I wish this picture was bigger. When I try to enlarge it, it gets blurry. This is the Pink Sans Drive-in circa 1961. It was (and still is) located on 7th Avenue (now Lake Powell BLVD) across from the park. More precisely, it was located across the street from the pool at the park. Yes, there used to be a good sized town pool at the corner of South Navajo Drive and 7th Avenue. I spent many summer days there.
This is the way I remember the Pink Sans looking. It was all outside, covered seating with picnic style tables. Just to the right of this picture was the Chevron gas station and on the other side (in the direction the camera is pointing) was the old Sportsman’s Headquarters. It eventually became a laundromat and after that, who knows. I don’t know what’s there today.
The Pink Sans was like Al’s Diner on Happy Days. It was the place to hang out, so we did. I remember watching occasional high school drag races down 7th Avenue. The Pink Sans was the starting line for those races and it seems like First National Bank, on the corner of Elm and 7th Avenue, was the finish line. There were no traffic signals back then, and evidently, not much traffic either! I’m not sure where the police (they were called Rangers back then) were, but I don’t remember ever seeing any when someone decided to race.
When I hit high school, we usually walked to the Pink Sans to grab a deep fried burrito from Sue, who always seemed to be working there at lunch, followed by some kind of Hostess treat for 13 cents at the Sportsman’s Headquarters next door. Ah the good ‘ole days!
This aerial shot from 1960 or 61 shows the newly completed school buildings along South Navajo Drive at the intersections of Date Street and 5th Avenue. You can see a few church buildings springing up on church row at the top of the picture. Originally, that was called 7th Avenue but was renamed to Lake Powell Blvd a number of years ago. The teacher’s apartments are the long buildings on this side of 7th avenue. They’re no longer there. I guess someone thought it would be a good idea to round up all of the teachers and keep them in one spot for easy handling. Probably not a bad idea. Ha!
Ok, back to the picture. The oval shaped area on the left side of the picture is the football field and track. The bleachers are the small strip next to the field. I have a cool ground shot of the field and scoreboard that I’ll be posting soon. The area behind the bleachers was little more than a big sand pit used for football practice. I remember running wind sprints in full pads in that sand that seemed to be 4 feet deep. I get winded just thinking about it now.
I don’t know how these buildings are referred to now, but they were originally labeled by letter. The larger building on the left was A Building. The small one next to it was B Building (I know, pretty creative!). Both of these building housed the high school. The large building in the middle was the Gym (C Building) and the long one near the bottom was D Building. D Building was home to the junior high-ers and I think down to 3rd or 4th grade originally. I was in D Building when President Kennedy was shot. I was in 3rd grade, so it must have gone that low. What’s not shown in this picture is the old X and Y buildings that housed the 1st and 2nd grades for a few years. Those were to the right of this picture along 7th Avenue across from the Catholic Church. X and Y Buildings were long, temporary, wooden buildings where I started 1st grade. At the bottom of D Building, you’ll see a small fenced-in concrete slab that was called the playpen. We spent recesses out there playing anything we could play with a ball.
If I remember right, the square area just above the gym was blacktop. There must have been basketball posts there, but my memory of it is pretty sketchy. Cedar Street is just off the picture on the bottom left corner. Those two houses there are facing Cedar Street. We lived in the 2nd or 3rd house from Date Street on the north side of Cedar Street for a time. I remember listening to Beatles 45 records in the front yard.
It looks like there is still some construction going on with the Bureau homes in this picture, at least in the back yards and easement. The sand was always horrible during windy days and getting it under control seemed to be a constant battle. Check out the row of small trees there were planted in the front yards along South Navajo.
Does anyone else remember the school crossing guards that worked that corner of Date and South Navajo? They were older school kids who got to wear uniforms and carry big flags. When we got to the corner and needed to cross, they would lower those big flags to a 45 degree angle and walk out ahead of us to stop traffic (one on each side of Navajo Drive). I remember thinking how cool that was I wanted so bad to become a crossing guard. I wish I had a picture of them to show you.
For comparison, here’s an aerial view of the same spot today:
Does this building look familiar to my Page friends? It’s the old Green Thumb Nursery and the building that housed it was (is) located at 810 N. Navajo Drive. I don’t remember who owned it or who ran it, but I do remember peering in those windows a lot. If you can help add some background to this, please jump into the conversation and let me know.
This building eventually housed a fix-it/small appliance shop that always reminded me of Emmit’s Fix-it shop from the old Andy Griffith show. I don’t remember the name of that business but it may have been run by the Dolands. That sticks in my mind for some reason. Maybe Mrs. Doland just worked there, but I seem to remember her in there a lot. They also owned/ran the movie theater and Doland’s Curios Shop, which was located a couple of doors down from the theater. But I digress…
It seems like it sat closed for quite a while, but it eventually became Bella Napoli Italian Restaurant. No wonder I always liked their salads! Today, I think it’s called Bonkers. By the way, is that a Buick sticking its nose in the left side of this picture? It might be. Our family had one with that body style. If that’s a Buick, I’m not saying it was ours, but it could have been. Just sayin’. I’d sure take that pickup in a heartbeat though. And that VW bus would look real good in my garage!
Speaking of VW busses, here’s a shot of yours truly in 1974 filling up my bus at Specht’s gas station and car wash. This was located next door the Green Thumb Nursery building, across the street from what would one day be Stromboli’s. I don’t think Specht’s is there anymore, but if I’m wrong, let me know.
-Mike
Yours Truly with my VW bus in 1974. Photo: Susan Adams
The 3 Butler Buildings that housed Page schools in the late 1950s
These are the Butler buildings that served as the Page schools from 1958-1959 or 60. The permanent school was under construction and completed about 1960. These three buildings were located on the curve of South Navajo Drive. You can get a better feel for where they were located by looking at the bottom center of the aerial picture I posted [here].
