Our 500th post: Feld Davis Park

We've been posting photos of murals for more than five years now. This is post #500 (and there are still many more murals to go)!

I try to make each "hundredth" post a bit special. I saved Feld Davis Park for the 500th partly because of where most of the murals are painted: on the street instead of a wall.

The park has a unique story, too. It was built by volunteers from the Rincon Heights Neighborhood Association and the Watershed Management Group as a community park that would also reduce pollution in High School Wash, which runs by the park. People dug water harvesting basins, using plants, soil, and organic matter to filter pollutants out of the wash. Along with the nice setting, the details of the murals are fun to see:

Feld Davis Park is at the southeast corner of 8th Street & Martin, just west of Campbell. I rode by on the morning of May 11th.


Update (November 4, 2013): There's an overall photo, and more info, in today's entry on the Tucson's Pocket Parks blog.

El Barrio Market murals

On my early-morning bicycle ride May 28, I rolled by El Barrio Market — on the northwest corner of 1001 S. 6th Avenue. There were two murals: one on the building and another on the wall along the parking lot.

(The color in my original photo of the long mural was washed-out. I fixed it with my favorite free photo editor, GIMP.)



Update (January 19, 2012): El Barrio Market is closed. The first mural above is still there; the second (on the parking lot) is half painted-over. A business called "Taxes Libre" is open in a part of the building, suite 135.

(Automotive) Superheroes on South Sixth

I found this three-panel mural on Arizona 1 Automotive & Repair — at 1016 S. 6th Avenue (the southwest corner with 20th Street) — on May 28th.

Update (September 22, 2014): There's a new mural here.

Maybe a mural, part 29: a building at Bonillas

The gates were closed early Friday morning, May 27th, at Bonillas Basic Curriculum Magnet School, 4757 E. Winsett Blvd. So I looked in with a zoom lens, from the corner of 16th & Swan looking east, and got this photo of a building with a series of single-colored tiles.

Maybe the artists spent hours choosing the perfect compliment of colors? Maybe they used a pattern based on the alignment of the stars... or the pattern from some video game one of them was playing? Or maybe not. Whatever, this is another in our occasional series of "your choice" about whether this tiled wall counts as a mural. (A regular or repeating pattern of square tiles probably wouldn't count. Imagination helps!)

Searching for mural news

I've never studied art or done any painting. I didn't know anything about the Tucson mural scene when I started contributing to this blog almost five years ago. ("David Tineo?" Joe Pagac?") I've been learning! If you'd like a tip: You can read more about murals on a Tucson news website.

For instance, try:

• Zócalo Magazine
• Tucson Sentinel
• Arizona Daily Star
• Tucson Citizen "Morgue", Part I (2006-2009)
• Tucson Citizen "Morgue", Part II (1993-2009)
• Tucson Weekly

Search for "mural" or for the name of a group like "Tucson Arts Brigade" or "CODAC". Then browse through the search results. You'll see both old and new articles.

There are lots of news sources online, including TV, radio, entertainment, and more. You can also read a selection of news about murals (generally from outside Tucson) near the top-right corner of this blog, underneath the search box. If you have suggestions of good places to find news about murals, please leave a comment below.

Vail Middle School

The school grounds were closed when I spotted this mural on a building by a basketball court at Vail Middle School on May 27th. I was looking southwest from the corner of 16th & Craycroft.

Maybe a mural, part 28: St. Michael's

This looked to me more like a painting hung on a sign than a mural. But, since it was displayed like a mural — and it's beautiful, too — I decided to let you make up your own mind. I found it on May 27th outside St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church & School, 576 N. Wilmot.

Home Plate's maybe mural(s), part 27

From time to time I post a photo of something that might or might not be a mural, depending on your definition. For instance, when a business shows their product on the windows or the store front, is that a mural? I often think it isn't. Here's one I that might be.... it's at Home Plate, 4880 E. 22nd. What do you think?

I took the photo on May 27th.

Molina's Midway (maybe) mural, part 26

A mural on a signpost? Why not? Or maybe you wouldn't call flowers a mural. Anyway, this photo is at Molina's Midway Mexican Food, 1138 N. Belvedere, on May 24th. (It's north of Speedway, between Columbus and Swan.)

There are murals on the restaurant windows too....

Mural on a bus (with Trolley news)

The Old Pueblo Trolley stopped running this fall. We posted a photo of a trolley mural back on May 23rd.

Here are a few pages of trolley and streetcar news, as of yesterday:

• Old Pueblo Trolley website (see the headline and story "OPT Suspends operation During Modern Streetcar Construction")
• 4th Avenue trolley in its last weekend (KVOA, October 28)
• Tucson Modern Streetcar (official website)

That mural was of a trolley, on a wall. Just by chance, I spotted an old bus parked in someone's back yard with a Tucson mural painted on the side. (There may be more murals on other sides, but we only show murals that are visitle from public places.) Normally I wouldn't show a painting on the side of a vehicle, but this one looks like it's going to stay put:

I found this on September 28, on the south side of the alley between 9th & 10th Streets, on the west side of Swan, behind a cinderblock wall. Here's a satellite map... and a closer view:

Just a zebra

Many murals contain a lot of objects. This one is simple: just a zebra on a boarded-up window. What a zebra, though!

