Some people spend their summers trekking around the country checking out baseball parks. We find our groove in rock 'n' roll haunts. And so many are in Phoenix it's worth a trip north. So fill up the tank, crank up the tunes and join us on a rockin' road trip.
First stop: Alice Cooper'stown.
It takes about 90 minutes to get to downtown Phoenix from Tucson if you don't hit any traffic on Interstate 10.
You'll find Alice Cooper'stown in the shadow of Chase Field, in a warehouse-looking building that looks a bit out of place among all the shimmering glassiness of downtown.
On days when the Suns and Diamondbacks are off, the ample courtyard with its wall-size TV screen and dozen or so tables is as lifeless as the neighborhood's empty overflow parking lots.
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Although Cooper makes rare appearances — he was there May 29 shooting a segment of the Travel Channel's "No Reservations" with celeb chef Anthony Bourdain — his life-size plywood image is always there to greet you once you've passed beneath a sign that taunts "Welcome to my nightmare restaurant."
Cooper, who grew up in the Valley, is part owner of the restaurant. Arizona concert promoting wizard Danny Zelisko also has an interest, which grants him, among other privileges, space to display some of his considerable memorabilia collection.
Near the exit facing First Avenue, for example, Zelisko has mounted his Metallica commemorative multiplatinum record. It recognizes him for helping the band sell more than 12 million copies of "Metallica," making it one of the biggest-selling albums of the 1990s.
Tables are covered with images of Cooper, and the walls are papered with his various industry accolades — from gold and platinum record certificates to pictures of Cooper posing with sports and Hollywood celebrities, including a young Jay Leno.
You don't go here for the food, necessarily, although the barbecue sliders in a $13 sample appetizer platter are three-bite morsels of smoky, meaty goodness. They also paired nicely with the accompanied potato skins slicked with melted Cheddar and dotted with chewy bacon chunks.
You do go here to see who's been here, and hope that someone famous — mostly Suns or D'Backs players — will pop in for a post-game brew among the generous selection of domestics on tap.
Give yourself some time to browse the walls, which are filled with everything from framed, signed guitars from Sting, Jeff Beck and Paul McCartney to Creedence Clearwater Revival's double-platinum award for the 1969 album "Willy and the Poor Boys."
Up the street, the beat goes on
More of Zelisko's memorabilia is housed in the Dodge Theatre, just a few blocks away at 400 W. Washington St.
You can't see it unless you're at the Dodge for a concert, but it's worth the price of a ticket to catch a glimpse of the nearly 500 pieces Zelisko has installed in the months since his company, Live Nation, inked a 10-year lease to manage the four-level concert venue.
"I've been doing shows over 30 years, and fortunately I hung on to most everything I got," Zelisko said.
His artifacts, as he calls them, include memorabilia from Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin and Jeff Beck; chairs from Ozzy Osbourne's house; and the smock Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia wore — and signed — during his final hospital stay before his death in 1995.
"For a Deadhead fan, they go nuts over that," Zelisko said.
He hopes to have the Dodge open for tours next year and is considering adding the word museum to the theater's name.
Drive a few blocks to South Second Street and you'll stumble into Arizona's only Hard Rock Cafe. To be honest, if you've been to one, you've been to them all. Same menu, same layout, same souvenirs with a different city beneath the iconic guitar-centered logo. The most enticing memorabilia at the Phoenix restaurant is Valley native Stevie Nicks' black cloak with silver stitching and her tambourine.
Take a drive east to the country
It takes a good 30 to 45 minutes, depending on traffic, to reach the Handlebar J in Scottsdale from downtown Phoenix.
Opened in the early 1960s as Wild Bill's, it was the regular haunt and venue of a young Waylon Jennings.
Gwen Herndon, a tough-as-nails businesswoman who wears her broad-rimmed Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses day and night, has kept the venerable Western steakhouse and honky-tonk's doors open the last 33 years.
She's weathered hard economic times and family tragedy, including the death in 1981 of her husband and business partner, Brick. She still manages a warm smile for strangers and friends alike.
"Everybody that comes in here just says, 'I love this place; it's different,'" Herndon said on a recent Friday night in between hustling her staff to deliver steaks and beers to a table of 20 from Canada seated in the modest dining room.
You won't find much memorabilia in this ranch-style building. The big attention grabber is a collection of sweat-stained, brittle cowboy hats that hang from the rafters in the main bar. Manager Keith Olson said the tradition dates back to the bar's beginnings when cowboys tacked their hats to the wooden rafters with their names and the date on a note.
The walls are decorated with a few concert posters from Jennings' widow and Handlebar J regular Jessi Colter.
There are also dozens of photographs of Gwen Herndon's son Ray. He's had a modest Nashville career over the past two decades playing in Lyle Lovett's band, writing songs and being a third of the early-1990s pop country trio McBride & the Ride.
These days, when he's not picking up dates with Lovett, he fronts the Herndon Brothers Band, the Handlebar J's house band that plays five nights a week.
An artistic detour
While you're in the area, take some time to explore the Rock Star Gallery, Music Collectibles and Celebrity Fine Art, where you'll find paintings by Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, Grace Slick and Janis Joplin, among others.
The gallery also exhibits and sells rock collectibles — from framed commemorative gold and platinum albums to signed guitars; and famous rock photos by Robert Knight, Bob Gruen, Bill Levy and rare Beatles photos from the London Daily Mirror Collection.
Occasionally, the rock star artists themselves will stop by to check on their works, including Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer and painter Michael Cartellone in March and celebrity photographer and ex-John Lennon girlfriend May Pang in April.
Last stop: Ceviche with Santana
Our final destination brings us nearly full circle, musically and geographically: Maria Maria, Latin guitar rocker Carlos Santana's new culinary venture in the swank Tempe Marketplace.
Santana opened the first Maria Maria last fall in Walnut Creek, Calif., with partners that include Mexico City chef Roberto Santibañez. The Tempe eatery, which opened in March, is the second.
This is not a shrine to Santana in the way Alice Cooper'stown bows down to its namesake, aside from the not-so-subtle print of a colorful painting of the Grammy-winning guitarist that takes up a big swath of wall and greets you at the entryway. Large, colorful abstract prints — some that resemble Santana album covers — tastefully anchor the walls throughout the circular dining area that is divided by a partial wall of cubbyholes filled with candles.
There's a stage there where an acoustic trio plays mostly Santana covers and a few John Mayer cuts in the evenings Thursdays through Saturdays.
On this recent Friday, local singer/songwriter Freddy Duran fronted the trio on his guitar, eliciting loud cheers when he sang "Maria Maria."
There are other nods to Santana, the most intriguing being the guitar-shaped sconces that covered the dim lights throughout the dining room. Candles and faux candles helped cast enough light so you could see all the pretty, fashionable people streaming in. Maria Maria seems to overwhelmingly attract chic 20-somethings willing to pay $65 for a 2-ounce shot of Gran Patron Burdeos tequila.
The menu is upscale Mexican with entrees starting at $13 and topping out at $21. The generous selection of inventive appetizers includes a coconut ceviche with thick chunks of tad-too-tart citrus-marinated snapper. It made for a palate cleanser to the tender braised beef short ribs bathing in a deeply smoky blackberry mole gently kissed with chocolate.
As you watch folks munching fairly unimpressive flash-fried fish tacos on flour tortillas or sipping $10 margaritas, it's easy to imagine Santana — the Santana — strolling in to check on his investment.
It's not beyond the realm; our server, Juan, said to expect Santana whenever he's in town.
We were tempted then and there to make lunch reservations for Sept. 27, when Santana is set to play Cricket Wireless Pavilion.
Road map
From Central Tucson to Alice Cooper'stown, Phoenix: Take Interstate 10 to Phoenix. Exit at Third Avenue off-ramp and head downtown. Cooper'stown is behind US Airways Center. Miles: About 110. Estimated drive time: About 90 minutes once you get on the freeway.
From Cooper'stown to Handlebar J, Scottsdale: Get back on I-10 heading East. Exit at the Loop 202 East/Route 51 North and continue on 51 until the Shea Boulevard exit. Head east on Shea for about four miles until North 71st Street. Turn left onto 71st, then right onto East Becker Lane. Miles: 17. Estimated drive time: about 25 minutes.
From Handlebar J to Maria Maria, Tempe: Take North Scottsdale Road to southbound Loop 101. Exit at Rio Salado Parkway. Miles: 14. Estimated drive time: about 15 minutes.
