Downtown Bisbee.
Downtown Winslow.
“Old Tucson” Park Entrance, Tucson.
Chandler.
Downtown Mesa.
Greyhound Station, Phoenix.
Main Street, Scottsdale.
Downtown Prescott.
Arizona in the 1950s Part 1 can be found HERE.
Vintage Postcards: Arizona In The 1950s – Part 2
– Posted on October 14, 2024
Biarritz parked by cheap hotel and pawn shop. Maybe a professional gambler?
Wow a Lincoln Conti Mk II at that bus station… a rare sighting!
Apparently fairly new and making a dangerous left turn. Hope it wasn’t hit.
I was trying to get my head around why he was in that position. Approaching traffic is already in the intersection, and pedestrians are crossing, so he can’t floor it and get away. Does he think he’s ‘entitled’ because he drives a Lincoln? Not that we used the word in that sense back then, but…
Other than the Continental, I doubt many other cars at this time had A/C to beat the Arizona heat.
IIRC, the take rate for automobile A/C climbed in the mid to late 60’s. My Dad (a bit of a send thrift), didn’t get a car with A/C till 1974.
My grandfather bought a new ’65 Impala with factory air. First car in our family with air. I remember taking a short trip in that car on the interstate. Grampa was amazed at the progress that had been made since he was a kid in the early 1900s. Rolling down a slab non-stop at 70 MPH in air-conditioned comfort.
We stopped at Old Tucson on our ’69 eastward cross-country move, but I mostly remember Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West nearby, and the town of Tombstone more than the Grand Canyon on our ’68 westward trip.
I’d never heard of Bisbee AZ until it was mentioned in ‘LA Confidential’, long one of my favourite movies. The line “The girls of Bisbee need a little glamour” has stayed with me ever since. 🙂
https://chs1956.wordpress.com/2015/04/30/the-girls-in-bisbee/
Bisbee is an old mining town. I recall going there with my less-than-school-age kids, who like many kids that age were into “rocks”, to tour the mines. Very memorable.
I can say that in the first decade of the 21st century, Bisbee didn’t look much different than in the posted photo. Sans mid-50’s Chevys.
Now we know where in the sam hill Sam Hill is. Prescott.
My aunt/uncle ((mom’s brother)) loved “AZ” of the “50’s-60’s”. Liked it for the “70’s-80’s”.
I liked most of Arizona very much until the 2000’s .
Now when I go I try to avoid the bigger towns & cities .
-Nate
I agree about the bus station picture that the Lincon driver was taking a significant risk! He probably did not see the people in the crosswalk, but luckily the driver of the wagon saw him as if you look again, the wagon’s brake lights appears to be lit. So, even people back then were self-centered as some of our other motorists today! Sigh…
Everyone noticed the risky Lincoln in the Bus Station photo, but there is an irony in the photo no one mentioned…
Where are the Greyhound Busses? This is like a photo of an airport without any planes.
I see a lot of ’53 to ’56 Chevys, a ’56 Ford, and the aforementioned Lincoln, but not a Vista, uh, make that Scenic Cruiser to be seen!
I agree with the other comments about the Conti driver at the bus terminal. Maybe your next selection of vintage pix will need to feature: police cars; ambulances; tow trucks; and, unfortunately, hearses!
Hie many stories were played out at the Greyhound station and for how many years?
The stations are disappearing. Oftentimes they are on property downtown which more valuable for other uses.
Chicago may lose theirs.