I found this on May 11 at the southeast corner of 5th Avenue and 6th Street.

Update (November 23, 2019): When I walked by this mural two weeks ago, it was almost completely gone. A Google Street View vehicle found the same view shown above during April, 2019, so it hasn't been gone long.

Stop before you look back

This mural is on the north side of a building, along the west side of 6th Avenue, just north of Speedway. Since traffic is one-way northbound, you'll pass this beautiful mural before you can see it... and, once you do, it may catch you by surprise!

When I opened a satellite view from Google Maps and clicked in front of the mural location, it showed the address as 1125 N. 6th Avenue, and the latitude/longitude were 32.236419,-110.968997. (It's probably easiest to just park nearby and look around.)

The mural is dated 2009, and I took these pictures on May 11, 2011. The photos below seem to be artists' signatures. If you know, please leave a comment below or send me some email.

Just off Fourth Avenue...

...on the east side of Trinity Presbyterian Church (400 East University Boulevard) by the sanctuary entrance, is another mosaic mural that complements the two on the other side.

Update (November 16, 2012): There's also a mural on the north side.

Majestic mural (almost) restored

If you haven't seen the long mid-town mural of the Tucson Mountains, take a look two years ago. I heard from a friend this summer that the mural was destroyed by a tagger. With thoughts in mind (and heart) about how the artists must feel (the credit panel is at the right), I stopped by as soon as I could: September 22, 2011.

The news was better than I thought. It looks like the tags were mostly cleaned off. I didn't even notice them until I got close and stood at the right angle against the early-morning sun.


(By the way, this parking lot is now the University of Arizona's Lot #9007. Another reason to get there early — if you drive a car, at least — is that a permit is required from 7 AM - 5 PM weekdays. The mural will probably be blocked by cars during that time, anyway. Enter from Ft. Lowell just west of Mountain: turn south to enter the lot.)

Pancho Villa's Grill

When I stopped by on May 11th, some parts of this mural — on the east side of Pancho Villa's Grill, 401 E. 5th Street — needed repainting. I'm guessing that it was tagged and the tags had been covered with white paint. Whether that's the story here, or not, I've been saddened to see more and more tagged murals in the past year or so.

The work is signed SandOner.com.

Munchkins on Swan

This is one of the mural-covered windows at Munchkin's Preschool & Daycare, 920 N. Swan, on May 8th. It's signed: Autumn Mt. Arts, (520)245-4924.

Little Germany Foreign Car Repair

Here's the mural-lined front of the store on May 8, 2011:

Carmelin Castro Itom Usim Park

	From the east, you can enter the park at the northwest corner of 10th Avenue and 40th Street — just on the border between the cities of South Tucson and Tucson. Carmelin Castro Ítom Úsim Children's Park winds west from there to 12th Avenue. There are picnic benches and places to play. And, of course, there are murals!

Sunset Villa Neighborhood

I found this three-sided wall on May 1st at the northwest corner of S. 12th Avenue & Calle Juliet W., just south of Pueblo High School). Click on the photo to see more of the fun detail.

When I searched the Web for information, I found that there are actually four of these around the neighborhood. This one is titled “Historia.” I'll plan to go back and snap some photos for the blog — but you can click there now to see more — and see other works of these artists. The artist credits for this work are: Gail Roberts & Lori Ryder.

Update (October 1, 2012): We've posted photo of the other three.

Arizona Palms Tinting Company

Here's a photo from May 1st (at 7:28 AM! :) at 4010 S. 12th #1.


Update (May 18, 2018): The mural was repainted sometime before June 23, 2017. Today's article Arizona Palms updated has photos.

For Anthony Ramirez

Riding along Aviation Bikeway this past week, I noticed a new mural on the wall along the north side of Eastmoor Park, south of Keswick Circle and east of Bristol Avenue. It's a memorial to Anthony Ramirez, who lived from 08-13-1967 to 10-30-2011 — just a month ago.
Here's a map that shows the mural's location by using the photo's geotagged location; 32.20183,-110.93193.

Update (September 27, 2017): The mural been painted over in the red and blue colors of the Arizona Wildcats.

New on the Architecture Building

Thanks to Eric M Oliveri for letting me know that, a few days ago, "a new iron-cast type of mural was put up on the West face of the UA Architecture Building." It's on the south side of Speedway, at 1040 N. Olive. (As always, you can click on the photo for a larger view.)

Update (March 11, 2012): There's a photo of the related mural on the Art Museum, and more info about both of them, on our March 10th post.

