Megalopolitan Life >>

• Readers' Choices
  Best Movie Theater Harkins Theatres Best Movie Theater Snacks Harkins Theatres Best News Station KTVK-TV Channel 3 Best Politician John McCain Best Professional Athlete Luis Gonzalez Best Pro Sports Team Arizona Diamondbacks Best Radio Personality Krazy Kid and Ruben S. KISS-FM... More >>
• Best Professional Athlete (Individual Sport)
  Vassily Jirov
  In his native Kazakhstan, International Boxing Federation cruiserweight champion Vassily Jirov learned to develop his boxing footwork by being forced to outrace angry police dogs down a narrow hallway. By comparison, facing a 190-pound pugilist in the boxing ring has to seem like a snap. Sure... More >>
• Best Place To See A Skiploader Up Close
  Empire Machinery
  This is the Valley's most splendid tribute to the equipment that paved the Garden of Eden, courtesy of designer Bill Tonnesen. Even before you reach the renovated interior, the building's exterior walls and courtyard are designed to praise the visual virtues of the company's earthmoving tools --... More >>
• Best Public Art
  Ceiling of the Special Proceedings Courtroom
  There's a rare spiritual resonance about this work, created by artist James Carpenter in collaboration with the Richard Meier Architectural Firm. It can be found inside the cylindrical glass-and-steel courtroom at the west end of the atrium at the Sandra Day O'Connor Federal Courthouse. The... More >>
• Best Public Art At A Shopping Mall
  Sandcasting Garden
  Our earliest memories of late '60s/early '70s life in the Valley are not of tubing the Salt River or visiting the Phoenix Zoo, but -- well, okay, we admit it -- shopping. The best excursions were to the elegant Biltmore Fashion Park, where we recall peeking in the windows at Rosenzweig's... More >>
• Best Politician
  Grant Woods
  After nearly a decade as the state's attorney general and a couple of stints on talk radio, smarmy Grant Woods -- unofficial leader of the Mod Squad of left-leaning Arizona Republicans -- has stepped back into the shadows. Or has he? Is the incredibly ambitious, relatively young,... More >>
• Best Reason To Forgive Bad Signage
  Michael Todd's Furniture
  Considering the more-than-affordable treasures we've dragged home from this delightful vintage furniture shop, we're feeling very forgiving about the gigantic typo emblazoned across its tidy storefront. There, in huge plastic letters, we're promised "ANTIQUE'S," a possessive inaccuracy that... More >>
• Best Sports Franchise
  Arizona Diamondbacks
  In some ways, 2001 has been a bumpy year for the D-Backs. Consistently disappointing fan turnout has confirmed that the honeymoon days of 1998-'99 have faded. And the team's well-chronicled money problems have called into question its long-term viability as a major league baseball franchise. But... More >>
• Best Sports Radio Host
  Evan Andeen
  In the ongoing war for sports-radio Arbitron numbers, the most obvious route to success is to be louder, ruder and more obnoxious than the competition. KDUS afternoon host Evan Andeen, known to his listeners as "E-Dog," doesn't fall into this trap. Sure, he's caustic and frequently indignant,... More >>
• Best Radio Personality
  Tony Femino
  Everyone should have a cause. For KTAR afternoon host Tony Femino, the crusade of 2001 has been the brutal Valley heat (and the accompanying electricity costs). So, a few months ago, Femino launched a one-man campaign to get Avondale to give city employees the day off whenever thermostats exceed... More >>
• Best TV Ad Campaign
  Goldberg & Osborne, Attorneys at Law
  "When I was injured in an accident . . ." With those familiar words, we bet you can already hear the creepy client endorsements from the Goldberg & Osborne commercials, featuring everybody's favorite shell-shocked accident victims, filmed from the waist up and speaking in a sort of... More >>
• Best Cure For Your Knickknack Jones
  The Enchanted Garden at the Old Brick House
