Benson Highway

The mural is a look at the old Benson Highway.  Before I-10 was built, the Benson Highway was the main road from Tucson to Benson.  The mural was painted by Alejandra Trujillo at the El Pais Motel & Campgrounds located on the Benson Highway.

Photographed on Nov. 6, 2019

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Note - The Spanish "El Pais" translates to "The Country" in English.

Update (September 3, 2021): Today's post El Pais Motel has photos of the rest of the motel, where artists are painting lots of murals.

Red Garter Saloon

Photographed on Nov. 18, 2019.  The artist is not known.

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Palo Verde Pool

Four students from Palo Verde High School were selected to paint a mural at the Palo Verde Pool under the guidance of local artist Isaac Caruso assisted by Alex Gomez. The students chosen for the project were Alexis Hirth, Filomena Obono, Jenna Linneman and Sarina Tuskey. The mural focuses on the history and culture of the neighborhood.

Photographed on Nov. 6, 2019

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Update (June 21, 2022): Today we posted photos of a mural nearby in Palo Verde Park. While I (Jerry Peek) was taking those photos on April 26th, I took close-up photos of the pool mural:

Crossfit 520

Mural by Danny Martin at the Crossfit 520 gym on Chapel Ave.

  Photographed on Oct. 23, 2019.

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Six years ago at TMA

Between the main gallery building and the Education building at the Tucson Museum of Art is a slab that's often painted with a mural. I found a photo of it from December 7, 2013, that I never posted here:

Finally, bigger photos (when you click)!

Until recently, Blogger would charge me money if I put photos on this blog that were longer or wider than 800 pixels. That used to be pretty big, years ago... but now it's small. They've raised the limit to 2,048 pixels. (For some reason, photos that David Aber posts haven't had that limit.)

Starting this week, if you click on a photo, you'll see a much larger version. (The template that holds the photos and text is still the same width. I'll try to fix that some day. For now, you'll need to click.)

Razorz Edge

This mural is in on a thin wall in front of Razorz Edge, a clothing store on 4th Avenue just south of 6th Street.

I walked by on November 12th.

Generation Cool

You can only see the mural on the roll-down shutter over the front of this business when it's closed:

At the bottom right corner is the artist's signature:

I spotted it before opening time on November 12tn.

Mural panels on Toole five years ago

On November 22, 2014, I cruised by the two sets of mural panels along Toole Avenue north of the building at 191 East Toole. Back then, the murals on the panels were changing fairly often. I've tried to keep track of these (you can find other photos from this list), but I never posted this set of photos to the blog. First, here are the two sets of panels:

And closeups of the panels we haven't shown on the blog before 11/22/2014, from left to right:

Barrio House

The Barrio House is no longer in business. However, the mural by Danny Martin is still there at 828 S. Russell Ave. in Barrio Santa Rosa.

Photographed on Oct. 1, 2019

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Meet Me at Maynards mural walks

Every Monday starting from Maynards Market, tons of Tucsonans “get out!” to walk around downtown Tucson. Two of the walk routes visit murals. Look for the Mural Walks section near the top right corner of their webpage:

MeetMeAtMaynards.com

MMM isn't doing official tours during the fall and winter. But, for now, you can walk the tours on your own.

El Toro

This is the logo of the Toro Loco (Crazy Bull) restaurant.  It opened Aug. 2 and replaced PaPa Locos.

Photographed inside the restaurant on Oct. 1, 2019.

By Danny Martin

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La Suprema Mural Reveal this Friday

Isaac Caruso has painted a new mural at La Suprema Works & Events in Barrio Viejo (just south of downtown). The mural unveiling is this Friday, November 15 from 3:30 to 4:30 pm. Here are a picture of the mural and a form to RSVP:

UnitedWayTucson.org/_mural_reveal

Veterans Day mural painted in 2018

I found an entry on the Cactus Catz blog, Wordless Wednesday : Veterans Day - November 15, 2018. It had four photos and a story starting with a photo caption “Monday, as I was walking, I saw a man. [H]e was painting a mural on his wall the names of the fallen. He remembers.”

Though I have permission from Cactus Catz to show her photos, I wasn't able to reach her to ask where the mural is. So I searched Google Maps' Street View. Thank you for sharing these, Mary.

Update (November 9, 2020): I have sad news — and just before Veterans Day 2020. The man who painted this wall (and repainted it over and over) — Robert M. Norwood, age 63, who (as he wrote) about military service “My family has (5) gen. in this. So far (6) lives lost in service to it.” — died after a passerby thought he was spray-painting graffiti and fought with him. Here's the story from the Arizona Daily Star: Tucson police: Man mistaken for graffiti vandal dies in Election Day clash.

Crooked Tooth Brewing Co.

The mural is on the west wall of 228 E. 6th St. as seen from N. Arizona Ave. The mural was begun in April of 2019 but remains unfinished as of Oct. 1.

Photographed on 10/01/2019.

By Danny Martin

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A mural that hides something

Yesterday Joe Pagac wrote on Twitter: “Painting a 250,000 gallon water tank out at the Tanque Verde Guest Ranch to make it disappear!” Here's a link to the before-and-after photos on Instagram:

instagram.com/p/B4i0flaAehx/

Update (August 7, 2020): There are photos of the finished mural in today's entry Tanked.

Maybe a mural, part 82: Cattletown Steakhouse & Saloon

If a mural is paint on a wall, this piece of (what looks like) leather doesn't qualify because it's lashed to a wooden frame that's fastened to the wall. But maybe not. We'll let you make up your own mind!

