When I was growing up in the 1960s, my mother told me Phoenix was a much less class-conscious city than those back east. Consider Boston, where it was said, “The home of the bean and the cod, Where Lowells speak only to Cabots, And Cabots speak only to God.” Phoenix was more of a meritocracy. In the 1960s, Phoenix was largely a middle-class Anglo city.
Merit she had in abundance: A piano prodigy from the age of four, studied at the Eastman Conservatory, was a concert pianist — all before I came along. But we didn’t have money and things were always tight. Still, she and my grandmother raised me in a middle class neighborhood north of downtown, in the house on Cypress Street (above), long before this became one of Phoenix’s first historic districts.
And what she said was true. Our across the street neighbors and friends were wealthy, heirs to the Fred Harvey fortune, but they never put on airs. From the rich children in Palmcroft to the poor ones near Roosevelt Street, we all attended public school at Kenilworth.
This came with caveats, of course. Most of those now called people of color were consigned to shabby neighborhoods, barrios, and public housing projects. Their ability to rise was severely constricted, not least by poorly funded schools. And although Phoenix’s economy was more diverse, with many locally headquartered companies, many people were still stuck in lower-paying jobs with few ladders up.
It’s worth remembering that Phoenix and the Salt River Valley at the turn of the 20th century constituted the most ambitious “socialist” experiment in American history. The rivers were dammed, providing the reliable water for an agricultural empire. Residents took advantage of the Homestead Act and the statutes of the Bureau of Reclamation to purchase 160 acres inexpensively. The hope was to attempt, again, to create Jefferson’s vision of yeoman farmers and ranchers, the bulwark of our experiment in self-government and a classless society.
That worked only for awhile. My great-grandparents were beneficiaries and kept their farm for decades. But many others sold their land to farmers who assembled much larger parcels. Soon after statehood, men such as Dwight Heard were ambitious landowners and sellers. They became rich. This process only accelerated in the 1920s, when Phoenix became a small city and was finally reached by a transcontinental railroad. Some yeoman farmers hung on to their small farms, but they were joined by more bankers, doctors, lawyers, and businessmen.
The Jeffersonian experiment was dead.
By the Great Depression, Phoenix was a class-conscious city. Not as much as “back east,” but still with pronounced stratification. A soft segregation was practiced. Okies headed to California were encouraged by the police to keep going. The wealthy who survived the crash grew richer thanks to Arizona’s out-of-proportion help from the New Deal. One example was Del Webb, who went from a small contractor to a nationally prominent builder and the money this entailed.
Today, Phoenix is solidly separated by class more than race. For example, Arte Moreno lives in the toniest section of Ahwatukee, despite being a Mexican-America. He’s a millionaire who owns the Los Angeles Angels. But outside the historic district and north Phoenix, the city is increasingly poor Hispanic, trapped in poorly funded schools and crime-filled neighborhoods.
The people I went to high school with and stayed in metropolitan Phoenix likely live in the supersized suburbs such as Glendale, Peoria, and Surprise. They have decent jobs and economic mobility. Otherwise, as “Concern Troll” noted in a long-ago comment, Phoenix’s economy is largely dependent on tourism and retirees — and the low-wage people who attend to their needs. Throw in some semiconductor fabs and data centers, but you still have a metropolitan area that punches well below its size.
And class is everywhere.
Thanks for this update.
But one should read or re read your
“a soft segregation was practiced ” article on November 5, 2009.
A great in depth documented article.
You must have lived right up the street from where we were. We lived in the 300 block of west Cypress.
Class in Phoenix??
I’m guessing this exchange in Rodney Dangerfield’s movie “Back to School” would define class in Phoenix.
Rodney was an adult student and he wanted a teacher to go on a date with him. When he would ask her out, she would say “sorry I have class that night.”
Finally, Rodney delivered the famous line to the reluctant teacher,
“Alright then, just call me when you ain’t got no class.”
Historically speaking, Arizona and Phoenix were “the frontier” until just recently. It’ll be a while before class gets here.
Premise being Phoenix, there is disagreement pertaining to the statement, “most ambitious government movement.” Solving the nation’s housing problems were front and center.
