Newspaper writers in the 1920s were known for hyperbole, but sometimes, their enthusiasm ended up being prophetic. That was the case in September 1925, when The Arizona Republican announced the opening of the Gold Spot, a concrete and stucco shopping center on the northeast corner of Roosevelt Street and Third Avenue in Phoenix.
The building, the newspaper wrote, offered “virtually everything that a family can want, from a can of beans to a new fall hat, [and] from a screwdriver to an ice cream soda.” Building it cost $75,000 — the equivalent of $1.3 million today. And after a period of disuse and disrepair, today’s Gold Spot again is a downtown Phoenix hub — and, at least from the outside, looks remarkably similar to a century ago.
The center initially offered space for 15 tenants, although only seven were ready for opening day. Among them were Arthur Wetzler’s grocery, a bakery, a delicatessen, a cleaners and a barbershop; later additions included a drugstore, a curio shop and a beauty parlor. Members of the community were asked to name the center, and after 18 different Phoenicians suggested the Gold Spot name — a nod to a Phoenix nickname at the time, “Gold Spot of the West” — the tenants awarded one of them a $25 prize.
Several shops anchored the building over the decades; one of the longest-lasting was a grocery operated by the Gordon family from 1948 to the early 1980s. But when that business shut down, other tenants followed suit, and the Gold Spot subsequently sat vacant for almost two decades and was nearly torn down multiple times, despite having been added to the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Roosevelt Historic District in 1983.
In the early 2000s, architecture firm Marlene Imirzian & Associates assessed the building and decided it could be saved. What followed was a multimillion-dollar restoration that used historical photos of the structure as guides. The revamped Gold Spot reopened to tenants in 2003, and today, it houses two restaurants, a coffee shop, a hair salon and an aerial yoga studio.
Jim and Michelle Sarina bought the shopping center in 2022 after falling in love with the building and the surrounding neighborhood, where other older structures have been demolished and replaced in recent years. “In the middle of all this newness, you’ve got this historic building,” Michelle says. “It’s a credit to the people who decided it was worth saving.”
At press time, the Sarinas were considering how to celebrate the building’s centennial and the longevity of what a 1925 newspaper ad called “the ideal shopping place for the people of this city and valley.” For details, visit the Gold Spot’s website.
PHOENIX The Gold Spot, 1001 N. Third Avenue, thehistoricgoldspot.com