Lost Apache
Apache Boulevard was once the gateway to Tempe for travelers heading west along U.S. Routes 60, 70, 80, and 89, also known locally as the Tempe-Mesa Highway. For more than thirty years, this commercial district served tourists and residents alike. It's distinctive neon signs, architecture, and mix of shops created a distinctive feel that gradually disappeared during successive waves of development and renewal, as well as the rerouting of the American interstate highway system. Much of what made Apache Boulevard distinctive has been lost; take this tour to rediscover what tourists and visitors might have experienced along Apache Boulevard in the 1950s and 1960s.
Gammage Auditorium
An ASU Icon Since 1964
In 1926, well-known architect Frank Lloyd Wright was called to Phoenix to help with the building of the Arizona Biltmore Hotel. This was the beginning of Wright's long relationship with Arizona. In the early 1960s, Arizona State University President Grady Gammage wanted Wright to bring a new…
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Gammage Auditorium and the Baghdad Opera House
Wright's Dream Reimagined
It all began with two men. One, is a master architect. The other, is a university president leading a small school toward becoming a major university. Gammage Auditorium resulted from that collaboration--becoming a symbol for ASU and Tempe and emerging as a representation of Wright's enduring…
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Wigwam Auto Court
Iconic architecture captured the imagination of Arizona's tourists
The distinctive Teepee designs were dotted along famed Route 66, and Arizona's Wigwam Auto Court was iconic on the Mesa Tempe "opportunity road".
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Valley National Bank (Tempe)
Tempe's Golden Dome
An iconic golden dome once covered the Apache Boulevard brach of Valley National Bank, until the building was demolished in 2007. The wrecking ball missed the golden dome, however, and it still lights Tempe's desert sky.
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Fast Food on Apache
The tasty side of midcentury automobile culture
Fast food restaurants emerged as a vital part of American auto culture, first as drive-in restaurants and later with drive-thru lanes. The term itself appeared in the dictionary for the first time in 1951, about the time that Apache Boulevard's first drive-in, an A&W Root Beer Stand, opened at…
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Harman's Red Barn Restaurant
Hot Biscuits & Chicken Steaks
Opened in 1952 by Dave and Belle Harman along the Tempe-Mesa Highway, the Red Barn served customers for only about twenty years.
Among the many items on Harman's menu was "Kentucky Fried Chicken." The family had licensed the recipe from Harland Sanders, who had not yet opened his…
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Post-War Tempe Neighborhoods
Borden Homes Subdivision and Victory Acres
In the late 1940s and early '50s, Tempe stood on the precipice of rapid expansion. A small farming community prior to the war, Tempe grew rapidly as GIs, who had trained in Arizona, returned to the Southwest to settle. Developers seized on the influx of home buyers and subdivisions sprouted just…
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Local Restaurants and The Development of Apache Boulevard
The Development of Apache Boulevard and The Local Restaurants It Affected.
With its expansion, Arizona State University has gradually changed the surrounding community in Tempe, impacting local restaurants and businesses.
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Modernization of Apache Boulevard
The "New" Tempe
The growth of Arizona State University had a monumental impact on the city of Tempe, changing it from a low-income rental community into a modernized urban living community.
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Motor Hotels along Apache
Motels: The Beacon for Tempe Tourists
The term motel, coined in 1926, derived from joining the words “motor” and “hotel.” The motels along Apache Boulevard tell us about the growth of the street and the city in the period following World War II. The motels served vacationers traveling West to California. Typically designed in an “I”,…
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Auto Service along the Tempe-Mesa Highway
The Hub of Auto Services
Auto culture along Apache Boulevard and Arizona itself was inevitable. Apache was the main route for vacationers who were travelling by car to California. It was fated that cars would break down, and oil would need to be changed and flat tires fixed. Automotive service stations began to spring up…
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Highway 60-70-80-89
Transportation and Apache Boulevard
Apache Boulevard has been shaped by its auto traffic visitors, but modernization and the Valley Metro Light Rail has brought in new changes.
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Goodwin Stadium
Transitioning ASU into the Present
The games played during Goodwin Stadium's 19 years as ASU's football stadium would have profound consequences and shape the identity of the school.
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Tourist Auto Courts
Baker's Acre Court
From serving auto travelers to later becoming an apartment complex, Baker's Acre was a reflection of Apache Boulevard's transformations and culture.
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Neon Signs on the Tempe-Mesa Highway
Lighting Up Tempe
In the 1960s, Tempe resembled the Las Vegas Strip with its own bright neon signs that welcomed auto traffic travelers on Apache Boulevard.
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Midway Trailer Park
Trailer Travel in Tempe
Travel trailers first appeared in the United States in the 1920s as American “tin can tourists” ventured onto the developing highway network to see the nation. Written works such as Trailer Ahoy! by Charles Nash and Touring with Tent and Trailer by Winfield Kimball and Maurice Decker, both released…
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Mid-Century Modern Apache
Apache's Lost Architecture
Apache Boulevard was once marked by its mid-century modern architecture that was pleasing to the eye of its heavy auto traffic visitors. As this traffic diminished, so did this style of architecture.
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Tempe Tavern
White's Dairy Barn becomes a Tavern
Tempe's agricultural roots run deep, but few visible elements persist in the landscape. The Tempe Tavern's river rock architecture hearkens back to the city's early agriculture, especially its legacy of cattle ranching and dairy farming.
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Victory Acres
Building a Tempe Barrio
The Victory Acres neighborhood of Tempe highlights the unique story of Mexican-American suburbanization. La Victoria, a tight-knit, predominantly Mexican American, community, emerged during the post-War growth of Tempe and the surrounding region. La Victoria is the story of the perseverance of…
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Conceived of during Spring 2017 by ASU undergraduate students in HST485 (History in the Wild). This grew into an exhibition at the Tempe History Museum, as well as the tour and its stories: Marly Garcia, Irelan Inoshita, Michael Nguyen, Angel Pena, Gene Pierce, Jacob Selden, Jacob Tuskai, Nicholas Von Gnechten. The team would like to thank the Tempe History Museum, especially Josh Roffler and Jared Smith, and for the insights of research advisors Mark Vinson, Jay Mark, and Scott Solliday.