Author Archive: Emily Gindlesparger

BEYOND: A Guide

December 31, 2013 | Emily Gindlesparger

Join in city-wide activities to honor community and memorialize the victims of Tucson’s Congress on Your Corner shootings on Jan. 8, 2011.

In its third year, BEYOND is settling into a tradition as an active memorial bringing Tucsonans together to Commemorate, Celebrate, and Commit as a brighter, unified community. Here’s your guide to making the most of the events spread across the city on Saturday, Jan. 11.

BEYOND Tucson offers a variety of activities geared toward bringing the Tucson community together and commemorates the victims of the Jan. 8, 2011 Congress on Your Corner shootings. photo courtesy of BEYOND Tucson

BEYOND Tucson offers a variety of activities for all Tucsonans.
photo courtesy BEYOND Tucson

For those who want to get out of town and into the mountains, there’s a variety of activities and hikes on the wild perimeters. Starting at Sentinal Peak, volunteers will pull buffelgrass from “A Mountain,” which was a favorite run of Gabe Zimmerman’s, the Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ staff member who lost his life Jan. 8, 2011. The firefighters at Sentinel Peak Brewing will be giving their thanks in the form of beer samples from their new nano brewery. There’s also guided hikes departing from the Wild Burro trailhead in the Tortolita Mountains, at Marana’s 14810 N. Secret Springs Dr.; and from Sabino Canyon, where parking fees will be waived and programs will engage folks of all ages. In addition, hikers, bikers and horseback riders can convene at the Gabe Zimmerman Davidson Canyon trailhead south of the Rincon Mountains, off of Highway 83.

For the competitive, there’s the Colossal Du, a rugged run-bike-run in Colossal Cave Mountain Park, 16721 E. Old Spanish Trail. The park will throw its own festivities, with free Discovery Tours and an archaeology hike of Hohokam sites. Across town, a 5-mile social run will show off the scenery at Saguaro National Park West, 2700 N. Kinney Rd.

For the playful, the new Sporting Chance Center – 2100 W. Curtis Rd. – joins the lineup of BEYOND events with basketball, volleyball and futsal games in their 40,000 square foot court facility. The center, which hosts youth sports teams throughout the year, is situated right near the River Walk at La Cholla Boulevard, and guided walks will leave the facility for those who want some fresh air.

For the imaginative, Valley of the Moon – 2544 E. Allen Rd. – returns with a storytelling day in Tucson’s historic fairyland. At the Christina Taylor-Green Memorial Park, at the corner of Shannon and Magee Roads, the Stroll and Roll will bring together all ages with sidewalk chalk to decorate the route and dogs to meet from Gabriel’s Angels, a pet therapy organization for at-risk kids.

For the south side community, BEYOND In Your Neighborhood is a new walk to link up the Sunnyside neighborhood, starting at Habitat for Humanity’s Santa Maria site, 944 W. Santa Maria St. Neighbors will meet and greet, create recycled art and enjoy a group lunch.

And for the social, the Main Event in Armory Park, 221 S. 6th Ave., draws thousands of visitors to dance, ride bikes, rock climb and visit health and wellness stations sponsored by Tucson Medical Center. The Living Streets Alliance Kidical Mass will escort families on a safe and fun biking route through the Old Barrio. Meet Me At Armory Park will be a four-mile walk/run to show off parts of Downtown, 4^th Avenue and the Rattlesnake Bridge. The Children’s Museum, 200 S. 6th Ave., is free during BEYOND, and last year drew in a record number of 4,000 visitors.

BEYOND has become an amazing explosion of options to enjoy the Tucson community that lasts longer than a single day.

“One goal of Beyond is to get people out with their families and doing something healthy,” says BEYOND Project Manager Michelle Crow, “but another goal is to connect people to the ongoing resources in their communities.” It’s a bond that opens up the community every year to commemorate, celebrate, and reaffirm our commitment to each other.

BEYOND is January 11, 2014 and all the details on its events are at Beyond-Tucson.org.

Showcasing Innovative Tucson Homes

December 30, 2013 | Emily Gindlesparger

FORS Architecture built this stunning dwelling, owned by Andy and Kami White.
photo: John Bae

In the three years since its inception, Austin-based Modern Home Tours has scoured dozens of cities across the country for the most inventive architectural gems. Of course the next stop had to be Tucson.

