7
Talk of Arizona
Fall 2014
Continued on next page
Not all the photos in the Life package were of Speedway or of Tucson.
The photos included a billboard for “The Thing” on Interstate 10 near Picacho Peak, an unattractive view of an entrance onto the Black Canyon Highway in Phoenix, and photos of what today is referred to as roadside art — no longer derided and somewhat lamented now that is has all but disappeared — from around the country.
The Life package finished with page-long rant by John Neary, the reporter who had debunked the 1960s urban legend that Paul McCartney was dead by interviewing the Beatle for the magazine.
Neary weighed in about how Congress had passed the Highway Beautification Act in 1965, and here it was five years later, and the highways