Phoenix's Never-Built Underground Bus Terminal

If you are one of the more than 200,000 drivers that travel along Interstate 10 in Phoenix on an average day, you may have noticed an area covered by a chain link fence between the Eastbound and Westbound lanes of the Deck Park Tunnel. What is that area, and why is it there? That's what I am going to explore in this post.

What is that mysterious, fenced-off area between the eastbound and westbound tunnels?
Photo: North Phoenix Blog

A New Transcontinental Highway

With the stroke of a pen, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, authorizing the creation of thousands of miles of Interstate Highways in America. Eisenhower believed that a national network of high-quality roads was essential to national defense, allowing troops and equipment to be moved quickly and efficiently.

The project called for a new transcontinental route that would later become Interstate 10. During the next three decades, Interstate 10 would grow to connect Santa Monica, California to Jacksonville, Florida, spanning nine states and 2,460 miles (3,959 km) from end to end.

A 392-mile segment of the route would traverse across Arizona, beginning at the Colorado River crossing at the California border and continuing westward to Phoenix, veering southeast to Tucson, and then east towards New Mexico.

The Arizona Highway Department laid out the route for Interstate from 1956 to 1958. By 1960, a 31-mile stretch of highway connected California to US Route 60 in Arizona. Drivers had to pass through Wickenburg and then Sun City to get to Phoenix. A bypass route opened in June 1973 took an almost straight shot from the border to the edges of the Phoenix metro area.

Map showing routes from California to Phoenix in 1960 and 1973.
By: North Phoenix Blog

With Interstate 10 now connecting the California border to the edge of Phoenix, the next step was figuring out a way to carve a new freeway route through central Phoenix.

An Unpopular Proposal

Trying to build a new Interstate Highway through the center of an existing city was an extremely difficult task. The first plan was proposed in the 1960s, and it was a wild one. In this design, the freeway would be elevated above ground with wide, arcing “helicoil” ramps designed to minimize disruption of city streets and the utility grid.

The idea was to keep traffic off of downtown city streets by elevating it twenty five feet above ground level. For fourteen blocks in Central Phoenix, between Seventh Avenue and Seventh Street, the span would arch more than a hundred feet above surface streets and sidewalks. The ribbon of concrete would soar ten stories above Central Avenue, with two access/egress helicoils made of spiraling ramps, similar to those in Los Angeles.

Below are two screenshots of the 1966 elevated freeway proposal, taken from the Arizona Department of Transportation Blog

Proposed "helicoil" freeway ramps for Interstate 10 in Phoenix.
Image: AZ Dept. of Transportation

Proposed design for elevated freeway in Phoenix, 1960s.
Image: AZ Dept. of Transportation

Not surprisingly, this design was rejected by voters in 1973, sending state highway planners back to the drawing board.

A New Plan for Interstate 10

The new plan for Interstate 10 took into account archaeological sites and historic buildings along the route. Most of the route would be built below grade and surrounded by soundproof walls, with six blocks of freeway running underground through a long tunnel. The surface would be covered with new public parkland.

While it was not the cheapest solution, this plan was praised for its innovative approach to preserving the character of historic and commercial established neighborhoods. This plan was much more appealing to voters, who approved the project in 1979.

 

Proposal for the Papago Freeway Tunnel from July 1990.
Image: The Final Mile, ADOT, 1990

The illustration above includes an Urban Fountain Plaza and a Tree Bosque, which I do not believe were ever built. However, the rest of the plan including the Japanese Friendship Garden, Central Avenue bridge, Performing Arts Center, Open Lawn areas, and the Kenilworth School were retained or built as of this posting in 2021.

The project incorporated many other elements with the local citizens in mind, including soundproof walls, pedestrian bridges, and color and decoration of the concrete walls. Workers removed more than 800 palm trees, maintaining them at a nursery during construction and returning them to the same neighborhoods after construction had been completed.

