Burn some calories around a mural-covered home

If you're having a big meal tomorrow (Thanksgiving), think about taking a mural-hunting and calorie-burning walk around the Barrio Viejo (just south of downtown) this holiday weekend. See our mural map at map.tucsonmurals.org.

Even if you don't take a walk, park somewhere around the corner of Kennedy Street and Rubio Alley (a.k.a. Rubio Avenue). Here's the home along the alley; it's lined with murals and there are more in the yard:

Our blog has posted this home twice before: On October 06, 2017 in Artistic gift to neighbors and passersby and October 13, 2017 in More of Kristin's gift. Here's the alley in the 10/13/17 post. The chimney didn't have its Danny Martin mural yet:

The back yard has also changed, as we'll see soon.

Danny Martin painted several murals around the home. He painted the chimney sometime in the seven years after our last post:

Next (south) along the wall is this mural of the Virgen de Guadalupe, painted by Raechel Running:

Artist and poet Jim Harrison, created by a great long time friend from Flagstaff, Jaybyrd Willison:

Walking a bit more toward the back the alled, just past the home's wall along the alley, look right to see this Danny Martin mural. It's one of (at least) four around the home:

Behind the house is this shed:

It was hard to snap photos through the fence. Here's the east side with a bit of fence at the lower left:

I used my photo editor to straighten the Danny Martin mural:

I don't know which came first, but that mural looks identical to the one Danny painted at the Downtown Clifton. Our June 18, 2015 post Welcome to the Downtown Clifton… shows it. (Click there to see it.)

I forgot to check the back of the shed! Our post More of Kristin's gift shows it in 2017.

Another Danny Martin mural is on the Little Free Library in front of this amazing home. You can see it in our October 28, 2024 post Jackalope wrapped in lights.

Teatro Carmen's extreme makeover

The old entrance to Teatro Carmen, under the arch, is gone. A new mural is in its place. There's much more news about the makeover after these photos:

Let's look back two years and 16 years with Google Street View:

April 2022

January 2008

You can see that the right (north) building used to have windows next to the sidewalk and a door behind the big arch. There was also a mural on the left (south) building, which you can see better on our August 8, 2006 post Downtown Culture. A reader named Claire wrote in that post's comments: “I noticed on February 13, 2024, that this mural is now painted over. Are there any plans to replace or replicate the previous mural?”

As of this writing — November 9, 2024 — there's lots of info and photos on the home page of Teatro Carmen's website teatrocarmen.org. Also, a Tucson Weekly article from October 27, 2022, Teatro Carmen renovation is close to fruition, has more details and history. A July 15, 2024 Tucson Sentinel article, Teatro Carmen gets restoration funding from Pima County, says that roof reconstruction would start this fall after the monsoon ends. And you can check Instagram @teatro_carmen. (You don't need the Instagram app; you can use a web browser to glance through after clicking that link, but don't click on any photo unless you're logged into Instagram from the browser.)

Finally, a note about the turquoise line and number in the first photo. I made this closeup in my photo editor:

The Turquoise Trail is a 2½ mile loop through downtown Tucson that takes you past historic sites and classic architecture. It's the turquoise line on the sidewalk you can see above. Although the trail officially starts and ends at the Presidio San Agustin del Tucson museum, you can start and return from any point along the way. (For instance, there's currently free street parking not too far from Teatro Carmen, though the parking time limit may be too short for you to walk the whole trail.) The Presidio's Turquoise Trail page has a link to a PDF map/description, a list of places you can pick up printed guides, and a list of walking tours (I think the dates may need updating?).

Dorothy N. Yanez leads mural, public art, and Turquoise Trail tours; her website is www.dyaneztours.com. I've met her once; she knows a lot about downtown.

Update (November 21, 2024): Arizona Illustrated recently aired a 4 1/2 minute segment, Teatro Carmen: Restoring Tucson's Historic Cultural Gem in the Nation’s Oldest Barrio. Click there to watch it on YouTube.