  The magic of The Enchanted Garden is how low its prices are for charming ceramic cherubs, mansion-size birdhouses, flowery wind chimes and unusual blown-glass vases, cat-shaped pet bowls and wrought-iron clocks. It's tucked into downtown Mesa's Old Brick House, a furniture store that leases... More >>
• Best Place To Buy A Christmas Tree
  The Home Depot
  If you're after the perfect, fresh, affordable tree that will outlast your holiday spirit, give The Home Depot a try. Each year, this hardware retailer fills a chain-link pen with the widest selection of firs and spruces to be found in the Valley. Overlook the asphalt-covered surroundings and... More >>
• Best Art House Movie Theater
  Valley Art Theatre
  It feels almost traitorous not to bestow this award on Harkins' Camelview 5 in Scottsdale, which has pretty much single-handedly maintained what little independent and foreign film fare the Valley has to offer. But Dan Harkins has outdone himself with the Valley Art, a beautiful, modernized... More >>
• Best Discount Movie Theater
  Tempe Cinemas
  Phoenix is no Manhattan, but we're inching our way toward the Big Apple's $10 movie ticket prices. There are few alternatives for the financially deprived, except Tempe Cinemas. Miss a movie première? Wait a while and watch it here for less than half the price of a regular matinee. The... More >>
• Best Scottsdale Branch Of A Thailand Whorehouse
  Giligin's
  Talk about best-kept secrets: Most people don't know that the popular college party bar Giligin's has a second location -- in Thailand. The Pattaya version has the same owners, the same name and the same tropical theme and Corona beer specials, but with one distinctive addition: whores! Plenty... More >>
• Best Tourist Trap
  Rawhide Western Town and Steakhouse
  It's the granddaddy of Phoenix tourist traps, but Rawhide is wearing its age well. We know it's mostly fake and corny, but, shoot, it's fun. In addition to its mainstay attractions like the cowboy-actor shoot-outs and covered-wagon rides, Rawhide has new features including a haunted hotel, a... More >>
• Best Web Site Devoted To A Local Celebrity
  www.acquanetta.com
  Acquanetta! During the 1950s and '60s, the former B-movie queen was the most exotic thing Phoenix had to offer, a pre-Cher glamazon equally at home in the society pages or on local television, where she modeled wigs and read poetry during commercial breaks on the Late Late Show sponsored by... More >>
• Best Spanish-language News Radio Station
  KNAI-FM 88.3
  This non-commercial station on the left end of the dial -- KNAI, known as La Campesina -- spent much of the '90s with a virtual monopoly on the listening tastes of Spanish speakers in the Valley. In the last three years, an explosion of Spanish-language stations has cut into KNAI's ratings, but... More >>
• Best Place To People-watch
  Terminal Four at Sky Harbor International Airport
  Wig-Wearing Lady, who's been reading a Harlequin romance, just got up from her seat. Is she going to . . . ? She is! She's sitting down next to Long-Haired Sleeping Man! Now she's shaking him awake -- what's the deal? Does she know him? Or is this just another story unfolding in the cozy... More >>
• Best Mobile Masseuse Who Does Ear Coning, Feng Shui And Aromatherapy
  Holly Kish
  Do you know a woman who, with one phone call, will come over and rub your back, rearrange your furniture, make your place smell nice and pour hot wax in your ears? Yeah, we do, too. But Kish is a different kind of "professional." For three years, she has promptly and faithfully served the... More >>
• Best Place To Hug A Hyena
  Out of Africa Wildlife Park
  The homely hyena is a misunderstood creature, Out of Africa Wildlife Park president Dean Harrison wants us to know. Rather than the vicious, bloodthirsty animals we've seen portrayed on TV, hyenas are loving, affectionate and playful, even with humans. It sure looks convincing, as Harrison... More >>
• Best Place To Spend Saturday Night In Your Car
  Scottsdale Six Drive-In
  Want to watch a movie on a big screen, but you'd be pelted with popcorn if you took your squirming toddler? Hankering for a little hanky-panky to enhance the cinematic experience, but stadium seating and decorum just won't allow it? At this 25-year-old Scottsdale drive-in, you can watch the... More >>
