10th Avenue (On The Edge of South Tucson)

SUPER South 10th Avenue

By: Jerry Peek

One good spot for a quick mural overload is on South 10th Avenue, just as you cross into the city of South Tucson at 25½ Street. (From 22nd Street in Tucson, turn south at the light onto 10th Ave.) They're everywhere: on your right and your left, and on a couple of side streets too. So, drive slowly or park on a side street and walk back for a closer look.

First, on the left (the east side), is this collection of food and beverages -- possibly intended to start you thinking about all of the restaurants and taquerias farther south, after 10th turns into 12th:



Half a block farther, at 26th: the sun, the moon, and a star — by Carlos Valenzuela:


The Tucson Electric Power substation at 27th has a full block of wraparound mural. Here's some of the show -- including three pirate ships whose captain, I think, was named Columbus:




Galloping horses at 27th, and floating lots-of-things at 28th:



There's more! But I'll leave that for you to discover... and wrap this up with a way to (partly) wrap a mobile home in a mural -- including a saguaro, and many saguaro blossoms -- at the corner of 10th and 36th:


Update (October 1, 2014): A July 23, 1994 article in the Tucson Citizen, Cultural Art, covers murals along this section of 10th Avenue and has quite a bit of information about Antonio Pazos' mural at the Tucson Electric Substation on 27th Street.

Update (September 7, 2015): Much more detailed photos of the power station murals at 10th Ave. and 27th St. are in today's entry, 10th at 27th revisited.

Update (January 7, 2016): Mark Fleming sent more-detailed photos of the mural with running horses.

MEAT Me in Tucson!

Farmer John's Meats. It's boarded up and out of business. Must've had a mooo-ving sale.

This is a massive mural that spans a couple of hundred feet. You'll find it at 1102 W. Grant Road, just east of I-10. As I recall, there was also some grafitti at the rear of the building that was somewhat detailed, although it had nothing to do with the cows and cowboys of the Farmer John's Meats mural. And that's no bull! (Sorry, couldn't resist)

Update (March 11, 2012): There are more photos in our October 7, 2011 post.

Update (December 13, 2023): The Arizona Daily Star article Tucson Oddity: Farmer John mural the very picture of roadside art, written 9/27/2010 and updated 7/21/2014, says “Painted in 1963 by Leslie Grimes, a former Hollywood scene painter, the panoramic mural depicts dozens of cattle charging through the desert on an outer wall along the north side of Grant.” It also says the mural was touched up over the years. (Artists have told me that murals on the south and west sides of buildings fade more quickly because they're blasted by Tucson sun.)

Thanks to Doris Evans, from the Facebook group Tucson Murals and Street Art, for that tip.

The Wild West

Erik S. e-mailed the location of this wild west mural. This one is located at the intersection of Grande and Congress. "The desperados are on the northeast corner [it used to be a bail bond office, note the lady with the bag of money]," Erik wrote.

Thanks, Erik!
Randy

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Update (June 12, 2024) by Jerry Peek: Google Maps Street View has a rough photo of this street corner in January 2008 with a GRAND OPENING banner above the heads of the five people at the left end. Here's their June 2011 view:



By June 2013, only the five people at the left end of the mural remained; the center and east areas had been painted earth-brown. The sign over the building entrance — diagonally along the northeast corner of Congress and Grande — said “Connecting Threads Sewing Studio 206-9820” (back then, Tucsons didn't need to dial the 520 area code before phone numbers). In April 2015, the left end with the five men was pretty badly tagged. By August 2016 that last part of the mural had been covered in brown.