2021 South Sunburst Drive

It's a great box, but what is it?

David Aber, who snapped this photo on May 1, 2017, wrote "The Housebox (or, it could be a church or a schoolhouse?)" and that "it’s a mailbox cover and appears to me to be hand-crafted." (By "mailbox cover", we mean, typically, a printed layer of plastic that's put over the mailbox — vs. paint.) We don't aim to show stand-alone mailbox covers that are probably ordered from a factory — or other standard mailboxes— just Tucson originals.

10619 East Placita Los Reyes

Here's a closeup of one side of this hand-painted box:

Next, the other side. I notice two things about it. First, the scene on the mailbox is painted over the flag. Most mailboxes have a flag that doesn't blend in with the scene. Second, the house number is written on the plastic newspaper tube underneath the box. The number doesn't seem to be anywhere else (including on the other side of the tube — which I didn't show because it looks like, well, a plastic tube):

David Aber snapped these on May 1, 2017.

7557 East 27th Street

As the expression goes: When pigs have wings…

Maybe the Silva family knows something we don't? :)

David Aber flew by this gem (and, lucky for us, he stopped!) on April 26th.

2201 South Avenida Guillermo

David Aber calls that one the Orcabox (because of the swimming orca). He wrote that the owner saw him photographing the mailbox and came out to ask what the h*** he was doing. ;) Once they got to talking, the owner said that his daughter had painted the box. She's talented, eh?

Here's the other side:

This is the second mailbox David found on April 26th.

2301 South Avenida Guillermo

Even through David Aber says he doesn't go looking for especially creative mailboxes, he sure finds them! This plain box with a tiki post is the first of three that he took on April 26th. (We'll see the other two next.)

Thank you, Dave!

1216 East Miles Street

I'll bet that a child painted this deep blue mailbox with cats, a sun, and green something-or-others.

The other side, and the front, have more designs and a cat-shaped flag with a collar and stars:

I pounced as soon as I spotted this gem on April 8th.

3538 East Fairmount Street

I found this mailbox with a political theme on March 23rd.

1705 South Jones Boulevard

This fun mailbox is along the top of a wall at the north side of the complex (the front side, along 28th Street):

It's not actually used for mail…

I took the photo on January 19, 2017.

128-136 East 17th Street

This mailbox is an amazing hodge-podge. The front of the cinder-block post has bluish tiles in different patterns. On the top edge, a green stone plaque has the name Montaño’s. Wrapped around that is a steel vine with a butterfly on top!

This was the last — and most eclectic — of the four mailboxes I spotted on January 12th.

Marvelous Meyer #3: 496 South

Third in our series of mailboxes along a block or so of South Meyer Avenue is this decrepit old box with three house number plates hanging jaggedly above.

I was there on January 12th.

Marvelous Meyer #2: 551 South

Next in the series of mailboxes on the 500 block of South Meyer Avenue (here's the first) is this one overflowing with mail. This was an easy find on January 12th.

Marvelous Meyer #1: 555 South

For some reason, neighbors on this block have some fun mailboxes by their doors. (The Barrio Viejo is a creative part of town.) On the left side of this door is the house number:

The mailbox is on the door itself:

I walked through this artistic block on January 12, 2017.

The next mailbox in the series will be on the blog August 29th.

2908 East 18th Street

The mailbox matches the colors of the window and door of the house. Here's the other side:

I took the photos on December 22, 2016.

4364 East 4th Street

This arch-shaped mailbox post is turquoise colored, covered with colored tiles. There's a matching tile serape on the wall.

There are actually four mailboxes inside:

I spotted it as I was driving down nearby Catalina Avenue, looking for art that I heard was there. (I didn't find it.)

1725 South Oak Park Drive

Someone did an incredible amount of detail work to turn a mailbox into an old jalopy, then mount it on a saguaro “post”! The flag is hooked to the left front wheel (see above).

David Aber rolled by this contraption on April 24th.

9162 East Creek Street

Those desert scenes with saguaro, mountains, and a sunset (or sunrise?) are from David Aber on April 24th.

8649 East Woodland Road

You probably aren't surprised that David Aber named this “Horsebox.”

To make this even better, here's the other side — with a real horse in the background:

He sent these photos on April 19th, which is the same day that his camera says he took them. Thanks!

Update (March 12, 2021): Four blocks east is Theraputic Riding of Tucson, with lots of horses — and horse murals. (Click there to see it on the Tucson Murals Project blog.)

8401 East Sarnoff Place

That mailbox is one of the type you can't pin down exactly. David Aber (who sent the photos on April 13th) saw it as a truck. When I saw it, the ladder reminded me first of a fire truck. (Also see the bulb on the roof: is it a flashing "emergency" light? There's another view in the photo below.) But, hmmmmm, could the curved bar above the wheels have something to do with a railroad caboose? Whatever: You can see that I obviously have too much time on my hands.;-)

Here's a view from the other side:

7218 East Sylvane Drive

We usually don't show saguaro mailboxes/posts here. But, as David Aber wrote: “Its sheer size and gaping maw caught my attention.”

I got curious what was in the "maw"… so I zoomed his photo in to that part:

He sent the photos on April 13th, which is also the day that I think he took them. Great sleuthing, Dave!

8232 East Brent Place

David Aber told me recently that, when he's headed somewhere, he takes different routes each time he can. That explains why he finds so many amazing mailboxes! (That's good advice for anyone — not just in a car, but especially on a bike. Side streets are probably safer and often more interesting.)

For obvious reasons, David calls this "Chainbox". He wrote: “I’ve seen a lot of creative ways to make a mailbox post, but never with a chain this large. It had to come from an enormous piece of equipment.”

(Then there's the rusted plow in the background that's been made to look like a bird.) His photo of the other side of the box is similar, without the bird.

He sent the photo on April 13th — the same date his camera's data says that he took it. Thanks!

5212 East 2nd Street

David Aber took these two views of a beautiful mailbox he spotted. Even better, he made the montage above. (Thank you!)

Normally, Google only allows us to show fairly small photos (800 pixels on either side). As an experiment, I've tried putting David's original-sized photo (3853x2806 pixels) online at TucsonArt.info. It's just the raw photo file, nothing fancy. When you click below, the photo should open in a new tab or window. Depending on your web browser, you may see the whole photo squeezed to fit your screen, or just some of the photo. (If you see just some, look for a "zoom" setting.) When you're done viewing, just close that window or tab. Here it is:

Very large version of the photo above

If you have any problems with this large image, please let me know. (You can use the comment form on TucsonArt.info.) If I don't hear of any problems, I may try this with future mailboxes. Thanks.

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.