With the start of a new year, it seems fitting to begin to think of all the awesome new projects and self-improvement plans you'll put your self on.
I've been lost in thought reflecting on 2012. What a big year. I moved back to Arizona, graduated from college, fell in love, built my own little piece of Sunland in the desert, and have eased right back to the place I grew up.
Seeing as recently moved back to Arizona, I've thought a lot about how much Tempe has changed. Mill Avenue (circa 1996-ish) used to be a real cool place to hang out. You could walk around and see people you knew, watch local bands, and sit and talk all night over a small cup of coffee. Earlier today, I was driving by the fancy wrought iron walls they built next to the old flour mill, I couldn't help but laugh when I saw a picture of the Gin Blossoms and Long Wongs. For those of you less familiar with Tempe, I'm just going to flat out state that Tempe is celebrating Long Wongs'
contribution to Arizona after the city strangled this business off of
Mill Ave. The Gin Blossoms floated into obscurity long ago. Long Wongs used to house a lot of local bands, including Tempe's precious Gin Blossoms (as well as Dead Hot Workshop, The Refreshments, and Meat Puppets). There were many nights, at the tender age of 15, I'd go watch bands through the window at Long Wongs. The bands that played at Long Wongs were usually not my cup of tea, it was a lot of grunge and I was into indie pop and punk at the time. In fact, it was often said that Tempe's music scene was like Seattle, which in hindsight is laughable but it paints a nice picture of how much grunge was embraced in these parts.
All of this was before they filled up Tempe Town Toilet with water. Tempe didn't smell so bad back then. This was back when we used to get into trouble with TEAM by fooling around on the rubble of the old Ash Avenue Bridge. It was the push to make Tempe a cleaner, wealthier city that made Mill Avenue boring. Borders came in (and left not long after), the Laird and Dines building became a Hooters and McDonald's, Starbucks moved in, and they filled only the Tempe part of the Salt River with water making a big stinky, festering "lake" of standing water. I'm convinced that the lake and Mayor Neil Giuliano are responsible for taking away a lot of the things I liked about Mill Avenue.
Now the Downtown Tempe/Mill Avenue area has towers of condos, ghosts of corporations past (Borders, McDonalds), and a JumboTron to boot. While Hooters, Urban Outfitters, and Starbucks have made Mill Avenue their seemingly permanent home, there's still a revolving door of bars, ice cream shops, and quasi-upscale boutiques that give Mill Avenue very little character. It has become the norm to see urban decay that is only 5 to 10 years old.
In 2013, I'd like my beautiful neighborhood to have a little more character. So I guess that's one of my 2013 goals. We aren't as prosperous as we once were, now is the time to take it back, let's make Downtown Tempe strange again.
I've been lost in thought reflecting on 2012. What a big year. I moved back to Arizona, graduated from college, fell in love, built my own little piece of Sunland in the desert, and have eased right back to the place I grew up.
Seeing as recently moved back to Arizona, I've thought a lot about how much Tempe has changed. Mill Avenue (circa 1996-ish) used to be a real cool place to hang out. You could walk around and see people you knew, watch local bands, and sit and talk all night over a small cup of coffee. Earlier today, I was driving by the fancy wrought iron walls they built next to the old flour mill, I couldn't help but laugh when I saw a picture of the Gin Blossoms and Long Wongs. For those of you less familiar with Tempe, I'm just going to flat out state that Tempe is celebrating Long Wongs'
contribution to Arizona after the city strangled this business off of
Mill Ave. The Gin Blossoms floated into obscurity long ago. Long Wongs used to house a lot of local bands, including Tempe's precious Gin Blossoms (as well as Dead Hot Workshop, The Refreshments, and Meat Puppets). There were many nights, at the tender age of 15, I'd go watch bands through the window at Long Wongs. The bands that played at Long Wongs were usually not my cup of tea, it was a lot of grunge and I was into indie pop and punk at the time. In fact, it was often said that Tempe's music scene was like Seattle, which in hindsight is laughable but it paints a nice picture of how much grunge was embraced in these parts. All of this was before they filled up Tempe Town Toilet with water. Tempe didn't smell so bad back then. This was back when we used to get into trouble with TEAM by fooling around on the rubble of the old Ash Avenue Bridge. It was the push to make Tempe a cleaner, wealthier city that made Mill Avenue boring. Borders came in (and left not long after), the Laird and Dines building became a Hooters and McDonald's, Starbucks moved in, and they filled only the Tempe part of the Salt River with water making a big stinky, festering "lake" of standing water. I'm convinced that the lake and Mayor Neil Giuliano are responsible for taking away a lot of the things I liked about Mill Avenue.
Now the Downtown Tempe/Mill Avenue area has towers of condos, ghosts of corporations past (Borders, McDonalds), and a JumboTron to boot. While Hooters, Urban Outfitters, and Starbucks have made Mill Avenue their seemingly permanent home, there's still a revolving door of bars, ice cream shops, and quasi-upscale boutiques that give Mill Avenue very little character. It has become the norm to see urban decay that is only 5 to 10 years old.
In 2013, I'd like my beautiful neighborhood to have a little more character. So I guess that's one of my 2013 goals. We aren't as prosperous as we once were, now is the time to take it back, let's make Downtown Tempe strange again.
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