3930 East Paseo Dorado

This blue, white and red mailbox looks like it might have been painted as the French flag (though the blue is mostly lighter than the royal blue, maybe it's just faded?). A Wikipedia article says that the mount side should be royal blue. Hmmm. These might also just be U.S.A. colors... a car in the driveway had a U.S. flag above the window.

This was the last mailbox I found on my February 26th ride along these streets east of Randolph Park.

4047 East Paseo Dorado

I photographed this mailbox, with faded desert scenes on both side (and a butterfly flag), on February 26th.

4116 East Paseo Dorado

Like yesterday's mailbox, this one has a “post” that looks broken. My guess is that the original post was broken somehow, so the owner put the same box on this stack of bricks — maybe the base of the original post? This arrangement also leaves the box just a foot or two off of the ground...

Maybe a drunken mailbox-smasher was weaving down this block of Paseo Dorado? :)

I came across this scene on February 26th.

4137 East Paseo Dorado

Looks like someone had an accident! This black mailbox seems to have been knocked off its metal post, which is now bent (also notice the scrolls on the ground). Now it's duct-taped to a stack of cinderblock.

I took the photo on February 26th, so this might have been fixed by now. (In tomorrow's, I'll show a mailbox nearby that looks like it might've met the same fate as this one — but with a different result.)

4228 & 4156 East Paseo Dorado

As you've seen here, artistic mailboxes seem to come in groups. These two mailboxes are a block apart from each other along Paseo Dorado — with the house number, quarter sun and saguaro between the posts.


I photographed both of them them on February 26th.

4252 East Paseo Dorado

We don't usually show mailboxes with Kokopelli because there are so many of them, but this one was more interesting than most. Check out the flag, too.

I took the photo on February 26th.

4261 Camino de la Colina

This black mailbox is mounted on some kind of machinery. If you recognize it, please leave a comment below.

(Comments can be anonymous, if you'd like — though they are moderated.)

I found it on February 26th.

3549 East 23rd Street: Free Beer after Tax Day

Mailboxes are useful for hanging signs from — such as the FREE BEER sign on this porch mailbox.

I have no idea if they're serious, what kind of beer it might be, or whether they're using their supply tonight for their own after-tax celebration.

(I took the photo on March 29th.)

4114 Camino de la Colina

This metallic-colored mailbox a flag made from a ratcheting socket wrench handle — with other hardware added for decoration:

I took the photos on February 26th.

4049 Camino de la Colina

For a short street (as far as I know, it's just four blocks long — between Alvernon & Columbus), Camino de la Colina has a lot of great mailboxes! This black box is no exception. It has handpainted numbers 4049 in fun styles on both sides. It also has “Jung!” on the end... who, Carl Jung?... and what does he have to do with mail? (If you see the connection, please leave a comment at the end of this article!)

I found it on February 26th.

P.S. I've updated yesterday's entry to also show the other side of that critterlicious mailbox. Click there to see it.

4026 Camino de la Colina

This green mailbox has handpainted critters on both sides. I snapped it on February 26th:

3965 Camino de la Colina

This brown metal mailbox has a pull-out horizontal flag and big metal flowers on the pole — which is made of four pieces of wood.

I found it on February 26th.

3956 Camino de la Colina

This mailbox with a blue-painted wooden door is in a post made of a mixture of bricks. One has the house number painted on (actually, painted as an outline). The flag is mounted on (what else?) a brick.

I found it on February 26th.

3942 Camino de la Colina

I visit every street in a neighborhood on my art-hunting bicycle rides, but creative mailboxes tend to come in groups on particular streets. Here's another in the mailboxes I spotted February 26th on Camino de la Colina:

It's a critter “post” with diamond-shaped numbers on diamond-shaped blocks, holding a black mailbox with a critter flag... topped with a blue zig-zag line.

3916 Camino de la Colina

This worn-looking black mailbox is mounted on the base (the column) of a water pump. (There are quite a few of these around Tucson, but so far they've all been different from each other.)

I took the photo on February 26th.

3915 East Paseo Grande

Wildly-colored (and fairly-faded) snakes, snakes, snakessssss are slithering across this white mailbox:

I found it on February 26th.

4005 East Paseo Grande

This black mailbox is mounted on what looks to me like two car suspension springs.

(Google Maps couldn't find this address. Here's a Mapquest map.) I sprang by here on February 26th.

4014 East Paseo Grande

Fáilte in Irish and Fàilte in Scottish Gaelic mean “welcome.” I rode by this friendly mailbox with a curved post, decorated with clovers (or shamrocks?), on February 26th.

(Google Maps couldn't find this address. Here's a Mapquest map.)

4128 East Paseo Grande

This all-red mailbox has the rising (setting?) sun, mountains, and a saguaro inside the post. I found it on a long art-hunting bike ride February 26th.

(Google Maps didn't know this address. Here's a Mapquest map.)

4104 East Camino De Palmas

The black mailbox — mounted on what looks to me like an old water pump — is tilted. (I didn't try the pump handle to see if I could straighten out the box.)

I rolled by on February 26th.

1602 North Old Pueblo Circle

Photographed on February 24th, it's a brick... mailbox:

The owner told me that there's more to come. When I have a new photo, I'll let you know.

