Ann

Ann has lived in Phoenix for 76 years and remembered quite a bit about the mall and what the area was like before it was built. In the beginning she spoke about her parents moving separately from Tennessee in the 20s and 30s, respectively. Then she went on to describe her childhood neighborhood and how it was a nice place to grow up with lots of other children and nice foliage. Ann explains how, before Park Central was there, in the area of the dairy farm, there was a car-hop style restaurant that served hamburgers, hot dogs, milkshakes and a (she learned later) strip club with interesting lights. Then when the mall was built some people were unsure about it and were wondering why something like it would be built so far from where downtown was at the time. Once Goldwaters and Diamonds moved and so many specialty stores opened many people were willing to travel down to the mall. She remembers some of the stores she and her family members shopped at like Leonard’s Luggage and Tony’s. Ann remembered a mystery book lending library and the swirling underground entrance to the parking structure built beneath JCPenney. At the beginning of the second recording Ann is discussing Phoenix around the time the mall is built and the buildings and companies in the area. She mentions several movie theaters and the Carnation Milk company at Indian School Rd and Central Ave. She and her family came to Park Central to eat at Miracle Mile and Smugglers Inn. She and her mother came to shop at Goldwaters and Diamonds. Ann remembered coming to David’s shoes and that Bills records was very popular. Looking at the stores list she was able to identify and talk about El Rancho Market, Newberry's, One-Hour Valet, Lawsons Jewelry, Diamonds Tea Room, Chic Meyer’s house of television, House of Fabrics, and Godber’s gifts.

She is also able to identify Guggy’s, Hanny’s, Otto Schneider and Son and The Photo shop. She tells a nice story about Porters because she remembers a Porter's of Arizona that was in a different part of town that had one of the first escalators and she and her friends would ask their parents to go to Porters just so they could ride the escalator. From the 80s store list she says a bit about Green Woodpecker, Lane Bryant, Kinney’s, Kaye Jewelers, and Shavers World. When asked about the typical fashions of the day she described things like saddles shoes and crinolines beneath skirts to poof them out. According to Ann the mall was not really a place to hang out, there were drive ins for that. The mall was more just a shopping place where she would come for things like back-to-school shopping. Her favorite store in the mall was Goldwater’s and goes on to describe the saleswomen and atmosphere. She remembered some of the special events but didn’t go into to much detail. She stopped coming to the mall mostly because the stores changed or moved and other places opened up in other parts of town. Ann is looking forward to the revitalization and hopes the mall becomes more viable in the future.