“A lot of architects don’t get the ink they deserve for their beautiful work,” says Ken Shallcross, Public Relations guru at Modern Home Tours. He sees the opportunity for these tours to open unique homes to the public to enjoy for one day. The Tucson tour takes place Sunday, Jan. 19, the day after a sister tour in Scottsdale. Participants will get a map for their self-guided drive to the open doors of local modern homes.

Kami and Andy White’s Oro Valley home is part of the circuit. Designed by FORS Architecture, it commands a stunning view of Pusch Ridge. The Whites say it was crucial in the design process to keep their home connected to its environment.

“A great many homes in the desert use a traditional design that turns inward from the heat, at the sacrifice of connecting with the beautiful desert,” they wrote in an email. “By using extensive glass, protected by deep overhangs or shading metal work, the home offers a rarely enjoyed connection to the desert. The ridge top site really screamed for a home with this design approach to fully appreciate the magnificence of the view.”

To keep the view unobstructed, the designers installed a unique fireplace along the floor-to-ceiling windows that span the length of the living room, with no chimney to break the panorama. All around the house, carefully planned windows let in light, so the Whites can watch it shift across the mountains and their home through the day.

“We very much feel a part of the landscape when in the home.”

This property was designed by Kevin Howard with the landscape designed by Allen Denomy of Solana Outdoor Living.
Photo courtesy Solana Outdoor Living

Another home on the tour in Marana was landscaped by Solana Outdoor Living to integrate it into the surroundings, which include the Tortolita Mountains on one side and the Ritz Carlton golf course on the other. The landscape design capitalizes on the sunset views with a full perimeter overflow pool that reflects the sky’s colors on its mirrored surface. A water feature in the front courtyard borrows the same principles.

“We wanted to keep everything rectilinear and timeless, and break it up a little bit so there’s a little asymmetry that balances the elements throughout the property,” explains Solana designer Allen Denomy. Additionally, features on the grounds were installed with water conservation in mind, sloping the contours to make the most of the rain that falls onsite. An irrigation system doles out water precisely when it’s needed. A fence around the property crafted from bent rebar and steel flowers blends to the environment, keeping all eyes up to the view.

With this house, Solana Outdoor Living sought to create a livable space outside, complementary to what’s inside.

“What’s unique about our Tucson climate is the usability of our outdoor living; we have a longer use of our outdoor space, and it’s become an important place to develop and customize.”

While the final lineup for Tucson’s Modern Home Tour wasn’t solidified as of press time, due to December’s holidays, it will be sure to include the work of local artists and architects that show off not just the houses, but equally the land they reside upon.

The Modern Home Tour is Sunday, Jan. 19, from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tickets are $25 online in advance, $30 day of. Discount packages are available if combined with the Scottsdale Home Tour on Jan. 18. Visit ModernHomeTours.com/Event/Tucson for more details or ring 1-888-611-6882.

The Speakeasy Sisters: Escape to Sonoita’s Renegade Winery

November 24, 2013 | Emily Gindlesparger

Arizona Hops and Vines proprietors Shannon Austin Zouzoulas, left, and Megan Austin Haller, right. photo: Emily Gindlesparger

Sonoita is nothing if not idyllic. With waving Chiricahua grassland and purple mountain majesty on every horizon, it’s the poster child for picturesque silence. But the raucous sisters of Arizona Hops and Vines are changing that, at least a few nights a year.

Case in point: Arizona Hops and Vines houses not just a vineyard, but a little petting zoo with their goat, donkey, pig, goose, chickens, turtle, dog and cat. And for the kids and designated drivers, there’s the Sober Shack vending homemade sodas. True to their name, the winemakers spiked their white wine with hops grown on the property last spring to create a powerful hybrid called the Drag Queen, which Tucson drag queens came out to celebrate. That was when they could only make wine. Now that a new Arizona law will allow sisters Shannon Austin Haller and Megan Zouzoulas to brew beer and serve it in their tasting room, the party is full on.

“I think a lot of people checked their beer at the door, thinking this was a wine region and they’ll make wine,” says Zouzoulas of the struggle to change the law that restricted stacking a brewery license on top of a winery one. But with collaboration from lobbyist Mark Barnes and Senator Don Shooter, the sisters made it happen. Now, Zouzoulas says, “if that’s their passion, this opens it up for them to go do it.”

