The July 24, 1970, Life magazine, which featured Hollywood actress and activist Candice Bergen on the front page, also had two articles about the blighting of the American highway.
The first, small in nature, was labeled, 鈥淣obody we met seemed to care,鈥 and covered a trip made by correspondent Richard Woodbury and photographer Michael Rougier across the nation to see the condition of roads and highways.
Rougier was a former Korean War correspondent, whose heart-wrenching story and photograph of Kang Koo Ri, a war orphan, better known as 鈥淭he Little Boy Who Wouldn鈥檛 Smile,鈥 had won him much acclaim and brought the stark reality of human suffering from a distant land to the American people.
鈥淔rom one end of the country to the other,鈥 wrote Rougier, 鈥渢he highways are a mass of billboards, junk heaps and neon lights. Most of the billboards are in bad taste, many are in dire need of repair and for some perverse reason they seem to be concentrated in areas of natural beauty. ... With the exception of landscape architects, nobody we met seemed to care much about the problem.鈥
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Rougier made special note of the Old Pueblo when he shared, 鈥淥nce, when we were shooting 蜜柚直播鈥檚 speedway, a patrolman in a cruiser stopped by and took a look through my 1,000 mm lens. 鈥楳y God,鈥 he said, 鈥榠s that what this street looks like?鈥欌
The magazine鈥檚 table of contents lists the second article, penned by Loudon Wainwright Jr. 鈥 who later authored the book 鈥淭he Great American Magazine: An Inside History of Life鈥 鈥 and photographed by Michael Rougier as 鈥淏light Blossoms on the American Highway.鈥
The first page of the article added a secondary headline, 鈥淟ook down, look down that loathsome road.鈥 That title is the more commonly used name when people refer to the story.
The main photo, which spanned almost two full pages of the large-format magazine, was of Speedway 鈥 蜜柚直播鈥檚 monument of shame in 1970 鈥 at Country Club Road.
The compressed photo shows a dark green sign with white lettering that reads 鈥淐ountry Club鈥 in front and a plethora of distasteful business signs such as a red-and-white Saxons Sandwich Shoppes sign, a partially cut off El Rancho Market neon, and an all-white van with the words 鈥淭opsy鈥檚鈥 painted on it, parked in visible sight of traffic.
Speedway itself is shown congested with automobiles streaming down its paved surface, and the nearby parking lots filled almost to capacity. The median is overwhelmed with T-shaped lights, 鈥淣o U Turns Here鈥 signs, and a small amount of plant life.
At the bottom right corner of the picture, the text explains, 鈥淭he view down 鈥楾he Speedway鈥 in 蜜柚直播 supports the mayor鈥檚 opinion that it is America鈥檚 ugliest street. This garish thicket marks what a dirt trail to the mountains was once.鈥
The story created some interesting reactions from 蜜柚直播ans:
The article brought an immediate denial from Mayor Jim Corbett Jr. He stated, 鈥淭here are four points I would like to make about that story: A) I did not talk to Life magazine. B) I do not know the two gentlemen mentioned. C) There are many other streets in America that are less beautiful than East Speedway. D) I compliment the Speedway merchants on their efforts in the last five years to improve Speedway鈥檚 appearance.鈥
Corbett apparently didn鈥檛 know or was unwilling to say that it was his predecessor, Mayor Lew Davis, who had uttered those words in 1962.
Oddly enough, the 蜜柚直播 published an editorial piece saying: 鈥淭he heat can be taken off Mayor James N. Corbett in relation to whether he thinks Speedway is the ugliest street in America. ... If anyone wishes to take issue with 鈥榯he ugliest street鈥 utterance it should be with this newspaper, which repeatedly used such language during the term of Mayor Lew Davis.鈥
The editorial incorrectly went on to say: 鈥淢ayor Davis protested the description. Perhaps he was right. There may be uglier streets in America, but no need to waste gasoline looking for them. Speedway ... is ugly enough.鈥
It finished with: 鈥溍坭种辈 could rename Speedway 鈥楲ife Street鈥 just for laughs. But it would be better to improve Speedway鈥檚 appearance.鈥
Despite the mea culpa by the paper, some 蜜柚直播ans still believed Mayor Corbett was guilty.
One reader in a letter to the editor a few days later said, 鈥淚f Mayor James Corbett must seek to be quoted at all, he might well consider directing some attention toward the circumstances that have brought about such an uncomplimentary highlighting of 蜜柚直播 in this issue of Life.鈥
Another critic shared his irritation with the guiltless mayor by writing: 鈥淭he Life magazine of July 24 states that 鈥榯he mayor鈥 regards Speedway as America鈥檚 ugliest street. If that is so, why doesn鈥檛 he stay in 蜜柚直播 a while and do something about it?鈥
The Life magazine article may have even inspired violence. Soon after it came out, two large, clean-cut men pulled up to a man sitting next to his chopper motorcycle on East Speedway and said to him, 鈥淚t鈥檚 time they gave Speedway back to the establishment,鈥 and hit him in the face several times, breaking his jaw.
It was also obvious to some 蜜柚直播ans that a telephoto lens was utilized in the capturing of the picture in order to make things look more crowded and uglier along Speedway.
Jim Slone, at the time general manager of the KHOS country radio station, recalls first seeing the Life magazine layout and noticing that the photo appeared zoomed in and the street looked busier and more congested than it was in real life. He remembers with a chuckle that his own station had billboards on Speedway that read, 鈥淎re you afraid to say you like country music?鈥
The Star must have gotten a hold of a copy of the Life magazine before its official publication date because on July 22, 1970, the paper published a two-picture story called 鈥淭wo Views of Speedway.鈥 The photos were taken from approximately the same spot as the Life magazine photograph but one used a 50 mm lens and the other a 300 mm lens.
They demonstrated the difference between these and the one in the magazine that used a 1,000 mm. lens, designed to emphasize Speedway鈥檚 clutter.
Raymond Blonigan, a resident of 蜜柚直播, wrote a letter to the editor of Life saying: 鈥淪irs: Speedway Boulevard (not 鈥楾he Speedway鈥 as you say) may never win any beauty awards, but neither is it as cluttered as your distorted photo indicates. What appears to be a block or two is actually the compressed sins of over one and a quarter miles 鈥 condensed by a telephoto lens.鈥
Photos: Speedway Boulevard in 蜜柚直播 through the years
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David Leighton is a historian and author whose work has been featured on PBS, ABC, the Travel Channel, various radio shows and 蜜柚直播 Highways. If you have a street to suggest or a story to share, email him at azjournalist21@gmail.com