Pachanga (Murals being made, part 47b)

Pachanga is Spanish slang for paarty!  And a party is what was had on Friday, June 23rd to celebrate the completion of the "Talking Mural".  There was a car show, good music, plenty of food and drink, and, of course, the mural.  Lots of photographs by amateurs and professionals alike.  Here are some samples by David Aber:

1948 Plymouth Special DeLuxe

Catering Truck

Most came in cars but some on bicycles with children.

Plenty of food and drink for everyone.

One of two pairs of videographers and techs. from Arizona Public Media (PBS & NPR).

Drone w/camera hovering over the mural and festivities.

Johanna Martinez and Alex Jimenez speaking to the crowd.  Mamta Popat from the ADS.

And last, but certainly not least, we have Jerry Peek's photos taken earlier in the day of the star of the Pachanga, the mural itself.

"The Talking Mural"

Translation: El Sur is south and La Doce is twelve.  Thus S. 12th Ave.

Raspados being made at Oasis Fruit Cones

Los Amigos Meat Market

Incident at Arizona Palms Tinting

Arizona Palms Tinting

Rafael's Tire Shop

Alejandro's Tortilla Factory

Temporary poster listing the S. 12th Ave. businesses depicted in the mural and instructions for listening to the interviews (by scanning QR codes next to business names with the reader in your smartphone).  If you aren't at the mural or don't have a QR scanner, you can also go to www.TheTalkingMural.com to see photos, stories and hear those same interviews (currently, a link straight to the list of businesses and photos is www.alexclamation.com/thetalkingmural). Older businesses with interesting signs were selected. (This photo is David's, during the Pachanga).

 As usual click on any photo for a slide show of larger and sharper images.

You can see the beginning of the mural at The Talking Mural (Murals being made, part 47a).

The Talking Mural (Murals being made, part 47a)

Due to finish by this Friday, June 23rd, each of the elements in the mural represents one of the businesses along South 12th Ave. The artist, Johanna Martinez (w/assistants Alex Jimenez & Amatha (Amy) Krier) plans to have interviews with the business owners. The audio will be accessible thru your cell phone, thus the name "The Talking Mural". Johanna and her crew have been working nights from sunset well into early morning. Mamta Popat, a photojournalist from the Arizona Daily Star was there and these are her Photos.  Here are the photos I took on June 19:

North wall of Oasis Fruit Cones

The crew at work

Johanna

Johanna & Alex

Alex adding details

Amatha also adding details

As usual, click on any photo for a slide show of larger and sharper images. To see other murals by Johanna or Alex on this blog, click their name in the “Labels” list below.

A Cronkite News (ASU) story in the Arizona Daily Independent, Signs Of The Times: Tucson Artist Aims To Capture The History Of The South Side.

This mural replaces an older one that you can see in our November 27, 2011 entry.

The rest of the story is in Pachanga (Murals being made, part 47b).

Update (January 11, 2019): Today's blog entry shows another mural with a QR code — on Toole Avenue. That mural, which is gone now, used your smartphone to make you look like an angel.

Look up! (Murals being made, part 43)

A long-ago architect friend of mine kept telling me that, when I’m in an interesting place, “Jerry, look up!”. In the case of the mural/sign here, the artist, Johanna Martinez, texted me to tell me that she was working on it. I didn't get a chance to see her as she painted it, but she sent photos of the mural in process and the finished work. She's painted at least two other murals in the neighborhood, and other murals too. If you'd like to see them, click on her name in the “Labels” list at the bottom of this entry.

I headed to the Barrio Viejo as soon as I could: January 12th. I found the finished mural on the west side of the street, between the doors to 630 and 648 S. Meyer.

Here are the three photos from Johanna:

I love that last photo. It looks like it was taken near sunset (or maybe sunrise?).

She wrote that La Fortuna “…was the site of the first Native owned bakery in that Barrio I hear. Not sure about the bench.

“It's one of the buildings that are on the site of four Rob Paulus designed houses I am told.”

It's a nice place to sit. (Click there to see the story on the Tucson's Pocket Parks blog.)

