We are what feels like a very long way into this pandemic, and some things are starting to reopen. But at the same time, some of our quarantine habits have become regular hobbies, and at least one person has turned their quarantine activity into a full-blown hobby.

Rachel Ewell moved to the Valley about three years ago and had been sending vintage postcards from Phoenix to her friends and family when she realized it would be really cool to see what all of these places look like now.

It was the start of her “Then And Now AZ Project,” an Instagram venture where she travels to places around Arizona showcasing the vintage postcard in the forefront and the current day in the background.

Rachel Ewell

Downtown Phoenix at Adams and First Street compared to its depiction in a vintage postcard.

She said that it started off as one or two posts but it got so much traction that she went searching for more vintage cards.

Ewell said she didn’t have much of an impression of Phoenix before moving here, but this project has helped her discover so much of its history, and it has really piqued her interest in Arizona’s mid-century architecture. And also that the mall culture of Phoenix was personally interesting, since she's a child of the 80s.

There’s no plans for a book or a website like some people have asked her, but she hopes to travel Route 66 this year with some new postcards she has collected.

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