Be excellent to each other

    05/11/21
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YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE
FROM Bisbee WHEN

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USE THE MAIL BOX
TO
suggest more
'Bisbee when statements'.

Every city or location has circumstances that make it unique.

This page is dedicated to those unique circumstances.
(go to number 17 and read the JA Jance information.
 

The completion of the statement 'You can tell you're from Bisbee When' reveals the core of the community.
If you can think of any of these statements please mail them to us.

It should be noted, this page was created in 1999 or so, some of these statements are years old and people have moved on and/or changed.

You know you are from Bisbee When, too,was added to continue this page pick this text to see more additions.

 

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 The Lighter Hill side:

94. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You can remember your Mom saying
"If those boys can't climb the steps to pick you up at the door instead of honking their horns at the bottom of the hill, then you can't go out with them!"
Shirley Holland Gilbert, Class of '57

85. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

YOU WALKED BY WALLACE'S POOLHALL AND ALL THE BOYS WOULD MAKE FUNNY SOUNDING
NOISES.

YOUR HOUSE WOULD SHAKE EVERY TIME THE MINES BLASTED OFF!

WHEN YOU WEIGH 115LBS. AND 90LBS. OF IT IS YOUR LEGS FROM CLIMBING 87 STEPS TO YOUR FRONT DOOR.

REMEMBERING THE DANCES AFTER THE FOOTBALL AND BASKETBALL GAMES WITH MUSIC PROVIDED BY OUR VERY OWN B.H.S. BAND.

THE SUMMER DANCES AT THE ELKS CLUB...AND MY DAD WAS WILLING TO BE A CHAPERON FOR EACH AND EVERY ONE! )

From Pat Harris Flick

98. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You remember getting butcher paper from the PD, so you'd have a big enough paper to diagram that Henry James sentence provided by Miss Shreve.
You remember Mrs. Medigovich loving to play the part of a witch in Macbeth. 
The physics/chemistry teacher was Fuzzy Warren (no offense given or taken). 
The remember the "drag strip" between Warren and the Junction. 
You remember putting Tabasco on your fries at the drive-in movies during winter to help stay warm. 
Mike McColgin
Class of '62, the last class to start at old Bisbee High

115. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You remember Mr. Bruner making the whole class run THE GRINDER at Horace Mann for hitting a softball that went to the bottom of Courthouse Hill.
Donna Babicky
BHS Class of '66

77. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You know you're in Bisbee when you've lived here 20 years and people still call you a newcomer. 

Nancy Weaver

I still miss Nancy Weaver's Bisbee, Slice of Bisbee (from an archive).
Rodridego

71. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

you remember Mrs. Valentine's home made banana cakes from the Sansue cafe in Brewery Gulch.

Bisbeechic

70. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

.you remember riding your bike from the Divide to downtown and hitching a ride back up tombstone canyon and buying candy at the canyon store.

Jeff C

69. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

.WHEN YOU TOSS YOUR CELL PHONE IN THE BACK SEAT AFTER THE TUNNEL!
AKA; Psychic Audrey
 

74. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

you ALWAYS honked your car horn when
you drove through the time tunnel. Still do today when I visit !

Stuart "Class(less) of 72"

80. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You know your from Bisbee when you get homesick for hillsides and rocks.

Mason Coggin Class of "56"

67. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

you remember automatically getting up and lifting the needle off the record every day at 3:05

you know what a mucker or a swamper or a crosscut or a stope is

you remember not being able to sleep the first couple night of shutdown because it was so quiet without the roar of the trucks on the dumps or the shaft bells as they loaded ore into the cars off the skips.

you know just how nasty smelter smoke is

you remember cutting through the ditch going to Lowell Elementary.

you remember icicles on the flumes

you didn't live in Bisbee but in Galena or Briggs or Saginaw or the terraces

you feel blessed for having grown up in a hard rock mining town

Allen Christo

52. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You are proud that the year 2000 May-June issue of "Modern MATURITY" lists your home town as one of the 50 most alive places to live under  the section called Quirky" on page 51.
RLS

72. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You remember the "Iron Man" wearing underwear the morning after Homecoming.

You remember chewing the sulfer in the air when the wind blew from Douglas to Bisbee.

You remember Mrs. Miller beating all comers in arm wresteling.

You remember walking the copper water pipes along Cochise Row.

Being called "Dugie" because nobody can remember your name from all your siblings(9) and cousins(7).
Christy Dugie

59. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

your last name is Carbajal, Valenzuela, or Chavez.

51. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You remember (on more than one occasion) a downtown barber running people out of his shop because their hair was "too long" to cut.

Bruce Mauzy

47. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

All you can remember are
those wild nights at the WonderBar!

84. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You look at these kids making big bucks riding skate boards and bikes on
espn and think..." these guys are wimps. Try that in my back yard with no
sissy pads or helmet.
You think it's an honor being called a Canyon Rat.
PFO

37. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

            you've got something funky glued to your car.

J. Cole

(I think this is a reference to the many art cars in Bisbee.)

39. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

        you buy baby shoes and they're already bronzed

81. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

WHILE DITCHING HIGH SCHOOL ,
YOU WOULD HIDE FROM MR. RIDGEWAY.

29. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

Everywhere you walk is either up hill or up stairs

40. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

      you are insulted by jokes about the "Twilight Zone".

Sherri

83. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You know you're from Bisbee if your first charge account was at Browder's Variety Store.
Bruce McDoniel

32. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

Your family paid off at least two credit tabs at Moores Grocery after copper strikes.
Moores deserves a big Thank You from all the real old timers!

60. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

the "4th" (of July) gives you such good memories that it makes your tummy crunch up!

you knew EXACTLY how many steps it took to get to your house.

you used to try and scare your friends at the "old park" in Brewery Gulch by telling them that the bodies from the graves that the park was built over were still there!

you still don't quite like anyone from Douglas.

from, Tammy

26. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

                   you remember turning the "D" in Douglas into a "B"
                   the night before homecoming.

from:  David Spurgeon BHS-77

78. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You know you're from Bisbee when you can remember Curve Street being a two way street and everyone honked at the curve. I lived in the house
just down from the curve!
(Just for the for the discussion Curve street is about 200 feet long and about one thrids of it's length is curve.  You know Bisbee when you walked this street across from the JonQuil to school each day.   comment from BWBA)

Sharon thanks, for the quote.

12. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You Prey at St. Elmo's and ask for forgiveness at St. Patrick's.

$3bill ST Elmos Bisbee Arizona

stpats Bisbee Arizona

15. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM
BISBEE WHEN.....

You can say you backed up
"Young Blood Hill".

YOU CAN TELL SOMEONE ELSE
IS FROM BISBEE WHEN..........

They understand what you mean!

5. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You take a date to the rifle range for target practice but you don't bring a firearm.

68. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

.A good Saturday night party is when you notice it is  getting bright outside and you are in Naco.

6. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

Your front yard is a 20 foot drop off.

7. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You've paid more for your parking space than your house.

8. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You try to explain a "traffic circle" to someone in Los Angeles.

58. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM South BISBEE WHEN.....

you remember someone asking "You have flush toilets there?"


                         Robyn Fuller-Downey

34. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You can remember one could enter all three floors and
the basement of Bisbee High from ground level.

from D. Morin.

18. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

Someone mentions the word coaster and you get butterflies in your stomach   remembering flying down Tombstone Canyon at what seemed like 100 mph in your own "coaster"!

              from: Rueben Nunez, email address;

24. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

you've  been tubing on the divide and drinking at La Raza...

Explanation:  La Raza was the graffiti painted on the now white stone
wall at the top of the divide.

23. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

you walk with a permanent limp with one leg being shorter than the other,
from walking on slopes.

(a note:  We don't walk with a limp.  You develop a vertical angle
to your posture which is a compliment to the angle of the incline
you stand upon.  In days prior this was known as the "Truckin" walk.)

22. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You can take a population census at the local pub.

This one came from Bisbee, North Dakota way up by the Canadian border. 
Thanks, to CP

4. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

Friday nights are spent standing in front of a post office.

editor's note: and Saturday nights are spent cruising the Vista.

17. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE
FROM BISBEE When

you know that mystery writer,
J. A. Jance,  is really Judy Busk.

from Jim Lee BHS-62

The real J.A. Jance wibsite 

other web listings:

A list of J.A. Jance books.

102. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

you remember the bus fare was "Seven cents on and seven cents off." 
jajance.com

57. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

Remember dancing at Ponchos Salon in Tintown

              from: Margaret Kildare-Vargas---

Ol' Timers:

112'.YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You can remember the horn (firew) going off to let you know where the fire was.  Most times the alarm (horn) was a false alarm but the fire trucks and men would response anyway.
It was  great back in those days.  
k

101. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You think about your wasted youth and wouldn't change it ...
Your ideal date included a trip to the drive in, a stop at Artic Circle and then a post-date trip to the White House, Blue Moon and Rainbow 
Your hero was driving a car that was so low it "rapp-ed" everything on the road.
Jimmy Willson waved as you slithered home after telling the border agents all you were bringing back was some "cans."
You simply can't wait to read and re-read this list.
After reading through the list you spend the next few days with names popping into your head ... Teddy Sorich, Nich Balich, Red Malley, Bob Rapp, Art Kent, Kenny Stokes, Nick Lombardini, Amos Sales, Clarence Dupnik, Doug Knipp, Buell Richmond, Jim Blunt, Mike Higgins, Sam Ligon, Gerry Morgan ... the list is endless
STUMP

100. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

YOU ARE 61 YEARS OLD AND JUST CAN'T LET LOOSE OF YOUR OLD B,H.S. TWIRLING, POM-POM UNIFORMS AND YEARBOOKS, BECAUSE OF ALL THE WONDERFUL MEMORIES AND FRIENDS WE HAD THERE. 
HOPING THAT WHEN YOU RAN OUT OF GAS, YOU WERE HEADED DOWNHILL TOWARDS THE GAS STATION....COULD RUN A WEEK ON A $1.00 
(ANGELA DABCIVICH GOT REALLY GOOD AT PUSHING A CAR....UP HILL OR DOWN HILL.
ALL YOUR BEST FRIENDS NAMES ENDED IN "VICH".
YOUR HUSBAND CALLS BISBEE BETHLAHAM OF ARIZONA, BECAUSE NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE, YOU ALL WAYS FIND SOMEONE WITH A CONNNECTION TO BISBEE.
PAT HARRIS FLICK  CLASS OF 57  

99. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You know you were raised up the canyon when you know that ''Joy dam", was really, "Joe.E.Brown" dam.                        
"Boiler Shop Tyrone"

97. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You would "ski" down Chihuahua Hill on barrel staves tied to your feet, on the loose rock slope.  But only one time. 
You remember watching and admiring the State Championship football team of 1955 
You still think twice about going to Douglas. 
You remember sitting on the porch of the Brooks Apartments, watching the cars wash down Brewery Gulch. 
You remember the Miracle Valley preachers on Sundays in Brewery Gulch, doing their best to save the sinners in the bars.  But apparently not succeeding.
You saw every film Victor Mature ever made, just because you were there when Violent Saturday was filmed.  Every few years you check the video store to see if they have a copy of Violent Saturday for rent, but they never do. 
You wonder where your old buddies are today, and if they remember too.  You remember promising you would never forget them, and you never have. 
You walk the streets of old Bisbee on visits, and still see the crowds and the shops and the old friends of childhood. 
You remember crawling around in the Glory Hole, and climbing Bucky O'Neill Hill just to get a better view of the town.  You remember Sister Mary Agnes, Sister Mary Angela, Father Howard, and all the knuckle raps they delivered.
You remember every teacher you ever had said the same thing to you:  "I remember what great students your mother/father/sister/uncles were, and I expect you to be just like them."  What a burden, but what a sense of belonging in a place.

from  Roger Brooks '59 BHS

95. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

1) You used to hand set bowling pins at the Warren Bowling Alley.
2) Halloween had Tricks as well as Treats! Soaping windows, fresh cow pies in burning paper sacks at front doors...........
3) The rich athletic traditions of the Bisbee Pumas.....
the pride of the red and gray,school fight songs and
Thanksgiving Day game with Douglas.
4) The special bond between people from Bisbee and the leadership and contributions they have made throughtout the United States. Being from Bisbee is a state of mind and memory forever!
dale hancock (57) 

103. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

you still meet your grade school/Jr. high/high school classmates and consider them to be your best friends.  It was a wonderful place to grow up and every reunion is a special event.     
Ollie Wittig Urie   Class of 1945

92. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

 1) You knew how to turn off all the street lights in Warren from a switch on the telephone pole across the street from the Warren Drug, the penalty for being caught was a ride home in the Sheriff's car (doesn't get any better than this);

 2) You roller-skated from Bisbee to Warren after the St. Patrick's skating parties, although jumping the cattle guard entering Warren was an obstacle,

 3) You watched meteor showers at the Drive-In or necker's knob;

 4) You were able to swing out over the oleander bushes lining Cole Avenue from the flagpole cable at the Loma Linda Lodge;

 5) You were able to coast in your car from Slag Dump Hill through Lowell (the traffic light was a problem), around the traffic circle, and onto the highway to Douglas without stopping;

 6) You stole pomegranates from the Shattuck home on the upper Vista;

 7) You were able to get three tacos, beans, and a tortilla for 25 cents at the Monterrey in Naco and have enough money left for a Sloe Gin Fizz or Singapore Sling, whatever they were;

 8) You shot rabbits at night during the winter on the golf course while riding in a truck equipped with a spotlight plugged into the cigarette lighter;

 9) You chased rabbits in a car at night at the Bisbee Airport(the Bisbee rabbits were in excellent physical condition);

 10) You've read all the Jance books and are anxiously awaiting the next one.(Incidentally she is receiving an Honorary Doctorate from the U of A School of Library Science in December 2000)   Neat or What!!!!

