Arizona's First Synagogue

 Still Beautiful In Tucson

After our really good lunch, we had one more stop before calling it a day. This stop was heart wrenching.

Jewish Museum and Holocaust Center

The JMHC has a multi-faceted mission of educating about the Holocaust and other genocides, exploring the legacy of Jewish experiences in Southern Arizona, preserving the first synagogue in the Arizona Territory, and collaborating with Tucson's diverse community to promote human rights.

The first synagogue built in the Arizona Territory (1910) located in Barrio Viejo. 

 

I really don't have much to say about this visit because it is such an emotional visit. One of my very best friends is a Jew whose mother was in a concentration camp. She has told me that her parents did not talk about the war and she doesn't either. I understand. 

We arrived in the middle of a tour so we joined them. The guide was giving a presentation on the reasons why the Jews moved from New York and Pennsylvania to southern Arizona. One of the reasons they moved here is the same as many of us live here especially in the winter. They came for the sunshine. 

 

My back was really complaining at this point (it is better now) so Marilyn went on to the Holocaust portion of the museum while Pat and I sat in the pews. She said it was quite dark but she took a few pictures for me.

 

After the huge lunch we had, none of us were hungry for dinner so we just munched on whatever we could find. Tomorrow we head back home with two more stops to make. 

 

Stamps and Drugs

Tucson  Just a beautiful day. No rain.

First of all, thanks for your concern for my back. I had my massage so I'm sore but I can tell it's not as tight. Another appointment in two weeks. And NO lifting. 

I love finding small museums that aren't the usual type of historical museum. I found two of them that I thought could really be interesting.

Philately - noun definition - the collection and study of postage stamps

"The Postal History Foundation was established in 1960 by Bill Alexander. His idea was to establish an organization that studied and promoted research of Arizona and Western postal history." 

 

The museum has an 1890s postal station, a huge library (over 30,000 books), a stamp store, and it is also an operating post office. 

Libby wanted to be part of our tour.

One of the major goals of the Foundation is to teach K-12 students subjects like geography and history using stamps. The volunteers were really knowledgeable and very eager to share their love of stamps with us. 

I was never into stamp collecting. In fact, I've never really been a collector. So I found a place to sit and listen and let Pat and Marilyn do most of the looking and asking question. They always ask great questions. It's interesting to see how differently the three of us approach the places we stop. And I learn so much.

 

A glimpse into just a small portion of the library.

I've done it again (and I still don't know what it is) but everything is being centered. 

Now For The Drugs

Many years ago, when Jim and I were still full time RVers, we stopped at a Pharmacy Museum in Virginia, The Hugh Mercer Apothecary.   I really wanted to stop because Mercer is my maiden name. But the the people at the Apothecary were dressed in period costumes and the tour we had was really fun. So I found a Pharmacy Museum in Tucson. The Coit Museum located in the R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy.

e museum

This museum has one of the world's leading collections of pharmaceutical artifacts. 

It took us awhile to find the museum. Most of the people we talked to weren't even sure that such a thing existed let alone how we could find it. But we persevered and finally success.

I always find an organization's Vision statement interesting. Coit's was no different.

"The Coit Museum aspires to create an authentic and engaging experience that broadens perspectives about the histories of pharmacy and health sciences for everyone."

I truly thought we would be the only people there but there was another group and we were told we could join their actual tour. But we decided to go it alone and we're glad we did. We found another docent who is a retired pharmacist and thoroughly enjoyed being a volunteer. I should have recorded some of his stories. The pictures show you some of the artifacts they have.

The museum began in 1966 with Jesse Hurlbut, a pharmacist and hobby historian. He collected all things pharmaceutical for decades and when he retired, he donated his collection to the University of Arizona Pharmacy College. For 55 years the museum had a highly unusual layout Exhibits were spread throughout the building in hallways and lobbies. In 2021 alumni R. Ken Coit donated the money for the space where the collection could be together in one space. Some of the older exhibits were left where they were because they would have been hard to move. 

Some of the items in the collection are the Upjohn Pharmacy collection that was located on Main Stret U.S.A. at Disneyland from 1955 to 1970, an Old Time Drugstore with a counter we could sit at, a large array of beauty products and so much more.

We asked our tour guide to recommend a place for lunch. He suggested we go to the Guadalajara Grill. It was busy but the food was really good. This woman comes over to your table to ask if you want her make your salsa for you. Now that was really good. Pat and Marilyn also had guacamole which they loved.

 

This post is long and we have two more stops that will be in the next blog post.

Tucson - Part Two

 Now where were we? Finishing lunch at Beyond Bread.

Before I go any further, I need to tell you how stupid I can be. I had done a grocery pick up that included two 25 lb bags of water softener salt. I needed to get those out of the trunk of my car so there is room for suitcases. I foolishly thought I could move those bags even though a part of my brain said DO NOT. I got my two wheeled cart out of the shed and I wrangled one bag into the cart. My back wasn't happy but I got the bag over to the softener unit and when I tried picking it up out of the cart, I knew I had done something wrong. I must have twisted wrong when lifting but I don't know. All I knew was, I had done damage to my back. The other bag of salt went to Tucson with us. I truly thought I was going to be okay, but my body didn't agree with me. Because of the pain, I had trouble standing and walking. I found a place to sit everywhere we went. I am a little better now, but I have a therapeutic massage scheduled for tomorrow to see if we can get some of those muscles to let go. Okay, enough of my stupidity.

We really enjoyed lunch but when we went outside it was raining. So what do we do? It was already almost 2:00 and a couple of the places we wanted to see closed early. There were a couple of shrines that I wanted to see and Pat and Marilyn were kind of stuck to go with me since I'm driving. They are such good sports. They are up for just about anything. Even visiting shrines in the rain. 

 Sometimes shrines are difficult to find and these were no different. We eventually found the parking area for the first one and it was full of city trucks working on something across the street. So I parked illegally but nobody seemed to care.

Garden of Gethsemane 

This is a small sculpture park containing art by Felix Lucero. He created the statues from river debris (concrete, sand and other stuff) as a promise to God after surviving WWI.  

 

The work started in 1945 and it still stands today even though there are several signs of vandalism and weather damage.

 

There are statues of Christ with his disciples at the Last Supper, on the cross and with the Holy Family.  

The second shrine was also hard to find (we ended up circling the block at least three times). Parking was on the street. But this shrine has a very interesting past. 

El Tiradito Wishing Shrine

This grotto may be the United State's only Catholic shrine dedicated to the memory of a sinner instead of a saint. 

 

The story according to Atlas Obscura -  The legend goes back to Tucson's Barrio Viejo inits early years when a ranch hand named Juan Oliveras engaged in an affair with an older woman (his mother-in-law). Oliveras was caught in the act and allegedly axed to death on the spot by the husband of his paramour, his own father-in-law. 

Oliveras's disconsolate lover-in-law, unable to bury him in consecrated ground due to the nature of their win, is supposed to have buried him near where he fell. Eventually a shrine sprung up in Oliveras's memory. The legend of "El Tiradito" (the little castaway) was born.

The shrine has evolved into a wishing shrine. People leave candles and little slips of papers filled with hopes and heartbreak.  Legend says that if a candle burns through the night, the wish will be granted. 

By now we were a little wet and chilled so it was time to go back to the hotel and relax and warm up. Pat and Marilyn had to decide where we were going to dinner. We ended up at IHOP which was right next door. 

More museums tomorrow.