Friday, February 28, 2014

4214 East Kings Road

We're in the middle of a bunch of boxes on a short stretch of Kings Road. (I've wondered why some streets have so many artistic mailboxes... is it “keeping up with the Joneses?” Someday I'd like to make a map showing all of the boxes I've photographed in Tucson and see if there's a pattern.)

This one...


...has handpainted flowers and vines over a salmon color. I snapped it on May 26th.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

4138 East Kings Road


Click on the photo if you'd like a larger view of the handpainted house number tiles on this double-decker mailbox with a fancy post. Each of the tiles has its number surrounded by the sun, some birds and some cactus.

By the way, this is our 250th mailbox on the blog. I found it May 26th.

Monday, February 24, 2014

4101 East Kings Road


I spotted this (hard-to-miss!) blue mailbox with handpainted flowers on May 26th.

Friday, February 21, 2014

4009 East Whitman Street


This large mailbox has some rust here and there... but, then again, not many people need to water their mailboxes! The box is also mounted on a trellis and partly covered by a climbing plant.

I found it on my May 26th crisscross through Poets’ Square.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

4038 East Whitman Street


We've switched from mailboxes along Water Street into the Poets’ Square neighborhood. (It's also sometimes called Poets’ Corner, but the city's neighborhood map for Ward 6 shows Poets’ Square... and the boundaries are also a square!)

Here's a black box with a desert scene in a circle in middle of its three-column post.

Monday, February 17, 2014

4252 East Poe Street

In the middle of the Poets’ Square neighborhood is a charming box with a child's touch:


I found it on May 27th.

Friday, February 14, 2014

4149 East Holmes Street


If you came to the blog today looking for a heart-shaped (Valentine's) mailbox, sorry. The best I can do (this year, at least!) is a pink post. The box and the rest are turquoise-colored.

The “Location” box, where you can usually click to see an address, doesn't seem to be working as I post this week's entries. So here's a clickable address: 4149 E. Holmes.

Update: This mailbox is also shown in the April 6, 2017 entry.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

2702 East Edison Street

The home at 2702 E. Edison (which, for some reason, wouldn't show up in the “Location” box at the end of this entry) has both a weathered red mailbox with a zigzag design...


...and a long mural. (Click there to see the mural. It's today's post on the Tucson Murals Project blog.) I took photos of both on May 20.

Monday, February 10, 2014

1710-1716 East Water Street

In the past couple of weeks, we've been looking at mailboxes along Water Street. The first was in the 800 block, just east of 1st Avenue. Now we're finishing this part of Water nine blocks east, in the 1700s, just west of Campbell. (There's more just east of here — as well as more sections of Water, here and there, including the last one I've found which is past Craycroft. I'm hoping to catch all of Tucson's creative mailboxes by some year in the future...)


Though I couldn't find any photos that look much like it, this design reminds me of something I'd find at a dock (without the mailboxes, that is). I found it May 20th on... where else? Water Street. The boxes are addressed 1716 and 1710.

Friday, February 7, 2014

1705 East Water Street

Last time, I posted a fish mailbox from Water Street. Here's another — a white box with fish on both sides:


More mailboxes from May 20, 2013 are coming next... though just one from Water Street.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Friday, January 31, 2014

1434 East Water Street


I found a lot of mailboxes on my May 20th ride along Water Street. This one, mounted on posts like you might find on a pier — and the next (next week) — have a water theme.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Monday, January 27, 2014

1210 East Water Street


On May 20, 2013, I rode past this gray mailbox inside a shiny post covered with tile, mirrors and crystals.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

1119 East Water Street


Here's a green mailbox with tile numbers on the post and a critter flag.

I came by it on May 20th.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

843 East Water Street

A handsome mailbox with soft mountaintops under a warm desert sky:


I snapped the photos on May 20th.

Monday, January 20, 2014

458 East Alturas Street


Here's a black box with the address, on top, in a mountain-shaped piece of rust-finished metal.

I rolled by it on May 20th.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

2519 North Geronimo Avenue

This black mailbox, mounted on an iron circle with a disc in the middle, has an interesting shadow, too:


I found it on May 20th.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

3411 North Geronimo Avenue


These tidy-looking stuccoed mailbox and separate address post have tile numbers and artwork around them.

They were along the route of my May 20th bike ride.

Monday, January 13, 2014

3645 North Stone Avenue


On the west side of busy North Stone Avenue is a mailbox that's probably caught your eye as you rode by. It's a dark brown metal color, wrapped by huge flowers and leaves.

(Though I'd spotted this place before, I finally took the photos on May 20th — by riding my bike along narrow Stone Avenue early in the morning, before there was much traffic. Bike lanes here are tiny, and there are no parallel side streets along this part of Stone.)

There's lots more iron work around the home. See the page 3645 North Stone on TucsonArt.info.


Friday, January 10, 2014

3398 North Fontana Avenue

Matching critters, top and bottom, on this black mailbox.

Fontana had lots of good box-hunting on May 20, 2013!

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Monday, January 6, 2014

2520 North Fontana Avenue


If you've been following the last few entries, you know that I was riding along North Fontana Ave. on May 20 of last year. And if you've already seen today's entry on the Tucson Murals Project blog, you'll know that there are handpainted murals on the porch. (If you missed it, click there.)