Since opening their winery in the spring of 2012, Zouzoulas and Haller have thrown bashes including beer with a special permit. “And it’s really cool because when you do that you’re required to work with a nonprofit,” explains Haller, “so we’re building our karma. Every single event that we have here that has beer, legally it’s 25% that goes to the nonprofit, but we give 100% of our beer profits to the organization because we feel like it keeps our karma good and we’re believers in karma.” Their Bad Decisions night over the summer paired bacon, chocolate and booze under the meteor shower to benefit the 100 Club of Arizona, supporting police officers and firefighters.

The winter holds equally tantalizing events. Dec. 7 marks their Deck the Halls holiday market with Santa Clause for the nice and mulled wine for the naughty. Attendees can bottle their own wine and add extra spice, and Hops and Vines vintages will be paired with Christmas cookies. The sisters will be collecting toys for charity and inviting local artisans to peddle their gift-worthy wares.

It’s the Speakeasy on Jan. 18 that will pull out all the stops. They’ll be releasing the Lobbyist, a “very persuasive” Zinfandel that’s a nod to Mark Barnes who helped them change the liquor law. Fingers crossed, they also hope to have their Shooter IPA ready by then, in honor of the senator. The Prohibition-style shindig will be complete with guests in costume, food and a live band, and it’ll have one thing apart from its historic roots: this one will be legal.

Making Your Escape
From Tucson, take I-10 east to scenic Highway 83. Turn left onto Highway 82 at the stop sign in Sonoita, and Hops and Vines is just 2.1 miles later on the north side of the road.

Deck the Halls Christmas Market is Dec. 7, noon-5 p.m. $20, $15 with a toy donation, includes wine glasses and tastings. Speakeasy happens Jan. 18, 6 p.m.-midnight, featuring the release of the Lobbyist Zin. $25 includes food, wine tastings, and a live music. Arizona Hops and Vines is located at 3450 Highway 82, online at AZHopsandVines.com and via phone at 1-888-569-1642.

photo: Emily Gindlesparger

Creative Cocktail Competition

October 10, 2013 | Emily Gindlesparger

Margaritas that go well beyond blended or on the rocks.

There are several origin tales that lay claim to being the 1940s bar that first concocted the margarita, and its birthplace hops all over the border. Some say it was Acapulco or El Paso or Juarez or San Diego. But the oldest story, and my personal favorite, goes something like this: during Prohibition, Americans crossed into Mexico looking for booze and were greeted with tequila. A popular drink called the “Daisy” sported orange liqueur, lime, and brandy, with the with the agave hooch substituting the brandy. Thus, the margarita (Spanish for daisy) was born.

Today, Tucson lays claim to the World Margarita Championship, and on Oct. 25 the Tucson Museum of Art’s outside courtyard will be buzzing with people sampling unique margaritas from over 15 contenders and later casting their votes for the best margarita. So while businesses have to be part of the Tucson Originals to compete, making the “World” Margarita Championship a bit of a misnomer, at least history and geography have set Tucson in prime real estate to claim the title.

Regardless of its origins, tequila shines in this drink like brandy never would. “All tequilas are a little different,” explains Ryan Clark, head chef at Lodge on the Desert. “Some may be more aged, more subtle, might even have some smoky notes to them. I think balancing the cocktail with that is really important.” The reigning champion has been hard at work on this year’s secret weapon for months. With his team at Lodge on the Desert, he won last year with a margarita spiked with house-made pomegranate jam and local pomegranate vinegar. This year, his star ingredient is a little darker.

“Salt cured black limes,” Clark explains. “We boiled limes with salt water and sun dried them in the beautiful Tucson sun. They have a bitter, salty citrus note to them, which is kind of our big thing at the Lodge, making a sweet, sour and bitter mix and balancing all those flavors.”

Other heavyweights in the competition include mixologists from the Marinaterra Resort in San Carlos, Mexico – though not a part of Tucson Originals, they were specifically invited by the organizers. Marinaterra Resort head bartender Julio Blanco’s mastery with tequila earned him the Peoples’ Choice Award the last two years running; last year’s winning potion was laced with tajin chile and mango.

In the midst of the libations, Tucson Originals restaurants serve well-matched nosh, and the live music by Reno del Mar gets better with every cocktail. The Margarita Championship’s popularity has grown, and now in its seventh year organizers expect a crowd tipping 1,000. Proceeds go to the Blair Charity Group. But no matter who wins: “It’s pulling hairs,” Clark adds. “After all, it’s tequila.”