 

Construction Begins

Construction of the twenty-mile corridor of Interstate 10 through Central Phoenix began in 1983. Archaeologists discovered the remains of two ancient Hohokam villages on both the east and west sides of Phoenix. One site was called La Ciudad (The City) and included a square mile of canals, ramadas, burial sites, and ball courts. The second site, Los Colinas (The Hills) contained artifacts, pottery, and evidence of early agriculture.

Archaeologists work to excavate La Ciudad, an ancient Hohokam settlement discovered in Phoenix in the 1980s during the construction of the Interstate 10 freeway. Photo by: Jeff Kida.

Once the archaeological sites had been excavated and catalogued, construction began on the final stretch of Interstate 10 from the Moreland district to 20th St. This was the last segment of Interstate 10 to be completed along its entire transcontinental route.

Papago Freeway Tunnel

Engineers and designers rose to the challenge by designing a six-block, 2,887-foot section of the freeway below grade with a public park on top. The below-grade section, officially called the Papago Freeway Tunnel and more popularly known as the Deck Park Tunnel, is technically not a tunnel, but rather 19 bridges lined side by side, that support 13 acres of the 30-acre Margaret T. Hance park atop the bridge decks. The structural portion of the tunnel cost more than $55 million and the electrical and mechanical components cost an additional $20 million.

Construction of the Papago Freeway Tunnel in Phoenix in the 1980s.

The New Freeway Opens

The 20-mile portion of I-10 through Phoenix cost more than $500 million, with an additional $150 million in right of way costs. Federal aid, administered through the Federal Highway Administration, accounted for 95 percent of the construction costs. The project employed thousands through the 1980s and was the most expensive freeway segment on the Interstate System when it opened in 1990.

The official completion date of Interstate 10 is recognized as August 10, 1990. On that date, a Grand Opening ceremony was held where Arizona Governor Rose Mofford cut the ribbon. The East Papago segment opened to vehicular traffic on August 23, 1990.

Papago Intermodal Transfer Station

A central section of the Papago Freeway Tunnel was intended to serve as an underground bus terminal. This 1989 illustration from the Arizona Republic newspaper explains that "Two bus lanes on the freeway will be served by a terminal. Riders will be able to take an elevator or escalator up to the deck and catch a bus on Central [Avenue]."

An illustration showing the location of the bus terminal in the central corridor between the eastbound and westbound tunnels of Interstate 10 in Phoenix. Source: Arizona Republic, Nov. 11, 1989

The Papago Freeway Tunnel opened in 1990 and has been serving drivers for more than 30 years, but the bus terminal was never completed. So why wasn't it ever finished?

According to the Phoenix New Times: "Unfortunately, despite spending more than $9 million to build the bones of the structure, the city was never able to secure the $20 million-plus in federal funds it would have taken to complete the project."

The Tunnel's Legacy

The never-built underground bus terminal was voted "Best Abandoned Transit Project" by the Phoenix New Times in 2011. Their article provides some rare photos of the inside of the space between the tunnels.

Photo by: Phoenix New Times, 2011

Entering the never-built bus terminal space
Photo by: Phoenix New Times, 2011

Ceiling detail
Photo by: Phoenix New Times, 2011

Looking down the length of the corridor
Photo by: Phoenix New Times, 2011

Now you know the answer as to what is behind those mysterious chain-link gates! It's an empty space, intended for an underground bus station that was never completed.

Further Reading

The Arizona Department of Transportation has a blog where they have written extensively about the history of Interstate 10 in Arizona, including the Deck Park Tunnel. Please visit the link below to visit their site, where you can read more about the tunnel's history, facts and figures, see construction photos, and much more.

https://azdot.gov/tags/deck-park-tunnel

History of the Cine Capri Theatre in Phoenix

Phoenix has been home to many movie houses and theaters over the years, but the grandest of all was the Cine Capri. During its 32 year history from 1966 to 1998, the Cine Capri was more than just a movie theater; it was a destination and an icon of Phoenix. Let’s dive into the history of this fantastic, beloved venue.

