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New Book Looks At Phoenix's Past And Present

Paul Scharbach (left) and Robert Melikian
(Photo by Mark Brodie - KJZZ)
Paul Scharbach (left) and Robert Melikian on Washington Street between First and Second streets in Phoenix.

Phoenix is often described as a young city, but it does have a lot of history. Although, as the people behind a new book found out, some of that history is kind of hidden.

Robert Melikian and Paul Scharbach are co-authors of "Phoenix: Past and Present," which shows historic photos from around the city, opposite the same view from today.

Melikian is an attorney and family owner of the San Carlos Hotel; Scharbach is a photographer.

I met them at one of the spots featured in the book, on Washington between First and Second streets to talk about their book.

And I started by asking Robert what was the process like of looking for photos that maybe hadn’t been seen before, and then trying to determine which parts of the city they were going to look at.

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Mark Brodie is a co-host of The Show, KJZZ’s locally produced news magazine. Since starting at KJZZ in 2002, Brodie has been a host, reporter and producer, including several years covering the Arizona Legislature, based at the Capitol.