1. The Giant Plywood Baby’s Farmer Playmate
Motorists driving past Duncan Farms in Goodyear were long welcomed by a twenty-foot baby playing with life-sized tractors in an open field but recent construction brought the artwork down, many thought for good. Though I have it on good authority that the baby will come back once construction is complete, the farmer that was perpetually fleeing from the monstrous infant was unfortunately too vandalized to be salvaged.
2. The Suns At The Fairgrounds
Maybe I’m showing my age here, but when I was little bitty the Phoenix Suns played in short shorts at Veterans Memorial Coliseum—now the site of the concerts you can attend with the price of admission to the State Fair. I seem to remember seeing Suns banners hanging up even during fair days into the late ‘90s.
3. Citrus Groves As Far As The Eye Can See
In the early 1900s the whole of the Arizona economy was based on natural resources, specifically the “5 C’s” of copper, citrus, cotton, cattle and climate. With the completion of the Salt River Project, though, population exploded and the 5 C’s were all boiled down to one—concrete—and lots of it.
4. America West Arena
Though even the airline doesn’t exist anymore, the home of the Suns, Mercury and Rattlers had the same name from its construction in 1992 through the merger of America West Airlines with the U.S. Airways Group in 2006. U.S. Airways Center got a $70 million facelift in 2004 and looks very little like it did before, but I still catch myself calling it America West absentmindedly from time-to-time. I bet I’m not the only one, either. Am I?
5. The D-Backs In Teal And Purple
In the Diamondbacks first several seasons—including their World Series year in 2001—they sported some less-than-aggressive colors on their uni’s. This all changed in 2006 when the organization switched to “Sedona red” and “Sonoran sand” (what normal people call beige), though the team has not had a championship season since the switch. Just saying.
6. WaterWorld Safari
The drop on the Kilimanjaro waterslide was legendary way-back-when, though this particular water park's safety record was (ahem) not. The park closed at the end of the 2008 season, but Phoenix was happy to welcome the addition of a Wet ‘N’ Wild park on the site the next year. But old-school locals can still hear the familiar call of “Oh-oh, WaterWorld” in their dreams every summer.
7. D. Baxter Bobcat Going Solo
As an expansion team the Diamondback’s franchise didn’t even have a mascot—Baxter wasn’t actually introduced until the team’s third season. But summer 2012 brought a new face to Chase Field as the D-Backs Luchador made his first appearance that June. He was made an official mascot the next year and has been a game-day staple ever since. Viva Los D-Backs!
8. Atomic Comics
Arizona’s favorite comic book chain, famous for its in-store signing events and appearing in the film adaptation of “Kick Ass” (2010), shut the doors of all four valley locations abruptly in 2011 after 25 years of dutiful superhero service. Owner Michael Malve actually lost his house in the bankruptcy and thousands of local nerds lost a little piece of their hearts. Luckily, none have returned yet as super villains.
9. Jungle Jim’s Playland
There were a number of years where this was the place to be for kids all over the Phoenix area. They had pizza, carnival rides inside, creepy people in costumes—everything! But sadly all Valley Jungle Jim’s shut down long, long ago, though there is apparently one location still operating in Utah. I know where I’ll be going for my next birthday party…
10. Axis Radius Nightclub
Techno freaks freaked when Scottsdale’s longest-running nightclub shut down after 16 years of business. “Where will Avicii play when he comes to town?” they all said. But relax night-lifers—the property owners are converting Radius to a new concert venue called Livewire and Axis into a high-class bar. Rave on, everyone.
11. The Format Playing Live
Long before Fun lead singer Nate Reuss was “Young” and winning Grammys he was rockin’ the Phoenix area with some all-in-good-fun emo pop rock with his buddy and musical collaborator extraordinaire, Sam Means. The success of Nate’s new band only cements the 2008 promise that The Format will not make a new album together.
12. The Phoenix Swim Club Pool
The original champion training grounds for swimmers in the metro area and the only 50 meter pool within the city limits is being demolished to make way for—wait for it—a new housing development. That will likely mean a whole bunch more smaller pools in the same area, but it means the Phoenix Swim Club and Grand Canyon State University’s swim team will need to find a new training facility.
13. The Cards Playing At Arizona Stadium
Before the construction of the more than $400 million University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, our professional football team played all of their games in Sun Devil Country. The ASU stadium also saw every Fiesta Bowl game for many years, as well as Super Bowl XXX. Yeah, the new stadium is cool and all, but being the only Cardinals fan in a half-empty arena was pretty sweet, too, in its own way.
