Downtown Phoenix ~ October 21, 2006

Our 16-year-old son Peter had to take his PSAT test on Saturday, October 21. The testing location in downtown Phoenix was about 50 miles from our house and we don’t get down that way very often, so we took the whole family along so we could do some stuff while we were there. During the time that Pete was taking the test, the rest of us explored the area while we were waiting for him.

Downtown Phoenix was pretty quiet on a Saturday morning. We drove past the Civic Plaza and it was all torn up for its expansion. We drove down Central Ave. and it was all torn up to put in the new light rail track. The Jewel Box on Central Ave. - which has been there for more than half a century - was gone! I wonder how long ago they closed its doors and why? Did the light rail construction hurt their business, or didn’t the pawn shop fit in with Phoenix’s community revitalization and economic development plan?

We discovered a Farmer’s Market near there, which was neat to see in the middle of the city. It’s called the Downtown Phoenix Public Market. A variety of vendors were selling locally-grown fresh fruits and vegetables, baked goods, ethnic foods, fudge, specialty items, crafts, etc. Pretty much everything offered for sale at the Market was grown or made by the person selling it. Look for the white tents every Saturday from 8 am - 1 pm at 721 N. Central (Central and McKinley). They even have a website, www.phoenixpublicmarket.com , where you can view the specials for that week.

We got a few muffins and then drove around looking for a nice park where we could sit and eat them. We drove past the Irish Cultural Center and around the corner to the Japanese Friendship Garden. It wasn’t open yet for the day, but we could peek in through the fence and in between the bamboo. It looks like a quiet, tranquil place with Japanese gardens, streams, waterfall and Koi pond. I don’t think they would appreciate a bunch of boisterous kids running around the paths, but I see on their website that they do offer school tours on Tuesdays and Thursdays: http://phoenix.gov/PARKS/jfg.html

Adjacent to the Friendship Garden was the Margaret T. Hance Park, which is a huge open expanse of green grass in the middle of Phoenix. The strange thing about Phoenix parks, at least the ones we went to, is that they don’t have any benches anywhere to sit on. Is that to keep transients away or something? As we got closer to the Burton Barr Central Library, there were some concrete benches where we sat for a while and watched some ants eat the crumbs from our bread. Then we decided to walk over to the library (see next post).