Six months later, Sin began recruiting friends and associates, teachers and college students, moms and daughters, punk rockers and downtowners for a Tucson league which she established as a non-profit sports organization. Barbara Trujillo, a.k.a. ‘Barbicide’, (named after that familiar blue juice used in hair salons to disinfect combs and scissors) both a stylist at Metropolis Salon on East Congress Street and a bartender at Club Congress signed on as a player along with Barrio Viejo artist/architect Hilary the ‘Hammer’ Meehan.
Loving the idea of competition amongst a diverse group of women, Barbicide was totally down with derby and had played so aggressively she ended last years’ season with a broken ankle and pulled ligaments in her leg. The team awarded her ‘Best Injury’ at the ‘Wheelies’ awards ceremony at Club Congress after a four month recovery. “It was totally worth it because I am doing all the things in life that I want to do--being a Mom, working and skating”says Barbicide.
Apparently that sense of enthusiasm is what has earned the women on the Tucson teams hundreds of fans, dozens of local sponsors and a load of volunteers who are now supporting them in their second year as a bona fide roller derby league. According to the Hammer, approximately five-hundred people attended the last bout at BLADEWORLD on Grant Road where all local bouts take place.
The growing size of the crowds at present is reminiscent of the surge in the popularity of the roller derby throughout the 1960’s. According to sixty-seven year old derby player and historian Erwin Miller, who continues to skate in Florida and tracks derby events nation wide, the constant interplay of offensive and defensive skating combined with physical contact and a simple scoring system appealed to the establishment of the television generation in America at that time. This form of public entertainment mixed with subsequent Hollywood movies and sexy beauties like Raquel Welch, who starred in the 1972 derby classic Kansas City Bomber, drew hundreds of spectators to the sport across the globe for over 20 years.
The derbys’ appeal currently, says the Hammer is largely because it’s a woman positive endeavor and that everything was by, for and about women from the start, which is much different from the historic leagues.
“The leagues, the organization, the overhead and all advertising here are run by the women. We pay for our own uniforms, our own health insurance and operating costs, hang out together, have a lot of fun getting exercise and are involved in a full contact sport. What’s more empowering than that?” she says.
Hollywood and TV programming aside, many of the fans attending the bouts in Tucson, both women and men, said they had heard about the roller derby this past year from friends and thought it was cool to see women dressed in mini-skirts and fishnet stockings ‘throw down’ on skates. ‘Downtown Dave’ a TRD volunteer, announcer and member of local band Whiskey Bitch, attributes the derby’s comeback and growing popularity to its sense of nostalgic, “good down home fun” with a “rowdy, tattooed, rock-n-roll and Pabst Blue Ribbon element” to it while also bringing together an extremely eclectic crowd like no other sporting or community event in Tucson has.
DT Dave says he is amazed at how the Phoenix derby girls and the larger Tucson community and businesses have come forward to support the TRD. Patti Smite of the Phoenix Bruisers and a squad of these rival city players were present to cheer on the TRD including Smites’ sister Whiskey Mick of Vice Squad. Local EMT’s like Jim Becker, a friend of Waitress co-captain Deadlock Doe volunteer medical services. Downtown establishments Toxic Ranch Records, Miller’s Surplus, Arizona Theatre Company and Majestic Tattoo donate gift certificates for raffles that are held at each bout. After the bouts, fans, players and family members often gather at the Surly Wench, Che’s Lounge or Club Congress for a mass bonding and drinking experience. Even Paulie the ‘Water Boy,’ coach for the Phoenix league, yells to me over the roar of the crowd, “Dude, it’s like a gang!” while raising his beer, giving the Tucson teams their props.
Only in America, along with newfound success, ego and product endorsements surely follow. At this point in the game however, founder Sin says there are no plans for any corporate sponsorship. After all, that, along with poor management and greed is what she and historian Miller say led to the derby’s decline in the mid-70’s. Miller however was more adamant about how the involvement of large corporations damaged the credibility and grassroots success of the sport, turning it into little more than a theatrical circus of sorts, with staged fights likened to the WWF. Sin on the other hand hopes the fact that the skater owned and operated TRD as it is now, a bunch of girls ages nineteen to sixty doing it on their own, will continue to grow like the YMCA and the American Youth Soccer Organization has without being limited by their non-profit status.
