4828 North Placita Pajarillo

Back on October 3, 2016, Emily Mann of SolAZ.biz sent these photos of a new mailbox she'd designed and built:

She wrote:

I just installed a new mailbox with a solar-lighted base. It is on my side of town off of Snyder and Catalina Hwy. … I may be taking the integrated solar panel off and planting it away from the box. The owner thinks they may like it better that way.

Doesn’t the post look cool lit up?! There is an orange/red piece of glass in the top filtering the light.

Thanks for sharing your work, Emily. Everyone else: If you are (or know someone who is) a mailbox designer, I'd be glad to take photos and show them — or to publish your photos, as I did with these from Emily. The main requirement is that the mailbox be one-of-a-kind, not mass-produced.

Rancho Linda Vista in Oracle

One hightlight of the annual Oracle Artist Studio Tour is Rancho Linda Vista. There are lots of artists — as in much of the rest of Oracle. We don't usually show mailboxes outside of Tucson, of course, but this one isn't that far away — especially for art lovers…

I'm not sure they use it anymore.

2801 North Cloverland Avenue

If you're like me, you think of a flowerpot sitting on top of flagstone, don't you? David Aber found this mailbox that turns the idea upside-down: a mailbox and post, covered partly in flagstone, sitting on top of a pot of flowers.

David said that he didn't photograph the other side because it didn't have any flagstone.

The photo is from January 31, 2017. Thanks for the puzzle, Dave!

2122 East Virginia Street

Here's Speedy Gonzales from the Warner Brothers Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons in the 1950s and 60s. I cropped the original large photo to make the closeup below.

This is the third of three photos David Aber sent back on August 14, 2016. Thanks a lot, Dave, and sorry for the delay getting them online!

2201 East Virginia Street

Here's another one of David Aber's finds on August 14, 2016. The family name on the box is Angulo:

5361 South Aleppo Drive

I normally don't show saquaro-themed mailboxes on this blog, but there always are exceptions.

This is one of them.

First, here's a shot of the whole mailbox, top to bottom, by David Aber.

I cropped that photo (which is actually a lot bigger; I sharnk it for the blog). Here's just the top half:

It even has a saguaro-shaped flag. (See it hidden between the right arm and the mailbox?

This is the first of three boxes David found on August 14, 2016. (Somehow I missed finding them until I decided, back in February, to check every photo he ever sent me.)

6942 East Calle Neptuno

On May 19, 2016, David Aber took several mailbox photos in the neighborhood south of 22nd, between Wilmot and Kolb, where streets are named for stars — like Calle Dened and Avenue Ursa. (Why not Avenida Ursa, to go with Calle (whatever)? No one asked me.)

Anyway, Dave calls this one the Road Runner Box, for obvious reasons.

At the left edge of the photo above, you can see more birds on the wall of the home. This time, they're quail. I grabbed this section of the photo before I blurred the background around the mailbox — to make the mailbox stand out. (As usual, I used my favorite free Photoshop-like editor, GIMP.)

Classic correos in Guanajuato, Mexico

If you follow the Tucson Murals Project blog, you probably saw yesterday's entry Mural-rich street in Guanajuato, México. That door shown above is near the uphill end of this tiny street (not big enough to be a calle, it's a callejon). Instead of a box or a slot that drops letters to a drier spot inside, there's just a bright polished metal correos (mail) slot that drops letters down to street level. (Maybe the letter carrier has some plastic grocery bags handy for rainy days?)

I wandered by on March 11, 2017.

4149 East Holmes Street

As David Aber mentioned with his August 11, 2016 photos, the “post” on this pinkish mailbox is pretty standard for Tucson. I think what might have caught his eye is the ironwork around the mailbox itself. All of that turquoise (literally) stands out.

Having an animal-shaped flag, like the coyote you can see below, is also pretty common. (Click on the photo for a larger view.)

My usual thanks, Dave, for helping keep the boxes online! I'm still trying to get enough free time to find more mailboxes for this (volunteer-run) blog.

Update: Oops, this mailbox is also shown in the February 14, 2014 entry.

7209 East Calle Cuernavaca

On August 11, 2016, David Aber found another Doozy!

He wrote: “At first, I wasn’t sure that it really was a mailbox. So, I looked at it very closely. The face is hinged at the bottom for access to the inside. So, yes, it is a mailbox. It’s also one of the strangest I’ve run across. It looks like an insect with a human face. Also, the yard is full of metal sculptures.”

Next is a closeup of the top of the other side.

Someone has a good imagination!

Google Maps wasn't able to find it, but to see the location on Bing Maps, click there.

1934 South Avenida Planeta

About this wild yard, David Aber wrote: “The first photo is the mailbox by itself. The second photo shows the steampunk motorcycle behind it.”

The owner must have quite a sense of humor! David took the photos and sent them (thanks!) on July 31, 2016.

Update (March 8, 2019): David Aber, who took the photos above, was in that neighborhood just recently. He added: “…you included a photograph of a steampunk motor cycle in the yard behind the mailbox. The homeowner has added to, and repainted, the motorcycle. I now call it "Snoopy and Friend". I've also included the line "I'm going up the country babe, don't you wanna go?" from the song "Going Up The Country" by Canned Heat.

