17th & Meyer in 2004

I've been looking through some of my older photos. (One was of the Luis Mena mural that we posted on Thursday.) In 2004, before I joined the Tucson Murals Project, I took several photos of this home at the southwest corner of 17th Street & Meyer Avenue:

I took this photo on June 19, 2004, from the building's southeast corner (along Meyer Street). I have a few others, too; if you'd like a copy, just ask!

McKenzie and the Chicago Store

This mural is gone — along with most (all?) of the other Chicago Store murals — thanks to construction that we showed on our September 30th post. We originally posted the mural photo, by Warren V, on November 23, 2008 — exactly four years ago. Here's more of the story.

The person in the mural was named McKenzie; I saw photos of her (including one of this mural, which I recognized right away) November 17th on a Día de los Muertos altar in Raices Taller 222 gallery. Her father was Mike Harrison; you can read about him in the Tucson Weekly article “The Mayor of Fourth Avenue.” I found an obituary of McKenzie Haggerty-Harrison on Tucson.com. As the mural says (in lettering just to the left of the Chicago Store sign), she lived from September 23, 1987 to September 7, 2004. McKenzie died tragically after an amazing life. For instance, the mural's background is a Mayan design because the lived with the Mayans in Guatemala.

(The stories that murals tell... if only they all came with a history page attached! We'll do our best to find the stories and post them here on the Tucson Murals Project.) If you have anything to share about McKenzie or this mural, please leave a comment below or send me email.

Early mural by Luis Gustavo Mena

Luis Gustavo Mena has been a Tucson muralist for decades. His best-known mural might be downtown where Broadway and Congress merge. (That post also has a link to a 2007 newspaper article about him.) A similar mural is harder to spot; it's along a parking lot for MATZ Truck Accessories on south 12th. One of his earlier works, of Mexican president Benito Juarez, is even harder to spot: on a wall between two buildings at 3477 S. 12th Avenue:

(An easy way to get there from western and central parts of Tucson is by taking the I-10 frontage road past downtown, then following the center lanes that dump you onto South 12th in South Tucson. The mural is in the block past 44th Street, on the north wall of a hair stylists' building at the corner with Jetty.)

Because the mural is on a north-facing wall, this (and the narrow space between the buildings) probably have helped shield it from sun — and preserve it for more than 30 years. (Under the artist's name at the upper right is 8,18,81 — which means August 18, 1981.) Mena was about 15 years old when he painted this mural! I had a long talk with another early Tucson muralist at Raices Taller 222 gallery, and I'm looking forward to sharing her stories with you sometime in 2013. She remembered this mural right away; it was in the time when Mena used a point-distance style, she said.

Happy Thanksgiving to you, your family, friends...! (I'm headed for one of my favorite Tucson Turkey-day traditions, the dinner at Govinda's vegetarian buffet. They usually have a live turkey or two wandering the grounds, looking for handouts! I'm not a devout vegetarian, but I do love the food and the setting.)

Update (June 28, 2015): Mark Fleming sent photos and gave the location as the El Gorrion Restaurant parking lot at 3459 South 12th Avenue.

Centro del Sur

These murals are on the northeast corner of 27th Street & 10th Avenue. I took the photos on September 16th. The first mural is in the center; the second is at the north end, and the third is at the south:

House of Neighborly Service, front gate

We've posted three murals at the House of Neighborly Service, 243 W. 33rd St. in South Tucson: on building 1, building 2, and building 5.

This mural is newer than the others, I think. I found it on the front gate on September 16th.

Sweet Disney murals on Dulceria Arco Iris

At 135 W. Ajo Way, these murals of Mickey Mouse and Snow White lurk (sligntly) behind the bushes near the entrance to Dulceria Arco Iris.

I snapped these on a long loop ride through South Tucson September 16th.

Cartoon characters, balloons, and bears, oh my!

That twisted version of a childhood saying fits Balloon Land, at 137 W. 29th Street. They've upgraded their murals from the ones I photographed in 2010. Here are views starting from the north side and wrapping around to the south end of the west side:

I took these photos on September 16th.

Fourth mural at Trinity Presbyterian

We've posted murals on the west side and east side of of Trinity Presbyterian Church (400 E. University). But somehow I missed this mural on the north side:

I took the photo on September 18th.

Ornaments on 29th

It's a bit too early for Christmas tree ornaments (despite some stores displaying their holiday merchandise since Labor Day...). But these ornaments decorate the south side of 29th Street (between 7th & 8th Avenues) in South Tucson all year:

The other side of Simplicity

Two and a half years ago, in a post titled Simplicity, we showed the south side of the art gallery at 1416 S. 6th Avenue. Here's the east side — facing 6th Avenue:

I took the photo on September 16th of this year.

Pico de Gallo reinvented

The classic South Tucson restaurant Pico de Gallo (at 2618 South 6th) has a new mascot near the door on the east end of the north side:

(There's a photo of the previous mural on our September 23, 2011 post.) I took this photo on September 16th.

Fly By Night at TUS

Tucson International Airport is a great place to see art! Unfortunately, some of it is in secured areas where you need a plane ticket to see the art. We usually don't cover murals in locations that aren't accessible to the public without paying, having a ticket, etc. But I decided to post this one because it's an example of the great art you can see at TIA if you do have a ticket:

It's titled Fly By Night, dated 2008, by Santa Theresa Tile Works. The different colors of light around the mural make it look strange in a photo, but it's great in person. It's on the B concourse, near the men's room between gates B3 and B4. I took the photo on November 10th.

Barrio Centro salute for Veterans Day

This gate is at the north end of the wall in front of El Campo Estates, 1610 S. Country Club. I took the photo on September 11, 2012.

Along 36th in South Tucson...

...just west of 5th Avenue is this streetside mural:

I rode by on September 16th.

Murals on the Azores

Ponta Delgada is one of the main cities on the Azores, the Portuguese islands in the Atlantic west of continental Europe. Though we usually post Tucson murals on this blog, I thought you'd enjoy seeing some of the lively mural scene on the streets around the port.

Most of these murals are dated 2011 or 2012, so I think the government might have had a hand in them as they sprouted so quickly. (If you'd like to know the exact locations, please ask. The original photos were all geotagged, but these online versions aren't.) I snapped these on November 1. (Tomorrow, it's back to our regularly scheduled murals.)

Frank's Auto Refinishing

The city of South Tucson has murals everywhere — including the auto body shop at 2120 S. 4th Avenue:

Although the north side wall is partly hidden from the street, it has a mural too:

The north-side mural is signed Todd Blum. I took the photos on September 16th.

Update (December 11, 2014): There's some new art here.

Vaketones Car Wash

This tile mural is on the wall of Vaketones car wash in South Tucson. I didn't see an address when I was there on September 16th, but it's the next building north of 2225 S. 4th Avenue.

Sun over a forest in South Tucson

I spotted this mural September 16th in a window at the northwest corner of 33rd Street and 4th Avenue in South Tucson.

Caution! Critter!

When I saw this triangular mural at 2432 S. 4th in South Tucson on September 16th, I thought of the warning signs used in the UK and Europe. They're triangle-shaped with an image of whatever you’re being warned about. I found this photo on fotopedia.com # Road Sign used in UK (1) (Roy Higson) / CC BY-NC 3.0

Cross Roads restaurant

This is the west end of the south side of Cross Roads restaurant, 2602 South 4th Avenue:

I was there on September 16th.

Update (September 1, 2017): The restaurant has (by now,at least) two “selfie boards” (what did we call self-portraits before “selfies”?). There are photos in today's entry Crossroads Selfie (maybe a mural part 78).