Perhaps only time will tell if this provocative piece of Americana will endure. Whatever the appeal, for an up close and personal view of mini-skirts on wheels, serious attitude and ridiculous old school fun, check out season two with TRD chics Sassy Sue, Gin Italia, Penny Tencherry, Fisti Cuffs, Dirty Teri, Kamanda, Eeka, Sloppy Flo, Jezebelle, Ruby Hellcat, Hard Anya, Carrie Guns, Elbow Bomb and more beer, beauty and brawn than you could dream of together under one roof on March 5th at BLADEWORLD, 1065 E. Grant Road.
For more information on roller derby and a complete schedule of times and events, log on to www.tucsonrollerderby.com or call (520) 390-1454.
Z Mansion Fulfills Two Roles
Historic Downtown home Moonlights as Wedding Venue
by Annemarie Mogan
he Wright-Zellweger House, affectionately known as ‘Z Mansion,’ is an electric blue and white Victorian home surrounded by all the typical necessities of any downtown area. Cars parked bumper-to-bumper on the streets, tall office buildings, one-way street signs all serve as neighbors to the Hill family.
The home, which boasts four bedrooms, a newly remodeled kitchen, a large office, parlor and a carriage house, stands at 288 N. Church Ave.
“When you have a house like this, you have to share,” says Em Hill.
“This house belongs to Tucson; it’s not our right to say no one can come in. It’s so rare, we want to preserve it.” says Em, a mother of four, who works tirelessly in her garden every weekend, making it look perfect for patrons who hold special events in the home’s backyard.
The guests who hold an event at the Z, usually complete strangers to the Hills, come in droves every day or night of every weekend.
“We have people who are just walking down the street always knocking on our door wanting see our home. The house just draws people in,” Em says.
“Our first bride, Jennifer, came into our home, proposed the idea of having her wedding here and we were hesitant to let it happen. Then she literally sat down and refused to leave, so we agreed,” said Tom Hill.
“She still stops by every once in a while to catch up, last time she brought her new baby,” Tom continued.
“The house just spread by word-of-mouth to people who were looking for a wedding venue after the very first wedding,” Tom said.
The Hill family began to open their historic home in October of 2002 for private events, ranging from weddings to birthday parties to charity fundraisers.
“You have to be pretty weird to do this,” jokes Tom.
When the Z Mansion has been rented out, that group has free reign over the home from early morning until midnight the day of the event.
“Sometimes they’ll decorate all day, other times they’ll come only a few hours before the event. We all are here, helping all day, even the kids. Having a wedding here isn’t like La Paloma. We have staff to help, including three full time maintenance people, but we do a lot of the clean-up ourselves,” says Em.
The Z Mansion was originally built in 1898 by millionaire judge Charles Wright. Three years later, it was sold to the Zellweger family, who made their fortune as cattle barons. In 1974, the mansion was purchased by Margaret Carmichael, co-owner of a Triple Crown winning racehorse. Her estate sold the mansion to the heir of the Pinkerton tobacco fortune in 1994. The ‘Z’ was then bought in 2002 by Tom and Em Hill, who moved their family out of the west University neighborhood and into downtown. The spacious backyard can hold up to 250 people and approximately 15 tables for a buffet meal during an event. A gazebo with a lattice patio cover in the back corner is typically where the ceremonies take place and usually transforms into a dance floor during the reception. The many trees are lit up with delicate white Christmas lights and a Mediterranean fountain quietly drips water from its peak.
The Z Mansion attempts to entice more non-alcoholic parties by providing free soda for those events that will not be serving alcohol. The Hills strongly believe when things go wrong at a Z Mansion event, alcohol is usually to blame.
“I drink a little bit and my husband doesn’t drink at all, so having a bunch of drunks around isn’t our favorite thing,” Em says.
The Hills always provide the event’s hosts with a suggested list of preferred independent vendors from bartenders to photographers to DJs well in advance.
“We prefer to use people we know and people who have worked with us and at this location before. We have no financial relationship with them. Their experience with us and the Z Mansion simply enables the event to progress seamlessly,” says Tom.
Em explains, “We’ve had times where caterers did not show up, the cake or flowers just don’t show up. We’ve gone out and made sure it gets remedied. We’re not personally responsible, but we don’t want someone’s wedding to be ruined. It’d be horrible to have people have a bad taste in their mouth about their wedding.”
The Z Mansion can be found online at www.ZMansion.com or by calling (520) 623-4889 x3.
Planning Tucson’s New “Town Square”
by D.A. Barber
he Rio Nuevo Master Plan acknowledges the earlier streetscapes of historic Tucson’s Spanish and Mexican days, planning to incorporate these earlier patterns in designing two new plazas that will face each other across the Santa Cruz River and serve as major outdoor “town square” gathering places and links between other area attractions.
Now those plans are coming together, with the help of the public.
