Artist Randy Slack, best known around these parts for presenting the annual "Chaos Theory" exhibition at Legend City Studios in Phoenix, recalls childhood days spent "toodling around" with his dad, an elevator mechanic whose beat included the Luhrs Building originally developed by German immigrants.

Today it is part of the newly-restored Luhrs City Center in downtown Phoenix, between Central and First Avenues, and Jefferson and Madison Streets. It includes the Luhrs Building and Tower, a pair of high-rises built during the 1920s and connected by a two-story Luhrs Arcade. A 19-story Luhrs City Center Marriott and six-level parking structure are scheduled to open in 2016.

During the 1990s, when Slack was in his 20s and beginning his journey as a self-taught artist, he figured he'd need "a city studio in the center of town." Slack remembered time spent at the Luhrs Building and finagled his way into securing a small basement space he describes as "a 300-square-foot closet with no windows or nothing."