Phoenix & Scottsdale

travel videos & photos at: townsofeurope.com/ with text, maps & links.
Museum of Northern Arizona,then we head south to Phoenix, visiting downtown, Heard Museum of native arts and history. In Scottsdale we visit the Phoenician Resort, an ultra-deluxe property, then have a look at various shopping malls and the old downtown, and enter the Scottsdale Historical Museum.

[@octaviobecerril3379]

Muy lindo esta Phoenix AZ

[@song8777]

FYI-If you call the city of Tempe, TEMpay, people will wonder what you're talking about. Here in AZ, we just say TemPEEEE. :) Great video! I'm a native Arizonan (an oddity). It shows where I live and places where I've worked. Btw, LOTS of hotels in downtown Phoenix, too. Hotels everywhere in the Valley of the Sun. I don't even have to leave home to go on vacation. Welcome visitors!

[@seasands9644]

Thank you for the brief view of Borgata...That is a beautiful area of Scottsdale which no one shows in the vids. You might want to show The Princess, PGA golf course, Lamborghini car sales etc. in North Scottsdale! So much there. Boulders is awesome also. The smog is very bad there now.

[@denniscallan]

Thanks for that -- I did just kind of blow through your state in a week, not trying to be an expert, but love that canyon! And Sedona! and Phoenix, exciting city with much going on.

[@khunopie9159]

Good job D-man!

[@GReid-ol5gk]

Arizona is great

[@vinny57ish]

Hello Dennis, I would like to say in a quick note thank you for sharring and the video tour of the Phoenix area, this for me has been great sense im looking to move soon into the Phoenix area from here in the next state to the east New Mexico, Oh one thing to share with you sence your publish of this, Phoenix is now Americas 5th. Largest city following very close to Houston Tx.Again thank you for the post.

[@konsent21]

Love Phx

[@panaforce]

Nice video

[@mattbernabe]

Great job on the video. We're actually the 5th largest city in the U.S. Phoenix that is.

[@Florindamedi]

Bella ciudad me trae buenos recuerdos...lastima que el calor sea demasiado fuerte...lo demas es super maravilloso

[@duantehobbies3663]

Should have went to Glendale...Cardinals Stadium is there

[@ACT102100]

ha ha, I love how he pronounces Tempe.

[@AtomicAgePictures]

Great video! I do hate to break the illusion, but old town Scottsdale was built in the 1950's by the Scottsdale chamber of commerce to try and pull some tourists away from Phoenix. In the 1890's, Scottsdale was nothing but miles and miles of dirt and cactus.

[@wolfpak8228]

Grown to large for the resources

[@martinkent333]

In Phoenix, many of the parents ignore traffic laws with their children. Many of these parents are civil servants. Youth in Arizona deserve law-abiding, ethical and conscientious civil servants. Their future depends upon it. Let's double traffic fines in capital cities and watch long overdue, law-abiding streets and adults appear, in Phoenix.

[@duantehobbies3663]

Oh and you would never here anybody in the Phoenix area say Tempaaay...its Tempeee..

[@carrob704]

I especially loved the way he said "WHO-mas" for hummus;)

[@timward3116]

A lot of good can be said for Phoenix, and a lot of not-so-good can be said for it. As an Arizonan for almost 40 years, I know a bit of the history and many of the problems. Life in Phoenix if very convenient (at least for those who make enough money). The roads are wide and logically organized, but the traffic is dense and the drivers drive as though there are no traffic laws. The sun shines most days of the year and the temperatures are great, but the air is brown. The art museum is VERY good (bordering on excellent by any standard), but the architecture downtown is impressive only in its artlessness and apparently intentional nondescriptness. Almost every home built in the last 30 years is one of three shades of brown stucco, ranging from the color dirt to the color of three-day old road apples -- and they're almost all on small lots. Public transportation, despite the introduction of the light rail, is about a century behind the likes of Chicago and other major cities that developed up instead of out. The historic neighborhoods downtown - Willo, Coronado, Roosevelt and some others are charming and beautiful -- but go beyond them and for many miles all you will see is slums and junkyards. Still, it is home... and I do appreciate it. It ain't the most purdy city, to be sure, but it's the one I'm hitched to. Giddyup, Mabel!

[@WweRKOcoiledvoices]

Tim Ward you refer to slums and junkyards... but I honestly ask myself witch ones are the worst, the ones you can see, or those hidden ones. I live in the Netherlands and there is a lot of hidden poverty... yes folks looove our country, but don't see how false politics here shit on students- only the rich few can afford to study now- or the elderly - who are neglected till they die...and to meet the ends, a lot of folks rely to food distribution centers , simply because they can not buy food anymore... you probably won't see poverty here, but under a thin surface, its even more worse than you can imagine....