The most exciting thing about the competition is the innovation and creativity on display. “I think Tucson is a big trend-setting town, and we have some great mixologists,” says Clark. “To see what they’re coming up with and what trends they’re setting for the nation is unbelievable.”

The championship happens on Friday, Oct. 25, 6 p.m.-9 p.m., at Tucson Museum of Art, 140 N. Main Ave. Tickets are $50 advance, $60 at the door. Get more information, and tickets, at TucsonOriginals.com/culinary-festival or call (520) 343-9985.

Crafting AZ Libations & Pub Fare

September 5, 2013 | Emily Gindlesparger

Good Oak Bar, opening night

The Good Oak Bar Opens on Congress Street.

The Good Oak Bar is now a reality. Up until a few days ago, the space on Congress – between the new Diablo Burger and the established Rialto Theatre – was still being completed, and was gloriously punctuated by the scent of oak dust. Fittingly, since the name Good Oak bar comes from Gary Nabhan’s interpretation of Arizona’s namesake: the Basque words “aritz onac,” for “place of the good oak,” which became garbled into “Arizona,” and in like fashion you too can garble your words at the Good Oak Bar.

The cozy corners have taken shape and the bar front and vestibule are fashioned from reclaimed wood, roughly 70-years-old, saved from some buildings previously on the Northern Arizona University campus. Derrick Widmark brought the Diablo Burger concept from Flagstaff to Tucson this summer to expand the connections between the local culture and the local foodsheds in Arizona, and with the Good Oak Bar he’s ready to take that idea a step further with what he calls “local foods based pub fare.

“The idea is to broaden our local food footprint and use the palate of pub fare to open up our relationships with local farmers and ranchers,” Widmark explains. With a tight but variable menu based off pub standards like shepherd’s pie or a classic pulled pork sandwich, Good Oak can accommodate the variety of meats and heirloom foods that producers bring to the table. “And maybe some folks will have to come in and sip a pint while they look at the blackboard specials,” Widmark quips.

At the heart of Good Oak is a rotating selection of Arizona beers curated by Blake Collins, the home-brew prodigy turned master brewer for Borderlands. The wine cellar is commanded by Kassie Killebrew, who also concocts beer and wine based cocktails for the more spirit-inclined. As an example, Widmark describes a dream in a glass: imagine fresh peaches from Sleeping Frog Farms, muddled in a light summer beer with a spritz of seltzer.

“Refreshing and local,” Widmark describes, “that’s what we’ll try to do. I think the idea is to give people an option who wouldn’t normally drink just beer or wine, but it also further defines the craftiness of the bar.”

Good Oak Bar, opening night

Widmark says that “with the narrowness of its focus, Good Oak has an opportunity to create a craft wine destination that’s bold and unique,” and parenthetically he adds, “without trying too hard to be either of those things.” The hardest thing Widmark is trying to do, it turns out, is create the kind of bar that deserves to be on Congress, next to the historic Rialto Theatre.

In the interceding time between opening Diablo Burger this summer and now following it with Good Oak, “it’s given me more time to think about, ‘what kind of bar does Tucson want in that space?’” In the light of a tongue-in-cheek discussion to “Keep Tucson Shitty,” Widmark says that “I was drawn to Tucson because of the same qualities of authenticity and character that are being discussed there. I value that sense of place, and I’m committed to trying to deliver that in a heartfelt and unpretentious way.”

And so, here it is: comfort food and libations with a Tucson and Arizona focus. The finishing touches to the bar include an original section of Old Pueblo Trolly track salvaged during Tucson’s streetcar construction, and a giant “Tucson” mural, spelled backwards as if you were standing behind a classic building sign. As for an authentic sense of place, Widmark says that he’s discovered one of the original tenants of the space he’s inherited, the Sunshine Climate Club of Tucson. He’s created a homage to the club that you’ll see as soon as you walk in the door.

Good Oak Bar is now open at 4pm everyday at 316 E. Congress St. Find Good Oak Bar under the locations tab at DiabloBurger.com.

Sunshine Climate Club, Tucson, Arizona

A Desert Twist on Caribbean Cocktails & Cuisine

September 3, 2013 | Emily Gindlesparger

by Emily Gindlesparger, photos by Andrew Brown

Stepping across the threshold of Saint House is like entering a private club in the heydays of Havana. The lighting is low, the booths are plush and the rum list – 40 labels strong – seems straight from a private collection. Decorating the high walls above the bar is a local stamp on this otherwise Caribbean locale. Artist Gonzalo Morales has painted a mural in three pieces, swirling figures that get more fascinating after every drink.

