Mailbox archive: 717 North Richey Boulevard

Someone went to a lot of work to make this elaborate flower “post” from nails and other cast-iron pieces!

I rolled by and stopped to gawk on June 12, 2013. I haven't published the photo until today. (By the way, I used my favorite free photo editor, GIMP, to select the flower and darken it.)

Mailbox archive: 3444 East Calle Alarcon

Here's a handsome mailbox embedded in a post that's faced with what look like thin sheets of stone.

I discovered it on June 12, 2013, but haven't published the photo until now.

Mailbox archive: 3554 East Calle del Prado

I'm not sure what to call the design on the flag and under the mailbox. The one underneath looks kind of like an apostrophe to me. Whatever it is, it's interesting! (As always, you can click on the photo for a larger view.)

I stopped by and scratched my head on June 12, 2013, just down the block from the previous mailbox. I haven't published this photo until today.

Mailbox archive: 3564 East Calle del Prado

This home has a mailbox with (metal) plants between its two posts…

… and the entrance to the home has a gate with the same design:

I stopped by here on June 12, 2013. I haven't published the photos until today.

Mailbox archive: 3942 East Guaymas Place

When I rode my bicycle past the home on May 28, 2013, I talked with the homeowner. The metal between the posts is recycled, she said.

I haven't published the photo until today.

Mailbox archive: 3935 East Guaymas Place

I spotted this mailbox with a roadrunner on top May 28, 2013. I haven't published it until today.

Mailbox archive: 4204 East Holmes Street

A rusty plant climbs up the post and around the rust-finished mailbox in this photo from May 27, 2013. I haven't published it until today.

Mailbox archive: 4525 East 26th Street

The flamingo by this mailbox post is a lot more tame than the lion a week ago. I found this a bit later the same day, June 3, 2013. I haven't published this photo until today.

Mailbox archive: 6201 East 26th Street

I found this flaming red, white and blue mailbox just after Memorial Day 2013: June 3rd. I haven't published the photo until today, Memorial Day 2020.

Mailbox archive: 4533 East 26th Street

No one will dare steal mail from here. :)

I found this mailbox with a lion next to it on June 3, 2013. I haven't published it until today.

Mailbox archive: 4558 East 28th Street

Mounted on a tilted blue pole, one side of this mailbox has a scene that reminds me a bit of Taos Pueblo in New Mexico.

The other side is much less fun:

This is one of the mailboxes I found on June 3, 2013, but didn't publish until today.

Mailbox archive: 4609 East 26th Street

Bet you can't miss the house number as you drive by this mailbox:

(The other side has the typical small paste-on numbers.) I found it on June 3, 2013, but didn't publish the photo until today.

Mailbox archive: 4669 East 26th Street

After groaning for a moment (I've seen enough smiley faces for a lifetime :), I stopped and snapped the photo on June 3, 2013. I haven't published it until today.

Mailbox archive: 4809 East Andrew Street

No, I have no idea why. :)

I spotted this smashed mailbox, mounted sideways (parallel to the street), on June 3, 2013. I haven't published it until today.

Amazingly enough, a Google Maps Street View three years later — May, 2016 — showed that the box was still smashed:

Mailbox archive: 4901 East Andrew Street

Here's another in the series of photos I took years ago but didn't publish. I rolled by this mailbox on a wheel June 3, 2013.

Mailbox archive: 4910 East Andrew Street

A sky blue mailbox with a two-color stripe:

The photo is from June 3, 2013. I haven't published it until today.

Mailbox archive: 4918 East Andrew Street

Here's a mailbox that looks to me as if it's by the same artist who painted the box across the street (see Mailbox archive: 4917 East Andrew Street):

It's another in the series of mailboxes that I snapped seven years ago (this one on June 3, 2013) but haven't published until now. The mailbox is signed SKay.

Mailbox archive: 4917 East Andrew Street

The mailbox door was open when I rolled by on June 3, 2013:

Across the street is another mailbox in the same style. We'll see it next time.