The original Cine Capri movie theater at 2323 E Camelback Rd.
Photo by: Harkins Theatres

Early Movie Theaters

A few movie houses existed in Phoenix as early as the 1900s, showing short films and cartoons. Costing a nickel for admission, these “nickelodeons” were often set up in converted storefronts. Comfort of the patrons was not a priority. The feature-length films we know today became the standard between approximately 1910 and 1915. The addition of sound in 1927 (bonus points if you can name the first “talkie”) was a catalyst that made movie theaters grow in popularity.

 

Early movie theaters were simple structures that were not fancy or ornate. A typical theater was a box-like building located on a Main Street or busy downtown area. Inside, there was a single screen and seating for a few hundred people. According to the National Association of Theater Owners, the average cost of a movie ticket in 1948 was just 36 cents.

 

A few examples of these early theater buildings still exist today, including:

• Paramount Theatre, Peoria, AZ (built 1920)
• College Theatre, Tempe, AZ (built 1940)
• Avon Theatre, Avondale, AZ (built 1946)
• Saguaro Theater, Wickenburg, AZ (built 1948)

Avon Theatre (1946) Avondale, AZ	Paramount Theatre (1920) Peoria, AZ
College Theatre (1940) Tempe, AZ	Saguaro Theater (1948) Wickenburg, AZ
Photos by: North Phoenix Blog

By the 1930s, movie theaters had evolved into purpose-built structures that emphasized comfort of patrons. Upholstered seating and air conditioning were a few of the amenities that distinguished them from early movie houses, though they were still single-screen venues. This format was the standard for movie theaters until the early 1960s.

The Age of the Multiplex

A Kansas City theater operator named Stan Durwood realized that he could double the revenue of a single theater by adding a second screen and still operate with the same size staff. In 1962, he opened the first two-screen theater called the Parkway Twin. This was more than just a savvy business idea – it was the birth of the “multiplex” theater that is still in use today.

It didn’t take long for Durwood’s multiplex idea to spread. A Canadian company called Taylor Twentieth Century Theaters opened a tri-plex theater in Burnaby, British Columbia in 1965. Not to be outdone, AMC Theaters opened a four-screen theater in Kansas City called Metro Plaza in 1966, and a six-screen theater followed in 1969. The movie theater concept had evolved into a new format with multiple theaters and screens under one roof.

 

The Cine Capri in Phoenix

While theater operators around the country began scaling up and adding more screens in the 1960s, a completely different idea was taking shape in Phoenix. Rather than build a multiplex theater, the Arizona Paramount Company began construction of a new single-screen theater in 1964. This theater would become the Cine Capri. It was located on the southwest corner of 24th Street and Camelback Road next to the Barrow’s Furniture showroom.

The Arizona Paramount Company hired prominent Phoenix architect Ralph Haver and his firm Haver, Nunn, and Nelson to design the new theater. While Haver was most known for his affordable, single-family homes, he also worked on schools, churches, banks, and other civic and commercial buildings. Homes and Son were chosen as the General Contractor for the project.
 

Please visit https://cinecapri.com/in-the-beginning/ to see photos of the theater's construction.

Haver's design was for a grand theater, built with the finest quality materials. The 16,500 sq. ft. facility had an entrance that was flanked by a curved portico featuring unique Y-shaped concrete support columns. A 24 foot stained glass panel filled the lobby area with natural light. According to a history page on Harkins Theaters website, the Cine Capri theater featured lavish decor with imported Italian tile in the lobby and plush couches in the "Powder Room."

The original Cine Capri movie theater at 2323 E Camelback Rd.
Photo by: Harkins Theatres

The theater was equipped with the best in projection and sound technology for its time. It was the first theater in the southwest specifically designed to project all film aspect ratios of the time, including Cinemascope, Vista-Vision, and Cinerama from its 70/35 mm projectors. The theater was decorated with antique gold fabric curtains that would retract to reveal the giant screen as the film began.

