4038 East Whitman Street

We've switched from mailboxes along Water Street into the Poets’ Square neighborhood. (It's also sometimes called Poets’ Corner, but the city's neighborhood map for Ward 6 shows Poets’ Square... and the boundaries are also a square!)

Here's a black box with a desert scene in a circle in middle of its three-column post.

4252 East Poe Street

In the middle of the Poets’ Square neighborhood is a charming box with a child's touch:

I found it on May 27th.

4149 East Holmes Street

If you came to the blog today looking for a heart-shaped (Valentine's) mailbox, sorry. The best I can do (this year, at least!) is a pink post. The box and the rest are turquoise-colored.

The “Location” box, where you can usually click to see an address, doesn't seem to be working as I post this week's entries. So here's a clickable address: 4149 E. Holmes.

Update: This mailbox is also shown in the April 6, 2017 entry.

2702 East Edison Street

The home at 2702 E. Edison (which, for some reason, wouldn't show up in the “Location” box at the end of this entry) has both a weathered red mailbox with a zigzag design...

...and a long mural. (Click there to see the mural. It's today's post on the Tucson Murals Project blog.) I took photos of both on May 20.

1710-1716 East Water Street

In the past couple of weeks, we've been looking at mailboxes along Water Street. The first was in the 800 block, just east of 1st Avenue. Now we're finishing this part of Water nine blocks east, in the 1700s, just west of Campbell. (There's more just east of here — as well as more sections of Water, here and there, including the last one I've found which is past Craycroft. I'm hoping to catch all of Tucson's creative mailboxes by some year in the future...)

Though I couldn't find any photos that look much like it, this design reminds me of something I'd find at a dock (without the mailboxes, that is). I found it May 20th on... where else? Water Street. The boxes are addressed 1716 and 1710.

1705 East Water Street

Last time, I posted a fish mailbox from Water Street. Here's another — a white box with fish on both sides:

More mailboxes from May 20, 2013 are coming next... though just one from Water Street.

1448 East Water Street

This handpainted mailbox is covered with tropical fish:

It's signed SBaker '95.

1434 East Water Street

I found a lot of mailboxes on my May 20th ride along Water Street. This one, mounted on posts like you might find on a pier — and the next (next week) — have a water theme.

1312 East Water Street

You aren't gonna break in to this all-steel mailbox.

Found on May 20th.

1210 East Water Street

On May 20, 2013, I rode past this gray mailbox inside a shiny post covered with tile, mirrors and crystals.

1119 East Water Street

Here's a green mailbox with tile numbers on the post and a critter flag.

I came by it on May 20th.

843 East Water Street

A handsome mailbox with soft mountaintops under a warm desert sky:

I snapped the photos on May 20th.

458 East Alturas Street

Here's a black box with the address, on top, in a mountain-shaped piece of rust-finished metal.

I rolled by it on May 20th.

2519 North Geronimo Avenue

This black mailbox, mounted on an iron circle with a disc in the middle, has an interesting shadow, too:

I found it on May 20th.

3411 North Geronimo Avenue

These tidy-looking stuccoed mailbox and separate address post have tile numbers and artwork around them.

They were along the route of my May 20th bike ride.

3645 North Stone Avenue

On the west side of busy North Stone Avenue is a mailbox that's probably caught your eye as you rode by. It's a dark brown metal color, wrapped by huge flowers and leaves.

(Though I'd spotted this place before, I finally took the photos on May 20th — by riding my bike along narrow Stone Avenue early in the morning, before there was much traffic. Bike lanes here are tiny, and there are no parallel side streets along this part of Stone.)

There's lots more iron work around the home. See the page 3645 North Stone on TucsonArt.info.

3398 North Fontana Avenue

Matching critters, top and bottom, on this black mailbox.

Fontana had lots of good box-hunting on May 20, 2013!

3360 North Fontana Avenue

This black mailbox has a black cat between its posts.

I snapped the photo on May 20, 2013.

2520 North Fontana Avenue

If you've been following the last few entries, you know that I was riding along North Fontana Ave. on May 20 of last year. And if you've already seen today's entry on the Tucson Murals Project blog, you'll know that there are handpainted murals on the porch. (If you missed it, click there.)

And here you can see the box. It's black, on a dark post set with square and rectangular tiles.

3307 North Fontana Avenue

On May 20th, I just happened to be riding far enough on Fontana Avenue that I spotted two similar mailboxes eight blocks away from each other. You saw the first box, at 2520 N. Fontana, yesterday. (If you didn't, you can click there.)

Here's the second box, the one farther north. It's black, with the house number and a saguaro between the posts.

(I normally don't show saguaros, but this coincidence made the boxes worth showing.)

2507 North Fontana Avenue

This plain white box has its house number and a saguaro between the posts:

I found it (and the box at 3307 North Fontana; see tomorrow's entry!) on May 20, 2013.

P.S. The last half of last year was sooooo busy that I had to cut the number of mailbox “posts.” But I'm back on my bicycle, and I'm hoping to get back to posting boxes every day — at least, every weekday.

