What’s Right With Sun City…

Happy Easter Sunday to all. Why not celebrate this glorious day with an introspective look by starting a thread at all the things that make Sun City so very unique, special. I know at times people think i enjoy being critical of Sun City, but i prefer to see it as an open and honest dialogue on how to make it better.

Over the years, i have written millions of words about Sun City. I have had many readers tell me i should write a book about our amazing community. Most often i respond, someday, maybe. On top of writing I’ve read thousands of books. One of the things I love about good story tellers is the final chapter. It speaks volumes to the quality of the book and the ability of the author.

My good friend Ben Roloff and i share piles of books. One of our constant laments has been how a great story told over countless pages gets to the final chapter and wham, it’s like the writer went brain dead. Or, as we often laugh, they’ve met the required number of pages by his/her publisher and just wants to finish it. No thought, just get it done. So terribly disappointing.

As i was walking my old girl Sybil this morning it hit me, if i do a write a book about Sun City, I’ll have the title,“The Final Chapter.” It makes perfect sense it you think about it. Sun City, for most of us, is in fact the final chapter of our lives. We’ve moved here at an a average age of 60 or 65 (some sooner), and most of us will die here (sorry, not being morbid, just realistic).

Before Sun City opened, life for retirees was limiting. Their final chapter would have been a rocking chair or as a baby sitter for the grand kids. On January 1, 1960, that all changed. The Del E Webb Corporation (DEVCO) opened an entirely new vista. A vision beyond what the “experts” said would work. Many called it nonsense, many more called it home.

I’ve read most of the oral histories at the Museum. Interviews with that pioneers that told of their journey to find their place in the sun. They came from all walks of life, found skills they never knew that had, became involved and committed to insuring their new home worked. And to be sure, not just for them, but also for all those that followed.

It’s a continuing story, and by no means has it ended and in all likelihood, never will. The Sun City story is ongoing, evolving and ever changing. It needs to be updated, refreshed and retold. Those who have moved here will live out there own final chapters, those who ultimately find us will too bring their yet written pages. Personally, i have dozens of chapters that have played out, and good Lord willing, someday as i reach the final chapter i will reduce them to writing to share with others.

For now, i will be content in the weeks to come, to tell you what i like about Sun City. I invite all of you to do the same. That’s what this thread is for, what makes Sun City the place you chose to make your “final chapter.”

Please, feel free to share your comments.

 

Let's start from the very beginning. Three guys from the Webb Corporation convinced Webb and Boswell to invest in the community. They were L C Jacobson, Tom Breen and Joe Ashton (all three were gone in 1965 but that's another story). They had done some limited research and even though the experts said it would fail, they saw potential. They felt the key was to approach it from a unique perspective. Every other community of its kind said they would add amenities when the community got big enough to support them.

Their pitch was to build the infrastructure before anyone was living here. Between Jim Boswell and Del Webb, they came up with $1.2 million. The day they opened, January 1, 1960, everything was in place. There was a shopping center, 9 hole golf course with pro shop, Community Recreation Center (Oakmont), Hiway House Motor Inn with bar and restaurant, gas station (opening within the month), and the 5 model homes. The rec center had club rooms including an awesome wood shop, pool, lawn bowling green and a meeting hall with stage. There was an awesome out door area for events as well.

The best aspect of the entire opening was their marketing package that is still true to this day; "An Active New Way Of Life." From the moment potential buyers started pouring in to visit, their imagination for something better hit them right in the face. They were selling something that had never been promised before. 62 years later, little has changed. Everything Sun City offered then is still true today. I just left the lawn bowling green at Bell where a new resident told me he still can't believe all Sun City has to offer.

One can only smile when you consider how Del Webb used to call L C Jacobson and ask him how that "old folks home was coming?" Before you get too critical of Mr. Webb, his company had just gone public, he owned or built about a half of Las Vegas, he owned the Yankees and had countless numbers of massive projects going on around the country. We all laugh when we talk about Del at the Museum, he turned 60 when Sun City opened, but he would have the last senior in the country to buy a place here. He literally couldn't sit still long enough to enjoy our amazing way of life. He lived to work.