• Best Place To Open A Business If You're Not Good With Names
  Downtown Mesa
  Head south down Country Club Drive in Mesa toward Main Street and check out the businesses that line the streets. Don't just glance at them, read their signs. You'll find a haven for the creatively challenged business owner -- the uninspired, the copycat, the redundant. Beer World is a few spots... More >>
• Best Couch Art
  Z Gallerie
  Although usually associated with funky retro furniture for budget-minded urbanites, Z Gallerie's separate roomful of framed paintings, drawings and photographs is a gold mine for wanna-be art aficionados. Sift through a stack of prints by anyone from Ansel Adams to Kandinsky to van Gogh or pull... More >>
• Best Museum Of Contemporary Art
  Arizona State University Art Museum
  After more than a decade in its Antoine Predock building, this museum is showing the Valley what a broad, inclusive phrase "contemporary art" can be. Despite a thin bottom line, ASU's art museum has assembled stellar exhibitions of crafts alongside intriguing shows by the likes of Shirin Neshat,... More >>
• Best Place For A First Kiss
  The Vintage Market
  Maybe it's all the couples who seem to glide by, holding hands, chatting effortlessly, on their way from one fancy store to the next. Or perhaps it's the large fountain, surrounded by bright flowers. Take a first date to this little wine-and-cheese shop at Biltmore Fashion Park (the salads ain't... More >>
• Best-decorated Dentist Office
  Will Hoskyns, D.D.S.
  There's a place in the West Valley where Will and Susan Hoskyns turn frowns upside down. Not only does the dentist offer a "comprehensive cosmetic practice," which whitens smiles with veneers and fixes the mouths of people who grind their teeth, he offers an entire office full of precious art... More >>
• Best Professional Athlete (Team Sport)
  Luis Gonzalez
  In the past 12 months, the sky has fallen on many of Phoenix's sports superstars. Jason Kidd, Aeneas Williams, Keith Tkachuk and Jeremy Roenick have all been sent down the road. The only local sports team not in a total rebuilding mode is the Arizona Diamondbacks. Pitchers Randy Johnson and Curt... More >>
• Best Baseball
  Arizona Fall League Baseball
  When it comes to baseball, you can sit with the roof closed, far, far away from the field. Or you can wait for the weather to cool and sit front-row center, close enough to hear catchers mutter to umps, "How many fingers you see me holding up?" We've never been able to figure why this... More >>
• Best Radio Commentary
  Gregg Paul's Politically Incorrect Touching Moment
  Metro Network traffic stud Gregg Paul is pissed off. After serving in Desert Storm during the first Bush administration, he returned to Arizona and scored a five-minute commentary spot on KZON's afternoon show, where he tells it like he sees it -- always in an honest and unforgiving tone. The... More >>
• Best Standup TV Reporter
  Blair Meeks
  What passes for "live" TV news these days too often consists of shots of a place where something exciting happened hours ago, and the only thing close to "live" is the reporter in front of the camera. But when it comes to delivering real breaking news, reporting without a script from the scenes... More >>
• Best TV Newscaster
  John Hook
  When Channel 10 announced it was beginning a one-hour newscast at 9 p.m., we expected lots of slow talking, meaningless stories and chitter-chatter just to fill the time. But this show is none of that, thanks to John Hook. A former Valley TV reporter, Hook knows what he's talking about, but he... More >>
• Best Place To Be Dear To A Bear
  Southwest Wildlife Rehabilitation and Educational Foundation
  All it takes is one scroll through the baby animal pictures on this nonprofit sanctuary's Web site, and we're head over heels in love. The photos are just a few examples of the injured or orphaned wildlife rescued and rehabilitated by Southwest Wildlife, including gray foxes, coyotes, raccoons,... More >>
