Russell, David

Part 1 of 3 was recorded on July 8th, 2024 in Tucson, Arizona. It covers the following themes:

B. 1944 

  • Father Ike Russell’s move to Tucson to attend boarding school as a child in the 1920s. Mother studying anthropology at UA in the 1930s. Parents ranch in the San Pedro valley. 

  • Childhood in the San Pedro Valley from 1944-1950. Schooling in Tucson. 

  • Family while growing up and father’s health. 

  • Family move to small milkhouse on Cottonwood Lane in 1950. Neighborhood irrigation and livestock tending. Cattle auction. Neighborhood ranch culture. 

  • Santa Cruz river description. Mesquite bosque. Neighborhood Chinese markets. 

  • Cultural difference between Russell’s world on west side and cousins on east side. 

  • Learning to drive at a young age. No police. 

  • Trips to Mexico via airplane or car in the early 1950s. Father’s declining health. Smuggling tequila and citrus. American fear of Mexico. Changes in travel experience to Mexico over seventy years. 

Part 2 of 3 was recorded on July 18th, 2024 in Tucson, Arizona. It covers the following themes: 

  • Farming in the Santa Cruz Southwest neighborhood in the 1950s. Cereal crops. 

  • Gravel extraction from the Santa Cruz River. 

  • The construction of Interstate-10. 

  • Living on Rosales Street and watching Urban Renewal in the early 1970s. 

  • Rezoning of Santa Cruz Southwest for mobile homes. Description of Cottonwood Lane before development. Sense of connection to place. Neighborhood association. 

  • Decision to build a house next to parents’ house on Cottonwood Lane in 1980. Getting reacquainted with neighbors. 

  • An aside about interracial friendships in grade school. Attending Wakefield Junior High and Pueblo High School in the late 1950s. Dropping out of school. 

  • Working at the Ghost Ranch in 1960. Miracle Mile. Work at the Saddle and Sirloin Steakhouse. Wandering California as an unaccompanied teenager. 

Part 3 of 3 was recorded on July 25th, 2024 in Tucson, Arizona. It covers the following themes: 

  • Addendums to the previous interview, description of El Charro in the early 1950s. 

  • Being left at a restaurant in Kino Bay, Mexico for the summer as a child. 

  • Driving a cab in Philadelphia in the 1960s. Race riots. Working at an art supply store. Move back to Tucson. 

  • Importing curtain fabrics from Mexico during the late 1970s. Arizona market for cloth. 

  • Working with Judith Chafee to build a house. 

  • Changes in the Cottonwood Lane and Santa Cruz Southwest neighborhood since the 1980s. 

Aengus Anderson