Mailbox archive: 4933 East Andrew Street

This mailbox sits on some kind of galvanized metal tube. The photo is from June 3, 2013, but I haven't published it until today.

Mailbox archive: 5657 East 26th Street

I snapped this photo of a mailbox in a pot with artificial flowers on June 3, 2013, but I haven't published it until today.

Mailbox archive: 5745 East 26th Street

Shining Light Baptist Church has this stuccoed post with a business-sized mailbox.

I photographed it on June 3, 2013, but haven't published it until today.

Mailbox archive: 5836-5842 East 26th Street

Here's a nautical-looking yard as I found it on June 3, 2013:

Since then, the big tubes have been removed. Here's a Google Maps Street View from May 2018:

Mailbox archive: 1536 North Sahuara Avenue

A lavender mailbox with big white flowers:

I snapped the photos on June 3, 2013, but haven't published them until today.

Mailbox archive: 5962 East 26th Street

This mailbox isn't special — lots of mailboxes are embedded in walls and posts — but the setting is. There's an arch shaped like a mailbox and pots of cactus all around.

I took the photo on June 3, 2013, but haven't published it until today.

(Not) April Fools: Mailbox crash tests

I kid you not. This photo is from a government-funded 1978 University of Texas research study, Crash Tests of Rural Mailbox Installations. Click there if you'd like to see the report.

Scroll through for photos of cute mailbox installations as well as bizarre shots of different vehicles the study used to hit mailboxes. But, to make sure this isn't a complete waste of your time, you might also want to read Appendix A, U.S. Postal Service Specifications for Rural Mailbox Installations. You'll learn, for instance, that if you don't have stamps to mail something, you can leave money in the mailbox and the carrier will take care of it for you. (That was 40+ years ago, at least, in 1978.)

Mailbox archive: 6111 East 26th Street

Both sides of this handpainted mailbox are covered with desert scenes. Even the flag has a desert scene:

I took the pictures on June 3, 2013, but haven't published them until now.

Although I didn't snap a photo, the mailbox is on a camshaft post. I don't normally show mailboxes on a camshaft post, but the art on the box won. Here's a Google Maps Street View from May 2016 showing the post:

Mailbox archive: 6152 East 26th Street

The art in front of this home is a real family affair. The owner told me that her son made the wrought iron.

The flag looks to me like a crescent moon:

The quail along the fence are her children and grandchildren:

I rolled by this place on June 3, 2013. I haven't published the photos until today.

Mailbox archive: 6211 East 26th Street

A vine and some bugs wrap around the house numbers and what must be the owner's name:

I took these photos on June 3, 2013, but haven't published them until now.

Mailbox archive: 2344 East 23rd Street

This mailbox has three desert bits cut out of its post:

I haven't published the photo since I took it on June 1, 2013.

Mailbox archive: 2338 East 23rd Street

Here's the second of three mailboxes in the same part of its block of East 23rd. I've noticed that decorated mailboxes sometimes come in bunches:

That one needed new paint when I found it on June 1, 2013. Maybe it's gotten some in the seven years since then?

Mailbox archive: 2326 East 23rd Street

Two sunbursts make this gold mailbox shine even more.

I discovered it on June 1, 2013, but haven't published the photo until today.

Mailbox archive: 149 East 30th Street

The brown mailbox isn't exciting, but that post is different:

I found this box on June 1, 2013, but haven't published the photo until now.

Mailbox archive: 1805 North Belvedere Avenue

Here's a saffron-colored mailbox with a big flower on each side:

I discovered this mailbox on May 30, 2013, but haven't published its portrait until now.

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Mailbox archive: 4349 East Lester Street

I don't think there's room for much more scrollwork on the post!

I found this extravagant box on May 30, 2013, but didn't publish the photo until now.

Mailbox archive: 3725 East Pima Street

This sparkly post has “3725” (the house number) on one side and “T + J” (the owners’ initials?) on the other:

I found this box on May 30, 2013, but haven't published the photo until now.