The permanent school buildings were completed in 1959-60 and are located on South Navajo Drive, across from the Date Street intersection. These were originally called the A, B, C (Gym), and D buildings.
Yes, this is cool. This shot of the early Page business district is a sweet pic. I like the Firestone sign that reads, “Changeover to New Firestone Tubeless Tires Now!” Tubeless tires. What a concept, but I doubt it will catch on. lol. In addition to Firestone, you can see Page Jewelers (my mom worked there after it was moved to 7th Ave), and a locksmith shop. I can’t make out the two businesses in the middle. Maybe one of you can tell us what they were. Anybody? I’m diggin’ the cars though.
This business district was located on the corner of present day Aero Drive and N. Navajo Drive. It was between N. Navajo and present day Cathedral Drive, across the street from present day Fred’s Liquor.
If you scroll down and look at my previous post of the Froze in Time aerial shot, you’ll see an outcropping of buildings along 7th Avenue (present day Lake Powell Blvd). Babbitt’s and First National Bank of AZ occupied those buildings. That picture may have been taken before those businesses moved in, but they eventually found a temporary home there. I have some photos I’ll be sharing with you that show that.
This aerial view of the early town of Page captures a time long since past. This has to be 1957-58 or possibly early 59. I love how the paved road into town just stops and dirt takes over. The USBR warehouse is the rectangle building near the center of the picture. It’s still there today. The trailer court is the development across from it. The trailer court streets were named with letters.
We lived at the airport (right behind the hanger) and the street nearest us was P Street. I’m assuming the names started at A Street at the other end of the court, but my memory is fuzzy at that point. The buildings just below the trailer court near the present day corner of Aero and Cathedral (across from present day Fred’s Liquor and the old Warner’s Nursery) comprised a chunk of the business district. Firestone, Page Jewelers, and a locksmith shop were there. I have a picture I’ll be posting of it soon.
The group of buildings near the other corner of the trailer court (close to present day Lake Powell BLVD) included Babbitt’s and First National Bank. This picture may have been taken before those businesses occupied those buildings, but if so, they eventually found a temporary home there. I have a picture of those buildings I’ll be posting as well.
Just above those buildings is the MCS apartments. There are only a couple of streets there in this picture, so construction was still progressing.
On the right side of the picture, you can see some houses along N. Navajo Drive, Gum, Elm, and Fir Streets. There may have been a few houses built or being built along the north end of Date Street too. I don’t know if that’s the hospital on Vista and N. Navajo. I’m not sure when that was built. If any of you old-timers want to add anything by way of comments, please do.
Glen Canyon Dam Construction Site. Undated. Source is most likely the USBR.
Here’s an incredible shot of the Glen Canyon Dam construction site. The picture is undated, but it has to be pre-1960 or 1960 at the latest. This was probably taken just about the time we moved there, or a little before. This is looking downstream. The ropes (for those who are familiar with those) are just around the curve in the canyon. Page is to the left side of the canyon on Manson Mesa and the present day visitor’s center is on the right. The original visitor’s center was eventually built (“built” isn’t the right word – the original visitor’s center was a pre-fab building that was later moved into town and placed near the football field as the LARC center. I don’t remember now what that acronym stood for) on the left side of the bridge in this picture and there was a short road down to a lookout point. That road and the lookout point are still there, but chained off so no one can enter.
This is a sweet picture that captures a moment long since past, not to mention under water.
Check this out! Early construction shot of the dam site. The beehive is clearly visible near the center of the picture. The dark mesa on the left side of the picture near the top is the Page town site. There’s nothing there yet to speak of, but that’s either smoke or dust in the top left corner. It looks like there’s some building going on, but I’m not sure what it was. If you have any info you can add to this pic, please leave me a comment below.
Here’s something really cool. If you look close at the canyon in this picture, just this side of where the dam is to be built, you can see a tiny line across the canyon. I’m pretty sure that’s the footbridge I mentioned in a previous post HERE.
I received an email this week from someone who’s husband had started working there in February 1957, almost a year before this photo was taken in November, 1957. In December 1957, their whole family moved here. When we moved there in 59-60, their son and I quickly became best friends. I’m thankful we’re back in touch after all these years.
This is a rare color photo of Page taken in 1958-59 near the beginning of the construction of Glen Canyon Dam and bridge. You can see the airport in the distance (where yours truly lived, starting in 1960). The large rectangle area just this side of the airport is the Merritt-Chapman & Scott (MCS) trailer court. I had a paper route in that trailer court and there were some mean dogs in there that liked to chase paper boys on bikes. The buildings in the upper right of the photo are the MCS apartments on 8th an 9th avenue. It looks like they were still under construction since there’s only two rows of them.
The three buildings at the bottom of the picture were the Butler buildings that housed the Page schools until the permanent school was finished in 1959-60. The small buildings to the right of the Butler buildings were the old transit homes. These were all painted a hot pink and were initially there to provide housing for the construction workers.
The large rectangle building near the center of the picture is the US Bureau of Reclamation warehouse and is still there today. One of the first high school graduations took place inside that building in 1959. I have a picture that I’ll be posting of it soon. I’m not sure what the three white structures are in the top left of the picture, but the horse corrals and drive-in theatre were eventually built near that spot. I remember watching movies like Ben-Hur, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and The Greatest Story Ever Told (among others, but I don’t want to bore you) at that theatre. The drive-in was tore down quite some time ago.
The permanent school buildings are no doubt under construction at the time of this picture, but are off to the right and not shown. This is a good shot of Date Street and First and Second Avenue, which sat empty like that for years.
For an interesting comparison, compare this picture with the earlier one that I posted HERE.