So, to recap, the first best thing about Sun City..."A new active way of life." The formula then, still the same today.

 

There's an old joke about the guy who was born on third base and thought he'd hit a triple. Most often, politicians use it against their opponents who were born into wealth and status. Sometimes when i hear people talk about how good Sun City is, it almost sounds as if they never really understood how we got here. They forget it took trials and tribulations and lots of hits and misses before they got it right. Those pioneers left us the legacy of success we have come to enjoy.

And for that very reason i am going to take this thread on what's right with Sun City very slow. By the time i am done, hopefully at least a handful of you will understand, in the beginning, no one started out on third base. There were a whole boatload of singles scattered in with a bunch of strike outs. That first year they sold some 1300 homes, about the number they had projected to sell in the first three years. Staggering.

BY the middle of year one, the company started an addition on the shopping center, doubling its size. They immediately began the back nine of the North course and had it open by years end. They made a monumental error in judgement and expected those living here to voluntarily pay to belong and use the Community rec center. Approximately 60% of the buyers did, the others didn't. It was crushing and they considered all kinds of options. We'll cover that at a later date.

The best thing that happened though was this; and to be clear it set the stage for Sun City's success. DEVCO turned over the Community Center to those living here. So you understand, every house sold had a value added to it (in phase 1, roughly $125) to cover the cost of building the amenities. The golf courses were different as they paid for them with the up charge on lot prices on golf courses ($1250 on the first course).

Leaving the golf courses out of the discussion, owning the rec center from the outset forced those living here to form an organization to oversee them. By July of 1960 they were already making plans to become the owner by years end. Given the shortfall in revenue, DEVCO subsidized their operation and running them, but the die was cast, and as the company built new centers it was only a matter of time before those living here would become the owners.

The next thing i liked from our history is/was the willingness by the company to deed them to us and more importantly the residents accepting the responsibility of owning them. From that first gifting in 1960, the course of Sun City's history was set.

 

Fluid. If i could use one word to describe those first years of Sun City's opening, it would be fluid. There was nothing carved in stone, there were no how to books on the proper way to build an age restricted community from the ground up. Every day offered new opportunities, new challenges and in many cases, changes in direction. Nothing could be more on point than the shift in the middle of the first year.

The area around Community Rec Center (Oakmont) was called New Life Unit 1. The owners in that unit had purchased their properties and were not bound to pay a yearly assessment to use the rec center. DEVCO quickly saw the error of their ways and wrote into the purchase agreement in New Life Unit 2 what we know today as a "facilities agreement." Those buyers had agreed to pay a yearly fee. It was to be Sun City's saving grace.

We know how explosive growth was the first year. Each of the next years were good, but nothing like 1960. the total sales were: 1961-907. 1962-691. 1963-595. The vast majority of the buyers by 1964 belonged to Town Hall (Fairway) recreation center. It was nearly twice the size, was far nicer with more club room space and meeting areas. There was an even better outcome. While the voluntary fees to use the Community Center were $40 per year, the newly minted concept of a mandatory fee (facilities agreement) for Town Hall dropped to $12 per person per year.

There was a downside to it. Those in New Life Unit 1 couldn't use Town Hall except as a guest. It was a problem that lingered until 1967/1968. It also created some hard feelings within the community. That's another story for a later date. Even with the turmoil, each of the recreation centers were actively trying to build a sense of community. Club room space was limited, but regular gatherings were a constant. Dances, pot luck dinners, new comers coffees and out-door events always drew large crowds.

One of the most intriguing stories that has been told and retold is how new buyers immediately were willing to become engaged in assuming leadership roles. By 1963, with some 3000 home sales and a population of less than 5000, there was no shortage of candidates for "public office." What was especially tricky was, governance was unlike where they came from. There was no city hall, no mayor, no council members.

There were however, by 1963, three separate organizations in the community. The first you know about, The Sun City Community Center which became the SC Civic Association started in 1960. The second was The Town Hall Association that began in 1962. In 1963 the Civic Association was begun. While the name was confusing due to the first organization, this one was clearly different as it now has become the Sun City Home Owners Association (SCHOA). The first two represented groups for each of their centers, the third represented the entire community.

