A LOOK BACK AT OUR 2015 TH SPECIAL 90 ANNIVERSARY ISSUE FIRST NINE DECADES APRIL ESCAPE • EXPLORE • EXPERIENCE editor’s letter ARIZONA HIGHWAYS PHOTO WORKSHOPS Celebrating 30 years of Photographic Excellence APRIL 2015 VOL. 91, NO. 4 800-543-5432 www.arizonahighways.com PUBLISHER Win Holden EDITOR Robert Stieve CAPTURE YOUR MOMENT MANAGING EDITOR Kelly Vaughn Kramer ASSOCIATE EDITOR Noah Austin Symposium & Expo EDITORIAL ADMINISTRATOR Nikki Kimbel The Story PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Jeff Kida November 7 & 8, 2015 CREATIVE DIRECTOR Barbara Glynn Denney ART DIRECTOR Keith Whitney of Our Life MARKOW PAUL Phoenix, Arizona DESIGN PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Diana Benzel-Rice MAP DESIGNER Kevin Kibsey ive hundred words. That’s all I get to cue up an issue that recounts nine PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Michael Bianchi decades of magazine history. It demands more, our “90th Anniversary ALAN ROSS Join Arizona Highways Photo Workshops and JACK DYKINGA WEBMASTER Victoria J. Snow Issue,” but even 4,000 words wouldn’t be enough, because the piece F an all-star cast of industry experts for two ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER, you’re about to read is unlike anything we’ve ever done. DIRECTOR OF SALES & MARKETING Kelly Mero The idea was pretty simple: Look back through the archive, bookmark CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Nicole Bowman days of inspiration and education. Seasoned some of the most interesting pages and tell our story. It was simple ... until we FINANCE DIRECTOR Bob Allen realized that it wasn’t so simple. In the course of 90 years, we’ve produced a instructors will lead more than 20 educational OPERATIONS/IT MANAGER Cindy Bormanis breakout sessions and individual portfolio lot of pages worth remembering. I don’t know how many hours we spent dig- CORPORATE OR TRADE SALES 602-712-2019 ging, but I do know that we went through every issue in our archive — there reviews. Keynote speakers will include Alan SPONSORSHIP SALES are more than a thousand in there — and ended up with a great collection of REPRESENTATION Kelly Mero old ads, maps, illustrations, fonts, logos, headlines, stories and photographs. Ross, Joel Grimes, Jack Dykinga and Guy Tal. Director of Sales & Marketing In all, we tagged more than 800 pages, and the best of what we found is 602-712-2019 presented chronologically inside. As you’ll see, we’ve come a long way since EARLY BIRD SPECIAL AVAILABLE THROUGH THE END OF APRIL. 1925, when we ran ads for road graders and published stories about bridge JOEL GRIMES GUY TAL LETTERS TO THE EDITOR [email protected] construction. You’ll also see that things got a lot more interesting in 1938, FOR MORE INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION CONTACT US AT 2039 W. Lewis Avenue Phoenix, AZ 85009 when Editor Raymond Carlson and Art Director George Avey came along. Of WWW.AHPW.ORG | 602-712-2004 | [email protected] all the names in our storied history, theirs shine the brightest. They’re the GOVERNOR Douglas A. Ducey founding fathers of a magazine that would go on to make publishing history in DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT 1946, get banned in the Soviet Union in 1965 and share the beauty of Arizona OF TRANSPORTATION John S. Halikowski with readers in all 50 states and more than 120 countries around the world. ARIZONA TRANSPORTATION One of those readers is Shannon Boomer. About a year ago, Shannon called BOARD CHAIRMAN Kelly O. Anderson me and asked if I’d like to have her grandfather’s typewriter. “YES,” I said, VICE CHAIRMAN Joseph E. La Rue in all caps. “Are you sure?” She was sure, and today that old Underwood sits MEMBERS Stephen W. Christy William Cuthbertson on a small table in my office, the same office where George Avey — Shannon’s Deanna Beaver grandfather — typed letters to Ansel Adams, Esther Henderson, Ted DeGra- Jack W. Sellers zia and a long list of other notable contributors who have graced our pages. Although we’ve had our share of impressive bylines over the years, includ- Arizona Highways® (ISSN 0004-1521) is published monthly by the Arizona Department of Transportation. Subscription price: $24 a year in the U.S., $44 ing Ed Mell this month, it’s the names you never see that have made Arizona outside the U.S. Single copy: $4.99 U.S. Call 800-543-5432. Subscription cor respon dence and change of address information: Arizona Highways, P.O. Highways one of the most respected magazines in the world. I only get 500 Box 8521, Big Sandy, TX 75755-8521. Periodical postage paid at Phoenix, AZ, words for this column, so I can’t individually recognize the hundreds and and at additional mailing office. CANADA POST INTERNATIONAL PUBLICA- TIONS MAIL PRODUCT (CANA DIAN DISTRIBUTION) SALES