East Shea Blvd, North Phoenix

I bought a condo near the intersection of E. Shea Blvd. and Tatum Blvd. This is called the "magic zip code" in the area (85254), since you get a Scottsdale mailing address and Scottsdale schools, but you pay taxes to the City of Phoenix. There's a mix of apartments, condos and houses in the area, where three cities literally meet: Phoenix, Scottsdale and Paradise Valley. Singles, families and retirees all have an interest in living here for various reasons. There are many people who own property here that they use on a recreational basis, during the cooler months (a.k.a. "snowbirds"). There are a ton of resorts, spas, golf courses and country clubs in the area. I was in the Paradise Bakery at this intersection just a few weeks ago, when Grant Hill (Phx Suns) came in the store one Saturday afternoon. So if you like to rub shoulders with the rich and famous, this is an area that you may want to consider living in. The closest major shopping center is the Paradise Valley Mall, which is an older mall that has been well maintained. It has many stores and there are tons of other shops and restaurants in the same vicinity of the mall. For a higher end shopping experience, try going to the Kierland Commons shopping area at Greenway Pkwy & Scottsdale Rd or the Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall at Camelback Rd & Scottsdale Rd.

A the west end of the street is a mountain preserve type of place with hiking and mountain bike trails. Good stuff, but I usually finished rather than started mountain bike rides here.

The street goes from residential at that end, past a middle school and the high school I went to, through a light commercial area with one of the best pizza shops in the city--Uncle Sam's--and a couple grocery stores and pharmacies and doctors' offices, through some more residential area, and once it gets near Scottsdale Rd, things really start to pick up. Here there's lots and lots of commercial stuff including bike shops, spa stores, paint stores, restaurants, nick nack shops, and gobs of other stuff topped off with an outdoor mall sort of place that's great to walk around in the spring and fall.

Eventually the commercial stuff dies down and the residential stuff gets a little more sparse as you head toward the mountains at the east end. The climb over the mountains into Fountain Hills is just a road carved into the mountain with not a lot else going on. There's a casino somewhere out on the Beeline Highway, which Shea turns into at the far East end. And the town of Fountain Hills really does have an enormous fountain in the middle of a park.

Shea was the first part of a favorite 60 mile loop for a bike ride I used to do when I was in high school. Good street.