 11) Every time you see a three point play in an NBA or NCAA basketball game and think of what Vince Romero would have done (came along too soon);

 12) You rode an ersatz toboggan(corrugated tin rolled up on one end) down the dump behind the Terraces(once only)*;

 13) You've rolled tires down the street that runs up the hill from the Warren Drug into the Congdon/ Arizona Street intersection, one actually passing through the swinging door in the post office; or finally

 14) you've hit golf balls with a baseball bat from Congdon onto the Warren Drug/Hotel building (Ted Sorich was unsurpassed in this endeavor)

 

* The Off the Wall editor refers to this as “rock lunge
Bruce McDoniel

87. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

you can remember sneaking out of study all on your knees and going over to Santo's place across from the old high school to eat the best buttered flour tortillas in the world!!
Shirley Holland Gilbert,

89. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

1. You were from Jiggerville and were hanging around with Dupniks, Lopers, Deckers, Reeds and many others!
2. When at Lowell School had no food service and everyone took a sack lunch and bought milk delivered in little pint bottles and the cardboard caps were collected and used in a game the boys played!
3. When the older boys at Lowell at lunch would eat under the bridge and smoke!
4. The Saturday morning elementary flag football games between the 8th grades from each school!
5. Freshman and Lettermen initiation at Bisbee High in the 50's!
6. Letterman Club boxing for fundraiser and at half-time of basketball games!
Dale Hancock 57

90. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

you went to the Warren Drug to get a cherry phosphate from Sam Sorich or Kay Reppe(Farris). Some bad news, however, there was no phosphate in the cherry phosphate. The drink should have been named a cherry citrate, since the material added to the cherry flavor was a citrate not a phosphate.
Sorry to break anyone's bubble.
Bruce McDoniel
79. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....
1. Tickets to the Lyric Theatre were 10 cents.

2. The primary mode of transportation for teenagers from Warren to Bisbee and back was hitch-hiking.

3. The place to go to get a haircut was Endicott's Barber Shop in Warren. ( price was 2 bits)

4. You remember being taught Spanish by Miss Smith....and heaven help you if you ever called her Mrs.

5. You can remember the nickname given to the BHS Choral Director....Joe Payne.

Sam Moore (class of 56)
MORE From Sam Moore

 
79'. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....
* You remember Wes Wright directing traffic after sporting events.

* You remember Santa arriving each year riding in the Copper train.

*You remember Sylvester, the world's friendliest mailman.
49. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....
1.You run in to someone who reminds you of the good old days
when the whole town would shut down to watch Bisbee play Douglas
in Football on Thanksgiving Day in Warren Stadium.

2.You run into someone who watched Billy Martin and Clint Courtney
play against each other in Warren Stadium.
(Both ended up in the Major Leagues.)

3.You run into someone who remembers the Pumas winning
the State Football Championship in 1955 after having won
29 games in a row  beginning in 1953.

4.You meet someone who crawled inside of Crystal Cave
just like you did when you were a kid.

5.You Run into someone who danced with you during
the Winter Ball at the Bisbee Country Club.

6.You run into someone who went skinny-dipping
with you at the Bisbee Country Club.

7.You run into someone who also served on the
Greenway Elementary School  Safety Patrol and got to wear
that belt and badge.

8.You run into someone who also played Billiards
at Wallace's Pool Hall.

9.You meet someone who also ate a hamburger at the
Toot-n-Tellum (which was across the street from Warren Stadium.)

Submitted by Ted Sorich-Class of 1956
 

62. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

remember when Arctic Circle was Tolls Drive In.
great place to hang out

64. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

When you remember 5 burgers for a dollar at the Artic.
When your grandfather'.s stamp is on the sidewalks
"Guaranteed Clark".
When you went swimming at Joy dam.
When you went swimming at the tubs over the divide.
When you white washed the "B" on B Hill as a Freshman.
When you burned the "B" with diesel and rags.
When you were born in the hospital up the canyon,as well as your father, brothers, sisters, and cousins.
When you stood on the picket line with your grandfather.
A person could go on forever.

Robert E.Clark a.k.a. Badbob, Roach, and RC

82. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

when you have people stop and ask you about the following wonderful teacher/coaches:
Al Ridgeway Ann Medigovich (*****)
Max Spilsbury Anthony Nadolski
Waldo Dicus Ruth Thomas
Garner Barnett Mary Rosewarne
Fuzzy Warren Rachel Riggins
Jack "Rock" Miller  (?) Martha Woundy
Jim Quill   (*****) Joe Payne
Fred Corrin (****) Margaret Holt
Georgia Hollingshead(sec) Barbara Reavis (***)
Franklin Van Scoy Mrs.Phillipi
James Woodmansee
They would all appreciate being remembered--Ted Sorich Class of '56

The editor added his own comments,
and don't forget Miss Grant, one tough cookie with a sweet heart.

3. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You know how many bags of lime it takes to whiten the 'B'.

Explanation: It was a tradition at Bisbee High School each year. The freshman class would be required to take a sack lunch to the City Park in Brewery Gulch. At that location many bags of lime would be resting. The freshman boys would haul the bags up the hillside, mix white wash, and refresh the 'B'. The freshman girls would provide moral support.

111. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

every high school girl's heartthrob was Bill Taylor
Class of 68

112. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You know you were from Bisbee if you worked at the Lyric Theatre and used to let all the "guys" in thru the exit doors after the movie started.

The otherside of the hill:

114. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You Know you are from Bisbee, when during wwII, when gas rationing was a reality, "Going South across the line" meant   getting in your dads car, coasting to Naco, Sonora,filling up & Ping! Ping! Ping!  all the way back home.
Don Maddern-----Madisonville, Ky.         maddy@spis.net

91. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You grew up thinking Naco No Mas was one word.

Your Bisbee-girl wife thought she'd never have a job that was as much fun as being the soda-jerk at the Warren Drug - and she was probably right.

Your senior prom, regardless of the theme, featured the smelly fake grass and white trellises borrowed from the mortuary, and the blossoming trees were mesquite bushes with twisted strips of crepe paper.

You knew you actually lived in Warren or Lowell when going to Bisbee was referred to as "going Up-town (never downtown)."

You remember how the copper water made the grass in Warren green and
houses copper-colored.

You know where neckers-knob was.

You remember Barbara Reavis telling you to speak to the "last man in the
balcony" at Lowell auditorium and it seemed an impossible distance.
Dixie (McDoniel) '54 and Rod Reppe '48

88. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You remember the rain storms filling up the "pillas" (small ponds up in Zacetecas") and watching the gulch flood and bring down all the cars parked on the sides!

You lived in upper Bisbee and walked to Sacred Heart Church to "offer flowers".

You played & swam at the"Y".

Going shopping to Irma Courtels dress store on main street on Saturday's
with your mom.

Going to "Jimmy's" Grocery store in upper Brewery Gulch for an orange soda during the summer was a treat.

When your house address had the street name "Youngblood" Hill.

When all your older brothers and sisters scared you with stories about
La LLorona. Yes, you all know who you are!!

Your proud to say my husband (Michael) and I were born and raised in Bisbee.
Norma Gonzales-Lucero Class of '79

66. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

1. You know who hung the Playboy foldout on Mr. Coles map.
2. You know what a Cemetery Tree is.
3. You know where the 'new' highway is.
4. You know which side of the canyon is the cockroach side and which is the scorpion side.
5. You understand the traffic circle and know that Bisbee Road does not go to Bisbee and Naco Road does not go to Naco.
6. You get called 'Tourist' by the 'Outsiders" living in Old Bisbee.
7. You can tell who the 'Outsiders' are the prefer to refer to it as "The
Historic District"
8. You're lucky enough to be able to move back, and it still has the same "feel" that it had back when.
9. You enjoy "Off the Wall in Bisbee" because you're homesick...

Duane

 

104. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

visiting Bisbee, your first instict is to cruise the Divide and the Vista, all the while reminiscing the good times with good friends that were had!  
Luana Proffitt
Class of 76
 

65. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

WHEN YOU REMEMBER KENNY SELLING THE GRIT FOR FIFTEEN CENTS.

explanation
The Grit was a newspaper kind of like the Inquirer only a lot more interesting. Kenny would go around asking people if they wanted to buy The Grit. His line was " You want to buy a Grit its only a dime and nickel just fifteen cents."

Clark

110. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You learned about The Little House on the Prarie from Mrs Barrich in 5th grade at Greenway School.

You got to wear Pants to school only on Western Day.

The band had a joint half time show on Turkey Day with Douglas and you hit the Douglas band members with drumsticks, trombones etc.

You played in the all brass band for Mr. Woodmansee.

 
Beth Burkett Cass Class of 64

76. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

Your Uncle Pete goes around 4th of July in Bisbee selling a T-shirt giving all the miner's nick names and you know the miners that carried those names because you dad told stories about them after work, either at breakfast or dinner.

