John Rose Theatre

The exact year Johnny Rose opened up his shop isn’t known, but it was likely built in the late-1900’s to mid 1910’s. It didn’t have one name it went by, with the sign in 1920 reading, “John Rose, Fancy Groceries: Pool Hall, Ice Cream, Confectionary, and Soft Drinks”. It would be used for much more than just that over the years though, going on to host a classroom, lunches, vaudeville acts, and silent films. It was the place to be in Scottsdale during a time when there was pretty much nothing else in town.

During this time, things like alcohol and gambling were banned in Scottsdale, so men like Johnny Rose tended to operate legitimate businesses in the front while operating illegal entertainment halls in the back. He would plead guilty to this is 1916, with pool halls being called a menace to the community. He would be arrested the following year for gambling.

It isn’t confirmed, but its believed he was involved with a group that was smuggling alcohol into town because of testimony from a 1916 trial where a farmhand brought in booze to host a jamboree at the pool hall. The jamboree was supposedly discovered because it was the first weekday where the blacksmith shop wasn’t ringing with noise, and “never before had there been so many headaches on a bright summer morning.”

Unfortunately there isn’t a lot about Johnny Rose and his pool hall as he left town in 1929. With him went the entertainment hub that was his pool hall, but the new owners did keep the grocery store.

Chew She Song was a Chinese immigrant who first came to San Francisco in the early-1900’s before returning to China to bring his wife to America. A few years later they would move to Phoenix, running a small trading post in Chandler. Eventually they were told about a store in Scottsdale for sale and ended up purchasing Johnny Rose’s place. They operated the grocery store as J Chew’s, primarily catering to Mexicans and Native Americans, as the white store owners would tell him no one would purchase from him. 96 years later, they’re the second oldest family owned and run business in Scottsdale, and one of the oldest in Phoenix. In the 1950’s they decided to change from being a grocery store to a trading post like they had in Chandler. They changed the name to J Chew’s Mexican Imports, and that’s how it stands today. The white brick building has been remodeled quite a bit since it was Johnny Rose’s, but you can still see the shape of that original store.

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