Thursday, September 29, 2016

11910 North Koi Drive


I'm almost out of both mailboxes and time… I also won't be back home and settled until the end of October. A year or two ago, I met Emily Mann of Solaz Designs. She makes custom mailboxes; a few of hers are already on the blog. I asked her if she had any new mailboxes that I could show here. Right away, she sent enough photos that — along with the photos I've taken recently — I have plenty. I'll show one of her boxes every Thursday for the next few weeks. (Blogger lets you add entries to be published later. That's what I'm doing here.)

As you might guess, she calls this one “quailbox.”

Just as muralists create murals (which you can see on the Tucson Murals Project blog, mailbox artists create boxes. If you know of other Tucson mailbox makers — those that create “one-of-a-kind” boxes — please let me know with a comment below.


By the way, Blogger/Google couldn't find this address (today, at least… that problem sesms to be random. Here's a Mapquest link instead.

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

3362 East 26th Street

The mailbox is a tan color with (what looks like a child's) handpainted scene on the east side. The west side was blank when I found the box on September 18th:

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

6122 East 17th Street


David Aber took this photo, of a white mailbox with a handpainted desert scene, on September 10th.

Thursday, September 15, 2016

6120 East 29th Street


The Blog is Back! I'm also changing the second blog entry each week to publish on Thursday instead of Friday. (The Tucson Murals Project blog will now be posting three times a week — including Fridays — so I'm moving the mailboxes to not come the same day.)

I usually don't show commercially-made mailboxes here. But this one, sent by David Aber, looks handmade to me — even if The Edisonville Wood Shop has made plenty of them, I'd bet this is the only one in Tucson.

(You can click on the photo for a larger view — on a desktop or laptop computer, at least.)

Below is a view of the “barn doors” (the opening for mail) at the front:

Thursday, September 1, 2016

Blog on vacation

The Tucson Mailbox Art will be on vacation for a while. But we'll be back! You can watch for new entries on the @TucsonArt Twitter feed, or use one of the ways near the top-right corner of each of this blog page. One is by watching one of our RSS feeds (if you've done that, you'll know what we mean). Or enter your email address in the box titled (obviously enough) “Follow this blog by Email.”

Thanks! Please wish us a good vacation… we're ready (and we'll mostly be way off-line).

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

4000 West Gates Pass Road




Driving toward Gates Pass on August 8th, I rolled past a mailbox that looked custom-built. I found a parking place and walked downhill to have a closer look. It's partly a rust-like color (same as the rusted finish that's popular on metal these days) but with some yellow splotches or flakes. It has a critter flag and a base that looks a little bit like a fire hydrant.



I didn't see any street number on a sign, in little plates stuck to the box, etc. There weren't many homes in the area, but I spotted one up the road with a number around 4100. Then I came back to give this box a closer look.
Aha. Along the post are four numbers made from steel rods. They're backward in the second shot above, but you can see that they say 4000. Clever.

Friday, August 19, 2016

2145 East Glenn Street



As I've written recently, Glenn Street seems to have more than its share of creative mailboxes. Now that I'm (finally!) getting out on my bicycle again, I think a ride along Glenn will get you some photos to enjoy. (While I was out of the picture — so to speak — David Aber has been filling in the gaps. There'll be more of his finds in the future, too.)

Speaking of David, I think he'd call this “Dragon Box” for the sculpture “post” under the plain vanilla mailbox. Or is that a dragon?? If you have another suggestion, please leave a comment below.

I snapped this photo on July 4th.

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Friday, August 12, 2016

7042 East Calle Neptuno




This plain black box sits in a rusted frame made of mesh, perched on a square post and a saguaro, with javelina above and below. It's in the part of town with streets named in Spanish for planets (Neptuno), stars and galaxies.

David Aber flew by (I'm not sure if he did any orbits while taking this photo) on May 19th.

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

2062 South Avenida Ursa

Here's another mailbox that David Aber found in the corner of Tucson with streets named for stars and planets — and using calle and avenida instead of street and avenue.


You can tell why David called it “Driftwood Box.” He floated by (than emailed it, thanks) on May 19th.

Friday, August 5, 2016

6433 East Calle Dened

Like the previous mailbox, this one is in the part of Tucson, southeast of 22nd & Wilmot, with semicircular streets named for stars and constellations. The clever “post” is made of the front fork and handlebars of a motorcycle (if you know which one, please leave a comment below!) and the box itself has a headlight mounted on front:


David Aber hit the brakes when he saw this on May 19th.

As usual, I can't thank you enough for your contributions to this blog, Dave.

