Tucson Restaurant Legacies

Featured on the February 7th, 2019 edition of ARIZONA SPOTLIGHT with host Mark McLemore:

• An interview with Carolyn Lukensmeyer and Keith Allred of The National Institute for Civil Discourse, including how their mission has evolved to meet the challenges of a country coping with political division. To learn more about NICD's mission, visit ReviveCivility.org and CommonSenseAmerican.org.

Keith Allred, executive director of the National Institute for Civil Discourse

courtesy NCID

• The Mexican restaurant Lerua's opened on Broadway in 1941, and closed earlier this month. Mark talks with journalist Rita Connelly, the author of Lost Restaurants of Tucson, about this city's rich legacy of family-owned dining traditions.

Lerua's moved from 4th Avenue to Broadway Boulevard in 1941. It closed in February of 2019 due to the impending construction project to widen Broadway that will require the building's demolition.

• Film writer Chris Dashiell looks back at a 1986 film shot mostly in Tucson called Desert Bloom, and says it's easy to be distracted by the many landmarks and reminders of local culture that serve as the movie's backdrop.

Jay Underwood and Annabeth Gish as 1950s teens in "Desert Bloom" (1986)

• And, essayist Adiba Nelson shares her perspective on the different kinds of love that exist within the black community, some that were born out of history, oppression and survival. Music by Jaime J. Soto.

Adiba Nelson

Arizona Spotlight airs every Thursday at 8:30 am and 6:00 pm, and every Saturday at 3:00 pm, on NPR 89.1 FM / 1550 AM.

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Arizona Spotlight airs every Thursday at 8:30 am and 6:00 pm and every Saturday at 3:00 pm on NPR 89.1 FM / 1550 AM. You can subscribe to our podcast on Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, or the NPR App. See more from Arizona Spotlight.