And here you can see the box. It's black, on a dark post set with square and rectangular tiles.

Friday, January 3, 2014

3307 North Fontana Avenue


On May 20th, I just happened to be riding far enough on Fontana Avenue that I spotted two similar mailboxes eight blocks away from each other. You saw the first box, at 2520 N. Fontana, yesterday. (If you didn't, you can click there.)

Here's the second box, the one farther north. It's black, with the house number and a saguaro between the posts.

(I normally don't show saguaros, but this coincidence made the boxes worth showing.)

Thursday, January 2, 2014

2507 North Fontana Avenue


This plain white box has its house number and a saguaro between the posts:

I found it (and the box at 3307 North Fontana; see tomorrow's entry!) on May 20, 2013.

P.S. The last half of last year was sooooo busy that I had to cut the number of mailbox “posts.” But I'm back on my bicycle, and I'm hoping to get back to posting boxes every day — at least, every weekday.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

203 East Linden Street

Let's start 2014 with a creative white mailbox that has the address — 203 E. Linden — in curved dashed letters on both sides:


I snapped it on May 20th (2013).

Monday, December 30, 2013

Santa Koala, 3202 East 28th


We started 2013 with a koala bear mailbox, at 3202 East 28th Street, complete with branches and leaves. When I rolled by last Friday, the 27th, I saw that the owner had added some Christmas cheer to the street.

Friday, December 27, 2013

2411 East Waverly Street


I rolled by this sunny spring scene on May 14th: a handpainted white box, covered by — and surrounded by — flowers.

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

2345 East Elm Street

In case Christmas Day in Tucson doesn't turn out to be bright and sunny, the photo in today's Tucson Murals Project post, Maybe a mural, part 49: Giant flowers on Elm will brighten up your day.

There's also a mailbox at 2345 East Elm, but it's not quite as spectacular as the flowers:


Homeowners at 2345: Thanks for the art… and the box!

PS: I've been super-busy these past few months. There just hasn't been time to post many mailbox photos. I'm hoping to break away a day, soon, to post a lot of the backlog of boxes. Please check back!

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Pantano River Park (at Speedway)

Is it the World's Biggest Mailbox? Well, it doesn't actually hold mail, so… maybe not:


It's just east of the Lowe's store on Speedway & Kolb. There's a map and some overall info on the Pima County website. The November 12, 2012 Arizona Daily Star article Tucson Oddity: Postcard tiles, 'mailbox' send welcome message tells more.

I took this photo on November 13th. There are more photos on the Tucson Murals Project blog in the April 21, 2010 entry.

Friday, November 22, 2013

Friday, November 1, 2013

2626 East Devon Street



On May 14th, I rolled by this white mailbox with hand-painted rectangular pictures and decoration.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

3720 East Lee Street



Okay, so this photo isn't really a mailbox. The mailbox is behind it - a stock U.S. Postal Service multi-unit box. But I thought the unique combination of a totem pole and a wind vane made this worth posting here.

I blew by on May 13th.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

2810 East Lee Street



Here's a black box with unique scrollwork and a ball on top of the post.

I snapped it on May 13th.

Monday, October 28, 2013

2726 East Lee Street

I'm on my latest trip to New Mexico (which is part of why I haven't been posting to this blog… the other is that I've been really busy!). But I'll try to Keep The Boxes Coming much more often now.


I found this white mailbox, with lavender and brown dribbled paint and a lavender flag, on May 13th.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

2711 East Lee Street


Why does this red-and-white mailbox have a post that's around ten feet high? The top reminds me of a place to hang flags or pennants. (If you know better, please leave a comment below or send me email.)

I spotted it (hard not to miss it!) on May 13th at 2711 E. Lee Street.

Update (June 19, 2019): Donna Reardon emailed us the story of this mailbox:

This is my childhood home I grew up and lived in for 18 years. My father made this mailbox and post. He was an certified welder and iron worker. The reason why it’s so high is that it was a light for the front yard. Of course the light on the top is long gone. It was pretty neat in the 1960’s. We didn’t have any street lights and the yard was very dark.

Thank you, Donna!

Friday, October 4, 2013

Another box that rocks: 2209 North Tucson Boulevard

I'm back from a trip out of town (without my mailbox photos to post). But now the boxes are back!

On January 2, I posted a box that rox — actually, a mailbox on a pile of rocks. Here's one on a post (made of concrete?) that's (almost) covered with flagstone:


I unearthed it May 13th.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

2602 East Mabel Street

Instead of putting your mailbox outside the wall around the front of your home, why not put it in the wall — so you don't have to go around to get your mail?


The owner of this mailbox did that. It's embedded in the stuccoed wall (and covered with stucco itself) next to a bright green and dark lavender gate. I rolled by (and stopped!) on May 13th.

Monday, September 23, 2013

The other side of 2601 East Mabel Street

As I hinted in the previous entry (you can click there to see it), I've been very busy. So busy, in fact, that I didn't check to see if I'd taken a photo of the other side of that box.

I found it this morning, as I was about to do another post. Here's the other side of the same box, on May 13:

Friday, September 20, 2013

2601 East Mabel Street

The Boxes Are Back after a break for (me) moving to a new home. This box is a great way to start (again):


It's white with green and black faces and eyes. I found it on May 13th.