Even with the small population base, each of these organizations held yearly elections. They almost always drew amazing numbers of candidates, sometimes as high as 25 people running for those seats on the board. Those moving here took a real interest in the community. Adding to the pressure, was by 1961, the powers that be were already pushing for incorporation. That battle lasted until 1995.

So, to be clear, it wasn't just those living here took ownership, they actively fought off the efforts to remake them into where they came from. Very impressive.

 

Adaptability. "the quality of being able to adjust to new conditions."

Perhaps, there is no better word to describe Sun City in 1965. It was the year of a massive sea change and a shift from what we were to what we would become. The reason for the upheaval was the catastrophe of 1964. There was a mild depression, the two Sun City properties in Florida and California were dead in the water and their flagship Sun City AZ, sales had plummeted to 387.

Del Webb, the consummate business man who had watched his father go bankrupt in 1914, quickly tried to make adjustments. His first effort was to get Breen, Ashton and Jacobson agree to change their approach. They said no, and within months, all were gone from the company. John Meeker was asked to take over the community development and without his leadership and vision, who knows what Sun City would have become. We do know DEVCO had Plan B if the works, with everything north of Grand Ave slated for an industrial park and non age restricted housing.

Meeker's successes started with his genius, but nothing would have worked without total buy-in from those living here. While we talk about organizational structure being slow moving, John, as the guiding light, had a free hand and was relentless in the pursuit of excellence. To make it work, to pull it all together, he talked, polled and surveyed the membership every step of the way. They took ownership of his ideas.

If they were willing to get onboard, he was convinced he could wipe Plan B off the books. He was right. What makes it all so amazing is this; seniors are known for their longing for things to be stable, changes to be held to a minimum and consistency in their day to day way of lives. I would guess, these original buyers, called "pioneers" were of a different mindset. After all they had pulled up stakes, moved to the middle of the desert, all in an effort to create a new active way of life. They weren't afraid of change, they embraced it.

People say, timing is almost everything in life. 1965 proved to be the right time for the right people with the right leadership. Sun City has proven it could stand the test of time, and i would say, even to this day, having that ability to be adaptable played a huge role in why it has worked.

 

Over the years i have taken hundreds of visitors through the Museum. Whenever i start to tell the John Meeker salvation story, the question invariably becomes, "what did he do?" The challenge is, there isn't one thing. It was a paradigm shift in thinking that started with that policy of non-involvement. We read above how the members took ownership of the governance aspect, the reality was, much of the rest of it, needed a financial boost to get things moving.

For example, there were clubs in Sun City, but nowhere near what there were by 1970. In an ad hanging in the Freeman room, there were already more than 100 clubs alive and growing. That was more than double from 1965 and Meeker had a hand in it. It was one of the less expensive fixes he made, all it took was the largest color television he could buy. He had his PR guy give it away at small club gathering. Word spread about the lucky winner and club membership was on the rise.

Perhaps the most important change was when he fired the 50 person in-house advertising department at DEVCO. The ads were brilliant, but they had stopped working. Meeker understood just how special the community was and the solution was to get them here. The Play and Stay was born and it changed the course of history. Meeker claims that 50% of the 20,000 homes sold during his time came through the program. It was so successful, it's still the tool new communities use to this day.

Spending money was never an issue for John. In his memoirs is a yearly accounting of sales and profits. He understood that old adage about spending money to make money. He invested in dozens of different events all with an eye on bring the community together. He refused to leave it the membership and understood the more he invested in creating a sense of community, the more they became invested in selling Sun City.

While events were cool, spending money on the infrastructure was even more his thing. We know he started changing the size, shape and style of the homes, the amenities were even more spectacular. The Sun Bowl was the first, but was quickly followed by the third rec center in 1967 Town Hall South (Mountainview). By 1969, as sales exploded, they moved across the tracks, built Viewpoint lake, the hospital and Lakeview Rec Center. Next up was the Lakes Club quickly followed by the Sun Dial Rec Center, the Bell Center; all three were exceptional in their own way. All, very expensive as well.

