footprint the downtown had. There must of been no room to grow in the center. The fact that cars were becoming necessary to a Phoenician's lifestyle made suburban growth so much easier.

[HX_Guy]

Does anyone know what happened that turned the block east of Patriot's Park into a parking lot?

Was there a project slated to go there that never happened? Or was the whole block bought by someone wanting to turn a profit in time? What is the story with this block?

[Upward]

Originally Posted by vertex

The photos from the San Carlos (1949/today) really show the surge in car use. Looks like parking was a real bitch. Not surprisingly, 1949 was the year after trolley service was suspended in downtown.

Yes, I also noticed the surface parking in the 1949 shot. The suburbanization was already beginning.

[combusean]

The fleabag Golden West Hotel/Newman's Liquors building/"Sliver" site next to what will now be Hotel Monroe never looked so good. It's almost the last of its kind standing in the city.