“If you spend time looking at it you’re going to discover the different shapes and forms,” Morales explains of the work. “On the second or third drink, just look at the art. It’s there to entertain the people who come.”

Against the dark walls of the rum house, Morales’ bright canvas colorfully pops in the light with yellow, magenta, green and purple hues. In a unique artistic twist, the mural is done in watercolor, a medium normally reserved for fine paper, but in Saint House, Morales has splashed it across his gesso-primed board.

“I was thinking of the Caribbean Sea, the colors and the jungle; I was thinking of Miami, and I made bright colors to match the restaurant. What inspired me was the Caribbean, and when you see the design on the wall you’ll see the waves.”

The signature drink here, even in the midst of a creative palate, is the simple daiquiri: rum, sugar and lime. And each spirit poured into this simple cocktail creates a wildly different experience.

“We carry a lot of rum because rum is the most diverse spirit in the world, and in some ways the most misunderstood,” explains Nicole Flowers and Travis Reese, co-owners who began their downtown ventures with 47 Scott and Scott & Co.

Rum is constantly pegged as sweet and syrupy – not surprising with its foundation in sugarcane – but as Saint House proves, there are styles and flavors from all over the world to be explored. On every table sits a little yellow chapbook titled The Book of Rum, and in it 17 countries are represented: from Brazil to Java with many islands in between.

Each environment and distillation produces a different signature. The Mount Gay Eclipse Gold from Barbados is fruity and bright, with an aftertaste of sucking on a chip of coconut, whereas the Rhum Clement Agricole from Martinique is described as “grassy and wild” in the restaurant’s Book of Rum, and it’s both spunky and distinguished. Those two terms could describe so much about the experience of Saint House, which has such clean-cut styling that’s still faintly reminiscent of The Great Gatsby, with snappy servers and hostesses who coordinate the party.

Woven into this tropical diversity is a little taste of Sonora. From the Vicious Virgin #3, based on Bacanora and grapefruit, to the shrimp ceviche styled with pico and clamato and Caribbean-inspired tacos, local ties thread through this restaurant right where it belongs, Downtown on the corner of Congress Street and Arizona Avenue.

Saint House is located at 256 E. Congress St. Call 207-7757 or visit SaintHouseRumBar.com for hours, menus and more details.

Port in a Storm

August 29, 2013 | Emily Gindlesparger

The ladies of MAST (left to right): Tasha Bundy, Mellow Dawn Lund, Sofie Albertsen Gelb.
photo: Gerardo Leyva

Several years ago in the Lost Barrio, 299 S. Park Ave., three designers started a store that collected and sold vintage and local handmade jewelry, handbags, accessories and furnishings.

“There’s a whole genre of artisan people bringing back well-made things. That’s who we are and what we do,” explains Mellow Dawn Lund, one of the founders of MAST.

If you’ve been looking for MAST in the past few months, they’ve been undocked since May, drifting as they wait for a new port at the Mercado San Agustín to be readied for arrival. Despite the change in moorings, MAST is alive and well. Their designers are creating new beautiful pieces and are hard at work on the new space, which will feature a refined selection.

Mellow’s home workshop is patchworked with multicolored bobbins and rolls of leather waiting to be turned into something pretty and functional. She shows off a roll of white and blue leather dyed like alligator skin, and another marbled in black and gold. On her work bench is a preview of a new design element: red clutches she’s made for a bridal party – detailed with turquoise leather laces woven in the center. A loose beaded panel is waiting to add a bright yellow flash to another piece.

Gypsy chandelier hoop earrings.
photo courtesy MAST

Another owner, Tasha Bundy, reveals some new selections for men: locally made straight razors and leather shaving strops. And Sofie Albertsen Gelb is working on chain hoop earrings with antique Afghani mercury glass beads.

Until they can display their wares in the new shop, opening in October, you can shop MAST from their new and improved website (iLoveMast.com), or in person at Thee Collection Agency, LaFleur Atelier and at La Cabaña. The trio is using the time to define MAST and what they love more fully. In their own words, they sell things that are practical and pretty; handmade, durable and unique. “Each item has an aesthetic beauty, but is multi-use,” explains Sofie.

