It was serendipity.
There I stood, chatting with Wally, the volunteer in the Scottsdale Historical Museum (also known as the “Little Red Schoolhouse”), when Patricia Seitters Meyers wandered in with an armload of books–her books. On Scottsdale.
Meyers, an arts and entertainment writer for The Arizona Republic, wrote what could be considered the definitive history (aptly called “Scottsdale–Jewel in the Desert”) of this long ribbon of a town that bumps up to Phoenix in the west, Mesa to the east, Tempe to the south and desert to the north.
It’s a resort town now, filled with five-star resorts, fabulous golf courses and ritzy shops where, for the mere price of a Ford Thunderbird, you can buy a coffee table. But once, said Meyers, it was an agricultural town, citrus and cotton being the major crops.
“It was almost called Orangedale, or it could have been called Utleyville after the developer,” Meyers said. In which case, she added, “I don’t think it would have become a resort town.”
Instead, it was named for U.S. Army Chaplain Winfield Scott, from whose vision in 1888 Scottsdale sprang.
In its early days, it was said to draw people with “busted health, busted wealth or busted reputation,” Meyers said, chuckling. Now, it draws people who bask in “its climate, quality of life and the aesthetics of the mountains and the desert,” she said.
And some of its more hidden delights, as well:
Old Town: Right in the center of what Meyers calls a “swank and sunny city” of 153,000, there’s the nucleus of the town. Here, you’ll find Scottsdale’s oldest buildings and an Old West ambience as well.
On a leisurely 45-minute walking tour (you can pick up a map at the Chamber of Commerce located on the Scottsdale Mall in the center of Old Town), I basked in its history. The museum, which is on the mall, offered glimpses of the past via old photos. And, map in hand, I followed the trail to the town’s old buildings, among them: the Rusty Spur Tavern, which opened as a bank in 1921 and whose vault now holds booze instead of bucks; Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church, which was built by residents of the Mexican settlement in 1933 with volunteer labor and donated materials; and Cavaliere’s Black Smith Shop, the oldest business in the area.
George Cavaliere III still works much as his grandfather, also named George, did back in 1909 when the shop was founded. The senior Cavaliere fixed plows, made wagons and buggies, his grandson said, and there’s not much call for that these days. But he also did some ornamental work.
Old Town, which also houses City Hall, the library and the Scottsdale Center for the Arts in its mall, is on Brown Avenue, just off Scottsdale Road and between 1st Avenue and 2nd Street.
Buffalo Museum of America: This place is a grand surprise. Tucked behind the Dairy Queen in a strip shopping center on Scottsdale Road, this museum is an impressive tribute to the American buffalo. It’s the brainchild of Gemmie E. Baker, a South Dakotan who early on fell in love with the imposing beast and began collecting buffalo memorabilia.
His collection is meticulously and artfully presented in the two-story museum. There are life-size, fake buffalo (including a singing buffalo family) and a prop buffalo from the film “Dances With Wolves.” Against a vivid, lifelike mural of Buffalo Bill (Col. William F. Cody) and his bright-yellow ticket wagon, Baker displays Buffalo Bill’s Sharps rifle. There is a collection of things buffalo–fine art, belt buckles, banks. Baker also shows a film on the buffalo and the Plains Indian culture.
Located at 10261 N. Scottsdale Rd., the museum is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday (by appointment only on Sunday). Cost: $3 adults, $2.50 seniors, $2 children 6 to 17, free children under 6. Information: 602-951-1022.
Taliesin West: If architecture is your passion, you won’t want to miss this brainchild of noted architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Snuggled in the foothills of the McDowell Mountains, this complex of structures is where Wright lived, worked and taught from 1937 until his death in 1959.
Disciples still live (in tent structures of their own design) and study here; indeed, there is a cultlike atmosphere about the place. (“Someone needs to deprogram these people,” wrote a visitor from Kensington, Md., in the guest book). But the guided one-hour tours, which take you into only a few of the buildings, highlight Wright’s fascination with the desert world around him and how he used elements of it in his architectural designs: the rubble masonry, for example, which mirrors the clusters of rocks found throughout the Southwest, and his favorite orangy-red color found in the desert earth and rocks. Some of Wright’s eccentricities are also noted, such as his penchant for low doorways and hidden front doors.
In addition to the one-hour tours, there are also behind-the-scenes tours lasting three hours and guided, 90-minute desert walks.
Taliesin West is at 108th Street north at Cactus Road. Hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Admission is $10 adults, $8 students and seniors and $3 children ages 4 to 12. Tours are every hour. Behind-the-scenes tours ($25) are at 9 a.m. Thursdays, from October through May and 9 a.m. Tuesdays from January to May. Desert walks ($12) are 11:30 a.m. and 2:15 p.m. Monday through Saturday through April 30. Information: 602-860-8810.
Shopping: If you come to Scottsdale and don’t go shopping–window shopping, at least–you’ve missed an experience. The place is filled with unique stores and centers; several of the latter are fascinating architecturally, as well.
One of the most interesting is El Pedregal at the Boulders (one of the classiest resorts around). It almost looks as if it had been carved from the rock mountains that abound in the area. Inside, you’ll find some unusual shops stocked with a wide variety of goods. It’s at 34505 N. Scottsdale Rd.
Inspired by the Italian village of San Gimignano, the Borgata features gift, kitchen and clothing stores in a setting dominated by turrets, towers, fountains and a handsome piazza. From 1 to 6 p.m. Thursdays, you’ll find farmer’s market with things such as homemade biscotti and sourdough bread. It’s at 6166 N. Scottsdale Rd.
Main Street Arts and Antiques District is an inviting four-block section of town devoted to specialty shops, cafes and art galleries. It stretches along Main Street from Goldwater Boulevard almost to Brown Avenue.
Boutiques, art galleries and shops devoted to American Indian arts and crafts abound at 5th Avenue, a shopping area in the center of Scottsdale. It encompasses 5th Avenue, Marshall Way, Stetson Drive, Craftsman Court and 6th Avenue near Old Town.
More pedestrian-type malls are located throughout town; one of the most popular is Scottsdale Fashion Square, with everything from the Gap to Neiman Marcus. It’s at Scottsdale Road between Camelback Road and Highland Boulevard.
For information about Scottsdale, contact the Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce, 800-877-1117.
