Tuesday, February 23, 2016

2738 North Estrella Avenue

Riding my bike by on November 20th, I couldn't miss this mailbox on a peace sign-shaped “post”:


That side of the box is painted with bright-colored flowers, but the flowers on the other side have faded:


Update (August 12, 2016): I just looked at this entry again and realized that the “post” isn't quite a peace sign. (Click to see a Google Image search for peace sign.) If you have an idea what this carving is, please leave a comment below. (You can remain anonymous.)

Friday, February 19, 2016

2041 East Waverly Street

When I drove by this home on the route of the fall artists’ open studios tour November 14th, the scene looked as if an artist lives here:


Though I saw the house number on the red circle, I didn't notice the number on the curb:


The pole was painted in same style as the box and curb:


Thanks, homeowner, for this fun scene!

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

2609 East Mabel Street

Along my route on the fall 2015 artists’ open studios tour, one artist had this mailbox out front with a tour sign hung over it:


Those are steel cholla on top — and a flag shaped like a cowboy with chaps to keep the cholla away:

Friday, February 12, 2016

4449 East 10th Street

It looks like the Mann Family have roots in Montana and Arizona:


Thanks, Brady and Celia...


I snapped their mailbox photo on November 7th.

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

708 North Desert Avenue

Here's the fourth of four mailboxes in the three blocks of this little street:


I've read that Sesame Street characters have been updated by HBO in 2016, so this photo from February 3 might not show the latest faces.

Friday, February 5, 2016

820 North Desert Avenue

This short section of Desert Avenue just north of 6th Street has lots of mailboxes. Here's the third of the series:


I was there on November 7th.

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

643 North Desert Avenue

Here's a black box with a yellow flower and the house number on both sides:


This is one of several mailboxes I found on Desert Avenue November 7th.

Friday, January 29, 2016

825 North Desert Avenue

Let's start a sunny, warm January day with the sun (and the moon) on a plain gray mailbox — painted by a young artist, I'm guessing:


The west side of the box has flowers around a heart:


I found the box on my early-morning ride November 7th.

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

5142 East Lee Street

There's no was I could I miss this red mailbox with white flowers as I rolled along Lee Street. (By the way, Lee is a great east-west bicycling street that's even quieter than Pima — which is just a block north.)


It caught my eye on November 7th.

Friday, January 22, 2016

5714 East Lee Street



We usually don't show mailboxes with posts made of chain. But this black box is too different — at least, I haven't seen anything like it yet! Its “post,” made of bicycle or motorcycle chain, is in the shape of Arizona.

I rolled by on my November 7th ride and almost missed it; the chain looked like a jumble. Something made me stop and look a bit more…

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

2001 North Ridgeway Road

Here's a mailbox with blue-green desert plants on a lavender background and a snake-shaped flag...


The other side and the front are faded — probably by the sun:


I slithered by on November 7th.

Friday, January 15, 2016

1003 North Sonoita Avenue

This gorgeous handpainted mailbox popped out along my early-morning bike ride November 7th. But the lighting — spots of bright sunshine and a mailbox with both black and white parts — made getting a good photograph a challenge. I've edited the photos to try to bring out the design:




That's the front of the mailbox.

Friday, January 8, 2016

711 South Erin Avenue



This cheery blue mailbox — with touches of red and a light-green post and door — made me feel at home on October 26, 2015.

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

4755 East 17th Street


This plain gray mailbox is covered with stencils (?) of horses.


I galloped by (on my bicycle) October 26th.

Friday, January 1, 2016

5853 E. North Wilshire Drive


Let's start the new year at a mailbox decorated for one of places — the Orient. (It's west of the International Date Line, which means the time there is much later; it's far east of Arizona — so much that the day can be tomorrow there when it's “today” here. Think how New York's celebration at midnight in Times Square happens at 10 PM Arizona Time? And so on even farther east: midnight in London is 4 PM in Tucson.)

But enough world geography… this is a mailbox blog!

I'm not quite sure where this box is located. It's south of Park Place Mall. That neighborhood has both East North Wilshire Drive and East Wilshire Terrace. Bing Maps Streetside shows a home on E. North Wilshire, but it shows the house number as 5888 instead of the 5853 I wrote down. Hmmm.

Anyway, if you drive into that part of E. North Wilshire you'll see this mailbox on a stoneware post.


You can look forward to bunches of boxes in 2016.

