Rock the Spot's second year, 2023

I'm glad to tell you that last year's Rock the Spot mural painting celebration downtown wasn't the last. November 30 to December 3, artists from around the country repainted most of the murals around this parking lot.

Thanks to Rock the Spot, and their official website, for that graphic. Rock the Spot is in honor of Albert Soto; one of the pages has his bio.

BG Boyd Photography's mural database has videos of Rock the Spot in 2022 and 2023. Here's a small version of 2023:



The parking lot stretches between Congress Street on the south end to Pennington Street on the north end. There's also a narrow space that runs between the middle of the east side of the parking lot to Scott Avenue. (If you'd like to see a map, look for 61 E Congress St Parking on this Google Map.) I started photographing at the southwest corner, close to Congress. Then I walked clockwise, including a narrow “notch” between the parking lot to Scott Avenue and back. That is:

1. Along the west wall
2. Walked along Pennington (the north side)… there are no murals here
3. Halfway along the east side
4. Clockwise around the “notch” between the parking lot to Scott Avenue and back
5. Along the rest of the east wall to Congress Street.

I also took close-ups of some murals. I include the close-ups after the overall photo. A few murals were here before this year's (2023) Rock the Spot; I've labeled them.

I haven't edited these photos to straighten, crop to only the mural, etc. There are just too many!

View from Congress toward Pennington

West wall, from Congress north

^^ Here before both Rock the Spots ^^

^^ Closeup of previous mural ^^

^^ Closeup of previous mural ^^

^^ Painted during Rock the Spot 2022 ^^

^^ Closeup of previous mural ^^

^^ Closeup of previous mural ^^

^^ Closeup of previous mural ^^

^^ Closeup of previous mural ^^

^^ Closeup of previous mural ^^

^^ Closeup of previous mural ^^

East wall, from Pennington south to “notch”

^^ Here before both Rock the Spots ^^

^^ Closeup of previous mural ^^

^^ Closeup of previous mural ^^

^^ Closeup of previous mural ^^

>

^^ Closeup of previous mural ^^

^^ Closeup of previous mural ^^

“The notch” to & from Scott Ave.

^^ Painted during Rock the Spot 2022 ^^

^^ Here before both Rock the Spots ^^

^^ Here before both Rock the Spots ^^

^^ Closeup of previous mural ^^

East side, from “notch” south to Congress

^^ Closeup of previous mural ^^

^^ Closeup of previous mural ^^

^^ Painted after Rock the Spot 2022 ^^

Watch the Rock the Spot website for news about 2024!

Update (December 2, 2024): There are two new murals by now. I took another walk around on November 24. The photos are here: Rock the Spot 2023: All around again.

Bashful Bandit is Back (tomorrow)

Bashful Bandit is re-opening tomorrow, December 27, after a long makeover from a biker bar to a unique barbecue restaurant. The December 23 Arizona Daily Star article Tucson's iconic Bashful Bandit is now home to a new barbecue joint, for subscribers only, has a lot of history and background. In case you don't subscribe to the Star, here'a a bit of info from the article:

• The new owners — Toby Kyte and his sibling partners, brothers Terry and Trevor and sister Leslie Frost — wanted to celebrate the existing Bashful Bandit name.
• 2½ years after buying the 76-year-old building in June 2021, the partners will officially open the restaurant on Wednesday, Dec. 27.
• They kept the old bar that likely dated back to 1947, when Bertha Lester built the 2,875-square-foot building to house Rio Rita Bar. Under the drywall, they found the original aqua-colored wall from Rio Rita — and some 1960's wallpaper that will be preserved. One wall has lots of memorabilia.
• The food has its roots in Texas but is Tucson-style with menu items like green chile pulled pork and chile relleno sausage made with poblano peppers.

I stopped by during renovations — on April 6, 2023. The blog post Bye-Bye, Bashful Bandit? shows the repaired front wall with two murals. It also shows a photo of the best-known old mural, originally shown in a 2009 blog post.

The biggest difference you'll see outside is a new patio behind. I took two photos while the patio and outdoor fire pit (cooking) area were still being touched up on December 17th:

They actually opened, for lunch only, on Christmas Eve. Though we usually don't show photos inside a business or someone's home, why not? 😁

Their regular hours start tomorrow, from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Their website, BashfulBanditBBQ.com, currently has almost no information — not even a link to their Instagram page www.instagram.com/bashfulbanditbbq, which tells a bit more.