Arizona Coach Talker

Arizona Coach Talker

Newsletter of the Arizona Guides Association

Volume 24, Issue 2 November, 2010

The HEARD MUSEUM of Nature Cultures and Art was founded in 1929 by Dwight B. and Marie Heard to house their personal collection of American Indian artifacts and art. The original HeardMuseum was one-eighth the size of the current facility. Today, the non-profit museum has earned a national and international reputation for its thorough and sensitive representation of Native cultures and heritage, especially those in the Southwest.

The AGA is honored to be welcomed to the HeardMuseum and given the opportunity to view and experience their many collections and exhibits.

AGA Meeting ~ November1, 2010

When:Monday, November 1, 2010

Where:Heard Museum ~2301 N. Central Avenue

~ Monte Vista Room ~

Time: 2:00 – 3:30 pm Museum Tours

3:30 pm General Meeting

Please RSVP to Joan Moran: 480.538.7999 or

AGA President’s Notes……

Autumn in Arizona….. The temperature is finally dropping and we are getting occasional rain showers. The aspens are turning golden yellow and the desert floor is getting cooler. The moon is brilliantly lighting the night sky (I witnessed it at 3:30 am departures) and all around us are reminders of why we love our wonderful Arizona.

I encourage you to take the time to get to know more about our state. We are going to have two opportunities next month to do just that. November 1st, will be our AGA meeting at the HeardMuseum. There will be docent led guided tours, and then a short AGA meeting. Don’t miss this great day! And then on November 10th, we will be heading to the EastValley for our AGA Fall Education Tour. Spend the day with us as we visit UseryMountainPark, have lunch on the Desert Belle, and then wind our way to Fountain Hills to the River of Time Museum.

I hope to see each and every one of you at these events; you are an important part of our association.

Jeannie Parrish, AGA President 2010-2011

Page 2 – AGA Newsletter ~ November 2010

In case you missed it…..from the ArizonaRepublic

Arizona to convert old newspapers …..The state of Arizona has won a nearly $315,000 federal grant to preserve and convert more than 60 years of the state's newspapers into a digital format. The money will be used to make digital copies of newspapers from 1860 to 1922. State officials say the grant will give Arizonans access to accounts of Arizona's territorial days and the 10 years that came after Arizona became a state in 1912. The grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities was awarded to the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records. The state had won an earlier grant for converting newspapers into a digital format.

St. Francis Catholic Cemetery …..The corner of 48th and Oak streets is quiet. As a final resting place, it's a spot with acres of grass, mature trees, shrines and views of CamelbackMountain. St. Francis Catholic Cemetery is one of the oldest in the city (1897). Founded before statehood, its inhabitants represent pioneer families, community and business leaders, miners, those who succumbed to tuberculosis, and others who helped write the history of Phoenix and Arizona. "It's never been singled out as just Spanish or just White families," said Gary Brown, Catholic Cemeteries executive director. "It's served the entire community." Recently, cemetery staff cleaned graves and altars, removing faded and spent flowers.
Mary Geare of Dublin, Ireland, is believed to be the first to be buried in the cemetery. Mary came to Phoenix with her husband, Hubert, but died soon after. She was buried on Oct. 12, 1897, the day that marks the cemetery's anniversary. The Geares' son, Joseph, who suffered from asthma, stayed in Phoenix and founded the Central Avenue Dairy on land that is now Park Central Mall.
Gary Brown said Franciscan Brother Fredric Zeller rode his bike daily to St. Francis to take care of the graceful cemetery founded by the Rev. Novatus Benzing. The Franciscan order has administered St. Mary's Basilica in Phoenix since 1895. The order helped found St.FrancisCemetery, St. Joseph's Hospital and St. Mary's High School.
Trinidad Escalante Swilling Shumaker, the second wife of Jack Swilling, has been called the mother of Phoenix. Jack Swilling, who is often credited with naming Phoenix, is buried in an unmarked grave in Yuma.
Trinidad, who died in 1925, was also in an unmarked grave next to her son until 1997, when cemetery officials donated the marker and observed the cemetery's 100th anniversary.
Approximately 45 of the cemetery's 52 acres are developed. Each year, about 850 individuals are buried at the cemetery, Brown says. The 50,000th burial took place at St. Francis in December 2007. Phoenix had only one Catholic cemetery until 2000, when HolyRedeemerCemetery opened in north Phoenix.

Rosson House to host visitors ….. The historic Rosson House at Sixth and Monroe streets in downtown Phoenix's Heritage Square has been a museum for several years, and city officials have found yet another purpose for it. The Victorian house was recently designated a "protocol house" by the City Council. This special designation means that city officials can bring officials who are visiting Phoenix to small meetings or receptions at the house. This is the city's first protocol house. City leaders chose the house because it is secure, comfortable, a symbol of Phoenix history, and close to City Hall and PhoenixSkyHarborInternationalAirport. Councilman Tom Simplot, who represents District 4, supports historic preservation and had been a key proponent of the protocol house idea. "It's a great way to leverage public and private resources," Simplot said. Officials have said no extra city funding is needed to use the house for this purpose.