14. Metro Center Arcade
Back in the day, the most fun a kid could have in Phoenix aside from blowing all their parents’ money at Castles ‘N’ Coasters was to blow all of their parents’ money at Metro Center Mall, where the entire downstairs area (now a giant shoe store) was once the largest arcade in the city. The game floor was shut down in the 1990s due to a rise in gang activity. Apparently gangsters in Phoenix had a real thing for Crusin’ USA. Go figure.
15. The Phoenix Firebirds
The best thing about minor league baseball games before the MLB came to town was that the tickets always somehow seemed to be free. I got a handful from my elementary school teachers every Friday. And the concessions were cheaper than they are at a D-Backs game, too (obviously), so a free ballgame was a great excuse to drink cheap. But once the big boys came to bat in 1998, the little local team was sent packing.
16. Paolo Soleri
The Godfather of Sustainable Architecture passed in April of 2013, but a few of his relics— like his residence in Scottsdale known as Cosanti, experimental city Arcosanti near Cordes Junction, and the Soleri Bridge next to Scottsdale Fashion Square—still stand as a testament to this famous student of Frank Lloyd Wright’s legacy. Not only was his work legendary, so was his goofy personality.
17. Firebird Raceway
This motorsports complex played host to drag races, monster truck rallies, and the Checked Flag Run for thirty years before shutting down in 2014 to make way for the new-and-improved Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park. The change was mostly in name, though a few “capital improvements” like new seats and a scoreboard were added. But to the old-schoolers like myself, it’s still and will always be Firebird Raceway.
18. A Good Indie Flick at Camelview 5
That’s right—plans are underway to turn the classic indie-enthusiast’s escape into another luxury cinema complex complete with 3-D and even an outdoor terrace cocktail lounge. A handful of preservationists fought to save the original retro-future facility (opened in 1973) but Harkins is intent on turning the Fashion Square Theater into “a moviegoers dream come true.”
19. Italian Fare From La Fontanella
Owners Berto and Isabella Mannone-Bertuccio retired after serving up classic Tuscan eats for more than 30 years to “smell the sea air” according to a report on the New Times blog. The restaurant space was promptly gobbled up and replaced by The Heist Pizza Parlor, which comes to Phoenix as a Tucson transplant. Very daring, pizza guys, taking over for an Italian restaurant unlike any other. And good luck to you.
20. A Dull Skyline
Up until the mid-1990s, the downtown skyline as compared to that of similarly sized cities was sort of a running joke among locals. With the installation of new and updated sports complexes and some curious pieces of art work, though, the city has really started to grow into itself. There ain’t no stoppin’ us now!
21. Open Desert
It doesn’t matter how far out in the suburbs you live in the metro area—within a few years, any wilderness around you will likely be developed in some form or another. In turn, Phoenicians have learned to get their nature fixes when and wherever they can (golf, anyone?).
22. Barry Goldwater Airport
In 1998, the year Arizona’s favorite former presidential candidate passed away, then-Mayor Skip Rimsza proposed changing the name of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport to Goldwater Sky Harbor International Airport. The measure passed, though a public outcry meant that the new name stuck for less than a month. One terminal of the airport was successively renamed for the senator. Good enough, I guess.
23. A Day Of Shopping At The Scottsdale Galleria
Built in the early 1990s, the shops at the Galleria failed within just a few years, probably because of its proximity to popular Fashion Square. It stood mostly empty for several years before being converted to high-end office space in the early 2000s. Goodbye, food court; hello, water cooler.
24. Rawhide On Scottsdale
That sprawling wild-west town at Wild Horse Pass once occupied the lot across the street from the Safeway shopping complex at Scottsdale and Pinnacle Peak. I can remember the wall of critters that would each do something cute if you paid them a quarter (a practice probably now regarded as animal abuse) where I lost a game of tic-tac-toe to a chicken. Dad never did let me live that one down.
25. Scottsdale 6 Drive-In Theater
The landmark theater closed in 2011 but wasn’t actually demolished until 2014, and the project seems to mark the end of Arizona drive-ins as a phenomenon. Glendale 9 is now the only drive in left in the state but it is apparently going strong. I guess it helps to have literally no competition.
26. Whiskey River Saloon on Greenway
Paradise Valley residents spent 11 years line-dancing and drinking at this mid-town bar before it closed in 2014. They may have had to close their doors, but the good folk at this old watering hole have still got plenty of friends in low places.
27. The Pink Spot
Owner Julie Kossak served frozen treats and breakfast eats for six years out of this adorable café in central Phoenix. Since she also owns ZPizza next door, Karen’s Ice Cream (the brand served up in the shop) fans can still find their favorite flavors in pints not too far away.
What do you miss in Phoenix? Tell us in the comments below! 