Those of you who have followed anything i have written know my high regard for John Meeker. He's never gotten enough credit for Sun City's success. Del Webb was always the one getting the accolades; after all is was Del and Jim Boswell's money that made it happen. Countless others were the drivers, none more so than John.

Which brings me to the whole point of this exercise. In Meeker's memoirs and in his multiple interviews we have on file at the Museum, John was always quick to credit the huge team working for and with him at DEVCO. More importantly, John understood and more importantly acknowledged none of it would have happened without the people who came bought in Sun City and accepted it as their home.

What i've loved about this community and the history behind it, was those moving here embraced it as if it was their own. It's easy to love where you were born where you grew up and where you lived the majority of your life. The simple reality is, those coming to Sun City in the twilight of their years opened their hearts and minds and made this community just as important, if not more so than from where they came. It is a tradition too rich to ignore, and one that should be taught to every new buyer.

Someday maybe eh?

 

Interesting. Yesterday i had coffee with my buddy Ben and we laughed about too many things to mention here, other than, some of the challenges when telling the history of Sun City. He pointed out some errors i had made, all-be-it minor. For those who don't know, my go to source is Jubilee, Sun City's 25th Anniversary book. Other sources are Meeker's journal, interviews and files from the Museum.

We've long known and accepted some of our collection and writings were based on "best memories" by those retelling the stories of from our founding. Jane Freeman, the consummate historian, left us an earmarked 25th anniversary book with corrections she came across since its writing in 1984. While perfection is an admirable goal, it's simply that, a goal. And to be clear, there aren't massive mistakes, just variations of actual events.

It's one of the reasons Ben Roloff's 5 year stint at the State Archives has been so important. He has been reading, detailing and chronicling the news of the day, as it happened in the newspapers from that era. It's been a monster undertaking. The stories he has collected are stunning and funny and illuminating. It's been a labor of love that has gone above and beyond.

It's yet another reason i love Sun City. Those coming here have taken the time and given so freely of themselves to insure our rich history lives on. So that we can tell and retell the stories of how and we we succeeded. So those moving to Sun City would, could and should understand it wasn't an accident we were successful, but because those who bought into a new active way of life did everything they could to make it work.

How does it get better than that?

 

Staying the course of John Meeker and his amazing transformation of Sun City, his impact was felt early on. We know he came to run the project in 1965 and within the first year we saw him add a real flair to the housing styles. The Mediterranean home styles were a far cry from the models shown opening day. While the first 5 years targeted lower to moderate income retirees, John realized everyone loved a bargain. Adding square footage and more style to the architecture was an immediate hit.

It didn't end there. At coffee the other day, Ben told me more information about the Sun Bowl. The story has been told that Meeker got the idea when he flew over a sun bowl of sorts in a community in California. Ben said the discussions actually had been ongoing in Sun City for a theater to accommodate large crowds. The cost would have been substantial and DEVCO wasn't out of the woods yet on costs. John had crews on site and the land available. Ben told me he had read they claimed to have built the Sun Bowl for $30,000. A fraction of what an indoor venue would have cost.

The pressure continued and the third rec center was quickly added to the mix. Town Hall South (Mountainview) opened around the same time as the Sun Bowl. The beauty of that third center is it became the impetus to consolidate the community into a single organization. Community Center (Oakmont) still had owners not paying a yearly fee and even those that paid their fees could not use the other two centers. Meeker offered to spend some money on that first rec center if the residents voted to accept a "facilities agreement." It passed easily and the "mini Berlin Wall" had come down.

The stories from our history have shown us repeatedly those living here have always been willing to work through the problems and find solutions. It's just another in the long list of things i love about living in this incredibly unique community.

 

What was that old political line? "It's the economy stupid." As much as i avoid the political discourse here, let me re-write this in a way to much better fit what i love about Sun City; "It's the hospital stupid." I mean that both literally and figuratively. So many folks over the years have just taken the fact they live within 15 minutes of a hospital as a given. It's not.

If you were to do some serious research of age restricted communities across the nation, finding a hospital next door to you in a senior community would be challenging. Sun City West has one, i suspect The Villages of Florida has several but then they should, the "community" is spread across three counties. It would be like comparing apples to elephants. There is no comparison.

