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.