NEON MILE: SIXTH ANNUAL HISTORIC
MIRACLE MILE OPEN HOUSE AND TOUR

FRIDAY, MAY 10, 2013, 5:30 P.M. – 10:30 P.M.
STARTING POINT: MONTEREY COURT, 505 W. MIRACLE MILE

The Sixth Annual Historic Miracle Mile Open House and Tour will take place on Friday, May 10, 2013, from 5:30 p.m. to – 10:30 p.m. This year the FREE event will feature historic and revitalized resources on Miracle Mile between the Oracle Road intersection and Fairview Avenue.

This special evening will include history lectures; tours of the Ghost Ranch Lodge historic cactus garden; a celebratory lighting of the iconic Wayward Winds Lodge neon sign, salvaged, restored, and re-installed on Miracle Mile; and a guided, flashlight tour of the Evergreen Cemetery to discover some of Tucson’s notable people and their connections to the Old Pueblo. Bring your flashlight and get a different perspective on our past.

Monterey Court, the host for this year’s event, will be celebrating its first anniversary as an adapted historic resource with music, cake, outdoor market shopping, gallery tours, and much more! All are invited to celebrate the Historic Miracle Mile area and its ongoing revitalization.

Talks on the historic significance of the area, with particular attention to the contribution of neon to the historic mile, will be given at 5:45 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. at Ghost Ranch Lodge. Presenters include Carlos Lozano, founder of Vanishing Tucson; and Demion Clinco, President, Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation. Between 5:45 p.m.
and 7 p.m., there will also be ongoing guided tour of the Ghost Ranch Lodge historic cactus garden.

The historic Wayward Winds neon sign lighting will take place between 7 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., followed at 8 p.m. by the after-dark tour of Evergreen Cemetery with historian Ken Scoville, starting from the Monterey Court. Parking and event information will be available at Monterey Court, and west of the facility on Miracle Mile.

This free Open House and Tour is a collaborative effort of the Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation, Ward III, City of Tucson, and businesses and organizations in the Oracle/Miracle Mile area.

For more information about the event, visit www.preservetucson.org and click on News & Events, or contact Linda Mehall, Ward III, at (520) 791-4711, or Linda.Mehall@tucsonaz.gov.

I’ve taken that cemetery tour with Ken Scoville in the daytime, but this nighttime one sounds spooky. Enjoy this open house on Miracle Mile.

Come Help us Turn on the 4 restored Neon Signs!

Friday – April 27 – 6:00 – 9:00 pm.

Pima Community College Downtown Campus (1255 N. Stone Ave.)

Join the Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation and Pima Community College for a night celebrating Tucson’s Neon past.

The evening will include the lighting of 4 historic neon signs rescued and restored by the Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation; the release of THPF’s Driving Guide to Tucson’s Neon Signs, a mid-century fashion show, classic cars, and a Sock-Hop.

The events start at 6:00 pm on the Pima Community College Downtown Campus

Southwest corner of Drachman and Stone Avenue.

The event is Free and open to the entire community.

SCHEDULE

6:00 – 6:15 Mid-century Fashion Show

6:15 – 6:45 Live Music (Salvador Duran)

6:45 – 7:15 Neon Sign Lighting

7:15 – 9:00 Sock-Hop

All night: kids activities, classic cars, food trucks, neon signs and fun!

Questions: 520-206-7100, 520-206-4500.

Next day: 5th annual Historic Miracle Mile Open House & Tour, 9 a.m. to 12 noon (click here ).

The event will include tours of the fully rehabilitated Monterey Court; guided walks through vintage motor court motels; illustrated talks on Miracle Mile and U.S. 80, architecture, iconic neon signs, and displays on future projects planned for the area. Listen to music, enjoy refreshments, and pick up a Driving Guide of Historic Places and a Find-the-Sign activity for kids.

I’ve been to this open house in the past, toured a few vintage motor court motels on Oracle Road (ie. La Siesta Motel), and even walked the Evergreen Cemetery on local historian Ken Scoville’s tour – fascinating to see the gravestones of famous Tucsonans, and hear about what Tucson was like in the 19th and 20th centuries.

More information on this Miracle Mile event contact Linda Mehall, Ward III, at (520)
791-4711, or Linda.Mehall@tucsonaz.gov.

Enjoy these “blast from the past” days.