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.