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The building was re-skinned, probably in the early to mid 70s. I wasn't there at the time but from the look of it, that's my best guess. I moved to Tucson in "93 and moved away a couple of years ago. In all that time, the Pioneer was a fully functional but uninspiring office building, nearly all traces of its history lost. In the last ten or so years, a little bit of money was put into restoring the street level facade. That's better than nothing, but the entire building remains mummified behind a nondescript skin.

Inside the building, there are places one can find a few traces of the past. I'm sure it could be restored but the landlord, like Tucson itself, is way more focused on income than history. That's one of the reasons I moved away.

I can remember that fire ...a horrible time in our city' s history . I believe was in mid December 1970 (?) Many lives were loss including of the prominent Steinfeld family , a long time icon of Tucson. The cause of the fire was investigated and showed to be an arson and later a young man was arrested and convicted . This fire was a shocked not just for Tucson but nationally. As I remember also the Tucson Fire Dept's ability to fight fires in high rise buildings needed to be updated with better equipment purchased as many new buildings were going up in Tucson mainly on the east side of town.
I think I may still have copies of the Citizen and Star newspaper about the fire packed away in a container in our garage since our move from Tucson a few years ago after moving there when I was a teen in 1965.
After the fire pretty much gutted the Pioneer Hotel a few years later the nearly empty building was reported by some to be haunted and reports of voices and strange noises was said to be heard . I am wondering if anyone ever investigated these reported hauntings ? Since I rarely went downtown before I moved I don't know what has become of the building . I heard that a few lawyers offices were opened on the lower level . Does anyone know more about the building ? And also the old Steinfield's Department store building?
-Deb

Ken , I thank you also for this info. There are several books I am interested in purchasing from that list for my collection on Tucson's and Southen Arizona history.

- DebKaye
============================

Hi,

Which issue of the AZ Highways is that fashion show in? I have every issue from 1949 through 1970.

Michael

Richard,

Thanks so much for the info!

Ken Ethridge
Rincon HS '66
UofA '72

--- In vanishingtucson@..., "kenethridge66" <ken@...> wrote:

I'm hard at work on my second novel in the "Old Pueblo Mystery" series. I need to get a character from Lordsburg to Tucson on a westbound SP train. Does anyone have access to train schedules from the early fifties? Or can you direct me to someone who does?
Thanks, Ken Ethridge

Ken,

you might consider contacting the Southern Pacific Historical
& Technical Society.



They should be able to provide you with the answers you seek.

--
Richard Kowalski

The Arizona & South Eastern Railroad
"The Copper Queen Route"

I'm hard at work on my second novel in the "Old Pueblo Mystery" series. I need to get a character from Lordsburg to Tucson on a westbound SP train. Does anyone have access to train schedules from the early fifties? Or can you direct me to someone who does?
Thanks, Ken Ethridge

Catherine,
Thank you for including the 1946 newspaper article info. At that time I can imagine there were many WW2 veterans in Tucson looking for work and new construction projects provided well needed jobs.
It is sad to know the El Parador will be closing . We had many dinners there and would sometimes treat our out of town visitors to their first taste of real Mexican cuisine.
It was an interesting in that old newspaper story when it said the parking lot of the new construction project would have room for 24 vehicles to lessen the congestion on Broadway.....what a difference that was compared to the what it's like now!!
-Deb

If you've seen the news, El Parador Restaurant at Broadway and Treat is closing after 40 some years. Since they had a little history about the restaurant, I thought I'd tell you a little bit about the building itself.

Go back in the Tucson Time Machine to March, 1946....

Walter Hartwig, Tucson interior decorator, will open an upscale shopping plaza at the southwest corner of Broadway and Treat. Designed by architect W. H. Carr, in cooperation with Mr. Hartwig (the paper said Cahn, but my research only showed a W. H. Carr), Country Club Plaza will feature a dress shop, beauty shop, children's shop, epicurean and candy shop, and a woman's shoe shop. It will be of modern style with a classical influence, white painted brick and projecting canopies, to protect the windows and the window shoppers from the sun.

M. M. Sundt won the construction contract and broke ground early last week. The center is laid out so that all shops face a flagstone patio. At present, two units will be constructed and each will house 5 shops. A third unit at the rear, forming a U-shaped building, will be added at a later date.