Rodney

63. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

you go back home and see how someone really screwed up the house you called home for the first 28 years of your life. And you wonder why you ever sold it.
rc
56. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....
YOU REMEMBER THE 'DIRTY BROS' STORE IN WARREN.
THE GRUB BOX WAS THE DAIRY BAR.
YOU REMEMBER BUYING A LARGE BAG OF CANDY FROM MRS.
BROWDER'S FOR A QUARTER.
YOU COULD BUY A PROM DRESS FROM VERNON'S CLOTHING
IN LOWELL.
OUT OF TOWNERS WOULD END UP ON CULIVER HILL ASKING
FOR DRIVING DIRECTION TO DOUGLAS.

KAREN BURKETT-CASS CLASS OF 1968

61. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

1. You know what a "GULLY WASHER" is.

Explanation: Rain storms would wash cars down from Brewery Gulch "INTO" the gully in front of the Lyric Theater.
Canyon Kids would play on their streets in knee high fast running water.

2. You SLID half of the mile walk to Horace Mamn School in the winter time.

3. You hear tires squealing when someone is turning the curve to sharp between Moon Canyon and Laundry Hill.

4. You took swimming lessons from Mrs. Murray at the YMCA basement pool.

5. You would run to Mrs. Baughs store to buy cigarettes for your parents.

6. You had your Eight Grade Graduation Dance in the basement of the YWCA.

7. Last but certainly not least you remember: Beautiful sites, sounds and smells of the "Thunder Storms" rolling through
the canyon hills.

Audette

105. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

you actually can remember all the old trails you used to take to Lowell School and you take them again.

you remember the first date you had with you husband involed the Pizza House and talking skip on Juniper Flats.

You remember all the old gang from the class of "75".

 
Donna Stanford-Mason

106. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You talk about your third grade teacher at Lowell School, Mrs. Bone, and everyone immediately remembers how she came singing down the hallways after she had been out of the classroom.
Mona (Gay Wittig) Jensen,
BHS Class of 1975
Fairbanks, Alaska
 

107. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

your night dreams are all about Bisbee and the people you knew way back when you were young as well as your day dreams. You think of ways you could live there again.  Someday . Till then ,we can dream.
Terry Leishman '63

48. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

13 years later you STILL have nightmares about being late
to Mr. Sullivan's English class.
and
you remember dropping popcorn on the floor at the Lyric
so the rats would leave you alone during the movie.


SENT BY Elizabeth Tucker

44. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

you remember running an errand to Moore's Grocery for mom after school
you played in "the ditch" even 'tho you were forbidden to ever go near it


SENT BY Carol Malolepszy

44. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

you remember running an errand to Moore's Grocery for mom after school
you played in "the ditch" even 'tho you were forbidden to ever go near it


SENT BY Carol Malolepszy

35. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

YOU REMEMBER DANCING TO BECKY AND THE MAJESTICS
AT THE AFTER GAME DANCES OR AT THE GAY 90'S.
(note: founded in 1890, the GAY 90's is in NACO, Az.
The only continental United States city to be bombed by air attack.)


SENT BY JAVIER VERDUGO

30. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

The Phelps Dodge float in the Parade makes you cry because you remember
the happy years when it was open, and the town was booming.
You remember buying your first make up at the Rexall in Warren.
You miss the butcher from the P.D. (grocery in warren).
You miss Dottie's worse than anything.

55. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

you remember the Saturday night skating parties at St. Patricks.
That's really aging you,people!

Does anyone remember when the parties ended?

31. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You have seen fireworks all over the states, but none are as pretty
as the ones shot off the dump. (Grandma lives near the vista right where
they shoot them off. One year, her neighbors yard caught fire.)
At least 2 of your female relatives were employed at J.C. Penney.
You knew that Bisbee once had a J.C Penney.
You still have a tv that P.D. greenstamps bought.

28. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN....

you understand that the Time Tunnel is more than just a location but a way of life!
Radi Ann Porter.

42. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

Smuggling isn't the first that comes to mind
when you hear some one talking about a tunnel.

43. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

a neighbor digs a tunnel in Naco and thinks of it as a retirement investment.

27. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

        you can't leave

12'. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

             you know you're from somewhere special and everyone tells
             you it's nowhere.

Note: I skip that number between 12 and 14 as many times as possible.

9. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

              you place bets about which manhole cover will be
              the first to overflow each July.

As a note: The "Old Bisbee" sewer system is being reworked and replaced.
It is estimated that this will take at least five years. 
There should be a save the sewer fund!

11. THESE ARE NOT "YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM
BISBEE WHEN" STATEMENTS, BUT THE STATEMENTS
WERE GIVEN TO ME SO I DECIDED TO USE THEM......

Bisbee Arizona, The town too high to care.
Bisbee Arizona, The Last Resort town.
Bisbee Arizona, Where it's not too late to live a happy childhood
Bisbee Yuppie...two jobs and a car that runs.

