Downtown Phoenix - The Old and The New

This is one of my favorite downtown shots.

I don't know the name of the old building seen in the reflection here of the tall Chase building.

Here's a mix of old and new with the old San Carlos Hotel just left of center.

More old and new.

I thought this was cool and stopped in the middle of the street to take this shot.  Five different different buildings are partially reflected in the varying angles of glass in this building.

And the big Chase building.  I don't know - I always knew it as the Bank One buidling and kinda like that name better.

One more look back at the old building dwarfed by new highrises.

Downtown Phoenix - Civic Space Park

Civic Space Park is quite unique and has won several awards.

This strange sculpture looks really cool when lit up at night. I'll have to go back one of these evenings and prove it.

 

 Looking up from below.

A little north of the park is a famous Phoenix landmark: 

 The Westward Ho

In its day it was the largest building west of the Mississippi River.  It was also THE place for visiting celebraties to stay; Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman to name a few.   Now a low-income Senior Citizen place, the lobby is still decked out and should be checked out.

ASU School of Journalism is to the east of the park.

Scott is conducting business while in the recessed coffee shop patio - still a part of the park.

The shade structures to the left (and unseen over top of the photographer) are made of old (recycled) conduit tubes. The concrete is permiable, allowing water to go through into the ground and not run off into the streets and sewers.  You almost have to see the power point presentation on the design and build of this little park to really appreciate all the forward thinking and planning that when on.

More Downtown Phoenix

Already over a week old, these pictures had best be getting to where they belong:

I'm afraid I don't know the names of many of the buildings. Most of them aren't that significant anyhow. I like the mix of nature and buidlings.  Hopwfully, by 2030 the Phoenix Tree & Shade Master Plan will have been completed and much more of Phoenix will have this approach.

as opposed to simply more buildings (and more 'heat island') in the future.

This is by the Convention Center. Or should I say, the newly remodeled Convention Center.

Here's the building above with the flowering agave refleted in the windows across the street at the main building of the Convention Center.

Here are some bouganvilla growing up through the shade structure for the ticket window.

Inside the Convention Center is a strange sculpture or light reflector of some sort.

As you walk past it you can see there is writing in the inside portion of the support arms.

'Art is a guaranty of sanity.'  Not sure I agree with that one, but I'm sure the artist was well-paid to place his or her opinion on the matter up there.

Downtown Phoenix

 

 
 

This is something I have been wanting to do and the other day someone else was driving in downtown Phoenix, so I grabbed the camera and shot some buildings we passed.  There are more I want to take, but this is kind of cool.

One thing I like is catching an old building reflected in the windows of a new building. I guess all the glass and reflections just make an interesting subject - to me at least.

This last one shows the sun reflecting off the building which is reflected in these windows.