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SUN CITY — "Wake up and live at Sun City" was the slogan and jingle that builder Del Webb used to push his retirement community northwest of Phoenix in 1960.
The idea for a retirement town in the Arizona desert was outrageous and revolutionary.
On Jan. 1, 1960, more than 25,000 people came to visit the five model homes on the western fringes of the Phoenix area.
Webb used slick marketing, high-pressure sales and his model homes.
That first weekend, 252 homes were sold. Within a month, 400. By the end of the year, 2,000.
Five decades later, the streets are clean, the palm trees are tall, the yards are rock-lined, and retirees are out playing golf, lawn bowling or swimming.
Today, more than 41,000 people call Sun City home.
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Information from: The Arizona Republic, http://www.azcentral.com