Self government never had visions of a classless population. Concept neighborhood design such as Forest Hills Gardens, in New York, began life prior to WWI. Achieving diversity was based on what could to tolerated. Great consideration was given to make congenial members to those who held similar standards to their own.
Later urbanist community designs as Sunnyside Gardens in NYC, Radburn in nearby NJ to Green Hills in southern Ohio and Greenbelt, in Maryland, all had the government nod to exclude Asian, Black and Jew. Change did not occur in 1948.
There are volumes of studies, throughout each decade of the past century, regarding pleasure of those on the inside and resentment from the majority on the outside. Lower income populations will forever struggle.
So tired of the “the schools just need moar funding” line. It’s so obviously disprovable (BALTIMORE!!!) but nobody here will care.
Antony, Could you expand on your “Moar” funding.
There are some legislators that see no need to send to school females that have reached puberty.
Class – The system of ordering a society in which people are divided into sets based on perceived social or economic status.
Even the definition is troubling.
Economic is pretty cut and dried.
Perceived? Yikes, in these times we’re living through??
I knew East Van Buren hookers that had more Class than most politicians.
It was Road Runner that named me The Red Dude.
But even prostitutes practiced class distinguishing.
Local hookers always complained to the cops when “Internationals” came to town because of convention event and big sports events.
The difference.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
That’s so cool that you lived across the street from Fred Harvey’s relatives/descendants!
There’s a new play called “La Posada” being produced right now at Prescott’s Elks Theatre, and the ghost of Fred Harvey is one of the characters.
La Posada is a Winslow Arizona hotel.
According to some
“Fred Harvey is the man that civilized the West.”
Is the play in Prescott related to the Hispanic
Las Posadas.
Cal, the play in Prescott is centered on the three people who saved/restored the hotel in Winslow.
A play in Prescott about Winslow? OK, if you say so.
When Karen Fann attends the play do people behind her ask her to remove her helmet? Then she responds, “that’s not a helmet, it’s my hair with three cans of hair spray”.
Then do they ask her, “Karen, is it all that hair spray that caused you to ruin your entire legacy here in AZ by selling your soul to a New York con man”?
The play is at the Elks.
I cant go as membership requires mythical beliefs.
Rogue, this is not off subject cause it concerns Class in Show Low.
I went to the Elks Club in Show Low with a friend who was a member. The drinks were strong enough to knock out a bull elephant. Since the drinks were so generous, I left a larger than normal tip. I did this two weeks in a row. During week number three my friend and several other members pulled me aside and ordered me not to leave a large tip. They said it would spoil the help and that they would expect bigger tips from them.
If that ain’t class, I don’t know what is.
Economic and perceived.
I’m shocked that Show Lows main god allows alcohol to be served.
Probably in only Low Class places?
Note: NONES now are up to 30 percent.
Sure Cal,
SoCiEtY has spent approximately one hundred million billion trillion dollars on “education” and “dem programs” for “underprivileged” youth.
Baltimore’s schools, for example, lead the country in per pupil funding, and are among the lowest in achievement. It’s hilariously bad.
Thanks
$100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
Anthony are you sure about that figure or are you applying to be Trumps new property appraiser??
AzRebel, have you looked at the current season’s offerings of stage plays and musicals at ASU’s Gammage Auditorium?
Plays in Tempe about Nutbush (TN), Detroit, Paris, New York City, Connecticut, Kabul (Afghanistan), London, and Neverland? And zero plays about Tempe, Phoenix, or Arizona? OK, whatever.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Karen Fann in person during my many years living in Prescott. Perhaps she doesn’t get out much, what with all the soul selling and hairspray spraying.
The best plays are to attend the Arizona Legislature when in session
Farces are always fun.
Stupid people doing stupid things = endless entertainment.
Who knew they held plays and musicals in Gammage??
We thought the parking lot was for roller skating before going to the Spaghetti Company for dinner.
Did you know the building is shaped like the architectual symbol for a toilet?
Who knew it foretold our future with Grady Gammage and Arizona water fairy tales.
“Arizona fairy water tales”
YEP
You’re welcome Cal.
It’s a completely accurate number Helen. Not a funny joke either. -10 points. And I’m not even a Trump supporter.