All of the newer communities were built later than ours and all of them suffered from expensive land costs. Developers had to try and maximize profits. They did so by squeezing more homes unto less land space. Shopping centers, churches, hospitals and even amenities often were given short shrift. It was just economics. In the long run, those value added properties were put outside the community walls.

Sun City and Sun City West were different. Land was plentiful and the idea the community be self-contained was one buyers loved. Very large tracts of land were set aside to house the hospitals. Once DEVCO committed to moving north of Grand Ave, they understood the importance of a first class hospital being near the center of the community. Even more important, they knew that seniors would be needing care on a higher level than their younger counter-parts.

They turned the first shovel in January of 1969. Thankfully the tiny proposed hospital south of Grand Ave was dropped when Jim Boswell stepped up and offered 1.2 million dollars to get the project off the ground. It came with some conditions but all were well reasoned out and helped make the Walter O Boswell Memorial Hospital a first class operation. There were those from outside the walls who fought it, but Webb et al were not to be stopped.

When it opened in November of 1970, there was a massive turnout with some 5000 residents in attendance. The three circular wings were classic in design and over the years have been added to. Just last year, a sparkling new emergency center was opened. Having used the old one several times with both mom and dad, it was a welcome addition.

The hospital, as they were raising funds had received donations (large and small) from a majority of those living here. Better yet, once it opened, they quickly developed a volunteer base of more than 1000 Sun City residents. It truly was impressive.

The other thing people tend to overlook is how Sun City is evolving. There were 16 shopping centers/strip malls within our white walls. As brick and mortar have struggled to stay afloat against on-line buying, many of these centers have been purchased by medical delivery based businesses. It has been impressive to me to watch as doctors who were squeezed into tiny offices buy and expand into larger spaces. They have grown in ways that make visiting their offices a much more user friendly experience.

None of us like getting old, sick and in need of medical care. The reality it's better than the alternative, being put in the ground. There's so many reasons to like/love Sun City, and while it is easy to hope we don't need the medical facilities, the fact they are here only adds to the value and our uniqueness.

 

It's always easy for those buying and living in Sun City to state the obvious when it comes to talking about what they love. Most often it's the club(s) they belong to, the gym they work out at, the free music events at the Sun Bowl, the golf courses they enjoy or the pool they hang out at in the heat of summer. All of which are on point and key to enjoying the active new way of life DEVCO promised us.

Don't get me wrong, all are quite spectacular. The thing is, many/most other age restricted communities have some or all of those things. Over the years, as i have written volumes on Sun City, i have often described our uniqueness being akin to peeling back the skin of an onion. There is simply layer upon layer and the more you peel, the more you appreciate and enjoy the little things often over looked.

We know in Phase 1, once Meeker got going, his quest for more and better housing options grew. South of Grand there were single family homes, twins, the Fairway apartments and what he called vacation specials. Once he raced north of Grand Ave, he truly unleashed the beast. Single family homes were the rage, but he also expanded his horizons. He immediately built the Patio Homes, Patio Apartments, Garden Court Apartments, Gemini Twin Homes and the ever popular Quads. On top if all that, he had homes that were total solar, an indoor swimming pool and houses with 3000 plus square feet and more angles than one could imagine.

Realtors knew the variations, but most buyers were fixed on one style or model and paid little attention to all of the alternatives. Adding to the mix, the wild array of options were the lake lots, golf course lots and premium lots, usually situated on corners or a cul-de-sac. Then if you want to really go off the charts, stop down to Rancho Estates and look at the 1 to 5 acre lots. No more horses there these days but there are garages there that are spectacular.

I've had the good fortune over the years to tour a good number of the styles. The Museum has provided me a historical perspective from each of the openings via the original model home booklets. There's no shortage of fascinating exteriors and interiors to leave those who like different designs in awe. Then throw in square footage ranging from 800 sq to 3200 square and you truly have something in everyone's price range. Well almost as home prices these days are insane no matter what the size.

The point here, the way Sun City was built, the home styles and options are well beyond any other community. Just another in the long list of things i love about Sun City.