View more photos of the original Cine Capri at ModernPhoenix.net: https://modernphoenix.net/haver/cinecapri.htm

A Very Grand Opening

A gala opening was held at the new Cine Capri theater on Thursday, March 31st, 1966 at 7:30 PM. An advertisement in the newspaper described the theater as "A landmark of splendor dedicated to the people of Arizona...your new home of supreme entertainment!!"

The opening film was "The Agony and the Ecstacy" starring Charlton Heston and Rex Harrison. The highlight of the opening was an appearance by the film's star, Charlton Heston himself, on Friday, April 1st, at 8:00 P.M. By all accounts, the new theater was a grand success.

To the right is a newspaper clipping from March 29th, 1966 advertising the Cine Capri's gala opening. Source: Newspapers.com

Operational History

Within a year of opening, the Arizona Paramount company sold the theater to Arizona ABC. They would operate the theater from 1967 to 1974. The theater would change hands again in 1974. This time the Cine Capri was owned and operated by Plitt Intermountain until 1987.

Aerial photo of the Cine Capri theater in 1969
Image: Maricopa GIS

When Star Wars opened in May 1977, the theater's business boomed. The film was so enormously popular with audiences, a line would form around the theater of patrons waiting to see the movie. The Cine Capri played Star Wars for more than a year. This run became the longest run of the Star Wars movie in the United States.

1977 Newspaper ad for Star Wars at the Cine Capri
Source: newspapers.com

In 1987 the theater was sold to CineMark, who operated it for just a year before selling it to local theater operator Harkins Theaters in 1988.

End of an Era

The Cine Capri became part of the Harkins theater chain in 1988. Harkins would operate the theater for the next 10 years, but problems soon arose for the theater. While Harkins owned the building, they did not own the land - which had become increasingly valuable.

According to Harkins Theaters, a year-long battle began in 1997 between the theater company and the landowner. The landowner wanted to demolish the theater and replace it with a high-rise office building. A committee called "Save the Cine Capri" was formed and collected more than 260,000 petition signatures from people who wanted to see the beloved theater saved. Sadly, the property owner had no interest in preserving this piece of Phoenix history.

Cine Capri Theater in the late 1990s.
Photo by: George E. Smith, from the Vintage Phoenix group on Facebook

The final movie shown was James Cameron's Titanic on January 5, 1998. At 2:12 AM, the gold curtains were lowered for the last time. Six weeks later, the theater was demolished - reduced to a pile of rubble.

Souvenir tickets from the final showings of Titanic at the Cine Capri theater.
Photo by: Nanette Adams-Escajeda on Facebook.

Please visit the website https://cinecapri.com/the-curtain-falls to see photos of the Cine Capri's demolition.

Aerial photos of the Cine Capri location in 1991 and 2001
Source: Maricopa GIS

Though the theater was gone, its legacy was not forgotten. Gayle Martin, the daughter of W.E. "Bill" Homes, Jr., created a detailed model of the Cine Capri theater, which her father's contracting company had built. I saw the model on display at the Arizona Historical Society Museum in Tempe, AZ in 2017.

Photos by: North Phoenix Blog

 

The New Cine Capri

In November of 2002, Harkins Theatres announced that they would begin construction of a new multiplex theater called Cine Capri. It would be located in North Scottsdale at the Loop 101 Freeway and Scottsdale Road.

The new Cine Capri at Harkins Scottsdale 101 opened in 2003.
Photo by: Harkins Theatres

 

The new Cine Capri held its grand opening on Friday, June 27, 2003. The new theater was built at a cost of $17 million, according to an industry publication by QSC Audio.

Souvenir ticket from the Grand Opening of the new Cine Capri at Harkins Scottsdale 101 on June 27, 2003.
Photo by: Deganlink on reddit

 

The Harkins Scottsdale 101 Cine Capri features a massive 70 foot by 30 foot screen, with seating for 568 guests. It even has gold waterfall curtains like the original theater did.

