Phoenix & The Valley of the Sun

A fun pictorial map of Phoenix issued about a century after the city was first established.

This colorful poster map of Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area presents a welcoming overview of the Valley of the Sun. The majority of the content focuses on promoting local businesses. An interesting variety of retailers, service providers, accommodations, restaurants and more are often accompanied by caricatures of their owners, contact information, or logos/branding. Other features include local attractions, bits of Arizona history, and scenes of general amusement.

The map was illustrated by Tom Dodds. Copyrighted in 1975 and published in Scarborough, Ontario by Archar, Inc. The firm made a variety of similarly styled poster maps advertising cities across the U.S. The distinctive cartoonish output greatly influenced the style of commercial cartography in the second half of the 20th century.