 

Let me shock everyone with this next piece on what i love about Sun City. Golf. Yup, i said it and i stand by it. I used to play, i don't anymore, but there's no question, Sun City was built as a golfing community and it will always be a golfing community. For anyone interested in our history and Del Webb, you know the man loved the game. What is so odd is, he took it up late in life. He was in his mid 30's. Most know he was a great athlete, aspiring to become a professional baseball player.

When he put down the bat and glove for the last time (circa 1930), his focus was work. His newly opened construction company was initially a tiny operation, but as Arizona was coming out of the depression, his business flourished. In his mid 30's he found golf and conducted some of his deals at the private country club he belonged to. By the time Sun City opened, he had memberships in 14 country clubs around the country and had become near a scratch golfer.

There was little doubt Sun City was going to have a golf course, the real question was, how many? The original course, North, was started before anything else in Sun City. It stood to reason, come opening day, the front nine holes of the course should be open for play. Hard to imagine "a new active way of life" without golf taking center stage. Little did anyone know just how big a role it would play.

In 1979, as DEVCO was pulling up stakes and moving to Sun City West, there were 11 golf courses within Sun City's white walls. Not only were there 8 courses for the members; each of the three primary phases 1, 2 and 3 had their own private country club. They were owned and operated via stock ownership from those living on and around the courses who were willing to pay a premium for the status of joining and belonging to an exclusive setting.

It truly is amazing when you consider Sun City is only 3 miles wide and 7 miles long. The courses over time proved to be a value added amenity with the green space and open air being a nice departure from all of the building going on in the community. Even better, was Sun City golfers had the advantage of being able to play a different course every day of the week if they desired. The fact they could get to all of them on their golf cars made Sun City a stunning attraction for anyone interested in the game.

The challenge was these courses were all built in an era when a golf course was just a golf course. One only has to look at the courses in Sun City West to see the changing nature of golf course design. We had water features, but nothing like newer more challenging courses. Back when i still played, if we wanted a tougher course, we would load up the clubs and go pay to play one of the premium courses that dotted the Phoenix landscape.

In an effort to keep this on a high note, golf is still the best bargain going for Sun City residents. The occasional player in season only pays $35 per round, but there are full play passes and surcharge passes that can cut the cost significantly. Several of the courses have been updated, but the reality is the quantity will always outshine the quality. That said, for the 12% of the community that loves and plays the game, Sun City is a bargain.

And, to be sure, the open green spaces still are well loved by non-golfers. The cooling effect is immediately felt when walking adjacent to them during those hot summer months. What's not to like about that?

 

Continuing on with this discourse, i want to look at something most don't really think about. Over the years, i have gone back and forth on a topic that's been portrayed both positively and negatively. And to be honest, i've argued both sides of the coin thus proving two things can be true at one time.

I like the fact Sun City is too big. Newer age restricted communities have shrunk in size. Rarely do they get much bigger than 5000 homes, with many far smaller. For comparison, Sun City has 27,500 rooftops, Sun City West 18,000 plus and Sun City Grand around 12,000. All three of those are far larger than the average. The one exception to the rule is The Villages in Florida. They are wholly different as they are ballooning to 70,000 with a goal of potentially 100K. They also are situated in three different counties with a multitude of associations within the community.

The point here is, Sun City with it's massive population that nears 40,000 residents during the high season is unique. Throw in the 8 recreation centers, 8 RCSC golf courses, Viewpoint lake, the Sun Bowl, softball field and Duffeeland park and we find an incredible array of options and choices for members. The real beauty is when a facility goes down to the inevitable remodel, there's another just down the road. For example, when Mountainview closes for whatever number of years it will take, Fairway is less than a mile away.

One of the other things i have talked about and written about regarding our size, even when compared to both West and Grand, is ingress and egress. Say what? I have had the pleasure of visiting both communities any number of times and each and every time i leave i am thankful i didn't buy in either. Don't get me wrong, both are beautiful, but getting in and out of them are personally a pain in my ass. I know, i'm not a very patient person, but it always drove me nuts when coming and going from them.

Look, it's just a preference, but for those who argue Sun City is too big, i am more objective and see how much better we can be by making the most out of how large we are. In this case, size does matter and it's one of the things i like about the original Sun City Arizona.

