I love a good bit of history. Do you know the story of Hobo Joe's origin? I first came to see this…read morerandom figure in Old Town Buckeye, but had to know more. He was originally made around the 1960s for an Arizona Coffee chain. Made of fiberglass and standing 25ft tall. He was designed by Disney creator Jim Casey but cast by someone named Marvin Ransdell. Unfortunately Ransdell was never paid so the statue sat hidden away in a friends meat packing plant until finding its home in Buckeye in 1989 where it was saved from foreclosure at the plant by the Buckeye Main Street Coalition. How cool is that? He was technically not even meant to be a "hobo", but known for of a traveler. Which would be a great story considering the 85 goes through town. In 2021 it was moved to its current location after being restored. It now sits behind or should I say behind adjacent to the newly opened Heritage serving great food and you guessed it...coffee. Come check it out.

Hobo Joe is a wonderful quirky statue that resides in downtown Buckeye. His history is interesting…read moreand he's been recently sanded down and painted as seen in the photo. He's a special part of Buckeye and if you visit downtown, most everyone will have a story about him. Come check him out!

This is such a cool, interesting feature for this community. I wouldn't elevate this as a must see…read moredestination. However, if you live within 15 minutes and looking for a nice easy date night stroll with a great view payout, this place is worth the stop. Best time to go is right before sunset to enjoy the desert hillside views.

Wish I'd done a bit more research before heading over considering it was about a 40 minute drive…read morefrom where I started. Directions will take you to the spot, but doesn't let you know to drive past to a small parking lot near what appears to be a visitors center/coffee shop to a housing community. We parked and unfortunately I was quite disappointed. There's a small walkway behind the shop to take you to the tower. I wouldn't even call it a star tower considering it closes around 8. There is a small set of circular stairs that takes you to the top. The view is decent of the mountains looking towards Estrella Regional Park. There is so much road noice it's not exactly relaxing. This seems to be more of a residents only spot. Cool to see maybe once, but I wouldn't come again unless to get coffee nearby and hike in the park a few miles away.

Phoenix is full of history and Heritage Square is one of those places that maintains some of its…read morepast. Heritage Square is home to some preserved 19th and 20th century homes, museums and restaurants. The Rosson House is a beautiful restored 1895 Queen Anne Victorian house that was once home to early settlers in Phoenix. Heritage Square also hosts many food and cultural festivals. There is a large garage nearby for parking and ASU has a small campus next door. The Arizona Science Center is the building that stands out the most here at Historic Heritage Square. I have gone to it a couple of times and have enjoyed my time there. Arizona's most iconic restaurant Pizzeria Bianco by James Beard Award-winner Chris Bianco is also here. It can be a very long wait to get a table and has been visited by many celebrates like Jerry Seinfeld and Jimmy Fallon over the years. Sometimes I will park near Heritage Square while going to a baseball game and like to enjoy its relaxing peaceful atmosphere before the game. There are some shaded areas to take cover on warm sunny days.

The neighborhood boasts a mix of vintage residences from the turn of the century alongside modern…read morebuildings. We recently visited a festival that spanned across the entire square and even spilled out beyond. The location provided an ideal backdrop for such an event.The neighborhood is filled with both historic homes and modern buildings. We recently enjoyed a festival that covered not only the main square but also extended beyond it. It was the ideal location for such an event.

This is a sculpture that belongs to a family of the very similar Homeless Jesus sculptures that…read moreappears in more than a dozen cities throughout North America. It was gifted to St. Mary's Roman Catholic Basilica, in March 2022, by Andre House. It is intended to bring more attention to the issues surrounding homelessness, especially in the downtown Phoenix area Schmalz's Homeless Jesus sculptures are laying on benches. This one is sitting on the ground with a blanket over his head. You cannot see his face and there is a bowl in front of him and a cup next to him. It is very realistic looking and you have to do a double take to make sure that it isn't. In some cities, citizens have called the cops thinking the sculptures were real. This piece was Inspired by the Gospel of Matthew 25:35, and serves as a visual representation of charity. With that, the Church hopes this sculpture will generate donations and support that they can use to support homeless programs. If you want to park and get a closer look at this piece, there is metered street parking available within a reasonable walking distance, and there are a few commercial lots nearby as well. I love the Homeless Jesus concept and Schmalz's sculptures are so very detailed. Anyway, as with most sculptures that I have visited and reviewed, this is not a long stop. I was there less than 5 minutes. So, you may want to consider planning out additional stops at many of the other attractions in the area, or making this stop part of a larger itinerary to maximize your time and trip.

