Yes, Virginia, there is winter in Phoenix. People living in the Northeast and Midwest call it “fall.” This is a picture of it.
I took this photo earlier this week, on Central Avenue between Bethany Home and Northern, just a few dozen feet south of Maryland Avenue.
Google Maps Street View has a nice summertime picture of the same stretch of road.
Those unfamiliar with this section of downtown Phoenix might not recognize the bit at the far left of this photo. It looks like a wide sidewalk, but it’s actually a section of the Murphy Bridle Path (variously spelled as “bridal” on some internet venues.)
Whether it was people on horseback out for a ride, or scores of young women wearing wedding dresses that gave the trail it’s name is unknown. Well at least I couldn’t find it after a lengthy Google search.
Trails.com claims the trail was founded in 1895. My colleagues Artur and Joanna at Realty Executives found some online info claiming the path was named for a man named Murphy Bridle who invented the Styrofoam cup. Hmmm.
No matter the origins of the name, Phoenicians flock to Murphy Bridle Path weekdays and weekends. You’ll see serious joggers, folks walking dogs, high school track teams and stay-at-home Moms out for a quick walk and chat with girlfriends. The shady lanes on either side of Central run for 2 miles, from Bethany Home Road to Northern Avenue. As you can see from this photo, on a rainy weekday no one flocks anywhere near the Bridle Path.
I’ve always thought of this as the “old money” section of Phoenix. The houses are set back off the road, on deep lush lots, just peeking out from behind tree branches. No two are the same and each seems to tell a little bit of a story about the lives of the people who built them. Tudors, Colonials, sprawling ranches, and even a few that truly looked like mansions.
I remember spending a good deal of time as a child, being driven up and down Central Avenue. We were probably on the way to the Burton Barr Library (Mom was a big believer in library books as babysitters). What I remember best about the trips though is pressing my nose to the glass as we passed one stately home after another and imagining which one I’d buy when I was all grown up. I poked around the internet before posting this and found my family aren’t the only ones who played the game of “Which house would you choose?”
You can search for homes in this area for sale here on my blog.
Heather Barr is a Realtor. She's a chow hound, a gym rat, and the only political junkie in the USA who can actually keep her political views to herself. Instead, she focuses on educating her clients about the often-confusing world of residential real estate.
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BTW, it’s funny how each Gravatar seems to reflect the writer’s tone. What a hoot! Will this comment get a happy Gravvy face I wonder?
Pat’s right. The McMansions are creeping onto Central Avenue and ruining it. The same thing is happening in the Arcadia area, and even in Moon Valley. Anywhere the houses are 40+ years old, it seems like they’re candidates for the bulldozer. What a shame!
I’m pretty sure it’s bridle too.
And we totally played the “which house will be mine someday” game growing up. I like one on the west side of Central down towards Glendale. One day I’d love if they did a home tour like they do in Willo, Coronado, Encanto, etc.
I thought it was “bridle” as in gear for a horse and was thus an old horse path. see: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Bridle%20path
“Bridal” is probably a typo. Like folks who refer to the “16th Chapel” rather than the “Sistine Chapel.”
More and more of the houses in this area are being razed and McMansioned & I don’t want any of them.
That Styrofoam thing may or may not be an urban legend. Some history is made itself. We’ll, it may not even be an urban legend since only a few people know it. It was information passed down the line, maybe straight from Bridle. I doubt a bride would like her tail dragging on the gravel or probably mud, unless she was on the horse or in fact if she was the horse.
Either way it’s a beautiful place and I stopped counting how many times I walked, ran and or cycled it.
By the way if you go cycling there be careful, last week I caught 2 punctures in my bike tubes on two different days. I never forget my spare tubes but this these two times I did not have them. It that Murphy’s Law?