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).

C.E. Rose Elementary

I found this mural outside Rose Elementary School on May 1st. The school's address from its website is 710 West Michigan Drive, but I snapped these photos from the entrance near the west end of the south side of campus. The second photo shows artist credits.

More food, anyone? :)

Once you're ready to do some more grocery shopping after Thanksgiving, why not support a store with a mural? This is Save More Market, 4601 S. 12th Avenue (on the southeast corner with Ohio Street).

Thanksgiving tale of three photographers

Early on Sunday morning, May 1st, I headed out with my camera on another long mural-hunting trip through a part of Tucson I hadn't visited before. As I rode by the intersection of South 11th Avenue and West Ohio Street, I saw the scene below — most in shade and some lit by early-morning sun.

The wraparound mural looked like a roll of film. "A photographer's studio," I thought — or maybe an old movie theater? There was no business sign, and it was much too early to hunt around on foot. So I snapped that rough photo, jotted down the address (which I thought was probably 4576 S. 11th Avenue), and made a note to check into it.

Fast-forward to yesterday, November 23. I searched Google Maps for that address, and it placed the location pin on the same northwest corner. It also said that the business there is Martinez Photography. When I tried calling the phone number in Google's listing (and in several other listings for Martinez Photography), it was... disconnected.

So I tried searching Google for Martinez Photography Tucson and found some gorgeous photos at PabloMartinezPhotography.com. "Found him!," I thought. But when I called, Pablo Martinez told me that the building wasn't his.

I'll plan to go back to that corner to find out more — and, I hope, to get a better photo of the mural. In the meantime, please enjoy Pablo's website... and have a happy Thanksgiving!

Flower Stop

This photo is of Flower Stop, on South 12th Avenue at the northeast corner of Nevada Street.

This was the first mural I found on an early-morning bike ride May 1st — which, just by coincidence, is also May Day. Wikipedia has a story of May Day in parts of the USA, where flowers are left in a "ring-and-run" on peoples' doorsteps. (The article also has lots of other May Day traditions around the world.)

Update (May 17, 2022): The front of the building has changed completely.

Garden District on Columbus Blvd.

This sunny mural stretches along the west side of Columbus Boulevard, north of the corner at Lester; the home's address is 4249 E. Lester Street.

I took the photo on April 30th, 2011.

Maybe a mural, part 25

Do intricate pre-cut tiles in a wall count as a "mural"? Whether they do or not, the artist put a lot of work into this tree outside the home at 1007 E. Alta Vista Street (just east of Park):

There are lots of examples like this on Tucson walls, and we probably won't show all of them here. But I thought this was an especially nice example. I snapped the picture on February 22nd, 2011.

Corner with charm

Three murals dress up the street corner on the wall around the home at 268 E. Delano (the corner with Fontana).

Here's the north side:

The southeast side:

Last, the east side:

I found them on February 22nd.

Bermuda Gardens Trailer Park

On February 22, I found this mural on the southwest corner of the wall around Bermuda Gardens Trailer Park, 826 West Prince (east of Fairview).

Miracle Manor Neighborhood

The Miracle Manor neighborhood mural is at 2520 N. 15th Avenue (north of Grant) on the north side of S&K Market. It's signed (c)2010 Michael B. Schwartz.

Here's a Tucson Citizen article (April 29, 2010) about the mural: Great Community Mural Project Completed in Miracle Manor Neighborhood.

Update (September 29, 2014): I just found a website about the mural: MiracleManorNeighborhoodMural.blogspot.com.

Thanks from the neighbors...

...at least, I'd guess that's what the owners of 813 W. Jacinto hear about this mural that dresses up their home.

The neighborhood is easy to find between Grant and Glenn east of I-10. I took the photo on February 22nd.

(More) Roses & More

Certain Tucson organizations really support murals (and muralists) — for instance, schools & pre-schools; body piercing and tattoo places — almost any business in the City of South Tucson — as well as chains like Mariscos Chihuahua and Roses & More.

Here are three photos of one of the Roses & More locations: 380 W. Grant (at the corner of Oracle).

The sign out front, at the southwest corner of their lot (the other side is typically as nice, though I didn't snap it):

The southwest corner of their building (I think the roof used to be part of the mural... does anyone remember what the image was... maybe the sky? By the way, I took these photos on February 22, 2011):

And a detail from the southeast corner:


Update (May 7, 2019): For more color, see today's entry More Roses & More photos from Chris Andrews.

Sky Smoke Shop shows style

I photographed these graffiti murals on the Sky Smoke Shop location at 247 W. Grant, just east of 11th Avenue, on February 22nd.

Here's the west wall:

Next, the south wall. It's dated Dec. 2010 and has a signature I couldn't read (if you can, or if you know who painted this, please leave a comment below or send me an email!)

The last photo shows the east wall: