6120 East 29th Street

The Blog is Back! I'm also changing the second blog entry each week to publish on Thursday instead of Friday. (The Tucson Murals Project blog will now be posting three times a week — including Fridays — so I'm moving the mailboxes to not come the same day.)

I usually don't show commercially-made mailboxes here. But this one, sent by David Aber, looks handmade to me — even if The Edisonville Wood Shop has made plenty of them, I'd bet this is the only one in Tucson.

(You can click on the photo for a larger view — on a desktop or laptop computer, at least.)

Below is a view of the “barn doors” (the opening for mail) at the front:

Blog on vacation

The Tucson Mailbox Art will be on vacation for a while. But we'll be back! You can watch for new entries on the @TucsonArt Twitter feed, or use one of the ways near the top-right corner of each of this blog page. One is by watching one of our RSS feeds (if you've done that, you'll know what we mean). Or enter your email address in the box titled (obviously enough) “Follow this blog by Email.”

Thanks! Please wish us a good vacation… we're ready (and we'll mostly be way off-line).

4000 West Gates Pass Road

Driving toward Gates Pass on August 8th, I rolled past a mailbox that looked custom-built. I found a parking place and walked downhill to have a closer look. It's partly a rust-like color (same as the rusted finish that's popular on metal these days) but with some yellow splotches or flakes. It has a critter flag and a base that looks a little bit like a fire hydrant.

I didn't see any street number on a sign, in little plates stuck to the box, etc. There weren't many homes in the area, but I spotted one up the road with a number around 4100. Then I came back to give this box a closer look.

Aha. Along the post are four numbers made from steel rods. They're backward in the second shot above, but you can see that they say 4000. Clever.

2145 East Glenn Street

As I've written recently, Glenn Street seems to have more than its share of creative mailboxes. Now that I'm (finally!) getting out on my bicycle again, I think a ride along Glenn will get you some photos to enjoy. (While I was out of the picture — so to speak — David Aber has been filling in the gaps. There'll be more of his finds in the future, too.)

Speaking of David, I think he'd call this “Dragon Box” for the sculpture “post” under the plain vanilla mailbox. Or is that a dragon?? If you have another suggestion, please leave a comment below.

I snapped this photo on July 4th.

1231 East Edison Street

This faded white mailbox with desert scenes is in front of the Tucson Community Meditation Center:

I drove mindfully by it on June 25th.

7042 East Calle Neptuno

This plain black box sits in a rusted frame made of mesh, perched on a square post and a saguaro, with javelina above and below. It's in the part of town with streets named in Spanish for planets (Neptuno), stars and galaxies.

David Aber flew by (I'm not sure if he did any orbits while taking this photo) on May 19th.

2062 South Avenida Ursa

Here's another mailbox that David Aber found in the corner of Tucson with streets named for stars and planets — and using calle and avenida instead of street and avenue.

You can tell why David called it “Driftwood Box.” He floated by (than emailed it, thanks) on May 19th.

6433 East Calle Dened

Like the previous mailbox, this one is in the part of Tucson, southeast of 22nd & Wilmot, with semicircular streets named for stars and constellations. The clever “post” is made of the front fork and handlebars of a motorcycle (if you know which one, please leave a comment below!) and the box itself has a headlight mounted on front:

David Aber hit the brakes when he saw this on May 19th.

As usual, I can't thank you enough for your contributions to this blog, Dave.

6902 East Calle Neptuno

David Aber sent this photo May 19th. He calls it (for obvious reasons) the Choo Choo Box:

I'm not sure if the homeowners made this clever locomotive-engine-shaped mailbox. But, whoever made it, the creativity of artists continues to amaze me. (They even attached a “smokestack” to the top of the mailbox itself!)

2602 East Sylvia Street

Here's the second of two mailboxes David Aber spotted along Sylvia Street on May 17th:

He's dubbed it Hot Rod Box.

2926 East Sylvia Street

David Aber has turned into a mailbox hunter extraordinaire (though he's told me that he doesn't go hunting; he just spots the mailboxes on his travels).