A feature of the new shopping center will be a landscaped and paved parking area directly in front of the buildings which will provide space for 24 cars, thus eliminating congestion on Broadway.

Completion of the new center is scheduled for mid-August or early September.

(Excerpt from Arizona Daily Star, March 10, 1946)

Sure hope that even with the drippy roof and any other construction issues, this building won't see the wrecking ball as so many other landmarks have. I'm going to keep my eye on it.

Catherine

John H ,
First, thanks for reminding me of that murdering
Charles Schmid Jr .... I was a teenager living on the SW side not very far from the desert area where he buried his first victims, I believe we're Gretchen and Wendy Fritz. My Mom put a tight rein on my sister and I during that awful time in Tucson. But I really wasn't upset about that as it was a pretty scary time anyway. He was such an egotistical diabolical character and it was a relief to know he died .
I think I have the Life magazine somewhere packed away that did a story about him. I have traveled and lived across the country a few times since I left Tucson in 2005 I still have things packed.

I don't go to Hardee's here very much even though its just a block or so away, I may use the coupons for their breakfast biscuits once in awhile but as far as their Mexican food menu... Yuck ! I wouldn't eat it if it was free. I don't know where they got the recipes but to me it's awful. When your use to 'real' Sonoran Mexican food anything else taste like dirt !
But I am a pretty fair cook and I can still make some great tamales and other dishes as I learned from my best friend in Tucson who was born and raised in Hermosillo. Not quite an expert like her but my Marine sons when they come to visit will ask me to make them my enchiladas, beans and rice. Here in AL where i live now we have a good size Latino population and some have opened up restaurants and bakeries, which my husband and I appreciate.
We love the sweet breads with our morning coffee on the weekends especially because they are fresh made and not the packaged ones at the stores that I notice most of those come from Texas. We came back here to be with some of my husband's older family members after I retired from nursing at the Tucson VA hospital and its a nice place where we live between Birmingham and Atlanta off the I-20 freeway. I have flew back to Tucson several times to see friends and I have seen the changes some good but some sad....but we think if we ever move back to AZ it wouldn't be Tucson, we like the area around Sierra Vista, Tombstone and also the Benson, Willcox and Bisbee area. I have family in Tempe and Chandler but that is too metro also. We are fortunate enough to have choices. I tell my sons we may just buy an RV and just move around but they don't like that idea at all. We also really love Kingman and also New Mexico. Sometimes I think the RV idea would be really nice. But of course we'd also want to be around Tucson, it kinda still stays in our heart. ;-)
-Deb

Deb,

The Speedway location (just east of the Lucky Strike Bowl) later became a Frankie's Pizza Palace (?) after A&W closed down. It is now a car sales lot...I guess cars on the lot have never gone away..the original building still stands! (Charles Schmid, Jr was the name you were seeking..aka the Pied Piper of Tucson)

Carl's Jr (the western US version of Hardee's) also has the "Green Burrito" option in many of their stores. In a word: BLEAH. Buy local..the "Mexican" food is much better when home-grown.

John H

Re: Spanish Trail

Bill wrote "...it looks like it's being slowly disassembled..."


The owner hired someone to take down bits of the sign as they were coming loose, for legal reasons. Mike

Thanks Ken !!
I was thinking that there was an AW out on Speedway, it's long gone now isn't it ? Use
to be popular for the Speedway cruisers back
in the day. The ' Speedway Killer' Charles ? , probably hung out there !
And John, thanks for the name ' Sandys' I could
remember Hardee's which we have here in AL,
they have the Green Burrito but I cannot stand their
'Mexican food' it's awful !! We do have some pretty good Mexican restaurants around but nothing can beat the places on S 4th Ave !! We miss that .
I can remember now the Sandys on South 6th Ave
their logo was the girl in a Scottish outfit .
Many moons ago a friend of mine managed the old
EL Taco out on West Ajo and she use to ask me
to come in to help sometimes as the Border Patrol
would call in orders of at least 50 or more bean burritos and double the amount of tacos. When they were transporting a bus load back to the border they would give each rider a burrito and 2 tacos. It
was great for her business but the BP always seem
to call at her busiest times and needed the food ASAP ... it was complete crazy at times !!! But I did
go help out and sure made a lot of those burritos
and tacos....but wasn't bad as she paid me off in
food and my family liked that .
-Debkaye