One Summer by Bill Bryson

Book review. A good summer read, and not just because that's in the title. Bryson takes the summer of 1927 and puts forth all the happenings of that summer as a lens to the past and a preview to the future. Babe Ruth and the Yankees, Charles Lindbergh and the flight of the Atlantic, Sacco and Vanzetti and the anarchist movement, Al Capone and prohibition, Coolidge and Harding and American politics, and many social movements and the aspects of them are covered. For each of the subjects, which for the most part focus on an individual like Ruth or Lindbergh, they are used as a vehicle to both provide a history of their area, baseball and aviation, and as a precursor of what is to come. The author outlines how the birth of the modern celebrity kicked into high gear in 1927 with the explosion of interest, worldwide, in Charles Lindbergh. He outlines how before this their were sensational murder trials with people who were previously unknown, but they tended to be short lived sensationalized stories designed to sell newspapers. With Lindbergh, his celebrity was overnight and lasted the rest of his life. The way that celebrity came about hit a zenith in the year of 1927. Newspapers were of course widely established and the major way that people received information, but radio had become ubiquitous right at this time, and television was "invented" in 1927, according to the author. Of course, looking at all the events of 1927 knowing what is coming with the stock market crash in 1929 and the events that will lead eventually to WWII we have the luxury of hindsight. Entertaining and thought provoking, very worth the time to read this one.

Modern Streetcar the Game Changer

June 11, 2014 Tucson's Modern Streetcar, I call it the Trolley, goes into service July 25,2014. Its been an interesting process watching it evolve as a service, and watching it transform neighborhoods. When we first moved to Tucson, there barely was a downtown Tucson. There was the Hotel Congress and the Screening Room on Congress Street. And that was about it. Of course there were other bars and some places to eat, but they basically catered to a select group of people who lived and hung out in downtown. But slowly over the past 15 years things began to change. The biggest one to start things changing was the reopening of the Fox Theater in 2005. Then slowly things began happening. More events and shows took place at the Railto Theater, after that underwent some transformation. The train depot was refurbished as a drinks and eatery venue. One North Fifth was rehabbed as an urban apartment building. As residences came to be available so that people could live downtown, more services moved in. Coffee houses, upscale restaurants, more entertainment venues, the University created a presence downtown with a building on Stone Avenue. The final piece of the puzzle is the Modern Streetcar. The initial start of construction of the Streetcar was disruptive. Many streets were torn up for a long period of time, traffic was interfered with. However, once the tracks were laid and the first cars started to roll on them for testing, the excitement started growing. It will be very interesting to see how this all evolves, its so exciting to feel like we are at the beginning of a new era.