                      

2. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

Your class reunion has to be held at the local penitentiary because
everyone from your class has been busted!

19. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

it takes you 15 minutes just to figure out how to search Bisbee
on that new fangled contraption called the internet.

FROM LEMON C.

45. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

in another lifetime when you see it for the first time and, twenty-three
years later, the memory still swells and tugs at your heart.

FROM J Olsen

20. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

IT ONLY TAKES THREE WEEKS TO GET A TABLE AT CAFE ROKA.

             FROM k-az

46. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You can remember where Lowell School, Horace Mann or
Lincoln Elementary were.  Or had Ms Crabtree for kindergarten.
I could name all my teachers at Lowell from Ms Thorpe in first grade
to Ms Sampson in eighth.

Cal Martinez "Class of 75"

10. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

you reminisce about all the different garbage dumps and what your father
brought home from them for reuse.

As a note: There are no trash dumps anymore.
There is a county collection center.
The standard fee is $5 for a flat pickup
load as of 7/97.
I think there should be two free days a month
so that more trash leaves Bisbee.

When I was talking to people on forth of July weekend, I met someone that grew-up in Bisbee too.
He reminded me of the one above.

33's).  YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN....

i)  you personally knew Trini the garbage collector.
ii)  your boyfriend picked you up for a date a horse
iii) you were coming home late from a date and you were afraid of the
     LLORONA (the crying woman)
iv) you could holler across the hill to your neighbors and didn't need a phone.

this was submitted by Rueben, Tina and Barbara Nunez

50. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You can tell you're from Bisbee when you still want
to wear Red and Gray to any football game.

From: Terri Nunez Warner
 

53's).  YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN....

1. You remember going to the A and W rootbeer stand to have a frosty.
2. You see how many times you can drive around the circle before
everyone in your car goes crazy.
3. You loved going to El Charro for tacos and to play the jukebox.
4. You use to makeout up on the dump with the windows rolled up because
you were scared that LADY was going to get you.
5. You went to the bakery in Lowell for some B-C icing?? I still don't
know why we did that??
6. You loved to go to Miss Browder's in Warren for penny candy.
7. You ordered cherry or vanilla cokes at Warren Drug.
8. You had Fred Corrin for a Math teacher and a tennis coach (top notch)
I could go on and on. It was great growing up in Bisbee!!

AB '63

38's).  YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN....


             When you reminisce of days gone by at
              Good OL' BHS and one of your favorite
              memories is of ducking Miss Medigovich's
              flying erasers as she exclaimed "Hells
             Bells People!"

             Miss Shepherd sitting at her desk with her
            right gloved hand laying over her heart.

            Sneaking into the Drive In theatre, heart
            pounding, hoping Mr Diamos wouldn't
            find you hiding in the back of the station
            wagon covered by a blanket.

           Square dancing in Miss Holt's PE Class.

           When you remember buying 5 Arctic Circle
            hamburgers for $l.00.

           When you can't imagine ever living anywhere
            else.

(I decided this was almost a Bisbee poem, Thanks to you Lizabri)

54's).  YOU CAN TELL YOU GREW UP IN BISBEE IN THE 50'S WHEN:

You remember when Bisbee had two indoor theaters
(The Lyric and the Lowell) Also one drive-in.
You remember when Bisbee had two skating rinks.
One at St. Pat's and one in Bakerville.
You remember when Bisbee had a miniature golf course,
at the Y on Naco Highway.
You remember when Bisbee had a place where you could
'go-cart'. On the corner where Safeway is today.
You remember when Bisbee had the A & W Rootbeer
stand in Don Luis. Also the old Dairy Bar in Warren.
You remember going to school at the 'old' Bisbee High when all the
jocks would stand by the radiator on 2nd floor and watch all the girls
as they walked up to the 2nd floor on up to the 3rd floor.
You remember Bisbee as being a great place to grow up.
bzlady

Can't deside:

116. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

when a switchback is what your Mama applied to your rear-end, not the drive home
Brad Acord

96. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

the first real tragedy in your life occurred the day you went to the Saturday matinee at the Lyric Theatre and the price of admission had increased from ten cents to twelve cents, and neither you or your sister had the additional two cents.  The problem was rectified by running home totally heart broken, acquiring the additional four cents and returning to the theatre; this was, nevertheless, the most traumatic and ignominious moment of a young person's (six year old) life. 
Bruce McDoniel

108. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

you remember the only black family that lived in town {on Washington Street in Don Luis).