[@timward3116]

WweRKOcoiledvoices Very good observations! I have never been to the Netherlands, but I did live in Ireland (Cork City and Dublin) for more than a year many years ago (before the Celtic Tiger years) and it was tough, to be sure. There is a lot of hidden poverty here, as well. People struggle tremendously, but the slums here are dirty, dangerous places. Because this state is run by Republicans, the work force is paid almost nothing and government benefits are almost non-existent. All of this occurs right beneath the noses of the wealthy folks who look down on us from their mansions on the mountains. We live in an era where the wealthy are working the normal people to death and fighting against any sort of fair distribution of wealth. It is happening, apparently in the Netherlands. It is happening in Ireland. And it is happening in the United States (in some states more than others). One day, though, people will have to resort to the tactics of their great-grandparents' generation. But they'll have to stop playing with their cell phones, first.

[@timward3116]

WweRKOcoiledvoices I used to have a job in a town called Scottsdale, near Phoenix. In and near the north part of Scottsdale is where many of the rich live. They drive Mercedes and BMW's, and they'll try to run you off the freeway if you're driving a normal car. They don't believe that laws apply to them, and they think that they're more important than everyone else. And even worse, they think that they deserve all of their money, fast cars, and mansions. They think that they earned it! I know what you mean. I think that they are either ignorant or evil or both. Slavery never really did end in this country. It changed form, but it didn't end.

[@WweRKOcoiledvoices]

Tim Ward I can assure you, NOT everyone who drives a Mercedes is like that! I just look in my own household... we have a Mercedes, - lease- just because its a car you can trust , instead of French cars...- because we drive many many miles. And all those folks who think they are 'king of town' ...its just to hide their own insecurity and lack of self confidence... if you work hard, and believe in what you do, you always have the last laugh... btw, how funny that you worked in Scottsdale, we will probably move there in july/august this year...because the company send us there. I am very curious about living there...probably with the 'rich' folks, lol but I don't care because I like to talk with folks from everywhere, and americans are always a bit locked up, only connecting with other americans is what I know... correct me if I am wrong...

[@timward3116]

WweRKOcoiledvoices I think that your observations about Americans being "locked up" is accurate regarding those that have the money to travel abroad. I've heard that from other people, too. When you get to Scottsdale, you will find that most of the people will be polite and friendly. The employees of the shops and resorts are generally very nice and professional (my brother, who has been around the world on business, told me that our resorts here are among the best he's seen). Many of those employees actually live in less affluent parts of the Phoenix area, however, since they are not paid enough to live close to their work. Shop owners will also be very nice -- since they need to make a living and are generally small-business owners. My complaint about many who live in NORTH Scottsdale, Fountain Hills, Cave Creek and other wealthy areas, however, is that they are arrogant and crooked. You might not meet many of them, though. Scottsdale (I'm sure you've probably watched videos on KZbin) is not really an "Old West" town, despite its slogans and advertising. "Old Town Scottsdale" is really only a few decades old, and was built with all of the authenticity of a movie set. The restaurants are very good there, though -- and if you don't mind the fact that the place has no history that goes back more than 50-100 years, you will probably be able to enjoy it. South of "Old Town" Scottsdale is the poorer part of Scottsdale -- where the people who live there are generally less plastic and crime is somewhat higher. South Scottsdale, however, is not far from the university in Tempe, and Tempe is a great place if you like young people, the arts, and a slightly counter-culture vibe. As is probably true of many places, Phoenix/Scottsdale and the nearby areas are fun places to visit but difficult for many to live in. But, if you move here and you have a good income, the better parts of the Phoenix area (including Scottsdale) are really great. I would never live in north Scottsdale, though, even if I could afford to. I have chosen to live in a modest home in a pleasant relatively inexpensive part of the Phoenix metro area. Regarding Mercedes and BMW drivers in this country, Stanford University studied their driving habits. The study showed that they are much more likely to cut people off, drive through crosswalks when pedestrians are crossing (which is illegal) and speed. In this country, they are rude as hell. And most of them are rich compared to drivers of less expensive cars. So that is just part of how I draw my conclusions about the wealthy in and around Scottsdale. I've frequently nearly been run off the road for simply putting my turn signal on and trying to change lanes. In Arizona, the people who drive those kinds of cars are generally little better than animals, and they have no regard for traffic laws (and probably other kinds of laws, for that matter). The weather here is almost always good, and the air is almost always filthy. I've been here more or less for 40 years, and I've seen the area grow tremendously in population, crime, and dirty air. Phoenix is now the fifth (or sixth) largest city in the United States, and its metropolitan area ranks, I think, twelfth -- so we've got many of the problems of big cities. Hope all that helps! If you need any specific advice, feel free to ask. Maybe I'll know the answer. What part of the world are you writing from?