Jimmy Magahern

Arizona's freelance writer. Since 1982.

Phoenix, AZ

Contributing writer to PHOENIX magazine and more. Field reporter for The Washington Post. Former Phoenix New Times staff writer.

Jimmy Magahern

Arizona's freelance writer. Since 1982.

Phoenix, AZ

Contributing writer to PHOENIX magazine and more. Field reporter for The Washington Post. Former Phoenix New Times staff writer.

Featured
Decades of Thunder
Turning the corner on 50, Phoenix International Raceway looks back on its long lap from nowhere to NASCAR. These days, Mike McComb only sees Phoenix International Raceway on TV – every March and November, when NASCAR rolls into Avondale and splashes the picturesque foothills of the Estrella Mountains across the screens of every sports bar in America.
Phoenix Magazine
auto racing history
Featured
Legend City - Arrested Amusement
Why Phoenix doesn’t have a world-class theme park may owe to lessons learned from the one time it did – and failed, with the homemade Disneyland known as Legend City.
Phoenix Magazine
Lifestyle amusement parks history
Featured
Fast Times at Legend City
Toward the end, Legend City was more of a sprawling teen hangout than a family amusement park. Teens back for their millionth visit to the place (admission, after all, was still affordable, and in Phoenix, there was still no better place for young people to congregate) had to pretty much make their own good times.
Times Publications
amusement parks history Legend City
Featured
Dry Heat
In Prohibition-era Phoenix, cops drank the contraband, Barry Goldwater brewed basement beer, and the original gangsters were a group of uppity women who temporarily turned off the tap in the West’s most stubborn saloon city. Steve Rosenstein squeezes the last of three big organic orange halves between the jaws of a hefty cast aluminum juicer while his wife, Andi, pours a bubbly ginger beer into a 16-ounce Mason jar.
Phoenix Magazine
Phoenix history prohibition The Duce

About

Jimmy Magahern

Writing

Reporting

AP Style

Design

Give me a week, and I'll totally get into, under and around any subject. I learned that disciplined abandon as a young music journalist for the Phoenix New Times, where I'd write about The Clash one week and Julio Iglesias the next. (Both great, btw.)
Since then, I've written for the Arizona Republic, PHOENIX magazine, Times Publications and more. I've won Arizona Press Club and national writing awards in categories ranging from sports and entertainment to health, business and technology.
Give me a week, and I can find something fascinating, relatable and relevant to write about anything.

Jimmy Magahern

Jimmy Magahern

Decades of Thunder

Legend City - Arrested Amusement

Fast Times at Legend City

Dry Heat

About

Jimmy Magahern