Bats and extraterrestrials!!

Just in time for Halloween, here's a sorta-spooky mural by Danny Martin at Our Family Services. (What do family services have to do with bats and spaceships? Only they and Danny know.)

The photos are from July 8, 2024.

Jackalope wrapped in lights

The Little Free Libraries I've seen are mostly in front of people's homes. They usually have designs that are friendly to the neighborhood… and over-the-top clever. This one, at the southwest corner of Kennedy & Rubio in the Barrio Viejo, fits that perfectly:

On the east side is Danny Martin's mural of a jackalope. (I think jackalopes were spotted not long ago in a wash near here. 😉) The box is wrapped in holiday-type lights — with an extension cord connected to the home just south; I'm guessing the homeowners built the box.

I hopped stopped by on July 13, 2024.

Danny Martin joins mural party along 6th Avenue

What's different about this Danny Martin mural? It's on the west and south walls of Sooters Auto Service.

Of course, any muralist can have fun and paint anything. But I think Danny had more fun with this mural than usual. Here's why:

• He hasn't made a lot of murals with color. This one has a bright red truck.
• The truck is really bright red for having a moon behind it and a night sky.
• I usually see javelina together — especially the youngsters. What are the little ones doing scattered all through the mural?
• You can't pull up to get gas on the front side of the pump because there's a saguaro in the way. And keep an eye our for the prickly pear while you're filling your tank (unless one of the saguaro near the gas pump works for the gas station and will do it for you).
• His murals often have two identical saguaros. In this mural, all three are the same.

Tucson has lots of great murals, but not too many this fun. (There's another fun mural across the street. Our post The Thinkers un-Tagged has photos.)

To see his other murals on this blog, click on Danny Martin at the bottom of this post. On July 13, 2024, I walked (carefully) into 6th Avenue to grab this photo.

Desert UFOs

A long wall divided by a driveway.

There is no artist's signature.  However, the artistry resembles other murals by Danny Martin.

Click on either photo for larger images.

03/16/2024 - Artist confirmed as Danny Martin.  Mural appears on his Instagram.

TUCSON is fading...

Back on September 28, 2014, the mural at the northeast corner of Stone and Speedway looked like this:

There are close-ups of each letter in our January 1, 2015 post TUCSON.

Fast-forward to November 10, 2021. I saw this ghostly artwork from Rappel Studio (click there to visit) on Facebook. Rappel Studio is Doug Rappel, who also paints watercolor:

Commenters were lamenting that the mural had been covered by the new Popeye's fried chicken restaurant — blocked completely, I thought they meant. I mentioned that to David Aber, my co-editor on this blog. He drove by and said that the mural was still there. So I stopped by on December 14th and snapped these photos:

We know of several TUCSON and ARIZONA murals, each different. We have photos of four (after you click, you can use your browser's "back" button or arrow to come back here):

• “"Living" TUCSON AZ mural” on 329 E. 7th St. (near Antigone Books) (October 12, 2021)
• “Greetings” on 5809 E. 22nd St. (October 8, 2021)
• “Greetings” on 406 North 6th Avenue (April 26, 2017)
• “TUCSON” on Speedway & Stone (January 1, 2015)
• “New @ 1st & Arcadia” (October 05, 2013)

If you've seen other TUCSON murals, please let us know! You can leave a comment below — anonymously, if you'd like — or there's a contact box at the right edge of this page.

Stewart Boot Company

Danny Martin is painting lots of murals! (You can see more by clicking on his name next to “Labels:” at the end of this post, and even more on his Instagram @dannymartinart_ [with an underscore _ on the end].) Here's one on a side street in the city of South Tucson:

I took the photos on July 23rd.