They’re taking a collection of loved objects that drove the beginning of the store and nurturing those seeds into maturity with the new space. “We did it fast and we’ve done it by the bone the whole time,” Mellow says. “But that’s given us an ability to see where we want to go and invest in the way we want to do it, how to do it.”

Now MAST is coming into its own. “It feels a little bit to me like we were toddlers and now we’re growing up a little bit,” Tasha says, “so we’re able to be a little more refined. It’s still got the same aesthetic and sensibility, but it’s just got a little bit more of a focus.”

And look out, Mellow says, for when the ship comes to harbor. “We’re going to have a real throwdown when we open. We’re going to celebrate it, big time.” Until then, go online and buy yourself something lovely.

MAST, coming soon to Mercado San Agustín, 100 S. Avenida del Convento, Suite 120. Wares are currently available at three locations: Thee Collection Agency, 222 E. 6^th St.; LaFleur Atelier, 410 N. Toole Ave. and La Cabaña at Mercado San Agustín, 100 S. Avenida del Convento, Suite 140. For more info, dial 495-5920 or click on iLoveMast.com.

Bike Fest and Cyclovia celebrate public space

April 9, 2013 | Emily Gindlesparger

If you’ve been daydreaming about spending more time in the open air exploring our city – and less time trapped in your car – each April a group of people is giving you every possible incentive to take over the streets and celebrate public space. Living Streets Alliance fills the month of April with Bike Fest, bookended this year with Cyclovia, two all-day festivals of car-free streets downtown on April 7^th, and midtown on April 28^th.

“I look at Cyclovia as a sort of canvas,” says Kylie Walzak, the event’s coordinator. “It’s an opportunity for the Tucson community to come out and participate at an event, unlike any other opportunity that we have. The organizers raise money and provide for public safety, but after that, everything else is a combination of efforts of really passionate people to come out and share what they have for the day.”

Artist Mykl Wells will be rolling around on his handmade recycled tricycle, giving away agua fresca. Walzak says Alecio Lopez is encouraging people to travel “back in time” by harvesting nine historic images from the historical society to print large and hang along the route. Mariah Hoffman, who worked with the recent 3 Degrees of Strangers exhibit, will be pairing up with Cakes for Causes to get participants sharing cookies and stories with strangers. Other activity hubs will have live music and dancing in the streets; a pop-up skate park, obstacle course, rock climbing wall, jumping castle; you can rent bikes, decorate bikes, or just walk each 5-mile course and sample the food trucks – the only cars that get a say in this show.

“The first three years we’ve had Cyclovia it’s been a fun, active event, but this year it has the potential to be a venue for community strength building, and a place for the Tucson community to come out, get together and celebrate,” Walzak says. “I hope that the lasting effect that people take away from the event is that so much of the conversation about our streets is negative: ‘our streets are crumbling,’ ‘our streets are dangerous.’ But we can really challenge ourselves to re-imagine our streets in a different way.”

Cyclovia’s graphic designer Dennis Fesenmyer is putting imagination to paper with three other artists who will be creating limited edition print posters for Cyclovia. Joining him are Matt McCoy, Ryan Trayte, and Richie Brevaire, who will create a set of four 18 x 24 posters in Cyclovia’s colors – wedgewood blue and bright mustard yellow – that show each artist’s celebration of open streets.

The second event on the 28^th highlights a new route through midtown using pieces of Dodge, Blacklidge, Mountain and Glenn, and is the first step in the mission to provide four routes in separate neighborhoods to cycle through each year. Courses are built to pass schools, businesses and other attractions along bike boulevards and low-stress routes “that people can realistically feel comfortable using on their bikes or walking the other 364 days of the year,” Walzak says.

It’s a goal that rings true with the rest of Bike Fest. “The more people you get out riding a bike, the safer it becomes for everyone because bicycling becomes more visible and people notice them more,” adds Emily Yetman, executive director of Living Streets Alliance. “It adds to the vibrancy of our streets and helps create a street life and vitality in our neighborhoods.” And for the rest of April, the streets all over Tucson will be humming with pedal pushers as they stop by dozens of events just for commuting cyclists. During Pedal the Pueblo week, Whole Foods on Speedway will be doing a kickoff breakfast with live music and raffles, and way stations will be set along bike routes to supply riders with juice, coffee, bagels, and giveaways.

