Interview date is December 17, 1981. Transcript created during the Scottsdale Historical Society 1995-1996 Oral History Project. The digital recording is about 25 minutes long and varies in speed and quality. Record created 10/19/2016.
Enticed by his friend, Bill Hull, Mr. Joesph (Joe) Wong – a native Arizonan - moved back to Arizona from California in 1953. Settling in Scottsdale, he worked for a while with Hiram Hudson Benedict, one of the first architects working in Scottsdale, and founded Wong Associates in 1954. He tells how small Scottsdale was at the time, an atmosphere that included Indians parking their wagons at Scotty’s Blacksmith Shop while they had work done, how few buildings there were in the area so that hunting was common along the Arizona Canal off Camelback Road and Lincoln. The first residence he helped design was on the south side of Camelback for Gerald Haffley, he remodeled the original post office where Lute’s Pharmacy expended into it, designed the McCune Building, Dale Anderson’s first restaurant, and gave the city a general plan for the west Main Street area. He was appointed to the Library Board, and was a member of the Design Review Board. He talks about the Scottsdale Players and the Scottsdale Community Theater, Don Pablo and his dogs, encountering anti-Chinese prejudice when he was trying to purchase a home in Scottsdale, and his wife’s experience with the Phoenix cultural scene.
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