Marshall Shore loves Arizona history, and it shows.
His multimedia presentation, “Arizona by Design,” shown in ASU Downtown’s A.E. England Building Thursday, used photographs, video, models and artifacts to illustrate the elements of design that make the Grand Canyon State such a visually interesting place to be.
Even Shore’s ensemble reflected his love for the state’s history. He wore a one-of-a-kind jacket painted with the Arizona state flag and a custom-made bolo tie. He had the jacket and tie made for a 15-minute speech he delivered at Arizona’s centennial celebration last year.
“I knew I didn’t want to fade into the woodwork,” he said in his presentation.
Shore worked as a librarian in Brooklyn 13 years ago, he said, but he decided to trek to Arizona to find something meaningful. He then worked as a librarian in Gilbert before pursuing a career as a hip historian, as he calls himself.
“People said there’s no history here,” he said, “but I knew that wasn’t true.”
Photographs in his presentation illustrated Arizona’s wide history, including the Buckhorn Baths Motel, the reason why Major League Baseball spring training first came to Arizona. The motel had spas featuring natural spring water, he said, and the New York Giants (now the San Francisco Giants) fell in love with it.
Shore highlighted downtown Phoenix’s history as well. He discussed the first Bob’s Big Boy franchise, originally located on Central Avenue and Thomas Road. He also talked about the Playboy Club originally on Central Avenue and showed a photograph of a Playboy bunny still standing on a rooftop.
He also showcased the Valley National Bank building and its art deco design. The building still stands on Central Avenue and Monroe Street, and Shore hopes it will soon house a hotel.
“They were really pushing boundaries of what architecture was,” Shore said about the building’s design.
Historic designers had their work under a spotlight as well. Models walked around the room wearing clothing designed by Lloyd Kiva, a Native American entrepreneur whom Shore credited with bringing retail art to Scottsdale.
“When he (Kiva) first opened up, arts weren’t really selling,” Shore said. Kiva decided to make purses after seeing a Native medicine bag. Those purses put him on the map, Shore said, with people coming from all over the world to buy them.
Charles Harrison, another featured creator, is a tie maker, among other things. Harrison, who attended Carver High School in South Phoenix, created the View-Master. Harrison also designed furniture, as well as a futuristic radio that briefly left Shore speechless when he looked at it.
“It’s not moving,” he said, “but it looks like it’s going at 90 miles per hour.”
The second half of the presentation focused on neon signs, more specifically signs designed by Glen Guyett, a Phoenix resident who was in the audience for the presentation.
Neon signs grew in popularity during Arizona’s early history as the car become a necessity. Guyett’s designs, including the sign for now-closed My Florist on Seventh Street and McDowell Road, reflected the need for signage to be big, bold and flashy.
Guyett also created the sign for the Valley National Bank building, what was then the world’s largest rotating design. The sign has gone missing, though, Shore said, but he’s found many others.
“You’d be surprised how many signs I’ve found sitting in someone’s backyard,” he said.
Guyett, who has also created signs for Las Vegas, New York City and Disneyland, was impressed with Shore’s presentation. He retired 22 years ago, he said, and he’s been teaching ever since.
“I’m still kicking,” Guyett said with a smile.
Becky Trayler, 27, read about “Design by Arizona” on Facebook and came to see another side to the world she lives in.
“It was just neat learning about famous designers living in Phoenix that I never heard or knew about,” Trayler said.
Bob Gray, 46, moved from San Francisco and has not seen much history in Phoenix. However, he found it interesting to hear that something as unique as the View-Master was made by someone from Arizona.
“It’s fun to find somebody picking through the history of Phoenix,” Gray said.
Contact the reporter at Matthew.Seeman@asu.edu.