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Being kind rocks (but...): 6046 East 14th Street


As I ride my bike around Tucson looking for artistic mailboxes, from time to time I realize that a clever design I first spotted a while back isn't so unique. This one, for instance, looks a lot like other boxes on a pile of rocks. The difference here is the Ben's Bells “be kind” sticker.

I rolled (and rocked) by on October 26th.

Four rocked-out (or -up) boxes are probably enough. So I'm going to add them to the Not these mailboxes list. If you want to see the other boxes on rocks, click there and scroll down the list.

Friday, December 25, 2015

239 North Silverbell Road



I noticed this mailbox on October 25th, while I was visiting an artist on one of the fall Open Studios Tours. The post is made from a (former) saguaro cactus:
Just by chance, the mailbox is Christmas-green. Here's the other side:


The wall around the home is worth a look, too. You can see it in yesterday's post on the Tucson Murals Project blog.

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

4842 North Fontana Avenue

I spotted this Halloween-themed mailbox — surrounded by cobwebs — (naturally enough) just before Halloween. For some reason, I forgot to show it until now. I took the photo on October 25th.

Friday, December 18, 2015

341 East Burrows Place

This whale of a mailbox even has a canoeist as the flag (which you can see in the first photo below):


I floated by on October 25th.

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

1215 North 3rd Avenue



One side of this mostly lavender and blue-greenish box has a tidy tile number sign on the post.

The number on the other side is made with what look to me like stick-on letters.

I found it on October 23rd.

Friday, December 11, 2015

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Your story through a mailbox: Dímelo

Back on November 25th, we posted an entry about the project named Dímelo (“You tell me”): Stories of the Southwest. Watch their website — and, in January, look for the special mailboxes around town or go to the website to tell your story.

Friday, December 4, 2015

Highland Free School Rocks!



Their mailbox is on a pile of rocks, at least. :) And whenever I ride my bicycle past the school (it's between Aviation Bikeway and the U of A) it always seems like a tidy and happy place. On October 23rd, the playground was full of students. The mailbox itself is a lot of fun, too.

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

City of Tucson midtown mailbox

A sunny welcome to Tucson's Ward 6 Midtown Council Office:


The bottom of the other side has part of a bumper sticker, and the top of the box seems to say ART ART:


This box brightened an otherwise cloudy Sunday afternoon, October 18th.

Friday, November 27, 2015

2013 North Swan Road

If you're moving like a snail today after a big Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, this mailbox is for you:


I actually found the mailbox on October 18th. It's just north of the mailboxes we saw last time.

Update (March 8, 2021): The mailbox has been repainted.

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Dimelo's Story Mailboxes (and more)

Here's a entry from the Limón y Sal blog that's partly about a story mailbox project. Click the “this one” link, underneath the photo of artist Rudy Flores, to see one of the wild mailboxes he's planning. There are more mailbox photos at the left side near the bottom of the page — though none as wild as the story mailbox.

Here's the blog entry: Downtown: Old Pueblo Studios.

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

2005 and 2007 North Swan Road

As you're headed southbound on Swan past Grant, just to your right — or headed northbound past Pima, across the road on your left — is this double-headed set of mailboxes. Behind is (what I think is a) kachina dancer.

[By the way, the website kachina.us says “The word kachina (kah-chee-nah) has long been used by outsiders to refer to any of the hundreds of spiritual beings central to Hopi religious life as well as to the dolls that depict them. However, according to the Hopi, katsina (kahts-ee-nah) is more correct and preferred. In English, the plural of kachina is kachinas, but in the Hopi language the plural of katsina is katsinam.”]

I rolled by — and stopped! — on October 18th.

Update (March 15, 2021): Today's entry What's behind 2005 and 2007 North Swan has the story of the mailboxes and people who lived in the building behind.

Friday, November 20, 2015

4401 East Glenn Street



What happened to this mailbox? Is that duct tape around it? I didn't make a note about it when I stopped by on October 17th.

The big attraction, anyway, is the post covered with multicolored rocks.

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

4349 East Glenn Street

We've got bountiful boxes now, so I'll start posting two a week.


I think this might be a ladybug mailbox: red with black spots and two antennae!?


I buzzed by (do ladybugs buzz?) on October 17th.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

12550 West Manville Road



This flag-covered mailbox is just in time for Veterans Day. Although the address is on Manville Road, I spotted it a bit farther north on Sanders Road, October 25th.

The door is held (mostly) closed with a thick rubber band. You can see that better in the photo of the other side, below. It faces south and has probably been blasted by the Sun for years.