This timeline is based on RossonHouseMuseum information.

• The house is designed by A.P. Petit for Dr. Roland Lee Rosson, who became mayor in 1895, the year he and his wife, Flora, moved in. Construction costs $7,525.
• The Rossons move after selling the home to local merchant and legislator Aaron Goldberg.
• After the house has changed hands several times, the city buys it for $74,425. The house is designated Arizona's Bicentennial Meeting House by the state Bicentennial Commission.
• The Junior League of Phoenix reaches an agreement with the city, Rosson House Restoration Boaand M.M. Sundt Construction Co. to restore the home's interior. .
• The house is opened to the public.
• The house turns 100.
• The house is designated as a protocol house for officials visiting from out of town.

Page 3 – AGA Newsletter ~ November2010

Scottsdale's SoleriBridge …..The SoleriBridge and Plaza, designed by internationally known visionary and artist Paolo Soleri, is in the final stages of construction in downtown Scottsdale after existing as a dream for 20 years. One of the major milestones was the recent installation of ten 8-foot-high concrete panels. The panels serve as artwork as Soleri hand-carved the works using his "earth-casting" method developed as Cosanti, his ParadiseValley home and studio. Donna Isaac, Scottsdale Public Art project manager, held her breath Monday as a giant crane lowered a panel onto the site. "This makes me so nervous," she said. "These are one of a kind."

This is the first and only one of Soleri's more than 60 bridge designs to be built. The 130-foot-long pedestrian bridge spans the southern side of the ArizonaCanal southwest of Camelback and Scottsdale roads. Its design will demonstrate solar movement by marking seasonal events, such as the equinox and solstice. Framing the bridge is a 22,000-square-foot plaza featuring a bell tower. Isaac said Soleri, 91, is often at the construction site, "sitting in his chair, directing with his cane."

The $3.5 million bridge is a Scottsdale Public Art project and paid for with city funds and private donations.

Accidental Yard set to land in OldTown …..Local entrepreneurs plan to convert a property in Old Town Scottsdale into an urban garden with attached coffeehouse, bakery and restaurant. The property between the Cavalliere Blacksmith Shop and the Mission Restaurant and Lounge on Brown Avenue has been vacant for years and is among the seven lots George Cavalliere owns near Brown and Second Street. Over the next few months, the building and junk-filled yard out back will be renovated and will open in January as the Accidental Yard. It will be a multi-business destination with sprawling garden and patio, said co-owner and founder Joe Garcia. Garcia is a long-time restaurateur and a vendor at the Old Town Farmers Market. His wife, Kelly Garcia, owns Butter & Me Cupcakery and also is a co-owner in the new venture along with other investors.

Getting the business off the ground will cost about $1.5 million, Joe Garcia said.

The small house on the property along Second Street first caught the eye of Kelly Garcia. "We looked at it and we talked to (George Cavalliere), and we felt like it wasn't big enough space for what we wanted to do - we were looking for a patio space," Joe Garcia said. "So I sent him a proposal and he accepted it, and it was for the entire property. And then it turned into a letter of intent and here we are."

The Accidental Yard will encompass about 10,000 square feet on the L-shaped property that includes the two buildings and a yard that stretches to an area behind the blacksmith shop. The Garcias chose the name because they found the property strictly by accident, and they wanted it to be something "wacky and fun. The idea behind the garden is to make it an educational place where cooking and gardening classes are offered and "children come with their school and learn gardening or maybe learn how to make a pizza or a quesadilla with a well-known chef using local ingredients," he said. The project includes gutting the structures and clearing the property, then rebuilding the indoor space and patio and preparing the garden plot. Garcia says they have some excavation to do, because some of that land back there hasn't been touched in over 100 years. The exterior along Brown will be transformed and will feature a patio and a window where orders can be picked up for bicycle delivery.

Butter & Me now is a custom-order bakery but will have a storefront at the Accidental Yard. "Kelly has a clientele who she serves, but there are a lot of people who are waiting for her to do a storefront," Garcia said. The coffee bar will include an area for casual and to-go coffee service and an area for patrons to enjoy specialty coffees on site and learn about making great coffee. There will be a restaurant space, most likely for casual dining, and the venue will include an outdoor kitchen and will be available for wedding receptions, parties and other private events, he said.

Cavalliere is looking forward to seeing the project take root. "I just kind of seemed like a good thing to do," he said. "It's just something to keep (the property) going and to keep the whole area going."