 

I was a flaming workaholic. Hours meant nothing to me, the more the better (which wasn't too smart on my part as i was salaried). I was convinced work defined me, what and who i was. I was wrong, it was just what i did to pay the bills, to get to the day i could retire. Once i found Sun City and saw all it offered, my attitude began to change. There was life after work and once i retired i came to appreciate just how could it could be. Turns out, work was way overrated.

Let's take a look at two words i heard repeatedly while a volunteer at the Sun City Visitor Center. Two words those of us living here start to take for granted. They are; "Clean," and "Quiet." When we first bought in Sun City in 1999 and would visit for a week here and week there, we would always be amazed at the sense of serenity that would wash over us as we drove through the white walls.

Having loved the energy and excitement of work, fighting with people for a living and vacationing in Las Vegas for years where the action was non-stop, Sun City was the polar opposite. While there were hundreds of things to do here, you could do them on your time, at your leisure. The funny thing was when we would come for a week of "vacation" we would work on the house non-stop. Once we moved here, we could buy something for the house and take weeks or months to get it up or installed. It just didn't matter.

I digress. We quickly grew to enjoy/love how quiet Sun City was (other than the occasional golf cart being crunched by a car outside our doors on Boswell and Desert Rock Dr). People always laugh about rolling up the sidewalks around 7 pm but truth be told, other than the constant stream of walkers, i'm not sure they ever get unrolled. That's a good thing, unless you live on one of the streets those passing through go racing by on. Absolutely love the solitude.

They say, "cleanliness is next to Godliness" so i guess it's no surprise there are 31 churches in Sun City. Other than after a nasty wind storm and the trees are pounded, Sun City is most often spotless. The PRIDES do an amazing job around the community and it's not unusual to see it rub off on residents who will pick up after the occasional pig throwing out their garbage as they drive through our community.

The vast majority of us living here appreciate how quiet and how clean it is. But then really, what's not love about it?

 

I had met a business owner in the course of my dealings while serving as the president of the Del Webb Sun Cities Museum. His name was Steve Pohle and he and his brother owned Pohle NV Center (he has since sold it). He actually donated the blue three wheel golf car at the Museum and Jane Freeman and i drove it in Sun City's 50th anniversary parade (top speed 4 miles per hour ). Another of those rare business owners who understand the importance of giving back to the community.

Anyway, we became friends and along the way i had him build me a golf cart that i still drive to this day. Nope, no break on the price and why i still have it a dozen years later. Be that as it may, i would often stop down at his shop, have coffee and we would talk. Turns out his dad opened the store in Sun City in the mid 80's. The family was originally from the Twin Cities (as was i). They had owned a beer distributorship and following an ugly Teamster strike by his drivers, sold the company and made for Arizona.

His father had passed away and the two sons ran three shops; one in the east valley, the one in Sun City and one in Sun City West. We enjoyed each others company (i know, hard to believe) and we talked about everything. Any number of times when the community needed something he stepped up and donated. He was just that kind of guy. What was really funny was he looked just like Hoss Cartright (my fav from the Bonanza crew). Imagine my surprise the first time i went in his office and saw an exact replica of the 10 gallon hat Hoss used to wear.

Back in the day (2010) i had my hands in and around all kinds of stuff. While the Museum was my passion, my wife and i became part of the year and half long 50th anniversary committee. That just meant those of us on it, did all of the free labor at every event. If you recall, the economy was in the tank and there was virtually no money from businesses. In spite of that, we held at least one major promotion every month where we sold 50th anniversary merchandise. The good news was, we got through it and when the year ended we had about 50k to donate back to organizations within the community. It might have been the longest year of our lives.

While drinking Steve's free but not very good coffee, he looked at me and inquired, "how's Sun City's mayor." I laughed, but quickly corrected him." Sun City has never had a mayor and hopefully, never will. I schooled hm a bit on the fight against incorporation lasting 30 plus years and that people moving and living here didn't want to be what they were back home. They loved there was no mayor, no city hall, no councilmen (male or female). They loved anyone living here could put up their hands and do as much or as little as they wanted.

