The oldest place to eat in Phoenix almost ended up on eBay. MacAlpine’s Diner and Soda Fountain started out in 1929 as Birch’s 7th Street Pharmacy, a drugstore with a soda fountain, back when McDowell Road was the edge of town. The road was dirt. Cows grazed across the street. Kids played ball on open desert lots. In 1938 a man named MacAlpine bought it, and his name stayed on it. It made it through the Depression, World War II, and every decade of Phoenix growing up around it. The list of people who reportedly sat at that counter includes Barry Goldwater, John McCain, Governor Rose Mofford and Frank Lloyd Wright. Wayne Newton was reportedly discovered singing there. About 25 years ago it was about to close for good, and its original fixtures were headed for an eBay auction. Monica Heizenrader and her husband stepped in and bought the building to keep it from being stripped and sold off. Then during the pandemic her husband died. Between the loss and the shutdowns, MacAlpine’s sat ...