Harkins paid tribute to the old theater by including a few of the signature support columns at the new location. A display in the lobby has memorabilia from the original Cine Capri.

These columns pay homage to the original Cine Capri theater.
Photo by: North Phoenix Blog

Entrance to the new 568-seat Cine Capri at Scottsdale 101
Photo by: North Phoenix Blog

Gold waterfall curtains at the new Cine Capri
Photo by: North Phoenix Blog

Present Day

Harkins continues to operate the new Cine Capri theater in Scottsdale at the time of this writing. In 2018, the Harkins chain announced a $150 million upgrade to its theaters. This included new Harkins Ultimate Lounger (TM) seating, reserved seating, and an updated lobby. The Scottsdale 101 location was upgraded to the latest Dolby ATMOS sound and a Laser Projection system.

In fact, Harkins now uses the "Cine Capri" branding at 3 other locations:

• Tempe Marketplace in Tempe, AZ
• Bricktown 16 in Oklahoma City, OK
• Northfield 18 in Denver, CO
  

Final Thoughts

Buildings are more than just structures where we live, work, play, worship and shop. The experiences and emotions that we attach to these places are etched in our memories. They become part of our stories as individuals.

While the Cine Capri was a movie theater that operated for 32 years, it was about more than movies for many Phoenix residents. It was a place for first dates, big-screen thrills, celebrations, and great times with friends and family.

I am glad that the Harkins company decided to continue the legacy of the Cine Capri with the new location. While it may not have the splendor or the memories of the original theater, the new Cine Capri is a fitting tribute to one of Arizona’s greatest movie theaters. It shows that the Harkins company genuinely cares about the community and what this once-great theater meant to the people who went there.

Solar 1 Subdivision by John F. Long

John Fitzgerald Long (1920-2008) was a legendary businessman and real estate developer in Phoenix. While he did not invent the concept of a master-planned suburban neighborhood, he was the first to implement the idea in Arizona.

John F. Long became a household name in the 1950s with the creation of Maryvale, a massive planned community in Phoenix comprising more than 30,000 single-family homes integrated with schools, shopping centers, and community buildings all woven together. After building Maryvale, John did another, lesser-known project in the mid-1980s called Solar 1, whose story I have not seen told anywhere else. I will cover that after a little backstory on John F. Long and his rise to become the most prolific homebuilder in Arizona's history.

John F. Long Builds a House
In 1947, the 27-year old Long had returned from his service in the US military during World War II. He took an $8,000 GI loan to build a home for himself and his wife, Mary. After six months, the home was completed at a cost of $4,200.

Before they could move in, Long received an offer of $8,500 for the newly-completed home and, savvy businessman that he was, sold the home for a handsome profit. He repeated the process, building 15 more homes before finally settling into a place of his own. Between 1951 and 1954 he built nearly 1,600 homes in West Phoenix.

 

On March 5, 1948 John F. and Mary P. Long sold their first house, located at 7017 N. 23rd Avenue in Phoenix to Mr. and Mrs. Walter.
Photo by: Commercial Executive Magazine, Issue 7, 2012

Long had recognized the incredible opportunity that was present in the form of the post-war economic boom following World War II. Affordable single-family housing was in high demand in 1954. Long figured out how to mass-produce single family homes that could be built quickly and at scale. By using modular mass production techniques such as component assembly of roof trusses, wall sections, and custom-designed cabinetry, assembled at the site, he could cut construction time. His innovations in housing were similar to what Henry Ford did for the automobile - he made it affordable to the masses.

John F. Long with GE Spokesman Ronald Reagan at the GE Award Home in Maryvale, 1958.

John F. Long shows GE spokesman Ronald Reagan features of Maryvale's GE Award Home, 1958.
Photo by: Power Lines by Andrew Needham

Maryvale - Arizona's First Master-Planned Community
In 1954, John F. Long Homes began building a massive new community in Phoenix which he called Maryvale after his wife, Mary. What made this neighborhood different was that it had a master plan, which included space for schools, churches, hospitals, shopping centers and parks.

