Posted By Les Conklin on Nov 14, 2015

By Les Conklin

Don Pablo stands on his property on the northeast corner of Pinnacle Peak Road and Scottsdale Road. In the background, vacant desert and Lone Mountain. At the time, the property was under the jurisdiction of Maricopa County. (Courtesy of the Scottsdale Historical Society.)

Last month, October 2015, a reader submitted a  comment for an article in The Peak that  immediately caught my eye. “Paul Voelker was my grandfather … Please call me.”  The comment was written by Pamela Voelker.  I called her the next day.

Pamela, it turns out, is researching her family’s history. She wondered if I had any information about her grandfather.  Fortunately, I do.

I told Pamela that I would gladly share the information that I have with her and The Peak‘s readers, which is why I am writing this article. Look for more articles about “the character on the corner,” Paul Voelker. Voelker was known in Scottsdale and the Pinnacle Peak area by his alias “Don Pablo.”

Over the years, several excellent articles by Liz Stapleton Ogden and the late Don Schoenau have been published in The Peak. Both Liz and Don were outstanding editors of The Peak and researched and wrote about the history of the Pinnacle Peak area.  Click on the links below to read Liz Stapleton’s two short articles about Don Pablo and his business. I’ll publish Don’s article in the next issue of The Peak.

DEAR READER, WAIT! Before you click on that first link. Look at the photographs below. They were a surprising bonus produced by the research that I did for the book “Images of America, Pinnacle Peak” that was published by Arcadia Publishing in 2011. Acting on a tip from Scottsdale historian Joan Fudala, I spent five hours during two library visits paging through many copies of the Days and Ways magazine in the Phoenix Library. Days and Ways was an insert into the Arizona Republic’s Sunday edition in the 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s. Although Days and Ways published articles about Tucson, Prescott, Payson, and a variety of remote Arizona ghost towns and mining towns, Pinnacle Peak escaped its radar. Don Pablo was interesting enough to motivate a reporter to overcome bumpy, dusty dirt tracks and a lonely drive through a vast expanse of vacant desert to capture these images of his place. This is probably the first time that all the article’s images are being published since they were printed in the March 4, 1962 issue of Days and Ways.

In 1950, after leaving his Scottsdale location, trader Don Pablo established Don Pablo’s House of Relics on the remote corner of Scottsdale and Pinnacle Peak Roads in Maricopa County, both dirt tracks at the time. After his death, thousands of people attended two auctions of his collections, which generated more than $100,000 in sales. (Courtesy of Days and Ways.)

a

This large bell one of the items that were part of Don Pablo’s collections. (Courtesy of Days and Ways magazine.)

A display of bicycles at the House of Relics. (Courtesy Days and Ways magazine.)

b

A large shed contained a collection of rifles and bows and arrows. (Courtesy of Days and Ways.)

c

Collars worn by draft horses were displayed on the exterior wall of one shed at the House of Relics. (Courtesy of Days and Ways.)

d

A collection of Native American headdresses and other goods were displayed in a separate shed. (Courtesy of Days and Ways.)

e

Large stained glass window that was displayed outside at the House of Relicts. (Courtesy of Days and Ways magazine.)

f

Pot bellied stove at the House of Relicts. When the collections were sold at auction, Doc Cavallier, who owned Reata Pass Steakhouse and Greasewood Flat purchased a stove. Years later he opened the stove and was surprised when he found valuable turquoise stones inside. Is this the same stove? (Courtesy of Days and Ways.)

g

This pottery mask that was displayed at the House of Relicts was probably from Latin America where Pablo had travelled and collected items. It might also have come from a trade that Pablo made. (Courtesy of Days and Ways.)

Protected by two pet timber wolves, Don Pablo , pictured here, lived in a one-room, dirt-floored shack. Outside he was surrounded by hogans filled with filled with Indian jewelry, guns, pottery, cowboy paraphernalia, and other wonders. There was also a gas pump. (Courtesy of Days and Ways.)

hI

Paul Voelker, a.k.a. Don Pablo, at the House of Relics. He died in 1974 at 76, after suffering several strokes. (Courtesy of Days and Ways.)

By the way, the book, Images of America, Pinnacle Peak, by Les Conklin and published by Arcadia Publishing is available at Amazon.com and other popular online book sellers. If you’d like to purchase a copy signed by the author, with proceeds benefitting the Greater Pinnacle Peak Association, contact The Peak. If you are looking for a gift for a person, who is interested in the history of the Pinnacle Peak area, call The Peak at 480-361-6498 or email thepeak@gppaaz.org.

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