1610 North Old Pueblo Circle

Between the posts of this plain black mailbox is mesh with the initials E S — the homeowner name(s), I guess?

I was there on February 24th.

Flowers for Easter

This plain mailbox stands in a cheerful pot of (artificial) flowers at 3611 East 23rd Street. I snapped its photo two days ago.

1608 South Treat Avenue

This corrugated metal mailbox has a black stencil of a cowboy on a horse, and the post is an auger (a tool for drilling into the ground).

I don't think I've shown many auger posts on this blog. There are actually quite a few of them around town — though not nearly as many augers as there are saguaros or Kokopellis.

I found this boring :) mailbox on February 1st.

2924 East 28th Street

This mailbox has a hand-painted desert scene on each side.

I found it on February 1st.

2321 South Layton Place

One of the people standing outside this home walked over to talk with me as I shot the photo. This black mailbox with flames is mounted on a steel tank that probably was used for some kind of flammable gas. She said that someone had knocked down their previous mailbox (with a car, I think) and that this was going to be harder to break!

I was there near sunset on January 26th.

2202 South Hemlock Stravenue

This black and square mailbox has old-time messenger designs. It's mounted on a modern black crankshaft post. The gate behind shows the house address.

I took the photo on January 26th.

2426 South Holly Stravenue

Sunset gives a kind of surreal quality to this black mailbox with its house number on top of dripping orange and white paint.

I was there on January 26th.

1920 South Howard Stravenue

A standard mailbox with sun, saguaro and adobe home between its two posts. How “Tucson!”

I was in the neighborhood on January 26th.

2001 South Camilla Stravenue

Between the two posts of this mailbox are a sun, a dolphin, and some ocean waves.

(How did I know that it's a dolphin and not a porpoise? I found two articles online. The first one said “Porpoises lack a rostrum or a beak. This rostrum is very prominent in dolphins.” The second article had photos.)

I floated by on January 26th.

2408 East 23rd Street

This fun white box and post have black (cattle-shaped?) spots.

I grazed this neighborhood's mailboxes on January 21st.

2109 East 33rd Street

This mailbox is in its own "house" complete with a roof. The torn side shows steel underneath.




On the post is a Kokopelli design. I've darkened it here to make the figure easier to see.


I took the photos on January 21st.

40 horseshoes for entry #100: 2034 South Olsen Avenue

OK, I have trouble counting all of the horseshoes in the mailbox post. But (after trying a few times), I think there are 40 — or maybe 41. (If you have more patience for that kind of trivial pursuit, please feel free to correct me! :) However many horseshoes make up this mailbox post, I think it's probably the most amazing mailbox I'd found to this point (I was roped in by it on January 21st):

The "post" is a cowboy (made from horseshoes!) twirling a lasso. Here are two closer views:


The mailbox (and home) owner used to work for the local guy who made the mailbox. (I didn't get either person's name.) Maybe that explains why this is such a fabulous piece of work?

Happy 100th to us!

1957 South Martin Avenue

This mailbox is similar to yesterday's. But the post is painted a different color, and the tiles are different: solid blue as well as a blue design on white.

I was in the neighborhood January 21st.

1009 South Martin Avenue

This brown mailbox has cross-shaped tiles on all four sides of a terracota-painted post.

I took the photo on January 21st.

Desert “air mail” along CA highway 62

This blog is about Tucson mailboxes. But I travel a fair amount, so from time to time I'll post a mailbox that's out of town. When I saw this one yesterday, in the eastern California desert, I knew right away what I'd be “posting” here this morning:


As I drove along California 62, not far from the Arizona border (at Parker), I spotted that tall sign post at the corner of Iron Mountain Pump Plant Road. (You can click there for a satellite view.) Near the top of the post was a mailbox. But what was the address on the mailbox? I zoomed in and saw “OOP.” OOP?? There was a another post to the right of the box, covering what might be another letter on the back. I stood behind the box and zoomed in even more:

If you know the story of this box — or you'd just like to guess the missing letter that used to be before “OOPS” — please leave a comment below.

(PS: This is a small example of a much bigger sign forest in Arctic Canada. There are shots of it in the middle of my drive to Inuvik photo series.)

1815 South Olsen Avenue

There's a horse and rider, with a beautiful finish, between the two black posts underneath this black mailbox.
When I was there, on January 21, admiring his work, the owner, Kurt Shutes, told me that he made it himself. I've forgotten what he told me about the finish.

Kurt is the former owner of Pop-Up Magic, a business that made all kinds of art objects. They suspended business a year ago but may re-open. Some of his work was with Chris Andrews, a talented airbrush artist. For instance, the two of them did the gorgeous flowers outside the St. Augustine Cathedral downtown.

I'm looking forward to listing Kurt and Chris when I re-launch the TucsonArt.info website (in the next month, I hope!).

2005 South Amalia Avenue

The white curved post is made of big chain links. There are a fair number of these around town. Some of them might be mass-produced, but I think most are hand-made. (Can you guess how it's done? I haven't looked at one, but my guess is that the ends of the links are welded together.)

I weaved past this mailbox not long before sunset on January 21st.

(A similar post is made of horseshoes. I'll show it five days from now — around March 21st — on the 100th blog entry.)