Class of '83

93. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You went to Saint Pat's and got teased by the Horace Mann kids for wearing
those green plaid uniforms!
Going to the Lyric theater, shopping at the PD Mercantile, buying the latest 45 at the Music Box, going to the Artic Circle to get five burgers for a buck! Swimming at joy dam in the summer time and camping at Juniper Flats. Playing on the dumps in South Bisbee, walking the ditches from downtown to Wood Canyon. Living in the terraces and riding bikes to the swimming pool at the Elks park. Having the best of times with the best of friends!
Kathy Windsor Williams                              

109. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

1)  You were sent (by your loving parents) off to little league baseball practice EVERY DAY hitch hiking.

2)  You could obtain everything needed to build a coaster by walking the length of the canyon ditch.

3)  You were considered 'gifted' if you were the one that always hit that blue 'free dilly' on the dilly stick.

4)  Everyone that came to visit from out of town was afraid to drive the narrow street you lived on.

5)  The best hamburgers on earth were 5 for a dollar at the arctic circle, the pinball machine was a nickel and...   the 'Stones' Satisfaction played non-stop for years.

6)   You were as loyal to Red and Grey as you were to Red, White and Blue.

7)   You heard your whole childhood about stopes, slushers, the cage, Malachite, Azurite, muck etc.

8)   You spent your childhood playing baseball at the 'Upper Court' and so did everybody else you knew.

9)   The band you would most like to hear just one more time was named 'The Sounds Incorporated'.

10)  You still starve to hear the name Bisbee on TV.

11)  You have compared everyplace on earth to Bisbee (I've been around it four times) and have never found a close second. 

12)  No other place has coaster races or three legged ones either on the 4th of July.

13)  Last but not least...  Upon returning, you see that happy smile that people who live there wear and realize you once wore it yourself.

Respectfully submitted,

Edward E. Lopez  -  Class of 71
 

86. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

you knew you were and you are damn proud of it. Would not trade the friends, the good times, the bad times or any of the memories for any place in the world. Because it made you who you are and you are not ashamed of it. Because you know if there are more than four people meeting in the State of Arizona probably two of them are from
Bisbee......Cheers!!!!!
George Hershey,  

75. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

You know you are from Bisbee when you have cousins from Butte Montana

Barbara Clucas Furshong
 

An off the wall comment.  Butte Montana was the Anaconda equivalent of Phelps Dodge Bisbee.  Historically mining families would move back and forth between the two and other mining communities depending on the local economy.

75'. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

your neighbors are Manx. It is so in Butte as well. Many miners from the Isle of
Man immigrated to the states and settled in mining communities. There was a  rather large Manx Society in Bisbee at one time.

36. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

you can remember BEFORE the Lavender Pit ate part of the town......

from an old cochise county boy trapped in South Carolina......

25. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

you used to honk your car horn at the tourist who parked on the
road between upper Bisbee and Lowell at 3:pm to watch
the Lavender Pit blast

from: J.E.P "78"

                        Just for the record the blast moved the whole town.

21. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

you think everything smells like bandades

explanation: The chemicals used in the copper mines have this smell, if you're from Bisbee you know what I mean.

                    FROM M.H.

1. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

                  You don't buy jewelry from a guy named Bisbee Bob,
                  by the way he's not from Bisbee!

16. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

you identify old friends visiting town because they look like their parents".

YOU can tell you've grown up in Bisbee WHEN .....

you know more people in the cemeteries than on mainstreet.

14. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

you go to the video store to rent "Violent Saturday" to see some of your friends in the movie.

Visit the Violent Saturday information and rating site.

YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

you walk up Brewery Gulch and look at empty houses and lots where there were houses and reminisce about the families that used to live there but are gone.

YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

you drive by the old Sacred Heart church and feel sad because it no longer is a church and reminisce about all of the activities, celebrations, and ceremonies once conducted there.

YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

you go by the Lyric Theatre and remember all of the great movies that you saw there and wish that kids today could experience what is gone.

YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

you walk up main street in Old Bisbee and hardly know anyone except maybe a few "real" Bisbeeites, and then hear some transplanted Easterner or Californian or from somewhere claim they are from Bisbee like many there today but don't acknowledge locals.
thanks to Phillip A. for 5 at once

73. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

you couldn't wait to get out of the dying mining town as a teenager in the early '70's and didn't want to go to another mining town in New Mexico (Tyrone/Silver City) where your dad had another job. But now wish you could go back to that unique mile high city.

Janet Diehl, class of '73

41. YOU CAN TELL YOU'RE FROM BISBEE WHEN.....

you read all the way to the bottom of this list.

Roger Saner

Bisbee When, too, was added to continue this page
pick this text to head down that road.

small Bisbee Tour mail Box
USE THE MAIL BOX TO suggest more 'Bisbee when statements'.