An early postcard titled Second Avenue Residences shows a very different version of this street.
Large lawns, front porches, mature trees and detached homes line the avenue.
The photograph does not depict this exact parcel, but it does document the residential character of Second Avenue during an earlier period of Phoenix history.
This was a street where people lived while remaining close to downtown.
More than a century later, Second Avenue is residential again, although the architecture and scale have changed dramatically.
The comparison is useful precisely because the two versions are not the same.
The street remained. The idea of living here remained. The form of housing changed.