By Thomas Paradis
Flagstaff Resident

Since roughly the 1980s, communities throughout America have virtually re-invented their ailing downtown business districts. Today, the dominant activities within American downtowns revolve around leisure and tourism, entertainment, fun, and – above all – conspicuous consumption. In this way, traditional downtowns in both large and small cities have been transformed into “tourism business districts.” This shift in the main purpose of America’s downtowns, or main streets, reflects national and even global economic trends. Cities today are less viable as regional trade centers, and thus tourism and entertainment have become the most reliable form of redevelopment for derelict business districts. Sociologist John Hannigan refers to these “new” downtowns as “fantasy cities.” Often, themes or identities are adopted to enhance a downtown’s sense of place and to promote consumption within the district. Historic preservation in such redevelopment efforts is typically paramount.

      If you’re thinking this description resembles what one finds in today’s downtown Flagstaff, you’d be right. Our own community has been part of a trend associated with reviving historic downtown business districts. I wish to share with you some observations of Flagstaff’s “new” downtown, from a geographer’s perspective.

      Through some 15 years of private- and public-funded redevelopment efforts, Flagstaff’s downtown has changed into what some would call a “postmodern” landscape – at once looking to its past while changing to meet the perceived needs and demands of the future. Entire places can be described as postmodern due to their rampant eclecticism and their wide array of multiple and unassociated images and themes. These aspects usually show up in the landscape as a seemingly unorganized and confused jumble of contrived themes, images, ideas, and symbols that point to a wide variety of historical periods and social processes. 

      Within Flagstaff’s new, postmodern downtown, for instance, can be found benches in Heritage Square with legs made from railroad wheels to represent the town’s 1880s heritage. The backs of the benches reveal other images, however, including those reflecting the artwork of Arizona’s ancient Indian tribes. In the summer months the theme of sports reveals itself in banners that announce the arrival of the Arizona Cardinals for their annual summer camp, creating an identity with big-city sports entertainment. In addition to the expanding array of statues, artifacts, buildings, banners and signage that remind one of the railroad and logging industries in Flagstaff, the imagery of old U.S. Route 66 provides yet another important identity for the downtown area. One could fill a railroad freight car with the various Route 66 merchandise sold by downtown specialty shops.      

      The postmodernism displayed downtown continues with a host of environmental themes and images, some associated with the San Francisco peaks. Quaint retail business signs sometimes include images of the peaks. Another environmental theme is found at Heritage Square, where a stone monument represents the entire geologic cross section of the rock strata seen in the Grand Canyon and underlying the southern part of the Colorado Plateau.

      Then there are the ethnic and cultural themes: American Indian images (often from Anglo-American perspectives) on signs, and plenty of arts and crafts representing a variety of Indian tribes from throughout America. Before it closed recently, one could experience a taste of “down under,” at an Australian-themed restaurant at Heritage Square. There are also a number of other eating venues that borrow in some way the cultures of Mexico, Germany, Ireland, Italy, China, France, Belgium, and Thailand. Quite an eclectic mix for a small-town business district!

      If that weren’t enough, downtown Flagstaff represents a virtual intersection of local and global space. Its foods at least pretend to reflect a variety of cultures from around the globe, and its wide array of branded merchandise is produced in a number of countries outside the United States. The pedestrian-friendly elements of the new streetscape itself – the brick sidewalks, shade trees, benches, information kiosks, and “olde” streetlights – all reflect not a local uniqueness but a standardized, text-book landscape of North American planning. Though perhaps not unique to Flagstaff, these streetscape features have provided an inviting “stage set” through which to enjoy the district on foot.

      Further signifying Flagstaff’s new global connections are no less than eight new downtown businesses that focus on global communications providing such things as cell phones and Internet access. And we can’t forget the most powerful and visible symbol of globalization that invades downtown Flagstaff 80-100 times a day — those cross-country freight trains. These trains consist of countless commodities from around the planet. Many of these products are bound not for U.S. markets, but for Europe, the Pacific Rim and other nations.

      Though the international flavor of downtown, whether real or contrived, is important to Flagstaff’s identity, perhaps more important is the continuing preservation and revitalization of older structures throughout the downtown area. Historic preservation is arguably what provides for downtown’s local character and unique sense of place. Aside from the agglomeration of grandly restored historic buildings are those new buildings that pretend to be “historic” in some way. The new retail building at Heritage Square, for instance, was designed as a replica of Flagstaff’s old city hall, once located on Leroux Street a block away. The new county office building just north of the old courthouse makes use of 19th century architectural accents, including round-arched, Italianate-style windows and a multi-colored façade – an apparent effort to “fit in” with its more trendy, historic neighboring buildings. For more modern structures scattered around the district from the 1950s and 60s, other disguises work well, such as murals. The painting of murals has become a popular trend throughout small-town America. The west-side of the old J.C. Penney building on Leroux Street, for instance, now sports a variety of painted images depicting various historic scenes of Flagstaff. And, tying all of these themes together into a unified historic district is an army of “olde-tyme” pedestrian streetlights ordered from the same catalog, used by hundreds of other communities trying to re-imagine their main streets.

      Information from city directories is useful for determining the extent to which businesses buy in to a particular theme or themes. It is common within tourism business districts for establishments to use specific themes or images, especially in their names and products. The business name itself, and thus its associated theme, is seen most often on its storefront signage, window displays, and advertisements in local media. I made use of Flagstaff city directories to determine the extent of theming by local businesses. First, I created a comprehensive list of all business names that existed in the historic downtown area north of the tracks for each decade starting with 1960. I then counted the number of businesses that had attached some theme to its name, and compiled a list of general themes that appeared. This investigation included the downtown area bounded by Humphreys and Aggasiz streets on the west and east, and by Santa Fe Avenue (Route 66) and Cherry Avenue on the south and north.

