January 26, 2007 Bonus Blog
I am amazed how many people remember Cudia City. Here's some inside info from Marsh:

" I remember Cudia City well. It was located at 40th Street and Camelback, just north of the canal. They did film '26 Men' there in the late 1950s. I haven’t seen those films for quite some time but all that pristine desert land where the Arizona Rangers rode and fought outlaws is now covered with houses. I was attending Phoenix College at the time and some of my friends went out and got bit parts in the series. I always regretted not going with them.

" During World War II, Salvatore Cudia, a longtime showman in Europe and Los Angeles bought the land northeast of 40th St. and Camelback and build living quarters, a sound stage, Mexican gardens and a western street and called it Cudia City. They filmed several films there but shooting was interrupted by the war and the big sound stage went dark. It was later used for civic groups, private parties and banquets.

" As the War drew near an end product began again with Wild Bill Elliott in the Red Ryder films. Cudia reached its peak during the filming of “26 Men” but development stopped outdoor shooting and it became a tourist attraction. Old fashioned melodramas were produced also.

"Eventually, the real estate became too valuable and it was sold for residential development."
—Marshall Trimble

A Good Man With A Gun
Yesterday I whipped out a nice little gouache of Jeff Milton armed with the sawed-off shotgun he used to take on the Burt Alvord Gang at Fairbank, Arizona in 1900. Here it is:



Onion Headline de Jour
Neverland Ranch Investigators Discover Corpse Of Real Michael Jackson

"Phoenix envy."
—A certain Chamber gentleman describing Tucson's angst about the Valley