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19-688: The first Compton Terrace was located on the grounds of Legend City in Tempe , from 1979 until its closing and demolition in 1983. It was owned by Jess Nicks, the father of musician and singer Stevie Nicks . A second location named Compton Terrace amphitheater opened in Chandler in 1985 (located next to the Firebird International Raceway at 33°16′17″N 111°58′17″W  /  33.2713364°N 111.9713452°W  / 33.2713364; -111.9713452 ). The venue's capacity

38-451: A 30-person capacity. Fair goers could take a trip across from one tower to the other at the 200-foot (61 m) level, or take the elevator farther up to the observation decks at the top of the tower. There were two decks per tower and Bausch and Lomb supplied the 12 coin-operated telescopes on the tower observation decks. If they chose to take a trip across, they rode in one of 12 double-decked "rocket cars" carried across from one tower to

57-515: A number of popular and memorable attractions such as the Lost Dutchman Mine ride, Cochise’s Stronghold river ride, Sky Ride , Penny Arcade , Miniature Golf, Log Jammer, and Iron Horse on the 3 ft ( 914 mm ) narrow gauge Legend City Railroad. Local kids' TV show hosts Wallace and Ladmo appeared at Legend City virtually every weekend for the entire run of the park. Vonda Kay Van Dyke , later Miss America 1965, performed

76-481: A popular ventriloquism act in the early days at the park's Golden Palace Saloon. It was also home to the 1000 ft long 'Pipeline', an early form of skateboarding skatepark with a gently inclined and twisting track, added in 1965. Perhaps the ultimate legacy of Legend City is that Metro Phoenix , one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United States, still remains devoid of a major amusement park, with

95-473: A theme park. U-Haul's private advertising agency, A&M Associates, handled the 'rebirth' to a theme park for children. This was probably the park's most successful period. Mr Shoen lost interest in the park and it was eventually sold to the Mitsubishi Corporation out of Japan as a show park where the company's amusement rides could be featured to prospective buyers. The park was deserted by

114-415: Is still remembered fondly and held in high regard by locals who knew and frequented the park in its heyday. Legend City opened to much public fanfare on June 29, 1963, but rapidly fell into financial difficulty and fell into bankruptcy after only six months. Crandall departed as president, and the first of several ownership changes then ensued. The property was purchased by Sam Shoen of U-Haul and opened as

133-614: The New Kids On The Block , Living Colour , Nine Inch Nails , Talking Heads , Depeche Mode , The Cure , The Power Station , Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark , Rage Against the Machine , The Go-Go's , R.E.M. and Bon Jovi . 33°26′49″N 111°57′27″W  /  33.447012°N 111.957577°W  / 33.447012; -111.957577 Legend City Legend City was an amusement park that existed on

152-573: The Japanese owners and left to ruin. The Capell family, who had been in the carnival business for many years, then bought the property but were unable to restore Legend City to its former glory. The land was eventually purchased in 1982 by the Salt River Project , which closed the park permanently after the 1983 season. Legend City was then dismantled and razed to the ground to make way for new corporate offices for SRP. Legend City featured

171-557: The Sky Ride. Due to capacity constraints, the Duluth bridge was converted from a transporter bridge to a more conventional vertical lift bridge with a raisable through truss span in 1930. Thus, the count of transporter bridges existing at a given time in the US never exceeded 1, and after November 1934, stands at zero again. The following brochure text gives a feel for the dramatic prose of

190-450: The border of Phoenix and Tempe , Arizona , from its opening on June 29, 1963, to its closing and demolition in 1983. Originally conceived as an Old West theme park in the mold of Disneyland by Phoenix artist and advertising agency owner Louis E. Crandall , Legend City endured a series of closings, bankruptcies and ownership changes throughout the 1960s and 1970s, and was never a significant financial success. Nevertheless, Legend City

209-458: The bridge engineering firm Robinson & Steinman that ferried people across the lagoon, Burnham Harbor, in the center of the fair. It was located near Northerly Island , but was demolished after the Fair, having carried 4.5 million passengers. The Sky Ride had a 1,850-foot (560 m) span and two 628-foot (191 m) tall towers, making it the most prominent structure at the fair. Suspended from

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228-567: The course of the fair. At the time of construction the span between towers was one of the longest in the world, allegedly exceeded in span only by the George Washington Bridge , and the towers were higher than any of the skyscrapers in Chicago . It was reported that it contained 2,000 tons of steel , 100 miles (160 km) of cabling and that the cableway had a breaking strength of 220,000 pounds per square inch. The Sky Ride

247-580: The current largest amusement park in the metro being Castles N' Coasters . Mattel Adventure Park is currently under construction in Glendale, set to open in late 2024. Sky Ride The Sky Ride was an attraction built for the Century of Progress 1933 World's Fair in Chicago , Illinois . It was a transporter bridge (with a design similar to an aerial tramway or gondola lift ) designed by

266-614: The other. Each car emitted steam intended to resemble a "tail" or rocket exhaust, as it traveled across the wires. At night, lights were focused on the cars as they traveled between the towers, and lights were also attached to the bottom of the elevators. The transporter bridge is more common in Europe. In the United States, only two transporter bridges were ever built: the Aerial Lift Bridge in Duluth, Minnesota in 1905, and

285-526: The span, 215 feet (66 m) above the ground, were rocket-shaped cars, each carrying 36 passengers. The Century of Progress Exposition committee sought an exciting signature attraction, one that would be remembered like the Eiffel Tower from the 1889 Paris World's Fair or the Ferris wheel of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair . One proposal under consideration, to be underwritten by Montgomery Ward ,

304-511: Was approximately 20,000. This site hosted its last event with the Big Top "Electronic Highway Tour" on August 16, 1997. It was demolished in 2010. Notable past performers include U2 , The Police , Metallica , Def Leppard , Morrissey , Eurythmics , Fleetwood Mac , Aerosmith , AC/DC , Phil Collins , Grateful Dead , Guns N' Roses , Queen , Iron Maiden , Pat Benatar , Scorpions , Molly Hatchet , Van Halen , Phish , Jane's Addiction ,

323-426: Was built in the span of six months prior to the fair's opening, by a consortium of five companies: Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company , Inland Steel , John Roebling and Sons , Mississippi Valley Structural Steel and Otis Elevator at a cost of about $ 1 million. The ride had a capacity of 5,000 people per hour. It was reported that the attraction had 2,616,389 riders in 1933 and a total of about 4.5 million during

342-527: Was called the Tower of Water and Light—a 250-foot-tall tower with water flowing down the outside and elevators traveling to observation platforms. When the Montgomery Ward company backed out of its offer to finance the tower, the commission considered the Sky Ride. The Sky Ride, an idea suggested by an engineer named William L. Hamilton, would span the grounds and be relatively cheap to build. The ride

361-494: Was demolished at the conclusion of the fair. The west tower was brought down using 120 pounds of dynamite . The east tower was toppled on August 29, 1935, using 1,500 pounds of thermite charges to melt ten-foot sections near the bottom of two of the legs. When the thermite was fired, the two legs collapsed and the tower fell on its side. The Sky Ride consisted of two towers, each 628 feet (191 m) high, spaced 1,850 feet (560 m) apart. Each tower had four elevators with

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