David Aber emailed the photo on August 30th.

Vampire Bat

Found at the rear of 300 E. 6th St., Tucson, AZ. Artist not known.

This same mural has appeared in two other posts on the Tucson Murals Project.  Surrounded by murals: our 700th post and End-to-end Plush art, 2013 and before.  In both instances, the colors have changed and, or, faded.

Photographed on May 29, 2019. We saved it for Halloween.

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Sonoran Brunch Co.

The Sonoran Brunch Co. has recently opened a Diner that replaces Poco & Mom's on S. Kolb Rd.  The mural is on a shipping container on the south side of the building.

Photographed on Oct. 17, 2019

Painted by Danny Martin

Click on any photo for a slideshow of larger and sharper images.

Update (June 27, 2021): BG Boyd Photography sent two more photos of the mural:

Update (June 7, 2022): Ken Kroeger (click there to visit his Facebook page) sent a high-resolution photo of the mural. I've cropped out parts of it to show more detail:

Thank you, Ken!

Residential Mural

Residence at 8102 E. Julia St. as seen from S. Sherwood Village Dr.

Photographed on 10/01/2019.

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DeGrazia chapel reopens

The fire-damaged chapel, which was lined with murals by Ted DeGrazia, has reopened. A Catholic Mass and a formal rededication of the mission are planned for December 8th. Here are two articles from the Arizona Daily Star with photos and the story of the restoration:

DeGrazia's chapel, a Tucson landmark for prayers and weddings, reopens after fire

Photos: DeGrazia Mission in the Sun, fire and restoration

"The Cactus Comet Rides Again"

Art Luppino, "The Cactus Comet", led the nation in rushing in 1954 and 1955. He wore jersey no. 22, now retired at the U of A.  The mural is located at the SE corner of Arizona Stadium behind Gate 6.

Photographed on Sept. 19, 2019.

Painted by Danny Martin. Photo by Miguel Arias.

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There's a video of the mural being painted in our blog entry Video: Danny Martin mural at Arizona Stadium.

Video: Danny Martin mural at Arizona Stadium

From Twitter:

Inspired by program history with a touch of Tucson 🎨

Come see it in person at Arizona Stadium!#BearDown pic.twitter.com/b8j0ZPX9Ht

— Arizona Athletics (@AZATHLETICS) September 17, 2019

Update (October 18, 2019): There's a photo of the completed mural in today's entry "The Cactus Comet Rides Again".

Weed & Seed

The  Weed and Seed Program is intended to help communities by weeding out crime and seeding sites with crime prevention programs.  This tile mural was found on S. 4th Ave. at the intersection of E. 34th St., City of South Tucson.  Photo taken on April 22, 2019.

Painted by Gonzalo Espinosa

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MOCA's wall on fire

The Museum of Contemporary Art, Tucson, is housed in a former fire station downtown. (If you haven't been there, check it out. It's an interesting gallery space with tall fire door/windows.) On the two halves of their west wall are firey orange murals. Here's the left (north) side, then the right:

(The photos' colors are even more vivid than in real life because I was there near sunset and because I used my camera's HDR mode — High Dynamic Range — to try to capture more detail in both the shadows and sunlit parts.)

I was there for a hot summer event on June 20th.

Ohana

This neighborhood mural is on the east side of Sarnoff Drive, just north of the corner with Calexico Street. I rolled by (and stopped!) on June 21, 2019.

I searched the Internet for “Ohana.” The word is being used a lot these days. Wikipedia says “Ohana is the sense of family in Hawaiian culture.” But I found another web page that argues The Word 'Ohana Is A Modern Invention. Whatever.

In the middle of the mural is “Love Ya” followed by what looks like a heart with a question mark over it. Hmmm:

Train Engineer and Onlooker

I've taken two photos of this mural almost 5 years apart. The original artist was Joe Pagac who told Jerry Peek that "It was tagged and then a very talented young artist who goes by Rose Kaiotii did the updated repaint." You can find it at the SW intersection of E. Alameda St., N. 6th Ave. and E. Toole Ave.

Photographed 09/21/2014

Painted by Joe Pagac

 Photographed 05/29/2019

Updated repaint by Rose Kaiotii

The face and clothing of the onlooker have changed dramatically.  Here are the before and after photos:

Although not a self-portrait, the clothing and tattoos on the right appear to be the same as those worn by the artist.

Click on any photo for larger and sharper images.

"A" Mountain and a giant fork

I've heard that each Trader Joe's store has an artist on staff. When I look around the store — at the shelf tags, for instance — I think it might be true. That's a mural above the shopping carts outside. Next, a couple of closeups:

I snapped the photos on June 23rd.

Tortilleria Don Juan

The artist, Jilmar Alaniz, happened to be in the restaurant at the time I took this photo on May 27, 2019.  He came out and we talked for a while.  And that's how I found out the mural is a portrait of the owner's parents.

The father (Juan) and mother (Che)

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Update by Jerry (May 6, 2022): There's an unfinished mural next to the store entrance: Panaderia at a tortilleria

Update by Jerry (May 1, 2024): A second location on Prince Road was open for about two years. There's a photo in today's post Adios, Carniceria Don Juan II.

Hem & Her

Back on July 13, 2016, the Tucson Mailbox Art blog showed a giant pair of scissors underneath a mailbox. Since then, the obviously fun-loving owners of Hem & Her Bridal have painted a mural on the wall at the north side of their parking lot:

I zipped by (and stopped) on May 16, 2019.