203 East Linden Street

Let's start 2014 with a creative white mailbox that has the address — 203 E. Linden — in curved dashed letters on both sides:

I snapped it on May 20th (2013).

Santa Koala, 3202 East 28th

We started 2013 with a koala bear mailbox, at 3202 East 28th Street, complete with branches and leaves. When I rolled by last Friday, the 27th, I saw that the owner had added some Christmas cheer to the street.

2411 East Waverly Street

I rolled by this sunny spring scene on May 14th: a handpainted white box, covered by — and surrounded by — flowers.

2345 East Elm Street

In case Christmas Day in Tucson doesn't turn out to be bright and sunny, the photo in today's Tucson Murals Project post, Maybe a mural, part 49: Giant flowers on Elm will brighten up your day.

There's also a mailbox at 2345 East Elm, but it's not quite as spectacular as the flowers:

Homeowners at 2345: Thanks for the art… and the box!

PS: I've been super-busy these past few months. There just hasn't been time to post many mailbox photos. I'm hoping to break away a day, soon, to post a lot of the backlog of boxes. Please check back!

Pantano River Park (at Speedway)

Is it the World's Biggest Mailbox? Well, it doesn't actually hold mail, so… maybe not:

It's just east of the Lowe's store on Speedway & Kolb. There's a map and some overall info on the Pima County website. The November 12, 2012 Arizona Daily Star article Tucson Oddity: Postcard tiles, 'mailbox' send welcome message tells more.

I took this photo on November 13th. There are more photos on the Tucson Murals Project blog in the April 21, 2010 entry.

2401 East Mabel Street

This black mailbox has stenciled flowers and numbers:

I found it on May 14th.

2626 East Devon Street

On May 14th, I rolled by this white mailbox with hand-painted rectangular pictures and decoration.

3720 East Lee Street

Okay, so this photo isn't really a mailbox. The mailbox is behind it - a stock U.S. Postal Service multi-unit box. But I thought the unique combination of a totem pole and a wind vane made this worth posting here.

I blew by on May 13th.

2810 East Lee Street

Here's a black box with unique scrollwork and a ball on top of the post.

I snapped it on May 13th.

2726 East Lee Street

I'm on my latest trip to New Mexico (which is part of why I haven't been posting to this blog… the other is that I've been really busy!). But I'll try to Keep The Boxes Coming much more often now.

I found this white mailbox, with lavender and brown dribbled paint and a lavender flag, on May 13th.

2711 East Lee Street

Why does this red-and-white mailbox have a post that's around ten feet high? The top reminds me of a place to hang flags or pennants. (If you know better, please leave a comment below or send me email.)

I spotted it (hard not to miss it!) on May 13th at 2711 E. Lee Street.

Update (June 19, 2019): Donna Reardon emailed us the story of this mailbox:

This is my childhood home I grew up and lived in for 18 years. My father made this mailbox and post. He was an certified welder and iron worker. The reason why it’s so high is that it was a light for the front yard. Of course the light on the top is long gone. It was pretty neat in the 1960’s. We didn’t have any street lights and the yard was very dark.

Thank you, Donna!

Another box that rocks: 2209 North Tucson Boulevard

I'm back from a trip out of town (without my mailbox photos to post). But now the boxes are back!

On January 2, I posted a box that rox — actually, a mailbox on a pile of rocks. Here's one on a post (made of concrete?) that's (almost) covered with flagstone:

I unearthed it May 13th.

2602 East Mabel Street

Instead of putting your mailbox outside the wall around the front of your home, why not put it in the wall — so you don't have to go around to get your mail?

The owner of this mailbox did that. It's embedded in the stuccoed wall (and covered with stucco itself) next to a bright green and dark lavender gate. I rolled by (and stopped!) on May 13th.

The other side of 2601 East Mabel Street

As I hinted in the previous entry (you can click there to see it), I've been very busy. So busy, in fact, that I didn't check to see if I'd taken a photo of the other side of that box.

I found it this morning, as I was about to do another post. Here's the other side of the same box, on May 13:

2601 East Mabel Street

The Boxes Are Back after a break for (me) moving to a new home. This box is a great way to start (again):

It's white with green and black faces and eyes. I found it on May 13th.

608 Shattuck Street, Bisbee

Although this is the Tucson Mailbox Art blog, I can't resist a great mailbox anywhere (especially on Friday the 13th in 2013 :).

Gregg Townsend just surprised me with photos of this church-shaped mailbox in Bisbee... including teacups and saucers on the ground next to its post:

Is that an electricity-generating windmill over the steeple? Here's a close-up:

Whattabox! Thanks, Gregg.

1214 North Forgeus Avenue

Here's a mailbox design I haven't seen before. It's painted green, and the base is also painted: with flowers.

I spotted it on May 13th.

The other side of 2903 East Toledo Place

Back on January 1, I posted a mailbox at 2903 East Toledo Place. But I only showed one side. I came back on May 13th and photographed the other side:

Though I normally don't show boxes with saguaro-shaped posts, the chile-shaped flag won!

2934 East 9th Street

On top of this brown mailbox is a quail cut from sheet metal:

I waddled by (quickly) on May 13th.