The northwest corner of Indian School and Central shows A.J. Bayless, Bekins moving and storage, and Carnation Dairy's restaurant, soda fountain, and main processing plant. It's 1957.

Another walkable spot. Tenth Street and McDowell, part of the "Miracle Mile" commercial district in the 1950s.

Roosevelt Row was decades in the future when Birch's Drugs was snapped in 1953. It was part of a larger commercial strip along east Roosevelt and easily walkable from the Evans-Churchill and Garfield neighborhoods.

Overhead and in color, Phoenix in 1956. In the lower part of the photo are the Southern Pacific tracks and the Warehouse District. In the middle-left is Phoenix Union High School, including Montgomery Stadium. Camelback is bare of any houses, a situation that won't last long.

Enjoy! (Click on image to see a larger version):

Last week's gallery of the 1940s was so wildly popular, let's continue on a theme. For readers, I produced columns on Phoenix in the 1950s and the 1960s . I invite you to read them, for they provide important context and history of the photos that follow (images that didn't make the original decade columns).

A tourism advertisement for Phoenix. The "Valley of the Sun" motto originated in the 1930s.

To orient yourself. In the '50s and '60s, the city and towns were still separated by rural land. When this map was printed, south Phoenix wasn't part of the city of Phoenix.

T he iconic Goodyear sign, a baby Black Canyon Freeway, and a Santa Fe freight train paralleling Grand Avenue in the 1960s.

Bob's Big Boy, the center of cruising Central, at Central and Thomas. The building under construction is one of the two Mayer towers, this one the tall skyscraper for First Federal Savings and Loan.

Here's the completed Mayer Corporate Center. An outside elevator was the highlight of the First Federal tower. The short building housed a Playboy Club on the top floor.

Inside the Playboy Club in 1967.

Uptown Plaza, soon after its completion in the 1950s.

A concert at the bandshell at Encanto Park.

Luke Air Force Base, 1952. Phoenix was bracketed by Air Force installations, the other being Williams Air Force Base southeast of Mesa. Both focused on pilot training.

A newspaper clipping of Ike during a campaign trip in 1952. The former five-star general became the first Republican to carry Arizona in history.

In 1954, this became the first franchise McDonald's to open outside California. It was also the first with golden arches. Located on Central just south of Indian School, this McDonald's stood until the 1980s. It was demolished for a skyscraper that was never built.

An overhead of downtown in the 1950s. Demand for parking had already taken a toll on the fabric of the city.

Central and Adams Street looking north. My mother worked in the Heard Building (left) for the Arizona Interstate Stream Commission, lead state agency in fighting for the Central Arizona Project.

The fabric of small business endured downtown. This is the southeast corner of Central and Van Buren, soon to be leveled for the Valley Center skyscraper (now Chase Tower).

Central and Washington looking north. The Professional Building shows the iconic revolving neon Valley National Bank sign. When Valley Center was completed, the sign was hauled to a junkyard.

Downtown at night, looking south on Central from Fillmore Street. The First National Bank building became the Arizona Public Service headquarters. Now it's the main building of ASU's expanding downtown campus.

A parade on Central featuring the drum corps of Phoenix Indian High School.

Shady two-lane Seventh Street and Rose Lane in the 1960s (Duke University Libraries).

Maryvale Community Hospital, recruited by John F. Long for his growing subdivisions.

A John Birch Society bookstore at 18th Avenue and Camelback Road in the 1960s. Phoenix was a hotbed for the far-right organization.

Phoenix's growing GOP majority didn't stop Robert F. Kennedy from campaigning at Christown Mall in March 1968. He would be assassinated a little more than a month later.

Still unmarred by houses, this is Camelback Mountain in the early 1960s. It would take a grassroots effort by Barry Goldwater and money from the federal government to preserve the upper part of the landmark. Note the expansive citrus groves.

Phoenix's own amusement park, Legend City, opened in the 1960s on east Washington Street.

Construction of Rosenzweig Center south of Indian School on Central. Note the McDonald's. (Courtesy of Lawrence DeLeon Sr.). This office complex was located on the original Rosenzweig family homestead.

Long before it was overtaken by sprawl, Superstition Mountain in the 1960s.

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My book, A Brief History of Phoenix, is available to buy or order at your local independent bookstore, or from Amazon.

Read more Phoenix history in Rogue's Phoenix 101 archive.