Sabino Canyon Visitor Center

I've been coming here for years — like almost everyone in Tucson — but I didn't spot these murals until a year or two ago. The first is on the wall of the visitor center:

The rest are around the top of the inside of the ramada near the parking lot — the one where groups meet for hikes (like the full-moon hike I was on tonight). I started photographing from the northwest corner of the ramada, clockwise. As always, you can click on a photo for a larger view...

In case you haven't been there, the visitor center is at the corner of Sunrise & Sabino Canyon.

World Care's new mural

On the northwest side of the World Care headquarters, at 3538 E. Ellington Place, is this new mural on the wall that hides the dumpster:

New murals at UA BioPark

As you ride (or walk) down the path along Kino Parkway from 36th Street, you'll find three curved panels partly covered by murals. The first starts with a list of Las Artes art students:

When I rode by a week ago (July 22nd), only three of the six sides had murals. Here they are:

The murals are on the northeast edge of the new UA Tech Park at The Bridges.

Update (April 4, 2016): The murals are finished.

The World at 14th & Herbert

Just north of the corner of 14th Street & Herbert Avenue, at the south side of the Safford K-8 Magnet School, is this mural:

The mural’s left side has some interesting statistics about the world. (As always, you can click on the photo for a larger view.)

The north side of the school is in our May 29, 2009 post.

Drachman Montessori Magnet School

If you walk through the arch and past the benches in our previous post, you'll be at the entrance courtyard at the school. (The address is 1085 South 10th Avenue, but the school isn't directly on the street). There are murals all around the courtyard, but please restrain yourself :) long enough to sign in at the office first.

Next to the office is this big mosaic mural (the lighting — part sun, part shade — made it hard to get a good photo):

The quote, by Margaret Mead, says:

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

Here's a closeup around the tree:

Look in the middle of the mural for this small tile:

(Here's a link to the the Christina-Taylor Green Memorial Foundation website.)

To the right of that large mural is a smaller one near the library:

And, on the south wall of the courtyard, across from the office:

I took the photos on January 18th.

Santa Rosa Park

A few blocks northeast of the 22nd Street exit on I-10 is Santa Rosa Park. (Here's a map.) I rode in on January 18th and parked in the bicycle rack next to the library, just past this arch:

Between Santa Rosa library and the Drachman Montessori Magnet School, you'll find benches covered with mosaic murals:

Here are a couple of close-ups:

Tucson murals, spring 2000

Our previous post showed a long-gone mural on South 6th Avenue. One of the photos came from a collection of Tucson mural photos taken sometime around March/April 2000 by Bangbay Siboliban and Bettina Shzu. Bangbay gave me the OK to re-post the photos here, along with links to more recent photos that we already had here. Thanks to both of them for sharing these Tucson murals from 12 years ago!

Christ for Life church

Bangbay wrote “A church sports a mural-in-progress which shows destruction, paradise, and graffiti.” It was somewhere in South Tucson.

Greyhound bus station

Back then, the station was at 2 South 4th Avenue in downtown Tucson.

Update (February 20, 2021): Jenny Kilb emailed to say “I was the painter, in the early 90s. It was meant to be up for 1 year, but I believe it stayed until the end of the building.”

Iztaccihuatl and Popocatepetl

Here are three photos of a mural on South 6th Avenue in Tucson. The first shows a long view; the others show details. It's “Illustrating the Aztec myth of the two lovers Iztaccihuatl and Popocatepetl, this mural exemplifies the strong influence of indigenous Mexica religion still present today.”

The bottom two photos are versions in Spanish and English. You can click on them for a larger view.

Memorial at a tattoo parlor

Bangbay wrote “This mural, on the corner of a tattoo parlor, commemorates the death of the small child under the Virgin Mary.”

The business here has changed, but the mural was the same — on our August 11, 2011 post In Memory of Crystal — though the color of the wall is different and there's now a “Parking in back” sign above the mural. It’s Rosy’s Beauty Salon, 4453 S. 6th.

 

Mi Casita

That’s Mi Casita Restaurant at 4439 South 6th Avenue, Tucson.

Fast-forward to January, 2011, the wall was yellow, but the two windows in the middle still had what looked like soot over them. Maybe what I thought was a fire inside the building was just everyday smoke coming out of those two windows?

Two Virgin Videos?

This photo shows Virgin Videos on West Niagara Street.

Seven years later — December, 2007 — Erik S. sent Randy photos of a building and a mural that look a lot like this one. Erik wrote, “The Virgin of Guadalupe is on a video store on the southeast corner of Grande and Congress.” At the end of 2010, Melodi King and I found the mural at Grande and Congress being repainted.