Maryvale was the first master planned community in Arizona, and would become the blueprint that many other homebuilders would use for the next 70 years. Del Webb used a very similar concept in developing the very first master-planned retirement community, Sun City, in 1959 through the 1980s.

Maryvale Model Homes: Greatest Home Show on Earth

Maryvale was a smash hit that made John F. Long a rockstar real estate developer. Buyers could purchase a three-bedroom, two-bath house with a swimming pool for less than $10,000 (approximately $95,000 in 2020). By 1956, two years into the project, his company was selling 125 new homes per week. Between 1954 and 1979, more than 31,000 homes were built in Maryvale, with half of those built by John F. Long. In 1990, the company closed its homebuilding operation to focus on retail and commercial projects in the West Valley.

Long wasn't just a homebuilder - he wanted to build communities. He donated countless acres of land to the community and to county, state, and federal governments. The success of Maryvale brought him a number of accolades including Citizen of the Year in 1957, induction to the National Housing Hall of Fame in Washington D.C. in 1984, the Arizona Businessman’s Hall of Fame in the 1990s, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from WestMARC in the year 2000.

A 1950s era billboard for John F. Long homes, advertising a luxury compact home for $9,400.

---

Solar 1 - The World's First Solar Subdivision
But, the whole reason for this post is not to tell the story of Maryvale. I want to tell the story of what John F. Long did after his magnum opus. This is the story of the little-known project called Solar 1.

The origins of Solar 1 go back to 1979, when John F. Long companies built a "solar demonstration home" with an array of photovoltaic (PV) panels on the roof. In a 1985 interview with Canyon Echo, the newsletter for the Arizona Chapter of the Sierra Club, Long had this to say about that first demonstration home: 

"We first used photovoltaics (PV) as part of the roof of that house, but eventually moved the panels because part of the roof created shadows. There were also some problems with maintaining and cleaning off the panels and visually, there was an aesthetic problem."

There was a plan to build a solar-powered neighborhood of 100 homes in the Moon Valley area of North Phoenix, but according to the article, the U.S. Department of Energy pulled out of the project, following President Reagan's budget cuts in 1981.

Solar 1 Neighborhood at 71st Dr. and Osborn Rd. in Phoenix
Photo: North Phoenix Blog

An Experiment in Energy Efficient Homebuilding
Still, the project to build a solar neighborhood was not dead. It re-surfaced in 1985 as a scaled-down project called Solar 1, with 24 lots located at 71st Drive and Osborn Road in Phoenix. This time, the project was totally financed without government participation.

A 1985 advertisement for Solar 1 by John F. Long Homes

The first homes were completed in 1985, with final lots being sold around 1989. The homes in Solar 1 range in size from 1,600 to 2,200 square feet. The whole neighborhood is powered by 2,600 flat plate photovoltaic panels from Arco Solar, arranged in two long rows of racks along one side of the neighborhood. The racks are connected to an inverter which changes direct current to alternating. The system has a peak generation power of 192 kilowatts.

The neighborhood is also connected to the local electric grid as a backup. The subdivision has no battery storage, but with careful energy usage, homeowners will have very small electric bills, and in some cases may even produce excess energy, which is sold back to the utility provider.

Map of Solar 1 neighborhood in Phoenix

Re-Thinking the Single Family Home
Solar 1 was the world's first solar subdivision. It is unique for being one of the only photovoltaic central power plants in Arizona that is not operated by a utility company. But to me, the real genius of Solar 1 is that the solar panels are just one part of the project. The homes themselves are also extremely energy efficient, using a rammed-earth construction method and exterior walls which are 21 inches thick.

From the 1985 Canyon Echo newsletter:

"In order to make PV cost-effective, we had to rethink the total building, not just the photovoltaics themselves. After evaluating the whole project, we decided to go with rammed earth walls for thermal storage. What we're doing is putting each home's insulation on the outside of the home to keep the heat out and the rammed earth walls cool.

