Find the murals

It's actually not hard to spot the walls decorated with murals of desert plants — along with the real ones. It's especially easy in the second photo below. You'll find this lovely spot at 2709 E. La Madera Drive.


I found these murals on February 15th.

Chato's Auto Service

Murals seem to go with car repair shops in the southern area of Tucson. In fact, just about everything has a mural in this part of town. You can get your start mural-hunting right here at Chato's Auto Service, 5124 S. 12th Avenue.

Toasted in more ways than one...

...was the building housing the (former?) Mi Casita Tortilla Factory at 4439 S. 6th Avenue, south of South Tucson. The soot above the window in the middle of this photo (taken January 30) made me think that there had been a fire here recently:

The painting here (within the mural) of a building like this tortilla factory — including a sign warning that the parking lot is for customers only — seems to have flames or smoke coming out of its chimney.

South of South Tucson

The southern boundary of the City of South Tucson is (as its website says, "The Pueblo Within a City") at 40th Street and Benson Highway. Farther along 6th Avenue, on January 30, I came across this mural at Comisaria y Carneceria Jenny, 4407 S. 6th.

Adios, South Tucson

As you drive south out of the city of South Tucson, you'll pass this sign near 40th Street. It's on the sidewalk in front of 3002 S. 6th Avenue.

Another sunny bench in South Tucson

Here are another freestanding bench and mural in the arch theme that you'll find all around South Tucson. This photo was from January 16th, on the sidewalk in front of Quality Custom Ornamental Ironwork, 2114 S. 4th Avenue.

What Lou's Plumbing Supply sells...

...from their location at 2331 S. 4th Avenue in South Tucson, was shown in this scene on their south wall on January 16. It's a scene from — naturally enough — a home's bathroom.

The mural had been tagged at the bottom, and the tagging carefully painted out, so it wasn't noticeable as I took the photo. But the photo shows the tag too.

This may be a first: the first plumbing fixture mural!

House of Neighborly Service, building 1

Last in the series from the House of Neighborly Service, 243 West 33rd Street in South Tucson, on January 16th, is this mural on the west wall of building 1, along 9th Avenue.

Update (November 19, 2012): You can see a newer mural in our post House of Neighborly Service, front gate.

House of Neighborly Service, building 2

Next in the series from the House of Neighborly Service, 243 West 33rd Street in South Tucson, is this mural from the west wall of Building 2. It's signed MICHAEL ORTIZ / ISAAC.

Update (November 19, 2012): You can see a newer mural in our post House of Neighborly Service, front gate.

House of Neighborly Service, building 5

I found this mural (and two others — coming in the next two posts) at the House of Neighborly Service, 243 West 33rd Street, in South Tucson, on January 16th. It was facing a playground, on the east wall of building 5, and signed Karina A Gonzales.

Update (November 19, 2012): You can see a newer mural in our post House of Neighborly Service, front gate.

Mo-Sun

This scene is the southeast corner of 2302 S. 4th Avenue, in the mural-filled city of South Tucson, on my January 16th bike trip. Though I jotted down the business name Eclipse MMA, the left panel of Google Maps says it's Mo-Sun Art and Wellness Center‎.

Sunny bench in South Tucson

I spotted this sunny bench on the sidewalk in front of Jeff's Auto Parts, 2412 S. 4th Avenue in South Tucson, on January 16.

Fourth Avenue arches

This isn't about the McDonald's on South 6th Avenue (here and here). A bit north and east are other welcoming arches you'll see — ten blocks after you enter the city of South Tucson from the north side — on 4th Avenue just north of 38th Street:

(As always, you can click for a larger view of a photo — and use your browser's "Back" button to come back.) Here's a detail from one of the arches:

Leader Public Auction

The front of Leader Public Auction, 2626 S. 4th Avenue, is a 3-D desert mural.

Southside Community School

These photos are from January 16 around the campus at 2701 South Campbell.

This first mural, painted under a ramada, is large and full of detail:

A mosaic mural in the center of the basketball court...

...and another (partly destroyed — the day I visited, at least) behind the bleachers:

And last: This school sign by the parking lot entrance was far away, fenced-off on the Sunday I was there. I used a zoom lens to snap it:

Springtime in January

This sunny mural is behind a tree that tells the true story: it was January (2011) in Tucson. I snapped the photo with a zoom lens from a walkway between two fences in the back yard of Tucson Nursery School & Child Care Center, 2385 S. Plumer.

Before Columbus

This Columbus Day post is from the artist Aurore Chabo, her piece Cellular Synchronicity (7 parts) on the east side of Marley Building, 1145 E 4th. It's made of tile with embedded creatures from the College of Agriculture,Entymology, and Plant Sciences. She took objects that researchers were working on and cast them into tile. This is one of many outstanding murals and sculpture at the University of Arizona.

Jefferson Park Elementary

I took these photos over the fence, on January 6, from Warren Avenue between Hampton and Seneca. (Here's a map.) The school closed in 2010, but a recent news article (September 29, 2011) in the AZ Daily Star says it may be leased to the International School of Tucson. Let's hope the murals can stay!

Space exploration

Let's get back to the archives: January 4th, 2011. The theme of both of the mosaic murals comes from the title on the second one below. They line the bridge on Stella Road, just east of Lakeside Ridge Loop, south of Chuck Ford-Lakeside Park. The first one is on the northeast side, and the second is on the northwest:


A Google map shows GPS coordinates of 32.184583,-110.815989 and guesstimates the address as 8231-8273 East Stella Rd. (there are no houses along this part of Stella Road).