• Best Place To Hang With Elvis
  Casino Arizona
  Elvis has not left the building. The entertainer extraordinaire is alive and in full, glittery color at Casino Arizona. You can see the mighty pelvis-twister in all his glory at shows -- 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays -- in the cushy lounge. And the price is very good: free.... More >>
• Best Movie Theater Snacks
  Harkins Theatres
  Yummy and cheap. Those two factors give the nod to Harkins. While not quite at the haute-cuisine level of the trendiest California movie concessions stands, Harkins does offer a nice specialty-coffee selection, hot dogs, nachos and plenty o' candies. But the deals on basics are steals: Buy a... More >>
• Best Place For Smokers, Strippers, Swappers And Soothsayers
  Gene's Hickory Smoked BBQ
  It's like a Disneyland of debauchery here: Not only does Gene's serve up some mighty tasty hickory-smoked barbecue, but it shares space with a topless bar, a flea market and a psychic. This gleaming white trailer sits in the parking lot of the Candy Store exotic dance club, an ambitious piece of... More >>
• Best Eye Job
  Governor Jane Dee Hull
  When we first heard about Governor Hull's most significant accomplishment this past summer -- getting her eyes done -- we smirked. Jeez, lady, you don't need to go under the knife, we thought. Some scissors and a bottle of Clairol will do just fine. Really, no one's looking at your eyes -- who... More >>
• Best Hole In The Sky
  "Knight Rise"
  It's easy to scoff at the thought of staring up at the sky through a hole in a building not much bigger than an outhouse. But this best new view -- named after the museum's former director, Robert Knight, and created by artist James Turrell and architect William Bruder -- reveals the delicious... More >>
• Best Local Tourist Attraction You've Probably Never Heard Of
  Somewhere Over the Rainbow
  Have you had it up to your disposable camera with Western-themed tourist traps featuring fake cowboy shoot-outs and chuck-wagon dinners served in mining pans? Then dare to look beyond the obvious at Somewhere Over the Rainbow, a three-acre oasis of oddities near Cave Creek and Sweetwater... More >>
• Best Pair Of Double Entendres In A Local TV Newscast
  KPNX News 12
  Several months after 14-year-old Sean Botkin was arrested for holding a classroom full of Glendale elementary school students hostage at gunpoint, the boy's mother talked to reporters about his upcoming trial. An optimistic Cary Botkin said Sean's lawyer hoped to persuade the court to try her... More >>
• Best Tempe-to-downtown Shortcut
  State Road 153
  We're trusting you not to spoil this, to tell only whom you must: The recently constructed SR 153 takes you from University Drive at Priest, past Sky Harbor Airport, and over to Washington Street at 44th Street in less than two minutes with zero traffic. That's it. We sometimes weave from one... More >>
• Best Place To Have A Seinfeld Experience
  Kohnie's
  On Seinfeld, Elaine was so smitten by the Soup Nazi's offerings that she withstood his abuse and capricious behavioral requirements. We won't go so far as to imply a Scone Nazi exists in the Valley, but let's just say you do what you have to do to get what you need at Kohnie's. Kohnie's scones... More >>
• Best Place To Find Buddha
  Oriental Factory Direct
  Looking for a god? Any god? For just $2, you can have your own Buddha -- or choose from a plethora of other gods immortalized in wood, plastic, porcelain and brass at the Oriental Factory Direct. Among the weird statuettes are pudgy, baby-faced kung-fu fighters donning sunglasses and cute little... More >>
• Best College For A Major In Jin Shin Jyutsu
  Southwest Institute of Healing Arts
  Ancient Chinese secret, huh? Last year, the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts became an officially accredited college, offering diplomas in Therapeutic Massage, Western Herbalism and -- our favorite -- Oriental Bodywork. In the Institute's hallowed halls of healing, you can enroll in classes... More >>