A Slice of Life
Bill Lites
While I was in Tucson I had several other places I wanted to visit, so the next place on my list, was the Titan Missile Museum just 20 miles south of Tucson, in Sahuarita, AZ. I was not aware that any of our ICBM silos here in the U.S. had survived the missile reduction treaties (SALT) over the years, which was part of the “world-wide weapon systems modernization program.” As it turns out, this preserved missile site, officially known as Titan II ICBM site 571-7, is all that remains of the 54 “Cold War” Titan II missile sites that were on alert across the United States from 1963 to 1987. It is now a Registered National Historic Landmark.
On my way back to Tucson from the Titan Missile Museum, I stopped to check out the San Xavier del Bac Mission (White Dove of the Desert) just off I-19. The mission was very simple inside, but very beautifully decorated at the same time. As I was leaving, I noticed a number of wooden shade structures near the parking area where several local women were cooking a verity of dishes for sale to the visitors and parishioners. It was getting close to dinner time, and I was tempted to try some of the food, but then thought better of it, since a trip like this is not the time to come down with a case of Montezuma’s Revenge.
I started the next day with a trip to the Saguaro National Park (West) that our family had driven thru back in 1975, as part of a six-week cross-country camping trip we had taken, when I was between jobs. We were impressed with the tall multi-armed Saguaro cactus, which can grow to as high as 70 feet tall, and filled that part of the Sonoran Desert. Next, I visited the Sonora Desert Museum, which we had also visited in 1975, but it had expanded and changed so much over the years that I didn’t recognize any part of it, except the entrance. Luckily, this time I had chosen a better time of year to visit, so, instead of mid-July and 120 degrees in the shade, it was early April with a mild breeze and a pleasant humidity free 80 degrees.
Next on the list, and just down the road was the Old Tucson Studios, which was originally built in 1938 by Columbia Pictures as a replica of 1860s Tucson for the movie “Arizona.” It was fun walking the dusty streets of Old Tucson and recalling some of the great movies that had been filmed there, over the years. Films such as The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945), starring Bing Crosby & Ingrid Bergman. The Last Round-Up (1947) with Gene Autry, Winchester ’73 (1950) with James Stewart, The Last Outpost (1951) with Ronald Reagan, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold (1958) and Cimarron (1959). My hero, John Wayne, starred in four movies filmed at Old Tucson Studios; Rio Bravo (1959), McLintock! (1963), El Dorado (1966) and Rio Lobo (1970. Movies have continued to be made there, with the latest being in 2013. Old Tucson Studios was opened to the public as a tourist attraction in 1960, and the many extras wondering the streets in their period costumes added much to the nostalgia.
—–To Be Continued—–
Old Things R New 