More than 160 people came out in February for an opportunity to give input into the design of the plazas - two of Río Nuevo’s largest public projects. The main focus was the Civic Plaza. Río Nuevo’s Development Director Randy Emerson opened the meeting on the Civic Plaza by stating: “I want to stress that no design has started yet on the plazas.”
The plaza will need to be “specific to Tucson,” said Hargreaves Associates senior principal Mary Margaret Jones. “It’s very important to be connected to the surrounding neighborhoods.”
The meeting – first of several planned - offered presentations from members of the design team headed by Hargreaves Associates. The team also includes Boora Architects, Ralph Appelbaum Associates, Tucson architect Poster Frost Associates, parking consultant Carl Walker Inc., and the University of Arizona Environmental Research Laboratory. With offices in San Francisco, Cambridge, Mass., and New York, Hargreaves was recommended in August by a City of Tucson selection committee from a shortlist of applicants to design both plazas.
“We’re here to listen,” said Jones. “The reason this meeting is so important is because it’s the bridge between design, planning and the public.”
“The large number of people coming downtown is a victory that needs a solution,” noted architect Corky Poster at the meeting.
As envisioned, the new Cultural Plaza on the west side of the Santa Cruz will be bordered by an interpretive center and museums on three sides, as well as steps down to the river. The Cultural Plaza will be connected to the Civic Plaza by a footbridge to be part of the University of Arizona Science Center.
But it’s the Civic Plaza on the east side of the Santa Cruz that is farther along in the design process with an estimated budget of $40 million. A budget for the Cultural Plaza has yet to be set.
“The Cultural Plaza isn’t really established yet because there are too many unknowns in terms of how big it will be and how it interfaces with the museums,” says Emerson.
The Civic Plaza is larger in scale and more urban than the Cultural Plaza, with open space, ramadas, fountains and landscaping. The final project is envisioned as a new “town square” offering an opportunity to create a “sense of place.”
The Plaza will be adjacent to a re-aligned Granada Avenue and surrounded by the Tucson Convention Center, the eastern portion of the University of Arizona Science Center and the proposed new arena. A 1,500 to 2,000-space parking garage will be constructed beneath the Plaza to provide parking for visitors to the area’s attractions.
“We have planned the Civic Plaza with the arena in mind - from loading, parking, the front door, etc - it is intended to integrate with the Plaza,” says Karen Thoreson, Assistant City Manager.
Surrounding the plaza there will eventually be retail, restaurant and commercial space.
“We’ll set aside sites where that can happen, but that may follow a year or two after the plaza is completed because it will be driven by the marketplace,” says Emerson.
Several issues of concern were raised to the February Civic Plaza meeting’s panel members by concerned residents.
Besides freeway visibility and noise, and concerns about parking, a big concern was that Civic Plaza is designed for flexibility of use. One neighborhood resident felt that “multi-purpose areas usually fail” because they are made for many uses “but good for none them.”
“I understand the Cultural Plaza, but I don’t get the Civic Plaza,” Hotel Congress owner Richard Oseran told the panel. “We have a limited opportunity to do something and if that is open space with no people, than we haven’t accomplished anything.”
“Programmed activity will be the key to the Rio Nuevo project,” said Jones at the meeting.
“We’ve seen examples around the country of plazas that aren’t activated by people and they just become spaces you don’t want to spend any time in,” says Emerson. “The whole idea of a plaza is to activate it 24/7 if you can.”
Another issue raised was that the plaza should preserve views to the river and mountains and contain desert plants found in the Sonoran Desert region, as well as incorporate designs historically relative to traditional southwest pioneer, Hispanic, and Native American communities.
Augustine Garcia, director of the Tucson-Mexico Office, was there as a neighborhood resident and said the Plaza was a good opportunity “to give a perspective of the Sonoran Desert and where Tucson lays within that environment.”
Others felt the Plaza plan needs to take into consideration the summer heat.
Tim Anderson of Hargreaves pointed out that they have done projects in Mesa and California. “We understand the desert and working in that environment.”
The series of public meetings planned – the next is March 24th - will culminate with a final design presentation for the Civic Plaza in July. Construction is tentatively scheduled to begin in 2006 and be complete in 2008.
aced like Indy cars painted with colorful numbers, engines revving to an adrenalized, beer-guzzling crowd, the veteran Furious Truck Stop Waitresses start the season against the novice, yet seriously bad-ass Vice Squad. Like any respectable American sport, the game is preceded by the playing of the National Anthem. An enthusiastic fan shouts to the audience “Take your hats off you motherfu*#$@s!” and without hesitation, the crowd complies. 
