Downtown & Midtown Phoenix

On a rather hot January day, my bike went into the back of my TT - yes, it fits, and we drove down to one my properties in North Central Phoenix where the car was left. Instead of riding through the mountain preserve like I usually do I drove around it. The fact is that taking the same route over and over simply bores me after a while. That goes even from driving the same streets. That's usually a signal to move.

The weather was perfect and the sun blazing enough to drive people en masse to the local parks and the streets. I was surprised how busy it was.

(photo: Artur)

All downtown Phoenix parks were filled with people enjoying the city life, the weather, the dry summer grass that makes the parks look like wheat fields in the late…

Phoenix is lucky to have so many active people looking after it and most of us are lucky to have them and the resulting beautiful city that Phoenix is becoming after so many decades of wrong. Unfortunately past residents destroyed what would have made this city truly cosmopolitan: for instance Japanese flower growers in south Phoenix or China down in the warehouse district or the dozens of magnificent historic homes and icons of modernism that have been liquidated.

None the less what is left is, for the most, part, being preserved and often re-purposed. Urban life in Phoenix compared to just a decade or two ago is much better. The boom helped. 

One of those gems is the magnificent Japanese Friendship garden in downtown Phoenix. It is a 3.5 acre…

inPhoenix Realty Group represented the buyer in the purchase of this wonderful bungalow home in the Coronado historic neighborhood. The home was originally built in 1925 with extensive remodeling in the interim. An additional room was made in the attic: a nice feature for a small home as this. It is located really close to Coronado Park. 

Other Recent Sales in Coronado (From July 1st-October 5th 2011)

One of the most popular historic homes styles in Phoenix is the Tudor revival. You know the one often seen in the Harry Potter movies. Probably because has such defined characteristics and flair. Some of those unique characterized include multiple gables step wood or slate shingle roofs and gable dormers. These make the Tudor homes quite popular at the several home tours we have each year. 

Tudor revival homes tend to be more common in the older historic neighborhoods rather then the newer post 1940's: districts from between 1915-1940's which is also called the Period Revival Era. 

The most stately Tudor can be seen in Encanto Palmcroft, Los Olivos and also in Coronado, Del Norte Park, Earll Place, Fairview Place, F.Q. Story and a few…

Did you ever bite into something and said to yourself, OMG or at least your buds were perked like a buoyant spring flower when a bee sits on it? 

When the combination of ingredients, textures, smells all come together just right and nothing else, for the moment, seems to matter.

I'm not exaggerating about what I felt when I bit into a BLT - bacon lettuce and tomato - sandwich in Cartel at the downtown Phoenix location.

Crisp, juicy, fresh lettuce and tomato, thick buttery Sweet bacon: a crunchy euro style crust on the sourdough bread: ooh la la.

Cartel keeps surprising me from the awesome coffee, to the superb baked goods to the food. An unlikely place to good such goodness,  but it's here, it's local and worth the extra few quarters in the…

Good food is often found in the most unexpected places. I found the best breakfast burrito 2 years ago at Bomberos Cafe and Wine Bar, but it had closed recently for reasons other then good food. 

Left to look for a replacement I tried breakfast burritos in many other places and most were good, but ordinary. Then I finally took to eating something at Cartel Coffee which I frequent for their truly amazing high quality coffee including the rich flavor and unique coffee from the Clover machine which I highly recommend and which you'll need to drink there, not from a paper cup.

The burrito was fresh as can be, full of vegetables with the ideal crisp and soft ratio, eggs, bacon by choice, cheese and soft light tortilla. It was a perfect balance between…

Searching for something different, other then stucco tract homes, in Phoenix housing usually brings people to the Phoenix historic neighborhoods mostly in Central Phoenix, straddling downtown and midtown Phoenix.

If you want a sense of community that comes from established neighborhood that are walking friendly with bicycle routes, coffee places, local restaurants, parks and galleries then these are the places to be.
History, in this case is a selling point, an attribute, when combined with the many other unique characteristics of Phoenix historic homes and location create properties in great demand.

Let’s take a look at four Phoenix historic neighborhoods in more detail. These four neighborhoods are designated historic by the Phoenix Historic…

The light rail station at Indian School and Central Avenue is one where you can easily miss the next trail. It is filled with photographs of the areas history with photos from the early to mid century, often with a history from businesses and people who make this area what it is.  

It is a stop next to the Indian School Park on the East side and on the West an empty lot which only a year ago or so had a strip mall on it.  Now it's another vacant eye sore like so many that litter the area along the light rail: a lot awaiting better economic times.  Which means don't hold your breath.  

In fact, some of the art is very symbolic.  A mosaic in the sidewalk has been so worn one can barely discern it from the rest of the path and the light rail has…

If you like beer then the 2010 Oktoberfest coming this weekend should be excitement enough, but it's also the 200th anniversary of the original Oktoberfest in Germany which is unlike anything you'll see in Phoenix and should be on your list of things to do before you ______ (fill in the blank).  

I'm Polish so I should have a lot to gripe about the Germans.  The Polish and German history is one filled with conflict and distrust some of which continues to this day, but this is the minority: unfortunately some are politicians on both sided of the border.  The history is worth a read.  

Anyway we share a lot as well.  Women, sauerkraut, beer, sausage, potatoes, land, history, beer and beer.  

Oktoberfest is not all about beer, but that's what…