Lost In The 60s

 Sun City, AZ   High 64  Low 48

Sun City, AZ was the first ever retirement resort built in the United States for the active, retired adult. When the Del Webb Development Company opened Sun City with the first five model homes on January 1, 1960, it was embarking on a drastically new concept. A community built strictly for retirees. 

A lot of people and potential investors thought it was a bad idea. Why would people give up their homes and neighborhoods to move to Arizona.  But in reality, thousands of people were interested in this exciting new world. 

Del Webb and his partner, Jim Boswell, had to wonder if anybody would show up on January 1, 1960 to see their five model homes.  By the end of the weekend, there were more than 100,000 people who had shown up to see what was being built out in the Arizona desert. They sold 237 homes that weekend alone. They had hoped to sell 1,700 homes in the first three years, but in the first year, a total of 2,000 homes had been purchased.  Gentlemen, you had a hit on your hands.

 

Del Webb has an amazing history and the Sun City Museum website has a couple of great links to information about his life and accomplishments. Well worth your time to check it out.  His partner, Jim Boswell, was the farmer who owned the land that eventually became Sun City. 

A couple of interesting facts about Del Webb - he was co-owner of the New York Yankees, he became one of the largest casino owners in Nevada, he built Pueblo Gardens in Tucson, and sat on the boards of 43 corporations.  And he built Sun City.

Now, with all this information behind us, the reason I know this stuff is because Paul and I visited the Sun City Museum. The museum is in the first model home that was built. 

 

The living room and kitchen have been kept as close as possible to what they would have looked like in 1960. How many of you see the home you grew up in (or your grandparents' home) when you see these pictures.

My mom had one of these jaguars way back when.

The Woman's Kitchen

My mom was not a fan of the pink so we had the light green in our house. Notice that pot on the stove, mom had one of those also. It a Guardian Service metal pot.

Golf carts of the past

Recognize these?

After spending more time than expected in this museum, it was lunch time. It's been almost a year since we were over on the west side of Phoenix, so it was time to return to The Touch of European Cafe (Hungarian/Polish) .

 This time Paul had the meatballs with mashed potatoes, gravy and green beans. I had the Hungarian pork goulash with green beans. It was fantastic. With lots of leftovers to take home.

If you ever find yourself in Sun City, I would recommend that you get lost in the 60's and visit the Sun City museum. And then I would recommend the Touch of European Cafe.