He calls this one Electrical Box. The pipes are electrical conduit and fittings, painted green. Let's take a closer look…

And the other side:

He emailed these photos to me on May 17th, which is also the date his camera's data says they were taken. Thanks for this unique find, Dave!

3502 East 27th Street

I've seen mailboxes mounted on wagon wheels before, but not like this interesting combination.

I rolled by on June 5th.

2216 North Sycamore Boulevard

What a riot of colored tile on the post of this mailbox!

I'm not sure why I didn't snap a photo from the back side.

While I was there, I spotted a tile mural out of the corner of my eye. You can see it on the Tucson Murals Project blog entry, Striking on Sycamore.

4004 North Stone Avenue

For a sewing business named Hem & Her, this plain black mailbox perched on top of a big pair of scissors cuts just right. (Sorry. :)

The business is at tne south end of the fabulous blocks-long Limberlost Neighborhood Mural. Here are photos from the Tucson Murals Project blog: the original 2006 photos in an entry named Looonnnggg on Limberlost and yesterday's 10th-anniversary blog entry. The business has an ample parking… so maybe you can stop by for some alterations, admire the mural, and come back to pick up your clothes when you're done?

(By the way, I've been so busy with the murals blog entry that I'm a day behind on this mailbox blog. I should catch up by Friday.)

Update (September 17, 2019): Now there's a mural by the parking lot.

Sixth Avenue at Seventh Street

This stack of mailboxes is on the west side of 6th Avenue across from the corner with 7th Street (across from Miller Surplus). I'm not quite sure who they all belong to (and, when I spotted them, I was a friend; I didn't want to make her wait forever while I asked around). But they're close to Tap and Bottle, and they're covered with (mostly) beer stickers, so maybe…

(By the way, that's a food truck to the left, and its hitch on the street behind.) She and I wandered by on June 4th's monthly “art cruise” around the corner of 6th & 6th.

862 East Glenn Street

There's something about Glenn Street that encourages lots of creative mailboxes. I keep seeing them as I drive by, but I don't always have time to stop. This one, though, stopped me almost in my tracks.

(I was headed east, just past First Avenue. So I turned right on Park, expecting to “go around the block.” Ha! I had to drive south on Park almost to Grant, then loop back onto First. But, as you can see, the detour was worth the hassle.)

I (almost) screeched to a halt on June 1st.

2802 East Lester Street

This mailbox looks a bit royal to me in its colors of gold (the box) and blue (the post). The number, as well as a few flourishes, are along the sides and front.

(The car in the background was almost the same color as the post. That made the post hard to see. So I used the Intelligent Scissors tool in the great free GIMP editor to select the car and change its color to green.)

I was there April 9th.

7746 E Hampton St

This is the last of the four mailboxes David Aber sent on April 4th. He wrote “Someone did a nice job on the tiles.” That's for sure! The four-sided post is made from four rods with scrollwork between them:

Another great catch, David.

7526 East Edison Street

David Aber calls this “Mountainbox.” The designs on top of the mailbox, and near the bottom of the post, are similar. It's rusty metal with the address on a curvy plaque and a saguaro flag. Quite a combination!

He discovered it on April 4th. Thanks as always, David!

7601 East Waverly Street

David Aber spotted this shiny black mailbox, covered with bright flowers and on a natural wood post, April 4th.

9561 East 42nd Street

This “covered wagon” mailbox is one of the boxes David Aber emailed on April 1st.

9800 East Mary Drive

Last time, I posted one of the photos David Aber emailed on April 4th. Then I noticed that he'd sent more photos on April 1st. (Your contributions are much appreciated, David!) Let's start with the first of these two. For obvious reasons, he calls it “Rockbox.” He wrote: “I’ve included photos of all four sides of the mailbox because of all the odds and ends added to the pedestal.”

I've joked more than once about other “mailboxes that rock,” and I'd sure add this one to the list!

7750 East Seneca Street

David Aber sent this and several other mailbox photos on April 4th. He wrote:

The design on the Airplane mailbox is based on a Curtiss P-40 Tomahawk Fighter Plane. It was used in China by the American Volunteer Group (the Flying Tigers) in WWII. They were in China from 1941-42 and they downed 296 Japanese planes while losing only 14. Damned good shooting!

