Take a mural tour of Ambos Nogales

Now that the weather is getting hot, why not climb around 1,400 feet in altitude to Nogales, Arizona? Downtown on the US side has more and more murals. The TripAdvisor listing for Nogales, AZ has lots of places to eat.

There are also some murals on the Sonoran side — including one at the (very interesting) Museo de Arte de Nogales, which is not far from the main DeConcini Port of Entry. More about the Sonoran side is coming in another post.

This post has photos taken during several visits over the past few years. I'll probably add another post sometime with murals I missed or that were being made… look for an “Update:” at the end of this post for a link.

The captions are above each photo (look for the colon : after each caption).

The first photo is from April 25, 2015, when Nogales didn't have many murals. This mural is still at Kory's, 15 North Morley Avenue, next to the Morley pedestrian entry into Mexico:

Now to April 22, 2021. I found the first mural that day as it was being painted. This is on Foxworth-Galbraith Lumber Co., on East Court Avenue east of Grand Avenue:

(The finished mural is farther down in this post.)

That same day, the next mural, on a storage container, was behind a Jack in the Box restaurant at 208 North Grand Avenue. Now (2023) both the container and the restaurant are gone… Google Maps says a Filibertos Restaurant has taken its place:

Next are photos from my visit on November 29, 2022. I'll start with a mural outside the small but interesting Hilltop Gallery:

At the entrance to Kino Park and the Chamber of Commerce (with lots of visitor information) is this mural with a woman waving US and Mexican flags, riding a hummingbird as if it were a horse:

The mural below is close by, near the Chamber of Commerce / Visitor Center entrance. Grecia Solorio painted it:

Now back to downtown Nogales, AZ. This mural is on Court Avenue just west of the railroad tracks. It has a "Fresh from Mexico" flag near the top:

The second photo near the top of this post was a mural being made on Foxworth-Galbraith Lumber Co., on East Court Avenue east of Grand Avenue, by Karla Osete. When I visited on November 29, 2012, it had been finished:

On the back (east) side of the Circle K, 236 North Grand Avenue, is this mural by Isaac Caruso from Tucson and Tony Plak from Nogales:

Next, another mural by Tony Plak. It's on the second floor of the building at 220 North Morley Avenue:

This sign on Sahuarita Bikes, 204 North Morley Avenue, looks like a mural to me:

Here's the north wall of 159 North Morley Avenue. It's by an (obviously amazing) high school student Grecia Solorio, Tony Plak and an artist I couldn't find on Instagram. I couldn't quite fit the mural in my phone's camera, even with its wideangle lens:

The big mural above La Cinderella, 71 North Morley Avenue, had been in progress for quite a while when I visited on November 29, 2022. The Nogales International news article As mural moves forward, an artist revisits his roots (last updated February 13, 2023) has more of the story about artist Carlos Ibarra — as well as some other Nogales murals and plans for an arts district. You can see some of the mural behind the tarps:

On the south side of a former bank at 112 North Grand Avenue is this mural that I believe is by Alejandra Trujillo (she typically doesn't sign her full name):

Today (April 18, 2024) the QR code leads to a “not found” page. But the website is for (as you'd expect) the Santa Cruz Valley National Heritage Area, SantaCruzHeritage.org.

The last mural in today's post is close to the pedestrian entry at the main DeConcini Port of Entry. It's on the wall of 38 North Terrace:

Watch for updates with more murals on the Arizona side as well as some from the Mexican side.

Bye-Bye, Bashful Bandit?

Bashful Bandit, the long-time biker bar, has closed for remodeling into a barbecue restaurant. (The Arizona Daily Star article Last call: Longtime Tucson biker bar Bashful Bandit closes has an update and lots of interesting history.) Here's the scene at the southwest corner of Speedway and Dodge on April 6, 2023:

We first showed one of those murals during May, 2009 in Wall-busting mural. Here it is today:

Back then, this blog didn't always show every mural on a building. For instance, I don't think we ever showed the bashful guy on the east wall in this May, 2022 photo from Google Maps Street View:



Now there's the more colorful bandit on the north wall:

I'll ask a friend to meet me — on her Harley, of course — so we can check out the BBQ after the place re-opens.

Update (December 26, 2023): Today's post Bashful Bandit is Back (tomorrow) has photos and news of the new BBQ restaurant.

Lord of Grace Lutheran Church

 Children's playground with background murals.

Artist(s) Not Known

 Panel 1:

Panel 2:

Panel 3:

Panel 4:

Panel 5:

Panel 6:

Click on any photo for larger images of every photo.

Tuxon Hotel

I found these two murals at the Tuxon Hotel.  They are located on interior walls in tight quarters.  Even though I was using a wide angle lens, I was unable to photograph the complete mural in either case.

The artist is Jessica Gonzales assisted by Dakin Martin.

Lady In Glasses

Lady In Moonlight

Note the bloodthirsty Bat.