Visited 12/26/2025…read more The Jail Tree in Wickenburg AZ. So Worth a visit. The Jail Tree https://share.google/Fz0n196FKvWbaQkQ5 Hi Guys just thought I'd share a short day trip yesterday to Wickenburg a little over an hour from Brenda Arizona. What a great little Historic Western Town. The jail tree was just one of the things to see in the Old Town part of Wickenburg. We were so impressed with the great old restaurants also. I'll post later where we had the Very Best Chicken Fried Steak Breakfast We both have ever had. For those that have never ventured up the 60 to Wickenburg you should treat yourself and enjoy a visit. Loretta and I are looking forward to our next visit.

When in Wickenburg, Arizona...you gotta see it…read more We were driving through and decided to check out the main area of the old town. There are murals and quite a few cafes & restaurants, shops, and museums to venture to. When I found this spot, there was a small parking lot right in front of the tree area. It is blocked off for traffic. It looks like a coffee vender has a food cart parked there. It was closed by the time we were there. There is parking close by. The tree looks like it's been there for a loooong time. It is interesting to see this man sitting on the ground, chained to the tree. There is a recording of the story and with a push of the button (it is working again) you can hear a tale. This stop has a Knotts Berry Farm feel to it. It's always fun to look for something new or unique. This stop is fun. It doesn't take long to check it out, & take a pic. When you take your next road trip and you find yourself in the area, Check it out!

We went on Thanksgiving Day to see a limited engagement showing of the latest Knives Out film. We…read morehad no problem parking or finding the theater. When we got to the ticket counter, they said the movie had been moved to a larger theater because of higher than expected demand, and our seat numbers were changed. I was in "pre-irked" mode, because I had ordered early, and selected specific seats. I was happy to see that they were essentially the same center seats but in a wider row. The seats were comfy, as advertised. After the pleasant non-concern about the seats, I left to go to the concession. However, something about the carpet and the rail made me think that there was an extra step to take, and I tumbled a bit. I had to do the embarrassing "I'm okay, just tripped on my own feet" thing to the audience above. That did not deter me from getting a beer though (yes, my first and only one of the day, I really thought there was a step). However, the taps had just been opened and needed clearing. I think we were the first showing of the day. It gave me plenty of time to talk story with the very young (19 I think) bartender. As any good bartender should, he listened to my woes of being vegan on Thanksgiving. I give thanks for the Landmark Theatre showing a limited engagement film on a holiday! But put some better reflective tape on the steps or something, please!

First time here this weekend. During the last 10 min of the movie the screen froze and it took…read moreabout 10-15min for them to reboot the system after someone went to notify the outside employees. I've only had this happen once before at another theater in fashion square and they have everyone a voucher for a free pop-corn. Nothing from this place. The popcorn is also super salty. UPDATE: Now 1 Star. Went to see 'Weapons' and similar to another reviewer here, the audio was extremely low. Could hardly hear anything including dialogue. Never had that experience before. The projection itself was also very dark like the projector lens was dirty. There were some horizontal white lines running across the screen for the entire movie which also made for a terrible experience. All in all, a terrible place to see a movie. You're better off going elsewhere or staying home.

The tour was worth the five year wait/lottery! We had a wonderful docent and received a fantastic…read moretour of Tovrea Castle which was superb in every way possible. I have lived in Arizona, specifically the Phoenix area, for most of my life and have driven by Tovrea Castle thousands of times. It was so cool to be able to walk the grounds and get a peek inside. I would highly suggest entering the lottery, it's free and some people have better luck than I did and can get in sooner than 5 years. This was an insightful tour mixed with great storytelling and history. The basement with all the artifacts of the family and learning more about the area makes me proud to be a part of Arizona! Worth the visit!

If you live in the Valley it's highly likely that you have driven by this place. From the 202 fwy…read moreyou can easily see it. I often wondered what is that building? Finally after passing it so many times I was curious enough to look it up. I googled "cake shaped building PHX" and it was the first result. "Tovrea (said tov-ree) Castle aka A jewel in the Sonoran desert" Since 2010 the City of Phoenix purchased, renovated, and opened it for tours. The very abbreviated story with this place is that some homesteaders from the early 1900s owned the land, sold 277 acres to a wealthy Italian man. Alessio Carraro had built a fortune in the sheet metal business in the 1920s from San Fran. He planned to build a hotel resort surrounded by a housing subdivision on 277 acres, Carraro Heights. The castle was built near the timing of when the Great Depression set in. Carraro wanted out, he sold the castle and some amount of acreage (for a fraction of his investment) to Della Tovrea, wife of cattle baron E.A. Tovrea. She lived there until her tragic death in 1969. Nearby is the Stockyard Restaurant, built by E.A.'s son so cattlemen had somewhere to eat near the stockyards. That restaurant still exists today. I plan to check it out. If you want more details and full story, go take the tour :) however tickets are not easy to come by. Tours sell out many months in advance and they started using a lottery system. I bought my tickets months ago. However worth a try to go. I wouldn't say its the most amazing thing I've ever seen and the use of the word "castle" is a stretch. I've been inside some real castles in US and Europe, however it's interesting and a fun thing to do and it satisfied my curiosity! :) Per their website- The Ticket Lottery for Fall 2022 Tickets has ended and all tickets have been distributed - look for last minute cancellation tickets. Ticket Lottery for Spring 2023 Regular Tours closed on October 15, 2022 and Winners will be notified via email starting November 1, 2022. https://tovreacastletours.com

Whenever I visit the ASU Downtown Campus, I always find myself walking through the Civic Space…read morePark. This is a park with a lot of potential as there is a nice grassy area, some tables and chairs next to the US Post Office and ASU Student Center, a beautiful sculpture, and other places to hold an event and escape from the heat. At the same time, the Civic Space Park in recent years has been overrun with the homeless who find their own spaces on the east side of the park and sometimes elsewhere in the park. This has led to some safety concerns from ASU students and their families as many students have to walk across the park to get from the Sun Devil Fitness Complex or the Fusion on First upper-division residence hall across to the rest of the ASU Downtown Campus. There have also been a number of altercations over the last few years between multiple homeless and occasionally between a homeless person and a student. I have seen groups of students and even community members holding events in the park either in front of the Student Center entrance at the tables and chairs (gatherings by students or staff), on the grassy lawn area (community members playing soccer, frisbee, or having a picnic), or even on the south side of the walkway (though the lighting wasn't very good in the evening in that area). Again, it may be a challenge if some of the homeless community members try to engage at these events with the students, staff, and/or community members. Another challenge we learned is that it isn't the role of ASU Police or Phoenix Police to monitor the park. Rather there are park rangers who are responsible for doing so, which adds some complications as the rest of the ASU campus is supported by ASU Police and on occasion, by Phoenix Police. If you look at other reviews of Civic Space Park, it is difficult to find one that doesn't highlight the famous sculpture known as "Her Secret is Patience." In fact, I recall doing a photo shoot about 12 years ago under the sculpture at Civic Space Park. This sculpture is a public art sculpture commission that was designed for the city of Phoenix. The sculpture consists of painted, galvanized steel, polyester twine netting, and colored lights. Again, the space has a lot of potential though due to safety reasons, there is some work to be done to really prepare this park to meet its full potential.

Nice park to just hang out at. Lots of grassy area for kids or animals to run through…read more We just sat there for a while soaking up the sun and people watching. At night the tornado looking thing lights up.

Ok, I'm going to give this place 5 stars because, technically, it is a cool place that not a lot of…read morepeople know about. It's actually a hydroelectric plant along the Arizona Canal. As we approached the building (you can't go in it), the smell hit us and I thought, oh no, I've made a huge mistake. I think I was just there on a bad day or something, because I didn't see many reviews mention the smell at all. What smell? Raw sewage, very sulphur- and trash-like. I mean, it STUNK. It was strongest at the top overlook, right next to the building. As we went down the staircase to the lower level, the smell began to dissipate and eventually, to my nose, disappeared altogether. On the lower level, we saw the waterfalls. You can walk under/behind two of them and there are "seats" made of stone blocks in front of the third. The water was flowing pretty hard the day we visited, so the seats and all the pavement was wet and there was a slight mist coming off the middle one. The overall place is like a mixture of industrial and environmental architechture. There are metal-looking columns holding up the upper deck, yet the waterfalls look like they were copied from Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, and there are large stones/rocks embedded into the walls everywhere. It sits on the edge of a small park with a decent sized lot and there are hiking paths. We only came for the falls, so I can't speak to the hike, but the area looked fairly nice. I'd like to see it at night as it looks pretty cool in pictures I've seen. If you're looking for something a little different to do or show your visitors from out of town, this is a neat place to go. Hopefully, the smell is a one off, but even if not, hold your breath and go down the stairs..... 13/2026

I heard about this place recently and was in the area and decided to check it out. It basically…read more mini-hydroelectric plant on the canal system and the origin of the canal system is traced back to the Hohokam Indians that lived in the valley about 1500 years ago. The water falls are a cool secondary benefit of the water works plant at Arizona Falls. There is a nice park and biking trail that we look forward to exploring on our next visit. Highly recommended for a unique opportunity to enjoy waterfalls in the valley of the sun and learn about how the innovative Hohokam Indians.