AGREEMENT NO. hundreds of men and women who have worked behind the scenes over the 41220511. SEND RETURNS TO QUAD/GRAPHICS, P.O. BOX 875, WINDSOR, ON N9A 6P2. POST MASTER: Send address changes to Arizona Highways, P.O. past nine decades. However, I do have enough words left to acknowledge my Box 8521, Big Sandy, TX 75755-8521. Copy right © 2015 by the Ari zona Depart- team, which powered through this project the way Hannibal marched over ment of Trans­­por­­tation. Repro duc tion in whole or in part with­­out permission is prohibited. The magazine does not accept and is not responsible for the Alps. un solicited ma ter ials. Barb, Diana, Jeff, Keith, Kelly, Nikki, Noah ... that’s the crew that makes PRODUCED IN THE USA this magazine come to life every month. They’re a tireless and talented team © Suzanne Mathia © Suzanne of professionals, and they’re passionate about the history of Arizona Highways. They’re passionate about the future, too. Although we’re all happy to have FRONT COVER A painting by Phoenix-based artist Ed Mell made it to 90, we’d like to live to be 100. We hope you’ll join us. sums up the varied beauty of Arizona. Proudly Sponsored by BACK COVER Long before interstate highways came along, this whimsical state map by longtime Arizona Highways Art ROBERT STIEVE, EDITOR Director George M. Avey appeared in our August 1940 issue. Follow me on Twitter: @azhighways 90TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE 1 It was a good year. Nineteen twenty- five. The Great Gatsby hit bookshelves, the Grand Ole Opry transmitted its first radio signal, and Leica marketed the world’s first 35 mm camera. It was a good year for birthdays, too. Born that year were Paul Newman, Margaret Thatcher, Johnny Carson, Robert F. Arizona Highways: 1925-2015 Kennedy and a magazine called The New Yorker, which published its first issue on February 21, 1925. A few weeks later, in April, Arizona Highways made its debut. Like The New Yorker, we’ve changed TH A LOOK BACK AT OUR a lot over the past 90 years, and SPECIAL 90 ANNIVERSARY ISSUE FIRST NINE DECADES you’ll see some of those changes in ESCAPE • EXPLORE • EXPERIENCE this retrospective. It wasn’t always pretty. But, all things considered, we think we look pretty good for our age. Written by Robert Stieve / Layout & Design by Keith Whitney 2 APRIL 2015 9090THTH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE 3 THE 1920s 1926 This photograph accompa- nied an article by district engineer W.R. Hutchins titled Through the Land of Opportunity. The three-page feature (authored in a voice not surprising for a district engineer) explored Southern Arizona’s population boom. When you’re publishing a trade journal e’ve come a long were editorials with headlines such as for highway engineers, it makes sense way since our Why We Should Have Surfaced Roads (at the to remind them of their creed, and that’s what we did on every back debut issue in April time of our first issue, only 2,000 of Ari- cover in 1926. Note the assertion that 1925. Although zona’s 22,355 miles were paved). In 1929, “transportation is the keystone of the there were random another editorial urged automakers “to structure of civilization.” samplesW of traditional travel journal- eliminate car horns,” arguing that “they ism in the black-and-white 1920s, for only aided speeding lawbreakers.” the most part, Arizona Highways was a Frankly, the early years weren’t very trade journal aimed at road engineers interesting by today’s standards, but and intrepid travelers trying to get from 1925 Arizona Highways’ first cover, from April those limited travelogues — one each Point A to Point B. As founding editor 1925, featured a photograph of Federal Aid month featuring “one of the 18 main Today, a Caterpillar bull- Vincent J. Keating wrote in our premiere Project No. 72, White Spar-Congress Junction routes in the state” — did offer an dozer will cost you a pretty Highway in the Prescott National Forest. issue: “The inauguration of Arizona High- intriguing perspective on the places we penny, but back when we ran ways is the first big step forward to tell still feature today, including the Coro- this ad in December 1926, the people of Arizona and other states of the work being done nado Trail, the Grand Canyon and the Hopi mesas. prices ranged from $1,850 by the Arizona Highway Department.” The first issue, by the way, was 28 pages, including ads, for a 2-ton model to $5,000 Along with mileage charts, maps and reports on road condi- and the newsstand price was 10 cents. Only 1,000 copies were for a “Sixty.” This full-page ad, which appeared several tions, the pages included ads for road graders, asphalt paint printed, meaning only a handful of readers saw the magazine’s times in 1926, was typical of and corrugated culverts, among other things.