Tired of looking at murals?

After you've checked out what seems like miles of murals around the former Farmer John's at 1102 W. Grant Road, you can get a different experience Thursday-Sunday through the end of October:

Welcome! Come inside and soon murals will be the last thing on your mind. At least, that's the promise on the website for The Slaughter House, Tucson's non-profit (big) shop of horrors:

Enough already? Let's get back to the murals. (Aaaaaahhhhhh.) These photos are from the end of 2010, by the way:






There are more photos in Randy's post from January 3, 2008.

Too late, but not quite

I've been riding by Skrappys as long as it was in its current home on Toole. I've taken shots of the the building just across the street by moonlight. So how did I miss the building set a bit farther back off of Toole (farther off the southbound lanes of this tilted street)? I spotted the former Gloo Factory (Ink.), with an overgrown yard in front, at 106 E. Toole, on August 28, 2011:

The sign tells where I should look for more murals:

(If you get to 238 E. 26th Street first and find new mural(s), please let us know! Please add a comment below or send me a photo to share.)

Update (October 16, 2012): Here's the new location.

Skrappys again reinvents its front wall (again)

Before we get back to the archives, here's another recent mural photo. It’s the front wall of the Tucson Youth Collective, also known as Skrappys (with no apostrophe-s, as far as I can tell; it's not Skrappy’s), three weeks ago, September 17:

You can also check out another version of this same scene in October, 2010.

Whatever it’s called, the walls all around this building at 191 E. Toole are covered with fun murals. Stop by if you haven't before! (Or, for an armchair preview, look for 191-197 Toole in Layers of murals: histories of a few walls.)

Not a mural, but...

...this tag was different enough that I thought it might make you smile. I spotted it as I rode across Arroyo Chico on Eastbourne Avenue three weeks ago — on the morning of September 15. (By the way, Eastbourne is a great biking alternative to Country Club just south of Broadway.)

READ TO YOUR KIDS. If this is gang graffiti, maybe it's a gang of librarians? :)

Pueblo Gardens Elementary

This mural is by the school's entrance at 2210 E. 33rd Street. I took the photo on January 16, 2011. (By the way, the plants around the mural are real.)

Howard Rains' ride to Bisbee

Though this blog mostly shows murals in Tucson, there've been a few exceptions for exceptional murals. This one from Howard Rains is in that category. The garage (named Bisbee Bug & Auto Repair) has a clever mural that might take you a moment to spot. (Like always, you can click for a larger view.)

Thanks for all of your photos this past month or so, Howard!

Maybe a mural, part 20

I put these flying books in the "maybe a mural" category mostly because they aren't, well, flat. And, unfortunately, some of them are deteriorating; artist Simon Donovan mentioned (at a talk he gave downtown for TPAC) that they weren't sealed properly.

If you haven't seen them, why not stop by now? And, while you're there, go inside and grab a book of your own. These are on top of the south wall at Woods Memorial Library, 3455 North 1st. I took the photo on December 23, 2010.

New York on North Campbell

The shapes of the windows on this restaurant remind me of a Taco Bell in the town where I grew up. But this is The Bagelry, at 2575 N. Campbell. It's the east wall. The mural is signed clay gibson 01.09.

Update (March 22, 2012): I saw a note in the Caliente section of the Arizona Daily Star saying that The Bagelry has been replaced by a branch of Jimmy John's. No word on the fate of the mural.

Mural not for rent

Sorry, mural lovers: the "for rent" sign actually applies to the house behind this street-side mural. The mural is in South Tucson, along the northwest corner of 29th & 5th Avenue, and I took the photo on December 23, 2010. (The house behind is at 1840 S. 5th.)

Streetside masks

Máscara is Spanish for "mask" — which explains this street-side mosaic mural along the north side of 29th Street, just west of 7th Avenue, in the city of South Tucson. Carlos Valenzuela created it.

Playing around McDonald's, part 2

Here's the second of the murals wrapped around the southeast corner of 29th & 6th, outside McDonald's in South Tucson. This mural is on the northwest side of that corner. Like the one in yesterday's post, it was signed Las Artes 2001.

Playing around McDonald's, part 1

The mural-filled city of South Tucson has murals wrapped around the southeast corner of 29th & 6th, outside McDonald's. This mural is on the north side of that corner. It's signed Las Artes 2001.

Billares El Sur

Even if you don't speak Spanish, the mural wrapped around the building leaves no doubt what's inside the northwest corner of 32nd & 6th in the city of South Tucson.

Mr. K's BBQ

Howard Rains wrote that this is "the front of Mr K's BBQ. It is getting to be in pretty bad shape. Mr K's also has a small museum dedicated to the Buffalo Soldiers, hence the nature of this small mural."

The restaurant is at 1830 S Park. Howard took the photo on August 14.

Come on in to Pico de Gallo

Somehow this mural on Taqueria Pico de Gallo (2618 South 6th in South Tucson) looked like it was waving me in the door last December 23.

Update (November 13, 2012): Pico de Gallo has a new mascot.

...and another side

Palateria y Neveria, 6th Avenue & 36th Street, has murals on two sides. We showed the east side yesterday, and here's the south wall:

Both photos are from December 23, 2010.