 

The following photo was copied from Jessica's Facebook page.  It shows the conditions that make it difficult to obtain complete photos.

Click on any photo for enlarged images.

Graffiti Mural

I found this mural on Feb. 28.  It has been signed by more than one person.  However, I an unable to interpret the signatures.  Graffiti artists commonly use words and symbols whose meanings are known only amongst themselves.

Perhaps you will have better luck.  Click on the photo for a larger image.

Peaceful scene along Irving Avenue

The home address is on Camino de la Colima, but this mural runs along the Irving side:

The right edge continues onto the wall next to it.

I spotted this mural on December 1, 2022, while I was driving to take a photo of a cute “Letters to Santa” mailbox for the Tucson Mailbox Art blog.

The Living Mural is evolving

The Living Mural on on 7th Street near 3rd Avenue — which is one of two “living murals” near 4th Avenue — has evolved since it was first created in 2021. The idea has been to divide a wall into smaller spaces where different artists can paint their own mini-murals. Artist and business owner Jason Lee Nolan has been involved with the mural from the start; his Instagram page @TheLivingMural has lots more information and closeups of some of the individual artists’ work. (That account also has info about the “stained glass” living mural across 4th Avenue.)

Three views, early to recent

Here's a composite photo showing the wall three different times: May 3, 2021 (the top photo); June 20, 2022 (middle); and February 14, 2023 (bottom). (I actually took the last photo on September 20, 2022, but when I stopped by on 2/14/23 the mural hadn't changed.) As always, you can click for a larger view:

There are closeups of the first photo above in The "living" mural. See details of the second photo in Living Mural still alive in June. The last photo shows the wall after Pen Macias, The Desert Pen, painted a new mural on the left end of the wall. There's a photo of just that mural in Desert Pen's mural is alive.

A single theme

On Friday, June 24, 2022, the day the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Jason Lee Nolan — an artist leads the mural team (and owns Black Crow Tattoo across the parking lot) — posted to Instagram his proposal for the next phase of the Living Mural. Click there if you'd like to see the whole post. Here are parts of it, a mixture of some words from both the image and caption:

Today was a horrible day for women. … I'd like permission to clear the wall … As a gesture of love I'd like to invite those who would like to help dedicate a mural to women and the community. Any and all who wish to literally place their hand in paint and add their mark to the wall come down and meet with me. … I hope to create a space where people can come take selfies with images that promote the fact that we support women and the community in a positive way.

This is the mural as it looked three months later, Sepember 20, 2022:

I took these closeups:

Desert Pen's mural is alive

That mural by The Desert Pen (Pen Macias) is on the west side of the TUSD (Tucson Unified School District) building along 5th Avenue, facing a small parking lot. It's next to another mural, which used to cover the entire wall before Pen painted hers:

The mural on the right is The Living Mural. Next time, there'll be photos of it, as well as earlier versions.

Across the parking lot are murals for Black Crow Tattoo, a business of Jason Le Nolan's — who also coordinates the living mural.

I took these on September 20, 2022.

Update (October 9, 2024): Pen's completed mural is in today's post The Living Mural transformed.

Along the alley

Next to the mural we posted a week ago, Running along 3rd Avenue, an alley runs to the west (halfway between 27th and 28th Streets). That alley has a series of murals along the north wall of Flintstone Tire & Auto. Here's the view from the east end, at 3rd Avenue, on November 27, 2022:

Next, closeups from the left (east) end to the right (west):

Barely a mural

This is the entrance to Firestone Flintstone Tire & Auto Care in Bedrock South Tucson:

Last time, in the post Running along 3rd Avenue, we saw a mural on the east wall of this business. What caught my eye here were the painted numbers on both sides of the gate. They're in some of the same colors used in the mural, so I wonder if the muralist painted these too?

If you aren't familiar with the Flintstones’ family car, look at the fandom.com Flintmobile page. The first paragraph says:

The Flintmobile (also known as the Cavemobile) is a Canopysaurus and an iconic vehicle owned by Fred Flintstone, featured in the original series and franchise, The Flintstones by Hanna-Barbera.

I was there on November 27, 2022… and you'll be glad to know that I won't try any Flintstone jokes.

Running along 3rd Avenue

On the 3rd Avenue side of 331 E. 28th Street is this bright mural painted on a cinderblock wall:

A closeup of the woman on the right:

It's signed “arts found” at the lower right. I tried searching the public art map from the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona, but it wasn't there. I, um, found this art on November 27, 2022.

(Sorry, I don't have any heart-shaped murals for Valentine’s Day. Have a nice one, anyway!)

Do these fit?

There are a lot of murals in the area around the corner of 3rd Avenue and 26th Street — just into the City of South Tucson. This mural has a big saguaro and some multicolored flowers that I'm not sure you'd normally see next to an old saguaro. Whatever!

I was there on November 27, 2022, taking plenty of mural photos. There are more in the posts before and after this one.