      Most noticeable is the trend toward increased theme buy-in, from 18 businesses in 1970 to 41 themed businesses in 2000. Such an increase in business theming is quite typical of emerging Tourism Business Districts, where tourist-oriented businesses are attempting to identify themselves with the dominant attractions of the place. More intriguing is the eclecticism, or wide variety of themes manifested in various business names throughout the historic district. Instead of buying into one dominant theme, the merchants have demonstrated their independent nature by adopting a wide array of images and identities.

      While images associated with railroad heritage, US Route 66, and historic preservation dominate within the north downtown landscape, business owners have apparently been content to adopt their own themes, reflecting the free spirit of capitalism and American individuality. Planners and designers of the evolving downtown streetscape may have determined in advance the new identities for downtown. There is little evidence, however, to show that the business community has bought into these crafted themes. Instead, more businesses have adopted various ethnic/cultural, mountain/environment and, to a lesser extent, Grand Canyon identities. Only one business in 2000 invoked railroad imagery in its name, the Late for the Train Restaurant. And — unlike other towns where railroad heritage has been heavily promoted for decades – not one business had identified itself with the railroad in any of the previous years highlighted in the table below. Further, those making use of “Northland/Northern Arizona” in their names have actually disappeared entirely from downtown, though as many as five businesses used this regional identity in 1970.

      Instead, the mountain theme was used more than any other for business names. Also, these businesses most often used generic mountain names, rather than identifying specifically with the San Francisco Peaks. Examples of such businesses existing in 2000 included Mountain Air Community Radio, Mountain Christmas, Coast and Mountain Properties, and Alpine Pizza. Aside from the distinct mountain theme, numerous businesses made use of related identities grouped together here into a category called “Environmental.” This general theme appeared through the use of various regional aspects that characterize the physical environment of Northern Arizona or the Southwest, including snow, pine, desert, sage, Painted Desert, Aspen, creek, monsoons, rain, Mogollon, and plateau. Combined with the mountain theme, these distinct environmental identities constitute the bulk of themes that have been adopted by downtown businesses.        

      Explaining the adoption of these themes presents a greater challenge. More thorough research is necessary to determine why characteristics of the natural environment have been adopted by so many downtown businesses. Most likely, such research will require an extensive survey of business owners themselves to determine how and why particular business names were created.

      To hazard an educated guess, however, I imagine that business owners are associating themselves closely with the outdoors because Flagstaff’s tourism industry is directly related to outdoor activities. For many visitors and local residents, it is Flagstaff’s natural environment that provides for the community’s strong sense of place. While some visitors are explicitly interested in communing with the historical development of downtown – and others arrive specifically to wallow in some imagined nostalgia of Route 66 – Flagstaff as a distinct place sells itself dominantly as a sort of environmental paradise. It is not surprising, then, that certain businesses would promote the consumption of their products or services by creating symbolic associations between their establishments and the environmental characteristics that make Flagstaff somewhat unique in Arizona. This practice would also explain why the canyon theme is used by no less than five businesses in the historic downtown. What would be more appropriate for the enthusiastic visitor than to eat at the Grand Canyon Café prior to purchasing hiking gear at Grand Canyon Outfitters? Such acts of consumption thus become fused meaningfully with the presumed adventure and good times that await the traveler some two hours north at the real Grand Canyon.  

      What can be viewed downtown, then, are themes and images that perhaps reflect two dominant “ideas,” if you will, co-existing with one another. On the one hand, the economic-related idea of consumption commands top priority for some local businesses attempting to capitalize on the local tourist trade. On the other hand is the more cultural-based idea of heritage, for which images of the railroad, Route 66, and restored historic buildings serve well.

      One may ask whether or not this jumbled confusion of different themes and images is a beneficial thing for Flagstaff’s downtown and for its community. From this geographer’s perspective, it is indeed a good thing, for several reasons. First, other small towns and cities have chosen instead to adopt one dominant theme for their historic districts, not allowing much room for diversity. Some business districts have thus been given total makeovers, to look like miniature Swiss villages, Spanish pueblos, or “wild West” towns. Such crafted themes do not necessarily reflect the true diversity of a community’s heritage, and it is common for segments of their communities to rebel against such themes. Thus, it is perhaps best to allow for diversity and individuality to play out in a downtown landscape. It is this very diversity that contributes to a district’s strong sense of place. If anything, it would be great to see this diversity enhanced even more, especially with images that represent the perspectives of non-Anglo cultures and people of differing age and socio-economic backgrounds. Flagstaff locals will undoubtedly continue to discuss the pros and cons of various images and redevelopment efforts in the downtown, and such discussion is a good thing. It shows that the community is interested in how its traditional central place is representing the community as a whole.

      To be sure, the downtown areas on both sides of the tracks will continue to change and evolve with the times. It will be interesting to see in the decades to come how the downtown area is modified to meet new cultural and economic expectations of future generations. Right now, enjoy the variety of images that present themselves in the downtown area, as they ultimately reflect who we are as Flagstaff residents and – perhaps more importantly – as Americans. Flagstaff’s is truly an all-American downtown, in both the process that has shaped it and the images that define it. 

  Tom Paradis is an assistant professor of geography at NAU and has lived in Flagstaff for five years. Aside from teaching a wide variety of courses including historic preservation, his research interests include small-town growth and change, downtown revitalization, and tourism development. He is currently working on a book about Flagstaff's downtown redevelopment, along with a student-oriented walking tour featuring a variety of Flagstaff's human landscapes.