Starting from the outside, we have stucco-covered urethane foam, then a one-inch dead air space. Next comes the rammed earth wall which is covered on the inside by sheetrock.

Overall, the wall is 21 inches thick; the rammed earth part is 16 inches thick. Again, by putting the insulation on the exterior, heat doesn't get in. On our demonstration rammed earth model home, we have thermocouplers built into the wall (Editor's note: for temperature monitoring). The center thermocoupler didn't vary but one degree over the last few days. Those rammed earth walls can hold three days worth of cooling.

The walls and home interior are cooled in the morning with the evaporative cooler (or maybe refrigeration, depending on the owner). The wall releases coolness at a slow, even rate from top to bottom, without drafts. It's like living in a basement but above ground level."

 

 

The 24 homes in the Solar 1 subdivision look like any other homes in the area, but are constructed using rammed earth exterior walls which are 21 inches thick, and combined with a photovoltaic central power plant for highly energy efficient living.  

I think that the idea of combining energy-efficient rammed earth construction homes with a solar central power plant was brilliant. The idea with this community was not to make them homes look like some wacky "house of the future" but to show that energy efficient homes could be done and they could look normal. Indeed, the neighborhood blends in well with the surrounding area, and no one would suspect that these 24 homeowners have a utility bill that is a fraction of what their neighbors pay.

It is too bad that the idea of building highly energy efficient homes that look totally normal did not progress beyond this one subdivision in West Phoenix. I think that Solar 1 was a great idea that was ahead of its time.

 

This John F. Long sidewalk stamp from 1983 is at G. Frank Davidson Elementary School, across the street from the Solar 1 subdivision.  

For more about Solar 1, check out this video I found on YouTube. It was recorded in 1988, and features an interview with Larry and Jackie, a retired couple who purchased the very first home in the development. I found it amusing how they emphasize that they are not environmentalists - but that they purchased the home purely for the cost savings on electricity. 

Legend City Log Ride Custom Car

"Legend City was originally conveived in the late 1950s by Louis E. Crandall as Arizona's answer to Disneyland. For kids living in the Phoenix area in the 1960s and 70s, it was an entertainment mecca, a unique and fun place for a magical afternoon or an evening out. Opened in 1963 and closed forever in 1983, Legend City will long be remembered for its Old West atmosphere, cool rides, charming attractions and presentation of such splendid local talent as Vonda Kay Van Dyke, Dolan Ellis, Mike Condello, Hub Kapp, and of course, Wallace and Ladmo. A vanished treasure in Phoenix entertainment history."

Legend City was the closest thing Arizona ever had to a Disneyland type amusement park. The park opened in 1963 and closed in 1983. It had a number of attractions, amusements, and rides - one of which was the Log Jammer flume ride.

Though the park has long been closed, one enterprising man was able to save part of its history in a most unusual way. He acquired one of the original log ride cars from Legend City (car No. 8) and has transformed it into a running, driving hot rod, or as he calls it, a "Rat Log."

An original ride car from the Log Jammer ride at Phoenix's defunct Legend City amusement park has been transformed into a running, driving automobile.

Riding on a modified Chevrolet chassis with a 350 cubic inch V8 engine, the vehicle has been fitted with two seats, one in front of the other, similar to the F-4 Phantom fighter jet. It has headlights, turn signals, running boards, and a custom "wooden log" steering wheel.

The vehicle is adorned with memorabilia from Legend City on the tail, including laminated entry tickets from the 1970s. It was quite a cool creation, and I'm thrilled that the history of Legend City is being preserved in such an eye-catching way. I'll bet the owner gets questions about this car everywhere it goes!

Running boards help with easy entry to the vehicle, which does not have traditional doors.

Though never intended to be a road vehicle, this former amusement ride has been adapted to a car quite well.

Memorabilia from Legend City, Phoenix's former amusement park.