Pacheco, John and Aida
This interview is with John Pacheco and covers the following themes:
John’s parents and grandparents’ flight from Pancho Villa in 1913 and immigration to the United States.
His parents’ ranch life in Arivaca in 1920s and 1930s.
John’s birth in 1937 and his family’s relocation to Tucson in 1942 for school. Experience working at the ranch during summers.
Life in downtown Tucson in the 1940s; Chinese markets, store credit, and the DJ Jacinto Orozco. Work at Art’s Hot Dogs. The importance of walking.
John’s family’s move to Menlo Park in the late 1940s. Description of the neighborhood, Congress Street bridge, kid’s games, industrial landscape of steel yards and brickyards.
The Santa Cruz River in the 1940s and early 1950s, swimming in irrigation canals, parties along the river.
John’s freedom of movement and feeling of safety as a child.
School at Safford Junior High and Tucson High, including language, demographics, social groups.
Part 1 of 2 and was recorded at the Pacheco house in Sahuarita, Arizona on September 20th, 2017.
This interview is with John and Aida Pacheco and covers the following themes:
Downtown Tucson nightlife in the 1950s, including a detailed description of working at Art’s Hot Dogs and movie theaters.
The Laos family and their bus system.
Entertainment, including The Mickey Mouse children’s event at the Fox Theater and westerns at the State Theater. The experience of watching western movies while working on a ranch.
John’s employment opportunities as a young man, including a quick overview of joining the union and becoming a sheet metal worker.
Aida Pacheco’s childhood in 1950s Tucson, with her descriptions of sewing, the matching clothes couples would wear, films running at the Mickey Mouse, and soapbox derby races on Congress Street. Life during Second World War. Relationships between employees and employers.
High school options: Salpointe, Tucson High, and Amphi.
A detailed description of the bombing of the Apollo Restaurant in the 1950s.
The Pioneer Hotel as a cultural site before the fire.
John and Aida’s meeting. Dating in the 1950s.
Unions in Tucson during the 1950s. John’s difficulty joining the union, financial challenges for young couples, family support.
John’s National Guard service during and after high school and mechanical work.
Union work in a Right to Work state. How unions lost ground in residential work throughout the 1960s. A few specific building projects including Pima College and IBM.
John’s choice to work in California for better wages while his family remained in Tucson. A career-ending injury on the job followed by a lawsuit and years of pain and rehabilitation.
The experience of working remotely from family. Differences and commonalities between John’s childhood and his children’s.
Life in the Fairview and Roger Road area from the 1960 to 1990s. Equestrian culture on the northwest side of Tucson.
Part 2 of 2 and was recorded at the Pacheco house in Sahuarita, Arizona on September 26th, 2017.