4385 North Paseo Rancho

This box with bugs has white insects and flowers over a teracotta background. I buzzed by (and landed, for a minute!) (sorry :) on October 22nd.

7101 East Port Au Prince Place

Here's another of the gems that David Aber found: Snoopy on top of a doghouse mailbox. He took the photo July 27th.

How do you find so many amazing mailboxes, Dave? (Thanks from all of us on this blog!)

3119 East Terra Alta Boulevard

David Aber caught this bright-colored desert-scene mailbox on July 13th, 2016. Next time we'll see another of the boxes he's found.

4190 West Speedway Boulevard

On the way to (or from) Gates Pass October 22nd, this pinkish mailbox with a red spot on top caught my eye. Of course, I pulled over. ;-)

1421 North Painted Hills Road

I drove past this abstract blue and white mailbox when I was on one of the fall 2016 Artists’ Open Studios tours. It wasn't at one of the artists’ homes, but the box is artistic, eh?

This year, there were tours spread over four weekend toursr. I took these photos on October 22nd.

Australia's Ten Quirkiest Letterboxes

David Aber reeled this one in: He found a photo of a piranha mailbox in Australia. David wrote to suggest that I post it. After all, he pointed out, when I'm traveling I sometimes show you mailboxes from outside Tucson. Okay, out of the water!, everyone!!

(Dave wrote: “Must be a brave mailman that sticks his hand in this one!”)

I found the author and her ten photos. She (who goes by Jax) gave me permission to show the piranha — and any other photos from her Postie Notes blog — as long as I mention the blog. (If you love quirky mailboxes, don't miss it!) She said the piranha used to be her favourite quirky letterbox in Australia. (As David pointed out, Australians call them letterboxes instead of mailboxes.) (By the way, England calls them postboxes, and “the mail” is “the post”. I don't know what English people call the post under the postbox.)

Valentines to you, Jax, from mailbox lovers here in Tucson! (It may already be February 15th across the Date Line in Australia, but…)

Here's the October 23, 2014 Top Ten article from Jax (occasionally known as Jacqui Kennedy) on her Postie Notes blog:

www.postienotes.com.au/2014/10/australian-traveller-magazine.html

After you laugh at the letterboxes, scroll up to the blog header and click on “Mailboxes” for more hilarious, er, letterboxes. And try to find her new favourite (after 53,000 kilometres on her Postie Bike, and mentioning something about an electron microscope), look for (apologies) the dead cat.

As Jax says, she likes to “push the envelope.”

904 North Perry Avenue

I normally wouldn't walk onto someone's front porch to take a photo of their mailbox! But this home was on the Dunbar/Spring house tour October 16th.

A fabulous old-style box, isn't it?

901 North Perry Avenue

Here's a plain vanilla (actually, blue-violet :) mailbox. I don't photograph a box because of its color; there are lots of boxes painted different solid colors. But I thought the way the house number was painted made this one interesting enough to show you:

It's the second of three boxes I found along these two blocks of Perry Avenue on October 16th.

912 North Perry Avenue

The Dunbar/Spring neighborhood (just north of downtown) is full of art. This is the first of three boxes in two blocks of Perry Avenue:

The house number painted on the curb is in the same style:

I was there on October 16th.

2937 East Eastland Street

This blue and white mailbox has what looks to me like a scene of mountains and clouds with (on the photo below) saguaro in front. Don't miss the little blue and white saguaro on the post.

Nice! I found it on December 22nd.

3372 East 26th Street

South of Reid Park on December 16th, I rolled by a home with a sense of humor. The yard has a rusted or brown (I couldn't tell which) saguaro. In front of the yard is a rusted/brown fence. And along the street is this tilted brown-painted mailbox with a flower in front.

Amazing.

3150 East 26th Street

This pair of spotted mailboxes is at 3142 & 3150 East 26th, just south of Reid Park.

I spotted ;-) them on December 16th.

55 East Calle BelleZZZa

I usually don't post mailboxes on a Sunday. But I'm making an exception for New Year's Day, a great time for a snooze.

(Probably) no holiday mailboxes this week

Last week, I posted one holiday mailbox every day; I'd found a lot of them! I was sure I'd find more, but I haven't yet. I'll keep looking around and post any I find before New Year's Day. Otherwise, we'll be back to our regularly-scheduled mailboxes on January 3rd.

Happy 2017!

Holiday mailbox #7: 3186 East 25th Street

Why not cover a mailbox with lights?

The street was (like a lot of Tucson streets) pitch-black. So the lights really stand out.

Holiday mailbox #6: 2937? East 19th Street

This mailbox looks a bit worn. So do the boughs and ribbon.

For some reason, I didn't get the exact address. The camera data says it's at 2937? East 19th.

Holiday mailbox #5: 2807 East 20th Street

The tinsel matches that on the home:

There are some flowers on the side, but there's also a sort of disk on top that reminded me of some kind of antenna. When I got close, though, I could see that it used the be the face of a cat! It had faint black marks under fresh white paint. I used the Burn tool on my favorite free editor GIMP to darken just those areas:

I don't photograph every holiday mailbox I see, but I backed up right away and parked when I rolled by this one on December 22nd.

Holiday mailbox #4: 6025 East 5th Street

It's been a long time since I watched Sesame Street, but could that be Kermit the Frog dressed up in a sort of Santa outfit?

I hopped by on December 18th.