It ain't no small place.
I grew up in Tempe and went to school there. After my wife and I retired from the Air Force, we set up household in Tempe again. Lived in the same townhouse, two blocks from the house I grew up in, for 35 years. I just sold that house last fall. We retired to Florida and raise beef cattle on our farm in the country for the last 8 years.
I'm 71 years old and lived in Tempe for at least 50+ of those years. I love the desert and the climate but the Valley got too big-city for us finally. Most of my old school chums live there. I still call it home.
I went to high school in Tempe!!
It has gotton very big!!