Hidden away at El Torero

Most of Danny Martin's murals are in black and white. This one is different because it has a pink background:

Here's a closeup:

The mural is on El Torero Restaurant, but it's on the east side — which you can't see from the front of the building on 26th Street. You can see it across the street from the building at 1537 S. 4th Avenue. It's on the far side of a lot behind a fence along 4th Avenue. I took the photos with a zoom lens on June 30th.

Memorial mural for Samantha Silverman

Danny Martin painted this mural on the north wall of Gym Two Forty Four.

He wrote on Instagram: "When I’m hired to do a tribute mural for someone who has passed away, i try to put some extra care into it…"

Another mural faces this one. There's a photo in the next post, Friday.

Update (May 27, 2024): Today's post shows a new mural next to this one: Better Together.

Vaquero

East Wall (facing N. Campbell Ave.) of a Mexican restaurant called MOMO's.

By Danny Martin

Photographed on Dec. 27, 2020.  Click for a larger and sharper image.

Jackie Daytona mural in Tucson, Arizonia

Next to Danny Martin's mural of Ted DeGrazia on the mural-covered building at the corner of Toole Avenue, 6th Avenue, and Alameda Street, Danny painted a new mural:

This is great fun. The character Laszlo (played by Matt Berry), who is actually a vampire, takes on the alias Jackie Daytona. If you don't know the series, you really should read Recap / What We Do In The Shadows Season 2 Episode 6 "On The Run" for the wild details. As that synopsis says, Jackie Daytona is an impressive, hyper-competent bar owner that everyone likes. He says "This is the way we talk in Tucson, Arizonia": (You can see that video fullscreen in What We Do in The Shadows - Jackie Daytona Moments. The Arizonia line is at the time 0:41.)

I stopped by 191 E. Toole for a beer :) on November 4th.

Mobile Mural

Danny Martin has painted three murals on a delivery truck.  I found it at the Sonoran Brunch Co.

Here are the four photos I took on Feb. 24, 2020.

Click on any photo for a slideshow of larger and sharper images.

"Poison Ivy"

She's a supervillain appearing in the Batman comics and movies.  She's now on the west wall of Wooden Tooth Records.

Photographed on Jan. 30, 2020

By Danny Martin

Click for a larger and sharper image.

Selfie

Mural behind the Pueblo Hotel and Apartments on South 6th Ave.(it's the building with the Diving Lady sign).  The mural is seen from South Arizona Ave.

Photographed Oct. 23, 2019

By Danny Martin

 Click on the photo for a larger and sharper image.

"Chihuahua"

Lend A Bone Rescue Store

By Danny Martin

Photographed on Oct. 23, 2019.  Click on the photo for a larger and sharper image.

Danny Martin Mural

Danny Martin has painted a mural on the north side of the Old Pueblo Parking Garage downtown on Congress St.

The first photo was taken in Nov. of 2019 as Danny was completing the mural.

Photo by David

The next two photos were taken in January of 2020 when the mural was complete.  One was taken on a week day with many cars parked in front of the mural.  The other was taken on a Sunday when there was less congestion.

Photo by Jerry

Photo by David

Click on any photo for a slideshow of larger and sharper images.

Ted DeGrazia by Danny Martin

A year ago, the wall of 191 East Toole near the parking lot looked like this:

(The photo is from our January 4, 2019 entry.)

On November 24, 2019, the front half of the wall had changed:

The marquee is in the style of the Rialto Theatre on Congress Street, but with “191 E Toole” instead. The mural of Tucson artist Ted DeGrazia is by Tucson artist Danny Martin:

Update (August 19, 2020): The Rialto-style marquee has been repainted all “Black Lives Matter”.

Why I Love Where I Live (on 6th St.)

You'll find Why I Love Where I Live, a clothing and retail store, in the Mercado San Agustin annex. But you'll also find three murals by Danny Martin along 6th Street. I photographed them on November 12th:

(If you'd like to read the titles of those books, or whatever, click on a photo for a much larger view.)

Update (August 10, 2021): Here's the front of the building — Reproductions, Inc. — today: