After 60 years, Pinnacle Peak Patio closing June 28
Pinnacle Peak Patio will close on June 28 after nearly 60 years in business, the latest Western vestige to be replaced by suburban sprawl in what was once a remote area of north Scottsdale.
Generations of visitors, hankering for an Old West experience, have set foot in the dusty wooden establishment, known for its 2-pound porterhouse steaks and hodgepodge of neckties dangling from the ceiling.
The hideaway will be replaced by the Reserve at Pinnacle Peak Patio, a neighborhood of 50 patio homes at the foot of Pinnacle Peak.
"It's sad," but it's also "change and progress," said Lisa Cyr, a Pinnacle Peak Patio spokeswoman.
"It's not good or bad," she said. "If there wasn't a market for it, it wouldn't be happening."
A "no necktie" policy was started by the original owner of the restaurant, who wanted to keep the atmosphere casual, Cyr said.
Some Phoenix businessmen wandered in to eat, and the owner warned them "to take their ties off, or he would cut them off," she said.
By restaurant estimates, more than a million other ties have been clipped and added to the rafters since then. Employees will count the ties in an effort to reach a Guinness World Records title for largest tie collection, Cyr said.
Pinnacle Peak Patio follows other Western landmarks that have closed in Scottsdale, including Greasewood Flat saloon, which closed in March, and Rawhide, which moved to the Gila River Reservation in 2005.
A report outlining details of the new development says the economy, a shift in demographics and, according to Cyr, competition from newer, more modern restaurants contributed to Pinnacle Peak Patio's end.
The owners of the restaurant have been searching for a new location, though nothing has turned up yet, Cyr said. A new spot would have to be "smaller, scaled down," she said.
"Patio space is obviously a huge thing for us," Cyr added. "Remoteness is not necessarily feasible anymore."
The restaurant and Western entertainment venue started as a small store that sold beer and bait to fishermen traveling to nearby lakes. In June 1957, owner Bill Depue began serving simple steak dinners, cooked over mesquite wood, with salad and cowboy beans. The original shack burned down and, two years later, Depue bought 10 acres down the road where the current steakhouse sits.
These days, the restaurant is known for its red-and-white checkered tablecloths, sawdust-covered floors and photos of celebrities and politicians who have visited over the years.
As a child, Steven Spielberg shot his first movie, "The Last Gunfight," there in 1958, Cyr said.
"He was trying to become an Eagle Scout," she said. "He used ketchup bottles for fake blood."
On a recent Friday morning, people parked in the restaurant's dirt lot to snap photos of the restaurant, which resembles the rustic towns popularized in Western movies. And longtime employees remembered the restaurant during its heyday.
Scott Browning began work at Pinnacle Peak Patio in 1979.
At age 16, he became a dishwasher and worked the kitchen and grill before moving up the ranks to manager.
Back then, Browning recalls, "We did two gun fights a night, on Friday and Saturday."
No one lived in the area, he said, and the drive to north Scottsdale at night was dark except for headlights from vehicles.
Marvin Dickson, known as Big Marv, began grilling steaks at Pinnacle Peak Patio in 1961. The 73-year-old chef said he's upset about the closure and doesn't want to retire quite yet.
"I just hate to see it go down like this," he said. "But it's what has to be done."
Big Marv said he met his wife at nearby Reata Pass 47 years ago. The Western image means a lot to his family, including his three boys, who also work at Pinnacle Peak Patio.
"I guess I'm from the old school, and I'd like to see it keep going," he said.
The chef owns much of the Western memorabilia in the steakhouse.
Republic reporter Peter Corbett contributed to this story
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