Who would have thought that in the era before Mill Avenue, teenagers cruised Central instead?
"Arizona Memories from the '60s," a television program that premiers Monday on ASU's public television network KAET-TV, sheds light on this and other aspects of life in Arizona during the decade of bell-bottoms and the British Invasion.
The program, which is hosted by local radio personality Pat McMahon, will be broadcast on Channel 8 and looks back on what life in Arizona was like during Beatlemania and man's first walk on the moon. From Alice Cooper's high school garage bands to Barry Goldwater's campaign for president, the program runs the gamut from pop culture to political figures that shaped life in Arizona during the 1960s.
"Arizona Memories from the '60s" is the latest show in a series of what KAET producer Don Hopfer calls memory programs.
"These shows are making memories for people who don't have them," Hopfer said.
And since most ASU students weren't alive during that era, Monday's special provides a unique look at icons many students are familiar with, like the first episodes of "The Wallace and Ladmo Show" and the inaugural tip-off of the Phoenix Suns.
But Hopfer pointed out that this '60s show isn't an ordinary documentary, filled with droning experts and black and white footage (except for the opening scene of Hitchcock's classic thriller, "Psycho," which was filmed in downtown Phoenix).
"It's a history lesson, but not a dry one," he said of the show.
When Hopfer had the idea for the program a year ago, he asked Channel 8 viewers to send in their memories and home videos from that decade. Hopfer said he was elated with the overwhelming response: More than 150 viewers e-mailed him stories, video clips and scrapbooks on the 1960s.
Fifteen of those Arizona residents are featured in interviews during Monday's special program.
"I wouldn't have had a show without those real people," Hopfer said.
More than 20 ASU students on the KAET-TV crew contributed to the making of this program.
The premiere of "Arizona Memories from the '60s" is 7 p.m. Monday. The show is scheduled to rerun on KAET five times next week, including later that night at 8:30 and 10.
Reach the reporter at katie.petersen@asu.edu.