New this year, Tucsonans can come to a happy hour at Borderlands Brewery with outdoor activities by Playformance. Free food there is sponsored by New Belgium, who is bringing back the Best Beer and Film Festival at the Fox during Bike Fest. BICAS is hosting a ride through the Barrio to Crossroads Restaurant’s happy hour; GABA is putting on the Bike Swap and coordinating rides to Reid Park Zoo with free admission for helmet-toters. Miles of rides all month can be logged online for raffles of gift certificates and bike gear. April’s two-wheeled opportunities are endless.

Bike Fest, April 1-30 – BikeFestTucson.com

Events list and giveaways are on their website, BikeFestTucson.com

Cyclovia, Sunday, April 7^th and Sunday, April 28^th 10am to 3pm

Route info and events at CycloviaTucson.org

For more information, visit LivingStreetsAlliance.org

Sunshine Smiles on Broadway

March 9, 2013 | Emily Gindlesparger

The Sunshine Mile revival started with a tour: last November, Demion Clinco from Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation found himself on Broadway Boulevard, organizing talks for the inaugural Modernist Week on the mid-Century modern architecture that populates a particular corridor of the boulevard. It was a spark of history that’s now revitalizing the business district. “This section of Broadway between Euclid and Country Club was born modern,” Clinco begins. The decades after World War II saw both an explosion in Tucson’s population and the birth of the Modernist era; the economy traveled east from downtown, using Broadway as its main thoroughfare and prominent, innovative architects in its construction. Now even in the midst of contemporary buck-saving commercial architecture, we’ve been left with so many modernist gems that the Arizona Preservation Foundation added the Sunshine Mile to its list of endangered historical places. They’re in danger of being forgotten and potentially erased by a long-standing proposal to widen the street and tear down encroaching buildings on its north side.

Clinco walked our conversation through the buildings passed by and so seldom seen. Consider the Solot Plaza Building, which now houses It’s A Blast Gallery. Designed by Nicholas Sakeller in 1957, floor to ceiling windows glaze the entire storefront, capped by a cantilevered roof extending shade over the sidewalk, with an opening for one palm tree to grow through. The iconic Hirsch’s Shoes, commissioned by Mrs. David Hirsch in 1954 and still in family hands, has angular walls set with jutting display cases and a framed canopy. “It’s a really beautiful and classic mid-Century modern commercial storefront,” Clinco explains. “I think that’s such a great emblem of the whole corridor, that you have a business that’s highly specialized and they’ve managed to survive despite the chain shoe stores all over the city.” After the Modernist Week talks, business owners along the corridor started banding together to revive and promote the Sunshine Mile again, spearheaded by Monica Cook, owner of Deco. “I love the historical aspect of it and I’m thrilled with how quickly it’s become an active and cohesive business community,” she says.

Her building is sandwiched next to the sprouting Haas Building, built in 1957 with a two-story glass facade and an open steel staircase inside. Its extending west wall now displays the Sunshine Mile mural, bright and evocative of the fifties heydays; a design conceived and painted by Jude Cook, Monica’s husband and owner of Cook & Company Signs. Jude also created a flier and printed merchant stickers with the new Sunshine Mile logo. “Since then many of the business owners have added their expertise,” Monica adds. “Jessica Shuman of Kismet wrote the press releases and serves on the Broadway Coalition and keeps in touch with the neighborhoods, Art Benavidez of Art Hair Studio created the website, Patricia Katchur of Yikes Toys developed the Facebook page, Larry Montoya of Caps and More plans to print Sunshine Mile tees. Since this area is under threat to the possibility of the widening of Broadway in the future, several business owners – Rocco of Rocco’s and Michael Butterbrough of Inglis Florists – serve on the Broadway Citizen Task Force.”

“What is most exciting is having a sense of community beyond myself and my business,” says Patricia Katchur, proprietress of Yikes Toys. “I love the idea of being in a defined area that offers a friendly approach to shoppers, bicyclists, walking, neighborhoods and history!” Fitting to its mid-Century surroundings, Katchur describes Yikes as “an eclectic blend of young, old and all in between,” a description that seems to echo down the street in other shops that are mixing vintage and contemporary. And banding together with these stores, Katchur says Yikes will “join in events to help make us a destination that has a fascinating history, past and present, and is very much a part of the Tucson community on many levels: including retail, architecture, 1950s culture and the rise of the suburbs and extension of the Tucson downtown and city limits.”

