Mailbox Art collection by Marcia Tetley

On Pinterest is a collection of fun mailbox photos collected by Marcia Tetley: 110 Mailbox art ideas.

Lots of murals, not enough mailboxes

Besides this blog, I also contribute to The Tucson Murals Project blog. We're just swamped with murals, so I've been spending my spare time trying to catch up and keep track. I'll be back to the boxes ASAP!

1902 North Arcadia Avenue: Split personality

I was there on April 26th.

4821 East Hampton Street: Police! Help! (with my mail...)

We usually don't show mass-produced mailboxes here, but this one is too amazing. (Besides, I need to find mailboxes as amazing as the ones David Aber finds. :) There are plenty of mailboxes like this in photos online, but a close look makes me think this one may be handmade. If you'd like to see more police public call boxes, click there for a DuckDuckGo image search. (DuckDuckGo searches just as Google does, but preserves your privacy.)

I found it on April 26th.

Blog on vacation

I need to take a short break. So I'm suspending this blog for a couple of weeks. Look for more mailboxes in May!

3439 East 28th Street: Steel flowers on a steel trellis

I've been tempted not to show any more mailboxes with steel plants growing along them. (Click there to see examples and info about why.) But they're mostly different from each other, creative, and beautiful. So here's another!

I stopped to smell the flowers (and failed :) on April 7th.

Flowers and a heart: 3761 East Juarez Street

On March 10th…

…I smiled all the way home. :)

150 East 19th Street: Doodles and sun over hills

This mailbox has a sunrise or sunset on two posts with fanciful steel between them:

I found it on February 19th.

Walk across Swan to see...

When I drove up Swan on February 9th to re-photograph the mailboxes around 2005 North Swan and 2013 North Swan, I turned right on Waverly, just south of the Swan mailboxes. I found rows of mailboxes on both sides of Waverly. Each has a different steel cut-out underneath:

The mailbox at 4703 has a post with a lamp on top:

What's behind 2005 and 2007 North Swan

When blog reader Annette recently saw the mailboxes at 2005 and 2007 North Swan in our November 24, 2015 entry, she emailed much more info:

I used to live here for 10 years. Moved out on November 12-2019. This property used to belong to a local pottery artist.

I would also like to add whom the artist was. Her name was Kay Mallik. She was known for her western style pottery. I am not sure when she arrived to Arizona but she had attended the university. I know Kay was producing pottery in the 50's. Location of the mailbox had been her property at one time. The brown brick building south of the mail boxes was her place, and a place for her parents to stay when they visited. The very front of that building was her studio. The little house north of the mail boxes behind the house was her studio.

When Kay passed away in 2001 she was servived by her husband Ruiss Ruiz. Naturally the property went to him. He later remarried to a Hermania Ruiz. The property went to Hermania when he passed.

Truthfully those famous mailboxes are in jeopardy of being removed. Mrs Ruiz's daughter has custody of the property in a quick deed trust and will be eventually be trying to sell both lots of land. To a developer who will have no mercy on those famous landmark mail boxes. Honestly that is a tragedy because it's something that was part of Tucson for so many years. Kay did give a lot of time to this city in some way. Her pottery can be found as vintage pieces. I have a piece of her pottery myself.

I hope this helps with some information about those mailboxes. They are a eye catcher when you are driving on swan or even stuck in traffic at rush hour.

The photo above shows Kay Mallik's place, and the two mailboxes in front, on February 9th. Below is the number plate on the fence next to the entrance:

I took the photos on February 25th.

2013 North Swan repainted (and more)

The November 27, 2015 entry 2013 North Swan Road shows a mailbox along this busy street. When I stopped by on February 9, 2021, to take photos of the mailbox and building just south (see next week's entry), I noticed that the mailbox at 2013 had changed. Here are the south side, then the north side:

But there's more. I glanced at the buildings on the land behind the mailbox and saw murals. There are photos in today's Tucson Murals Project blog entry, Zooming in on 2013 North Swan.

Metal flowers and leaves: 3372 East 26th Street

This rusty-metal mailbox has flowers. Behind it is a matching fence of plants and leaves:

Here's the other side. Underneath the box is a flower with a butterfly:

Update (April 2, 2021): The homeowner sent a comment with details about the box; see below. I cropped the photo of the west side (the second photo above) to show the turtle flag:

4261 East Camino de la Colina: Miscellaneous mailbox

I haven't seen many mailboxes with a post made of a rusty machine, petrified wood, a little pot with a fresh plant, and… well, you decide:

I walked away, puzzled, on January 28th.

4026 East Camino de la Colina: Reptiles and amphibians, oh my!

(I just saw The Wizard of Oz. A nod to Dorothy.) This green mailbox is a bit faded, but it's still as fun:

I crawled by on January 28th.

Large (box) on (807) Longfellow

This oversize rusty mailbox is covered with giant yellow flowers:

There aren't many homes along north-south avenues in this neighborhood. So it was a nice surprise on my mailbox-hunting trip January 28th.

Tree post at 4252 East Paseo Dorado

This post has a nice shape — especially from the other side, which was hard to photograph with the sun so low:

I found it on January 28th.

3445 East Presidio Road: One neighbor has more fun

David Aber found a pair of mailboxes on December 27, 2020. One is plain black; the other is fun! Talk about contented cows… this one is asleep:

Swirls at 602 South Harvard Avenue

Neither David Aber nor I know quite what this box has on it. He calls them swirls, and that seems good to me. Dave snapped the photo on December 23rd.

6941 East Edgemont Street: Yum!

Did David Aber have the munchies when he spotted this tasty mailbox covered with what look like snacks? I'm not sure what they all are, but I see donuts, pizza, a star shape that might be a cookie, and at least one rectangle that could be a Pop-Tart. (What does your stomach say? If you'd like to vote, leave a comment below. You can be anonymous.) As always, you can click for a larger view.

He found this on November 23 — just a few days before Thanksgiving. After this, I hope he still had room for turkey!

4847 East Melissa Street: Cowboy reading his mail

This mailbox that David Aber found on December 23rd has got to be one of my favorites:

A lot of real-life cowboys may get mail at their headquarters, but I like the idea of a cowboy opening his own mailbox. The post is nice, too:

It hasn't been easy for me to get out mailbox-hunting… David has filled in the gaps. Thanks for keeping mailbox lovers happy, Dave! We're off to another year of great mailbox art.

Seldon Smith's gifts, part 4 of 4

The first December entry Seldon Smith's gifts, part 1 of 4 showed 15 mailboxes, all on Montecito Street, all made as gifts to his neighbors from Seldon Smith. This entry has closeups of the last five; the previous two entries show the first ten. They're in order by street address, starting at 4053 East Montecito.

4053 E. Montecito

4057 E. Montecito

4060 E. Montecito

4061 E. Montecito

4065 E. Montecito

Happy 2021! Let's hope it's better than 2020. (It couldn't be much worse, eh?) See you then.

Seldon Smith's gifts, part 3 of 4

The first December entry Seldon Smith's gifts, part 1 of 4 showed 15 mailboxes, all on Montecito Street, all made as gifts to his neighbors from Seldon Smith. This entry has closeups of the second five; the next entry shows the last five. They're in order by street address, starting at 4033 East Montecito.

4033 E. Montecito

4038 E. Montecito

4041 E. Montecito

4044 E. Montecito

4047 E. Montecito