San Judas

Yerberia San Judas Tadeo, 4107 South 6th Avenue, Tucson: “A South Tucson shop advertises its religious amulets and medicines with a portrait of San Judas.”

By December, 2010, the store here was named La Orquidea... it had been selling floral arrangements and handling special events... was available for rent... and still had a mural showing San Judas.

More...

Thanks again, Bangbay and Bettina, for those photos! If you have info about or photos of these murals — or any other murals that used to be in Tucson — please leave a comment below or send me email.

Before it was a mural...

...it was another mural. Say what? Here's the story.

Back on July 10th, I posted a photo of the mostly-blank wall below, at 1016 South 6th Avenue (across the street from 1001 S. 6th):

Right away I got an email from an intern at the Arizona Historical Society. She'd been studying old Tucson murals and thought she might have photos of an earlier mural on the same building. Here are the photos she sent me:

That was taken by Patricia Katchur in 2000. The second photo was on Bangbay Siboliban's website:

The building in all three photos has the same shape. And there's another clue. In the background of the last photo is part of a gas station at El Barrio Market across the street from this building. (The market has since closed.) I had another photo of the market, and the gas pumps look the same in that photo.

So, it looks as if, 12 years ago, the mural here was of Emiliano Zapata, painted by Luis Gustavo Mena. Sometime since then, another mural — the one peeking out around the edges of the solid paint — replaced the Zapata mural. And, after that, the mural was painted over to leave the mostly-blank wall. Or something like that!

If you know more, please write a comment below or send email.

Maybe a mural, part 35: Santa Rosa sidewalk

A couple of blocks north of 22nd Street — South 10th Avenue & La Paz Street — west of our previous three posts — is the west entrance to the library and Santa Rosa Park. These three tiles are on the sidewalk in the middle of that intersection.

Below are closeups of each tile. I found them on January 18th.

Gate on South 7th

This is the entrance gate to the home at 1018 S. 7th Avenue. I rode by on January 18th.

Maybe a mural, part 34: entry arch with flowers

Lots of Tucson homes have painted designs that you might call a “mural.” There are so many that we won't show them all here! I thought this one was especially nice, though. I found it at 932 S. 7th Avenue on January 18th.

There are more murals in the block north and south of here (see the previous and the next entries on this blog), and it's near downtown. Stop by!

Pio Decimo Angel Children's Center

There are two beautiful murals here at 848 S. 7th Avenue.

This tile mural is on the east wall. It's signed at the bottom left Community Artists Project / Carol Kestler / Nancy Martin / Partial funding by (unreadable). At the bottom right Bishop Francis Green / Bishop Manuel Moreno / Director Esther Tang / (P)resident Constance Howard / 1982:

And, on the south wall, behind the playground:

Our sixth anniversary!

As Melodi King and I were discussing how to update the mural map just recently, I realized that this blog has been online for six years now — since July 12, 2006.

If you'd like to look back, click on the collage above or choose one of the years from the Blog Archive in the right-hand column.

Happy sixth to us! Thanks for reading.

Was a mural

This was the south side of the building at 1016 S. 6th Avenue (south of 20th Avenue) on January 18. There are bits of what looks like the original mural popping out from underneath the paint.

If you know what mural was here, please leave a comment below or send me email. If you have a photo, I'd be glad to post it! (Same goes for any former mural that we haven't shown on the blog. There's a list of mural locations in the table of murals.)

Update (July 22, 2012): More of the story of this wall is in today's post.

KY Supermarket

This (tagged) mural is on the southwest corner of 21st Street & 6th Avenue. You can see it on this photo of the KY Supermarket building by Dean Jeffrey.

Olde Town Apartments

This is along the street at 720 S. 5th Avenue on January 18th.

Calle de Jardin revisited

Want to take a stroll after your Fourth of July cookout? One of the nicest short streets for murals is Calle de Jardin, just south of Broadway. You can see that street corner in our February 17, 2010 post.

Next south, at 125 S. Calle de Jardin, is a home with some painted plants and pots as well as some real ones:



A few steps farther, at 136 S. Calle de Jardin, another desert scene:



On the other side of the street, at 211 S. Calle de Jartin, is a nural on a wall next to the street:



And, at the corner of El Volador, a pleasant place to sit — in the middle of the intersection!



Here's a map centered at the corner with Cooper Street.

I took the photos on January 11.

Bread from Heaven

The mural, for Perfection Bakery, is on the front wall of 719 South 4th Avenue.