On March 2^nd, this collection of merchants will kick off reclaiming their Sunshine Mile name – a title that came out of a competition in 1953 with a $1,000 prize to describe the burgeoning corridor – with a festival. The unveiling of the Sunshine Mile mural will be accompanied by a trumpet soloist from Catalina Foothills Band playing – what else? – “On Broadway.” The Tucson Barbershop Men’s Chorus will rouse the Modernist atmosphere. More than a dozen corridor businesses will be offering discounts, refreshments, and a scavenger hunt continuing through the month with prize gift certificates for winners of a drawing. Monica Cook sees the partnership unfolding into other events throughout the year: “a sunny mid-summer event,” a holiday boutique crawl, and the return of the Tucson Historical Preservation Foundation’s Modernist Week.

“That iconography and that name is tied to that modern era,” Demion Clinco says. “We’re really starting to craft and cultivate a destination to shop in the middle of the city.” He hopes people will take a fresh look at Broadway Boulevard the next time they pass through. “This isn’t just a place in Tucson that’s kind of cool; this is a regional and state-wide asset. And as a region we should be finding resources to preserve and cultivate it.”

Visit SunshineMile.com or find Sunshine Mile on Facebook.

Opening Penca: a new Mexican restaurant with historic roots

March 1, 2013 | Emily Gindlesparger

Patricia Schwabe

The paper-covered space downtown at 50 East Broadway has been in the process of emerging into a new restaurant for nearly a year, and soon it’s coming into the world with a name: Penca. “Penca is the rib of the agave,” explains the owner, Patricia Schwabe. “It represents the relationship with the land; a resilient spirit; it’s organic and true to its roots,” she adds, and it’s a name that reflects the place itself.

The address is a building from the 1920s, stripped to its foundation and crafted from the ground up with local and repurposed materials. Schwabe and her husband Ron are owners of Peach Properties, and many of the building materials for Penca have been salvaged and collected from other historic downtown buildings they’ve restored. “It creates a style that to me is personal and local, warm and intimate,” Patricia describes. It’s a style that she hopes will resonate into the drinks – from a cocktail menu being built by Luke Anable – to the food inspired by the fresh, vibrant cuisine found in central and southern Mexico and her own childhood in Mexico City. “I love traditional Mexican restaurants,” she says, “where the ingredients are fresh, the colors are vibrant, and where the service is exceptional.” Schwabe hopes that she can bring a small piece of that downtown, and wants Penca to be “a place where people become friends of the house.”

“The space is warm and minimal – I think romantic, in a way – and almost completely handmade top to bottom,” Anable writes, describing a bar from poured concrete, reclaimed wood and steel. It’s a look he calls honest and transparent, and he wants the drinks he serves there to match in their simplicity. “We think there is a time and a place for most things and we’d like to be able to provide a fitting drink for all occasions,” he notes, aiming for “a return to locality and contextual sensibility” with thoughtful drinks that pair gracefully with food or simply a memorable part of the day.

Schwabe scribbles down a sampling of dishes: huevos florentinos for breakfast, chile ancho glazed albondigas for lunch, short ribs for dinner. The menu will be sourced from local purveyors and farms, equipping chef David Valencia with fresh seasonal flavors to create what he calls “Progressive Mexican cuisine.” Complementing their origins, the courses will be served on dishes made locally at Santa Theresa Tile Works downtown.

Everything that is going into the emerging Penca is locally sourced and made or remade custom to the space, a process that explains its long development. “It takes time to see an idea for what it is,” explains Anable. “We’ve all had bad ideas and, for me, the only way to see them for what they are is to spend time with them, work with them, and see if they can hold up to the weight of experience and practice.” And for Schwabe, who has been involved with every step of the building, the answer is even simpler: creating a new business while simultaneously leasing properties and spending time with her children. Meanwhile the practiced hands of Sonya Sotinsky and Miguel Fuentevilla of FORS Architecture have been at work designing custom booths and chairs from reclaimed wood, most of it from the 1900s. They’ve stripped the restaurant down to its historic foundation.

“The space itself is very old and exposing the foundation, we hope, will remind people of the bigger picture downtown, the importance of preservation and history at a time of redevelopment and revitalization,” Luke Anable wrote to me about the space coming to life. “Everything we’re doing has one foot in the history of the area and one in a sense of what Tucson could and should be as a modern, progressive city.”