To kick off 2022, we decided to kick back with an issue devoted to leisure featuring Del Webb giving Joltin Joe DiMaggio some batting...

Tom Pickrell You see it coming while driving along I-17 in Phoenix near the Dunlap Avenue exit. A bright green and white superstructure...

What's crazier: using atomic bombs to mine copper, a ginormous salt mine under a city, extracting iron from a giant *sandbox* or...

By Douglas Towne Great hotel nicknames are usually the result of innovative marketing campaigns or are obvious, such as San Diego's Hotel...

By Douglas Towne Downtown Phoenix was the city’s commercial district until the 1960s, and one unique store stood out. The business, which...

Jeff Kronenfeld Paul Brock was one of the biggest names in underground contracting in the Valley during the 1960s and 1970s. His company,...

James Logan Abell, FAIA Jumping on rail cars to travel from Los Angeles to New Orleans in search of work, this man was no ordinary 1930’s...

Doug Sydnor, FAIA Growing up in Phoenix, I noticed some innovative architecture created by an unknown individual. Many years later, I...

Tom Pickrell Marion John Evertsen was a prominent masonry contractor in Phoenix for more than 30 years, starting in the 1950s. Largely...

Luke M. Snell, P.E. An inspector recently contacted me regarding some concrete loads that exceeded air-content specifications. The...

Aircraft Plating Co. was flying high in 1969. The firm, founded in 1963 at 1313 South 26th Street, was having a new 20,000 square-foot...

Buddy Escapule In 2017, I took my father and sons to Casa Grande to examine a 1971 Caterpillar J621 paddle wheel scraper for sale. The...

William Horner According to Vance Grubb III, nothing tops a great job in construction except going into business for yourself. A...

William Horner Philip Chesley has encountered some unforgettable people while working in the paving field, including a man wearing gold...

Is the just-released 80-page Sep/Oct issue of Arizona Contractor & Community Magazine a history publication masquerading as a...

Michelle Dodds Concrete denotes something solid, with great strength, and permanence. Perhaps that’s why there was such a clamor way-back...

After two years in the concrete industry, Ed Wagner of Portland, Oregon, realized the need for a more efficient way to handle the heavy...

“Do it big, do it right, and do it with style,” said actor Fred Astaire. Apparently, famed Valley developer John F. Long was listening....

Jennifer M. Levstik Even the most innocuous objects have stories to tell. Tucson’s El Presidio Fountain is one of them. Constructed at...