I've written of self-governance above, but this segment is even more on point. No mayor elected, no local city elections, no city planners and pencil pushers with exploding bureaucracy costs; all part and parcel of what set Sun City apart, made us unique. Best of all, no matter how much anyone did or does, how much they gave back, all they were was another in the long line of volunteers. For me, i really loved there was no mayor. I know, very, very odd. But that's just me.

 

Let's wrap this thread up with some final thoughts; but before we begin a couple of definitions:
1). Tangible: 1a : capable of being perceived especially by the sense of touch. 1b: substantially real.
2). Intangible: unable to be touched or grasped; not having a physical presence.

You may have noted during this exercise, i stayed, for the most part, away from the tangible stuff. Before we bought in Sun City, we toured several age restricted communities. All were newer, most were nicer and all were definitely more expensive. All had amenities, some had golf courses and all had much more elaborate housing. Not more choices, just much more expensive upgrades.

Which brings me full circle to opening day, when Sun City's target market was low to moderate income retirees. It evolved over time, but the idea the value behind buying and living in Sun City never really changed. The entire premise from DEVCO was for the community to be affordable. So that those, even with a modest retirement income, be able to able to buy here and enjoy all it offered. It is still remains that way to this day.

The second aspect of the company's goals was in the values they built into Sun City. A wholly different tenet than value. Imagine the challenges of the DEVCO employees who were tasked with making Sun City a success. By 1960, Del Webb and his company had an unparalleled record and everything they touched turned to gold. For more than 30 years in Arizona and around the country, he was unstoppable.

Sun City came along and it was a wing and a prayer. The first 4 years were amazing. By 1964, the 3 other locations around the country were dead and damn near buried. Then Sun City AZ hemorrhaged and it looked like the dream had ended. It appeared as if Webb's magic was done and so was Sun City. Enter John Meeker who refused to let it die and simply become a footnote in time. He didn't do it alone, the Webb team rallied behind him and everything changed.

Let me be very clear about this, because it is/was an intangible; the community, those living here and buying here became vested in Sun City's success. They too refused to let Sun City fail. They became his greatest promoters, they took on responsibilities that insured Sun City would be sustainable long after DEVCO left. They became the owners and the ones who would carry us into the future. DEVCO was always going to leave and Meeker understood that better than anyone.

Here's my deal, every age restricted community, and there's more than a 1000 of them around the country, are gorgeous. They sell themselves. Fancy, glitzy and all built to sell homes. Sun City was the impetus behind it all. It was "the community that changed a nation." It also was a concept that builders nation wide latched onto and turned into more than a cottage industry. Oddly, as they studied Sun City (and they did in depth), they came to understand they could never replicate what Sun City was, what they offered. Lot's of reasons for it, some real, some imagined, some just basic economics.

Ultimately, Sun City has stood the test of time. After all these years we are still incomparable, affordable and a place the vast majority of us love to call our home. People often ask me; "why are you still doing this, writing, trying to cling to the past?" My answer never varies, it was our past that made us what we are today. It was those countless thousands of buyers who came to Sun City hoping for a better way of life, to have more than from where they came. Seldom were they disappointed. Those who bought here and put their hands in the air and said, "I can do that."

The past 15 years there's been an effort to remake us into what all the other age restricted communities are; just move here and enjoy retirement. I could have bought in any of the other communities we looked at, but none of those was the original Sun City. All of them had the tangibles, non of them had the intangibles i found in this community. The intangibles are what make Sun City unique, why would we ever abandon them?

Let me leave you with this final thought. Webb died in 1974. The company continued on till 2001. By then the Yankees were long gone, Vegas barely remembered his name. The construction side of the business was all but done. There was only one remaining legacy (beyond his foundation) and that was the age restricted side of the business. The Pulte group came in and purchased the company and the reason was clear, they wanted the Del Webb Sun Cities name. It was synonymous with retirement.

This place we call home, our final destination in our journey of life has been the ultimate reward for a life well lived. I believe wrapping my arms around something as special as Sun City was, is worth fighting for, Letting it become just like all the others, only less expensive, is a fools game. In the end, maybe it's just one man's opinion. We'll see eh?