Sun City

Sun City is a piece of American history: when developer Del Webb opened it on January 1, 1960, it pioneered the modern active-adult retirement community, and tens of thousands of people came to see the model homes that first weekend. The circular street plans you see from the air are pure Sun City.

It's an unincorporated community (not a city in the legal sense), governed by its recreation associations rather than a mayor, and life here revolves around amenities: multiple recreation centers, dozens of golf courses, swimming pools, lawn-bowling greens, and an enormous slate of clubs covering everything from ceramics to ham radio.

Pickleball and golf are practically the local religions, and the Sundome and surrounding venues have hosted concerts and shows for decades. The neighboring Sun City West and Sun City Grand extend the active-adult footprint across the northwest Valley.

Most amenities are resident-and-guest oriented, so the public draw is the golf, the dining, and the steady stream of community markets and concerts. It's a fascinating, well-kept slice of the West Valley — and a reminder of how much of metro Phoenix grew up around the idea of year-round sun.