Update (March 27, 2017) while searching the Web, I found the article “There's a new "ghost" sign in the barrio” (click there to read it) on the True Tucson blog. It has background info about La Fortuna and links to a couple of stories:

• Baker, Yaqui workers kept Tucson supplied with bread, pastry by Carmen Villa Prezelski, Tucson Citizen, on Feb 24, 2006, in the Living section
• I found the obituary mentioned in that article, for Luis Figueroa's son Tony V. Figueroa, in three places:
1. The newspapers.com version, linked from the story, says "You need a Publisher Extra Subscription to view this page".
2. But I found another version, free (for now, at least), in the Arizona Daily Star: Tony V. Figueroa 9/25/1925 - 12/15/2015.
3. I also found the Star's same obituary for Tony Figueroa in legacy.com.

Murals being made, part 29d: Done!

We've been following a new mural by Johanna Martinez on the east wall of the Buffet Bar. When I stopped by on June 2nd, the details seemed to be filled in... and she'd signed the mural (at the lower right). I've been out of town, so I haven't talked with her... I think it's done!

Here's an overview, then some closer shots:

Don't miss the great detail in the locomotive's smoke. The first two photos show it best.

Murals being made, part 29c

Last Thursday's entry showed the Buffet Bar's mural partly-done; muralist Johanna Martinez was out of town. On May 5th, I caught her there, on scaffolding with a small version of the mural (covered with grid lines to make enlarging it onto the wall much easier):

The E on the end of Iron Horse (named for the neighborhood) is coming together. Here's Johanna painting a leg:

We'll wrap up this series next time in part 29d.

Murals being made, part 29b

Last time, I posted photos of a mural taking shape, March 7th, on the east side of the Buffet Bar. The bartender enthusiastically showed me what the finished mural would look like and told me the artist's first name, which I remembered as Joanna.

A couple of weeks later, a reader wrote to ask about the Greetings from Barrio Santa Rosa mural. I'd been in touch with the muralist, Johanna Martinez, a while back. So I sent her a copy of the reader's question and also asked her if she was working on any other public murals. She wrote back and said she was painting a mural on the side of the... Buffet Bar. Joanna... Johanna... oh!

She'd be leaving town soon; I couldn't find a time to stop by and see her painting. (That's next time.) But I stopped by on April 5th, while she was away, and snapped a couple of photos. Here's a view showing what's left of the “tough-guy” saguaro mural and what's new on the new mural:

The bison have more detail, the landscape has taken shape, and the middle of the title is there. Here's a close-up of the title:

Iron Horse (for the neighborhood) is missing the first I and the last e.

The saga continues next time — in part 29c!

Murals being made, part 29a

Thanks to a friend who lived nearby, I heard that a new mural was going up on the east side of the Buffet Bar — taking over the right half of the tough-guy saguaro mural. I got there on March 7th to find...

The circle of benches had been moved into a line, and the mural was taking shape. The train's smoke was two patches of white — one of them starting over the smokestack:

To the left of the train, the outline of a prickly pear cactus:

More next time, in part 29b.

Greetings from Barrio Santa Rosa

This mural, signed Johanna Martinez MMXIII, is on the Rubio Avenue side (the west side) of the building at 20th Street & Rubio. I snapped the photo November 8th.

Oasis Fruit Cones on 12th

This is the north wall of Oasis Fruit Cones, 4128 S. 12th Avenue (across 12th from the corner of West District Street). I was there on May 1st before opening time — which, I've read since then, was my mistake! Reviews on Yelp raved about their raspados (at the St. Marys Road location, anyway), and the photo on the Metromix page made me sure that this is a place I'll need to research more thoroughly. :)

Update (April 2, 2013): I just posted a photo of Oasis Fruit Cones on St. Marys.

Update (April 7, 2017): Johanna Martinez told me that she'll be part of a team who'll paint a new mural here soon. They'd already started scraping off the old mural. Here's a photo I took today:

Update (June 21, 2017): Today David Aber posted photos of the mural being remade: The Talking Mural (Murals being made, part 47a).

More on Meyer

This mural, at 600 S. Meyer, was painted earlier this year (2009).

Update (July 9, 2012): Johanna Martinez painted the mural. You can read more about it, and see more of her work, on her Sage Brush Studio website. To see all of her murals on this blog, click on her name in the “Labels:” list below.