The North Central Phoenix neighborhood is known for its friendly families and its small-town feel. While there’s a good chance you already know your neighbors, this recurring series will go a little deeper in helping you to get to know North Central families.
Up first: Scott and Leslie Isham.
When Scott Isham moved to North Central Phoenix, it wasn’t so much a matter of coming home as it was staying there.
“I’ve lived close to that area,” Isham said. “I grew up about a mile or a mile and a half from there, and I always would drive Central growing up, and my parents would too, because of the mature trees and just how lush the area is. I’ve always liked the (Murphy) Bridle Path to run on, so I told myself if I could ever buy a house in that area I definitely would, and I’d want to raise my kids there.”
So he did.
Isham and his wife, Leslie, along with their two children, Josie and Nate, live near Central and Glendale avenues. He works as the chief of staff for Clint Hickman, the chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. His family is a big part of the reason why he likes the North Central area so much. It’s got kind of an old-school nature to it that he wanted.
“One of the reasons why I moved where I did was I wanted my kids to be able to walk and ride their bikes to school,” Isham said. “And they do. (Josie is in sixth grade at Madison Meadows; Nate is a fourth-grader at Madison Simis.) Ninety percent of the Valley (families) don’t do that. Everyone drives their kids to school nowadays. I wanted to kind of go throwback and send my kids to a public school and they could ride their bike or walk or take the bus. That was something I wanted, and same with my wife. We wanted that throwback to a nice neighborhood.”
Isham’s wife works out of their home. But Isham commutes, another reason he likes his location.
“It’s convenient for me to downtown,” he said. “It has good schools. It’s easy for me to get to work. You’re close to the (State Route) 51 and you’re close to the (Interstate) 17. So convenience-wise, it’s great.”
But it’s not all work (and school) and no play for the Ishams. North Central Phoenix also offers plenty for them to do in the off hours, and they take full advantage, staying as active as possible while getting a little fun in at the same time.
“All the restaurants, the way they’ve been able to repurpose the different buildings, it’s crazy,” Isham said. “We can ride our bikes to restaurants as a family. It’s great, turning the old liquor store into Joe’s Midnight Run, or the old motorcycle shop into The Yard, or heading up the Bridle Path to Spoke & Wheel. Those are all places that are easy bike rides for the family. It’s just an easy place for me to live.”
You don’t have to travel too far in any direction from the Isham’s home to see how the rest of the Valley has developed: There’s plenty of sprawl in just about any corner east or west, with lots of cookie-cutter developments; if you don’t know your street number, you might pull into the wrong driveway in some of them.
That’s exactly what Isham wanted to avoid, and what attracted him to staying in the neighborhood he grew up in.
“I’m a fourth generation (Arizonan),” he said. “I could never see myself living in these tract homes with all these chain restaurants. It’s just not what I enjoy.”
The area doesn’t look like every other part of town. It’s got its own look, its own feel. “That’s what I love about these mom-and-pop and repurposed places,” Isham said. “You drive into the North Central area, it does feel like a throwback. The Valley has grown so wide and outside. This has kind of stayed the same.”
It certainly sounds like it, when Isham talks about how he and his family get together with their neighbors. Privacy fences and empty streets aren’t the norm here.
“Holiday parties, closing off streets – the great thing about this neighborhood is there are lots of people I knew from high school and met in college,” Isham said. “They all wanted to live in this area. It has a lot of kids. There’s a lot of hosting taco Tuesdays and happy hours and things we all do. It’s really a fun neighborhood.”
Isham and his neighbors are working to keep it that way.
“That’s why you kind of get some pushback for some of the redevelopment that’s happening,” he said, “because they want to make sure it stays special. It’s kind of a small town. You know everybody.”