Evaporative coolers are disappearing …..The dew point used to be an important weather indicator to metro Phoenix residents who watched for a reading lower than 55, which meant they could run their evaporative coolers. The units providing low-cost cooling were common in neighborhoods across the region starting in the 1940s, but have been in sharp decline since the late '80s. Now the metal boxes atop homes are rare, done in by a combination of cheap and increasingly energy-efficient air-conditioning and the time and expense of maintaining the coolers. Arizonans steadily have moved away from using the sometimes noisy, always drippy evaporative coolers, even though they may reduce energy bills. Arizona Public Service Co. estimates that less than 10 percent of its customers use an evaporative cooler and that less than 3 percent rely on a cooler

Page 4 – AGA Newsletter ~ November 2010

without air-conditioning. In 1984, nearly half its customers had coolers and a quarter of them used them without an air-conditioner.

Salt River Project estimates that about 14 percent of its customers have evaporative coolers. Most residents who still use them are either extremely cost-conscious, handy at fixing the units, or both. Auto shops, gyms, warehouses and other industrial buildings with large areas to keep cool still commonly rely on cost-efficient evaporative coolers. Homeowners are a different story. "What we see most of is people that want to have the swamp coolers disconnected," said Vince Hunter, co-owner of Pro Energy Consultants in Phoenix, which conducts $99 home-energy assessments and weatherization work for APS customers.

"There are two kinds of people, those who understand how swamp coolers work, know that when the humidity is up and they can't use it, know to keep a window open to use it, and those people who think it's a nuisance. Certainly, there are people in the Valley that are pros at it, but a lot of people are getting away from it because they don't know how it works."

Evaporative coolers use water and a fan to cool outside air and bring it into a building, requiring less electricity than air-conditioners. In 1916, the Adams Hotel in downtown Phoenix tested an evaporative cooler, and they developed along with air-conditioners through the '20s and '30s. By 1940, nearly every Phoenix home had a cooler, about a decade before air-conditioners were standard.

Evaporative coolers struggle to cool homes in the extreme heat and humidity of July, August and September in the greater Phoenix area, so it was common for people to use air-conditioning then and rely on the coolers in milder months. "You would turn on your air-conditioning at your Fourth of July party," said Gerry Niskern, whose parents opened a cooler business in Phoenix in 1950. "Believe it or not, it used to be cool here by Halloween and you didn't need cooling." Niskern's parents would close up their shop and facility where they hand-made cooler pads in September, and reopen months later when people began to need new cooler pads.

Experts list many reasons swamp coolers - a term Niskern finds derogatory - have faded. New air-conditioners are much more efficient, which means people save less on their power bill by switching from air-conditioners to evaporative coolers. New housing developments are limiting coolers' use on roofs. And people are just happy to use an air-conditioner that rarely needs repairs vs. a cooler that needs rooftop service at least twice annually. "I think we have all gotten softer and are spoiled with air-conditioning," said Mike Donley, president of DonleyServiceCenter in Phoenix and Gilbert. The nights aren't as cool as they used to be, and evaporative coolers don't provide the same amount of comfort as they once did, he said. But most people just tire of climbing on the roof in the spring to clean and activate their cooler, and getting up there again in the fall to clean it and seal it off. Still, his company sold about a dozen evaporative coolers this year, mostly to people familiar with them from their childhood, not to people new to the technology.

Air-conditioners are more enticing to buyers, especially when energy-efficient models can qualify for a 30 percent federal tax credit for as much as $1,500 and rebates from APS that range from $175 to $525. Utilities don't offer any rebates for coolers. Evaporative coolers cost about $2,500 to $3,000, while new efficient air-conditioners run $6,000 to $10,000. Coolers require new pads, they use water, and some people rely on service technicians to clean them out annually, all adding to the cost. The higher the outside humidity, the less cooling the units offer, which is why they often struggle to provide comfort during the summer monsoon.

Some homeowners don't mind the maintenance, and many evaporative-cooler owners enjoy the energy-bill savings that come with a little elbow grease. However, for auto shops that are open to the outdoors and other businesses with big spaces to cool, the savings from evaporative coolers add up to significantly more. Coolers also work well in places that benefit from bringing in fresh air, such as gyms, as opposed to air-conditioners that recycle the same air. Arizona still houses manufacturers that design coolers specifically for these applications, which haven't seen the same decline as the household market. The Lincoln Family Downtown YMCA in Phoenix benefits from a large evaporative-cooling system on its building that supplements the air-conditioning system, bringing fresh air into the old brick building and helping the facility save money. Their energy bill peaks out at $30,000 a month in the summer season, and their Executive Director, Jeff Myers, says the Y wants to be a good steward of resources.

Phoenix's Dodge Theatre ….. in downtown Phoenix has been renamed Comerica Theatre. Comerica has signed a five-year naming rights deal for the entertainment venue located at 400 W. Washington St.financial items of the deal were not disclosed. The theater, which opened in 2002, is operated by Live Nation.