I wondered whether there might be other mailboxes like this one around the country, so I pasted the photo into Google Image Search. (Once you go to the page, click the camera icon and you can upload a photo to search for.) All Google showed me were photos of cars.

Amazing find! Thank you, David.

924 East Desert Parkway

April 9th, along the Heart of Tucson Art spring open studios tour, I found this artistic mailbox near (where else?) an artist's home.

2850 North Tyndall Avenue

This plain white mailbox could use some zap, for sure… the (much) larget-than-life jar of Tabasco sauce is a great addition. This is the third of three fun boxes that I found it its block on March 12th.

Mailbox(es) #400: Fish(es) out of water

After three and a half years of mailboxes, we're at the four hundredth:

I reeled it in March 12th at 2841 North Tyndall Avenue.

Before I showed you this “box,” I wondered if it was made commercially. First I did a Google image search of that exact image (click there to run it). I found lots of fish, but almost all of them were real. Next I did a Google image search for fish mailbox.

After looking at a few hundred fishboxes, I found a couple of green fish that looked a lot like this one. But they were in locations that seemed a lot closer to abundant fishing spots than Tucson. (Have you heard the saying: “You know you’re from Southern Arizona when… You no longer associate rivers or bridges with water”? :)

The second search above is fun to run: You'll see lots of fishy mailboxes.

With apologies for all of my puns over the years… Please stay tuned for the next 400 boxes.

2829 North Tyndall Avenue

I'm not sure exactly what's perched on the top back corner of this black mailbox. It looks like a bug, with bugged-out eyes, shielding its eyes with one hand while its other hand wraps around its belly. I'm even less sure what's hanging from its tongue: a door knocker?

Hmmm…: this was March 12th.

5221 East 3rd Street

Here's a black box with handpainted flowers and orange sripes around the side of its door:

David Aber was driving through the neighborhood on the morning of March 10th when he spotted it.

612 North Rook Avenue

So many mailboxes include quail that I've thought about adding them to our boring mailboxes list. But, like a lot mailboxes with other critters and plants, each “quailbox” (as David Aber dubbed this one) is generally artistic and pretty unique.

So, bring on the quail! These are cut from a rusty sheet of metal that also includes a prickly-pear cactus and what looks like tree branches.

The mailbox itself has a sort-of copper patina finish with splotches of gold. (I made that photo from the single original photo David sent me on March 10th.)

5637 East 4th Street

Some mailboxes as clever as this barn-shaped box (red sides with white stripes over the door and a black shingled roof) are commercially-made. We tend to avoid those and lean toward one-of-a-kind mailboxes. This one — which David Aber found on March 10th — looks to me like it's made of wood and is just a bit irregular.

(Who knows? It's fun, anyway.)

3250 East 27th Street

Here's a large metal mailbox, painted lavender, with flowers on top and around its brown post.

I couldn't possibly miss it as I drove by on March 5th.

3919 East Cooper Street

Bursting out of the middle of a spectacular iron sunflower is this rust-finished mailbox…

David Aber, who took the photo, calls it “Sunflowerbox.” Seems like a good name to me! He sent his photo on March 28th. Appreciated as always, Dave…

9066 East 20th Street

On top of curvy pipe sections is this rust-finished mailbox:

David Aber (who also contributes to the Tucson Murals Project blog) found it on March 17th.

1521 South Bristol Avenue

Here's another gorgeously-painted mailbox: white, covered with gardens full of clusters of flowers:

I took the photo on January 31 — the same day I was photographing a nearby spot for the Tucson's Pocket Parks blog. To see the tiny “park” and a link to the little mural near it, scroll down that page or click on Your own parklet.

3349 East Bellevue Street

This gorgeous mailbox is covered with hand-painted scenes of quail in the desert...

I waddled by (do quail waddle? :) on November 20th.

2809 East Helen Street

This white mailbox has hand-painted poppies:

I rode by and stopped ("I'm so sleepy, I can't ride anymore. Oh please, I have to rest for just a minute, Toto, where's Toto? Yawn..." :) on November 20th.

By the way, the blog has been quiet due to a family emergency. Things are better now, and I'm aiming to keep the blog online from today on!