Mini mural Mecca near Mexico City corner

Here's the second of two pages of murals from Mexico. I was in Mexico City for part of last month. (By the way, the official name for all of the Federal District, which includes Mexico City, is now CDMX. It's like the way we North Americans call the City of Washington “D.C.”)

Anyway, head south from the Pino Suarez Metro station. (This is a 15-miute walk south of the Zócalo, but it may be quicker to hop on the Metro.) From Pino Suarez, head a block west to Calle 20 de noviembre. Then walk south again. Just before you get to Calle Fray Servando Teresa de Mier, you'll find eleven murals on the storefront security barriers. (Of course, you have to go at night or early in the morning, while the stores are closed, to see the barriers.) Early on a weeknight, the area was busy with pedestrians and cars. We felt safe.)

Here they are. I took the photos by streetlight, so there are shadows at some of the tops. The first mural has a pedestrian's shadow underneath the heart… that seemed kind of appropriate to me, so I didn't take another photo. There's a second heart on a barrier that's surrounded by (real) balloons. A couple of other murals have a planter between them.

The acronym CDMX gives me a feel of this vibrant, art-filled city. It's not all as beautiful or as safe as this central area (typically) is. But, if you ride one of the city's Metrobuses, trolley buses, or colectivos (shared-ride vans) — or flag one of the pink-and-white official CDMX taxis — in an area that's not gorgeous and stately, I'd bet you'll see public art, and artful graffiti. (The autopistas — freeways — are lined with it as you enter and exit the city.)

Mural-rich street in Guanajuato, México

In case you haven't gone much past Nogales or Rocky Point into Mexico, the blog entries today and next time will give you a taste of the fantastically well-done murals you'll find. This entry, and the next, are another of our occasional jumps out of Tucson.

We wandered off the “Gringo Trail” (as travelers call it: the main tourist routes), up several side streets, off Plaza Mexíamora until we found narrow Callejon Perros Muertos. I was surprised to see that, even off the main tourist streets, buildings are still painted in many colors, like this:

As I looked along Perros Muertos, I saw a mural or three. OK, we had to walk that direction. :)

This street sign is on the same wall:

Now, the rest of our walk up this short street. First, a worn wall:

A bit farther along are two murals side by side. The closest mural is the iconic Frida Kahlo; the second an amazingly-detailed tiger (as always, you can click on it for a larger view):

Here's the last mural on this short, narrow street. It's big enough that I couldn't get close. So the second photo below shows the mural above the door. The third is a closeup of a sign in the middle of the mural:

What we travelers need, I think, is a blog — or a photo-filled map — for every mural-rich city!

(Though I didn't spot any artistic mailboxes in Guanajuato — like the ones on the Tucson Mailbox Art blog, there was a shiny metal letter drop in the middle of a dark door on this screet: Classic correos in Guanajuato, Mexico.)

Murals being made, part 46a: Tucson's biggest

Muralist Joe Pagac is painting a mural on the south wall of the Epic Rides building on Stone Avenue just north of 6th Street. When finished, the mural will be the largest in Tucson (so far!) at 122 ft. wide and 33 ft. high. He aims to finish the mural before his wedding, April 22nd.

This is the first of two blog entries showing the progress as he paints the mural. The second entry — part 46b — will be online after April 22nd, we hope. (Joe must hope the same!) As you'll see below, at least one schedule challenge came up as he worked.

The first three photos below are by David Aber. They show the beginning of the mural with a reporter from KGUN 9 holding the mock-up.  See the report by Jennifer Martinez.

Jennifer Martinez in front and Joe Pagac in the far background on Mar. 27, 2017.

Status on Mar. 27, 2017

Status on April 3, 2017.

Next, from Jerry Peek:

David had been to the site two or three times by April 3. He mentioned to me (Jerry) that, when he was there a few days before, there didn't seem to be much progress on the mural. When I talked with Joe on my first visit, April 7, he said that he'd been sick the week before.

Though an experienced muralist must have a good idea of when the mural should be finished, this big work must be an amazing challenge. (I think Joe's next-biggest mural is probably the one behind Borderlands Brewing. There are three blog entries; if you follow the links from Joe Pagac finishing Borderlands Brewing mural, you should be able to see it in progress. Or, viewing all eleven entries from April, 2015 might be easier.) Anyway, Joe had a lot to finish here at Epic Rides — in just two weeks!

April 7: The mural, Joe (on the lift), and admirers

Place Joe in the next photo for a good idea of the size of this mural.

The mural at 5 PM on April 7th. (Joe is still working.)

April 8th, noon: Working on the bottom half of the left side

April 9, 9 AM: The top of the left side looks finished

Detail from the right half

The javelina's bicycle near the left edge of the right half
(we'll be following this detail as Joe paints)

We'll have more when Joe finishes — or maybe before.

Update (June 12, 2017): Part 46b, posted today, shows Joe's progress between April 12th and 25th. He seems to be finishing it up, so we're expecting the final photos to be online by the end of June.

Update (July 2, 2017): As I was updating Joe Pagac's Wikipedia page, I notticed that the pronunciation of his name was different than what he's put on his Facebook profile and that it didn't mention much about his mural work. From there, I found a Kickstarter page promoting this mural project. The original sketch shown on the page is a lot less polished than the gorgeous mural he produced, but he drew enough backers to finish the job!

Old Hotel Lewis mural updated (a lot!)

The former mural under the Hotel Lewis sign has been gone for several years. (You can see some of the vacant space in the first two photos below.) Late last year (2016), I noticed (couldn't help but notice!) a new, much larger mural just to the right of the old sign (which was still there, even more faded than before). I was super-busy then, so I waited until the dust settled (old joke… The dust never settles in Tucson…) — and parked in a no-parking zone along the Arizona Avenue alley to grab this photo on January 19, 2017 (with a trash container covering the bottom of the mural):

As Mark Fleming reminded me by email a couple of weeks ago, he had taken detailed photos of the same mural on December 10th. Here are his:

I found an photo of the old Julian Drew Building and Lewis Hotel, 178-188 E. Broadway Blvd., taken in 2004. It comes from Peg Price's Historic Tucson gallery on PBase.

Many thanks, Mark!

Update (April 10, 2019): The December 27, 2016 Street Art News article "Vergiss" by Fin DAC in Tucson, Arizona tells more.

Cavett close-up

Another of the mural-rich TUSD (Tucson Unified School District) schools is Cavett Elementary. We've had several entries with murals inside (and a few outside) this particular school.

One of the murals you can see (with permission from the school office!) is just along the hall from the office. It's one of the many school murals that Tucsonan muralist David Tineo made with help from students. We saw that mural — along with other murals — on our January 20, 2017 entry Cavett Elementary (you can click there to see it). Here's the last photo from that blog entry, showing the Tineo mural from the left end:

Without much of my usual editing to fix tilted edges, here are some parts of the mural that grabbed my eye as I wanted from left to right. The black stripe at top has quotes and the names of student artists.

David Aber and I met there — cameras ready to go! — on September 20, 2016.

TEP Substation

Joe Pagac recently completed a mural at the TEP substation near E. Prince Rd. and N. Mountain Ave. Photos taken on Mar. 5, 2017.  Click on any photo for larger and sharper images.

North Wall

First Panel on the East Wall

Second Panel on the East Wall

Third Panel on the East Wall