The Long Family History

I was literally born into real estate. Some of my earliest 1950’s memories were those with my grandparents, Roy Howard & Mimi (Meta) Long. They lived at their Tucson home / office located at 1815 E. 5th St., present-day site of McKale Center and the U of A baseball field.

I remember swinging in the front porch swing, catching lizards in the trees, and having root beer ice cream floats in the backyard, watching the U of A July 4th fireworks. I particularly remember standing next to “Pop,” as we called him, as he sat at his upright office piece, with the flip-down desk, the drawers below, and the bookcase above. I would watch him hand-write one-page real estate agreements. I still use Pop’s desk daily

“Pop” was a WWI vet. In 1919, after the war, my grandparents moved from Minnesota (White Bear Lake) and Wisconsin (Pepin) to Tucson for my grandmother’s health. Pop went to work selling real estate for Southern Arizona Bank and Trust Company. In 1926, he started Roy H. Long Realty out of their home on 5th St. with two sales associates. Pop became known as “Mr. Acreage” for selling many large tracts of land in Tucson.

The office moved downtown to 92 E. Broadway, then moved again in 1946 to 1826 E. 6th St., just east of the U of A stadium. On weekends, as a kid, I remember playing underneath my father’s huge oak rolltop desk and making paper airplanes here. It became known as the Central Office.

The family still laughs about the time mother was driving us kids down the street, and we saw dad driving towards us. So us kids are all hanging out the windows, waving and hollerin’ at him. Dad was with customers - he didn’t want to acknowledge us – he kept going! Hmm, wonder why?!?

I managed the Central Office, with 40 sales associates, for four years during the mid-1970’s. I was also the company’s Designated Broker, coordinated the company’s early marketing programs, and helped develop and predominately teach Long’s infant sales training programs.

In 1952, the year I was born, my parents, Barrington (Barry) and Marjorie (Marge), purchased Roy H. Long Realty from Mimi & Pop. They built Long Realty into a nine-office company. In 1982, my brothers Russell, Roy II, another partner, and I purchased the company from them.

Upon “retirement” from real estate, my folks went on to build a home and plant 5,000 apple trees on eighty acres near Dragoon, Arizona, (Long’s Apples) and then to own and operate Long’s Peak Restaurant at the base of Picacho Peak, Arizona.

I was privileged to have been the first grandson to work for Roy H. Long Realty, starting in 1968 as a sophomore at Catalina High School. I cleaned the company’s one office on the weekends. Soon, my duties increased to filing the daily listing sheets into a file tray, and running errands. Back in those days, a fax or email was called a Western Union Telegram!

I was also privileged to have been the last family member to be with Pop before he passed away in 1983 at age 91. He and I often played golf together at Randolph Park Golf Course in his later years. He didn’t hit far, but he hit straight! It was a real pleasure to have known him.

In the summer of 1969, I had an opportunity to be a foreign exchange to the Philippines for three months! What an adventure for a 16-year old – it was an experience I will never forget!!! I spent most of my time in and around Cebu City eating crazy foods (balut and dugo-dugo), living in a haunted house, and running around the rain forests. I spent a week in the mountain rain forest on the island of Negros – lived in a wood shack on stilts, hunted parrots and pigeons on horseback for dinner – just down a block from the leprosy colony. I also visited the island of Mindanao – watched a head hunters funeral.

When I returned from the Philippines in 1969, the company was just “installing” its second office - a single-wide trailer located at the intersection of Ina and Oracle Rd! I got to clean that office too!

I worked for Long Realty while I attended the U of A from 1970-74. Very few people knew this until now, but I was a U of A football and basketball cheerleader during my first three years there.

From 1984 to 1988, I was the co-creator and co-master lease holder of the first long-term Arizona State Land Department land-lease project of its kind in southern Arizona – 50-year lease for a first class manufactured home park. It was partnershipped with Ashton Construction, and is currently known as Harrison Hills located at Harrison and Irvington Roads.

Today, Long Realty is the largest real estate company in southern Arizona, including branches in Mexico.