Tag: tucson
Palm Trees Aren’t Native to Arizona, So How Did They End Up Here?
Nothing quite says “desert oasis” like a cluster of slender palm trees. They’re found all over the southwest, lining the highway, parks and found in many of our backyards. The iconic trees are tall and majestic, not even bending with the wind. Though palms are a seeming eternal installation from Phoenix to Los Angeles, the ...The Tucson Artifacts are the Southwest’s Greatest Hoax
Imagine stumbling across 31 lead objects in the middle of the Arizona desert. The objects are heavy, include swords, crosses and religious paraphernalia, and are complete with Hebrew and Latin inscriptions. They look ancient, bearing the date 800AD, and if they’re authentic they completely rewrite the history of North America. That’s exactly what happened in ...Biosphere 2 Brings a Rainforest to the Arizona Desert
Did you know that Arizona has its very own rain forest? It also has an ocean, a savannah, a swamp and a desert. These landscapes are housed in Biosphere 2, a 40-acre Earth systems research campus located in Oracle, Arizona. The campus, which has been run by the University of Arizona since 2011, houses a ...An Educated Ghost Lost on Campus
TUCSON – Around the turn of the Twentieth Century, a young University of Arizona coed was brutally murdered and her body was thrown down an old well that once inhabited the space where the Modern Languages Building now stands. When the building was being erected in 1965, construction workers found her remains but didn't notify ...A Graveyard for Winged Warriors in Tucson
TUCSON -- Where to old airplanes go to die? The Boneyard. Officially known as the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center, the Boneyard is a central depot for U.S. military planes that have been taken out of service and put into storage. More than 5,000 of them now sit on 2,600 acres in the desert near ...Georgia O’Keeffe Behind Logo of Tucson Icon
TUCSON -- The great artist Georgia O'Keeffe probably wouldn't have liked the way it turned out, but her onetime act of kindness resulted in one of her artworks becoming a logo for a motel. Her rendering of a white cow skull on a black background hangs on two signs at the Ghost Ranch Lodge at ...Shrine at El Tiradito Draws the Wishful
TUCSON -- In the heart of the city sits El Tiradito, an adobe wall that recalls a tragic love affair. There are several stories about its origins, but the most popular involves an ill-fated love affair between Juan Olivera and his mother-in-law. When caught in an amorous act by his father-in-law, Oliver was killed on ...Have You Been to the “Valley of the Moon”?
TUCSON -- The majority of Arizona's humans are residents of Phoenix, a sprawling megalopolis known as "the Valley of the Sun." But most of the state's hobbits and trolls live in Tucson, in a small oasis known as "the Valley of the Moon." Back in the 1970s, George Phar Legler, a mailman with a big ...11 Quirky Artistic Endeavors in Southern Arizona
Southern Arizona has a rich culture and some very talented artists. Here are some of our favorite sculptures, murals and other artistic endeavors.Tucson Home Surrounded by Styrofoam Desert Scenes
TUCSON -- In a roundabout way, a burglar was Gary Morrow's inspiration when he set out to create a work of art. After his truck was broken into in 2008, his wife said she wanted a wall around their property, so he set out to fulfill her wishes.
Why Does Downtown Phoenix Seem to Have Two Downtowns?
The Tucson Artifacts are the Southwest’s Greatest Hoax