| Weather | | How much crime? | | What are the neighborhoods like? | | What are the people like? |
| Phoenix is hot, hot and hot. If you travel to Phoenix in the summer make sure you wear a hat and also make sure you don't get out of the air conditioned car or leave your air-conditioned house. summertime brings heat that soars well over a hundred and can get up to a hundred and fifteen. That's on a cold day! Just kidding about that, but most locals stay indoors and enjoy their cool homes when the sun beats down unbearably. Winters are livable, as the temperature drops down to the 80s and even into the 70s occasionally. Winds have become a problem for Phoenix residents. Clouds of dust that rise several miles high and are several miles wide have blotted out the sun for hours at a time and created havoc on roads and freeways because of lack of visibility. No snow, but heavy rain and flooding can occur when you least expect in the summer monsoon season. | | Never leave valuables in your car if you step away, even for a few minutes. When you get back, they will be gone. This seems to happen mostly at shopping centers where it appears that someone is always watching for an opportunity to steal something. This doesn't just happen in Phoenix, but in all cities, big and small. You just notice it if you live there or are in the city a lot. Another frequent problem and quite noticeable is graffiti. There's a lot of it in Phoenix. No one ever sees the culprits but there's generally fresh graffiti somewhere in town on any given night. | | Phoenix has some very safe and well-heeled neighborhoods such as Willo and Palmcroft and the historic Del Norte districts. A lot of the expensive homes in the Phoenix area are organic looking. That is, they are modern and almost nondescript designs with brown desert color on the outside but have all the amenities you need for comfort and coolness on the inside. Scottsdale, however, although it is a suburb of Phoenix is considered by many people, all across the nation, to be one of the nicest places to live in the world. Many folks who own property in this incredible area just come for the winter when it's too cold where their other house is. Another part of Phoenix where it is pleasant to live is near Arizona State University. The neighborhoods are clean and well maintained and the crime rate is rather low. Some parts of Phoenix with the highest crime and the most abandoned houses are in Peoria, Avondale and Goodyear. These are suburbs just west of downtown Phoenix and have been hit hard by the economic turndown and have the most coverage on local TV news stations regarding crime. | | If you have a pair of cowboy boots, some Levis, a rodeo shirt and Stetson, you're going to fit in well here in Phoenix. On the other hand, no one is going to give you a second look if you wear boat shoes with no socks and shorts and a Hawaiian shirt with sunglasses. With the second get up you'd be a perfect candidate for Newport Beach, California, but once you're in Phoenix, you will have seen just about every kind of fashion statement that exists. There are basically three different types of people who populate this beautiful valley: white folks, Hispanic people and Native Americans. There are other races but these are the most noticeable. White folks got here later than everyone else and they kind of took over. The Hispanics used to own the papers on this land but they sort of got them taken away when the white folks came in. The Native Americans held the original deeds to the valley and were disenfranchised for a few hundred years. Now, they are becoming deed holders again and also becoming some of the richest people in the state by way of their highly successful casino businesses. |
| Downtown Area | | Restaurants | | Schools | | Single life |
| There are several pretty nice malls in the Phoenix area. Desert Sky Mall, CityScape and Metrocenter mall are all well equipped for any shopping needs. Desert Ridge Marketplace and Biltmore Fashion Park have upscale leanings and some great eateries. Indoor malls are perfect for Phoenix because their air conditioning invites shoppers to stay and enjoy the cool temperature along with great shopping and eating. | | There is plenty of fine and casual dining in downtown Phoenix. The Blue Hound Kitchen at Cityscape is a great place for American fare. Believe it or not, Ye Olde Spaghetti Factory, on Central Avenue, is still one of the best pasta joints in the city and is continually busy, which of course means that people just love it. | | There are hundreds of public schools in the Phoenix area and many of these are top rated. They can stand toe to toe with just about any other school district in the country. | | Phoenix is a great place to be single. There are tons of restaurants, night clubs and shopping centers where singles have an opportunity to meet. There are also several universities in the area for those in that age bracket. |
| Noise | | town comparison vs. | | Best hospital | | Tourist attractions |
| The only noise to be avoided, which really isn't that bad, is freeway noise. Unless you're trying to sleep or even have a conversation near the freeway, you probably won't even notice it's there. | | Phoenix has more shopping centers than its neighbors, Peoria and Avondale. It also has more restaurants, homes, choices of schools and jobs than either one of its neighbors. It has more social services, city services and more police and fire services than either of the two other towns. Phoenix simply has more and arguably a higher quality of living. Things are closer to Phoenix residents and affordable. Phoenix citizens have less crime per capita and it is a better place to live because of all the available services and nicer and safer neighborhoods. | | The Mayo Clinic is in Phoenix and so is St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center. These two medical centers are the best in the state and they have state of the art equipment and rooms for their patients. | | There is plenty to do in the Phoenix area such as the Phoenix Zoo, the Mesa Arts Center and the Phoenix Theatre. But one of the most interesting place to spend a few hours or the whole day for that matter, is the Arizona Science Center. This place has so many cool exhibits that you'll wonder why you never became a scientist after all. There are things for kids and adults of all ages. Many of the projects are interactive and once you go there you'll be thinking about it for the rest of the year. |
| General comments | | | | | | |
| Phoenix is a big city with a lot of shopping centers and a lot of dust and blue skies. It's a mixture of old fashioned cowboy independence and a new world metro shopping state of mind. You can take your pick as to which one you prefer. They are both here and that's really part of the big picture of Phoenix. it's part of the identity of this city. The independent feel of its citizens makes this town different from say a big West Coast or an East Coast city. Phoenix's residents, all of Arizona's residents, treasure their independence and they don't shy away from telling people how they want things done. The best way to explain the Phoenix impression is Tombstone and Wyatt Earp. He and his brothers simply were not taking any guff from anyone. | | | | | | |