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

6902 East Calle Neptuno

David Aber sent this photo May 19th. He calls it (for obvious reasons) the Choo Choo Box:


I'm not sure if the homeowners made this clever locomotive-engine-shaped mailbox. But, whoever made it, the creativity of artists continues to amaze me. (They even attached a “smokestack” to the top of the mailbox itself!)

Friday, July 29, 2016

2602 East Sylvia Street

Here's the second of two mailboxes David Aber spotted along Sylvia Street on May 17th:


He's dubbed it Hot Rod Box.

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

2926 East Sylvia Street



David Aber has turned into a mailbox hunter extraordinaire (though he's told me that he doesn't go hunting; he just spots the mailboxes on his travels).

He calls this one Electrical Box. The pipes are electrical conduit and fittings, painted green. Let's take a closer look…




And the other side:

He emailed these photos to me on May 17th, which is also the date his camera's data says they were taken. Thanks for this unique find, Dave!

Friday, July 22, 2016

3502 East 27th Street



I've seen mailboxes mounted on wagon wheels before, but not like this interesting combination.

I rolled by on June 5th.

Friday, July 15, 2016

2216 North Sycamore Boulevard



What a riot of colored tile on the post of this mailbox!

I'm not sure why I didn't snap a photo from the back side.

While I was there, I spotted a tile mural out of the corner of my eye. You can see it on the Tucson Murals Project blog entry, Striking on Sycamore.

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

4004 North Stone Avenue



For a sewing business named Hem & Her, this plain black mailbox perched on top of a big pair of scissors cuts just right. (Sorry. :)

The business is at tne south end of the fabulous blocks-long Limberlost Neighborhood Mural. Here are photos from the Tucson Murals Project blog: the original 2006 photos in an entry named Looonnnggg on Limberlost and yesterday's 10th-anniversary blog entry. The business has an ample parking… so maybe you can stop by for some alterations, admire the mural, and come back to pick up your clothes when you're done?

(By the way, I've been so busy with the murals blog entry that I'm a day behind on this mailbox blog. I should catch up by Friday.)
Update (September 17, 2019): Now there's a mural by the parking lot.

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Sixth Avenue at Seventh Street



This stack of mailboxes is on the west side of 6th Avenue across from the corner with 7th Street (across from Miller Surplus). I'm not quite sure who they all belong to (and, when I spotted them, I was a friend; I didn't want to make her wait forever while I asked around). But they're close to Tap and Bottle, and they're covered with (mostly) beer stickers, so maybe…

(By the way, that's a food truck to the left, and its hitch on the street behind.) She and I wandered by on June 4th's monthly “art cruise” around the corner of 6th & 6th.

Friday, July 1, 2016

862 East Glenn Street



There's something about Glenn Street that encourages lots of creative mailboxes. I keep seeing them as I drive by, but I don't always have time to stop. This one, though, stopped me almost in my tracks.

(I was headed east, just past First Avenue. So I turned right on Park, expecting to “go around the block.” Ha! I had to drive south on Park almost to Grant, then loop back onto First. But, as you can see, the detour was worth the hassle.)


I (almost) screeched to a halt on June 1st.

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

2802 East Lester Street



This mailbox looks a bit royal to me in its colors of gold (the box) and blue (the post). The number, as well as a few flourishes, are along the sides and front.

(The car in the background was almost the same color as the post. That made the post hard to see. So I used the Intelligent Scissors tool in the great free GIMP editor to select the car and change its color to green.)

I was there April 9th.

Friday, June 24, 2016

7746 E Hampton St

This is the last of the four mailboxes David Aber sent on April 4th. He wrote “Someone did a nice job on the tiles.” That's for sure! The four-sided post is made from four rods with scrollwork between them:


Another great catch, David.

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

7526 East Edison Street



David Aber calls this “Mountainbox.” The designs on top of the mailbox, and near the bottom of the post, are similar. It's rusty metal with the address on a curvy plaque and a saguaro flag. Quite a combination!

He discovered it on April 4th. Thanks as always, David!

Friday, June 17, 2016

7601 East Waverly Street


David Aber spotted this shiny black mailbox, covered with bright flowers and on a natural wood post, April 4th.

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

9561 East 42nd Street


This “covered wagon” mailbox is one of the boxes David Aber emailed on April 1st.

Friday, June 10, 2016

9800 East Mary Drive

Last time, I posted one of the photos David Aber emailed on April 4th. Then I noticed that he'd sent more photos on April 1st. (Your contributions are much appreciated, David!) Let's start with the first of these two. For obvious reasons, he calls it “Rockbox.” He wrote: “I’ve included photos of all four sides of the mailbox because of all the odds and ends added to the pedestal.”


I've joked more than once about other “mailboxes that rock,” and I'd sure add this one to the list!

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

7750 East Seneca Street


David Aber sent this and several other mailbox photos on April 4th. He wrote:
The design on the Airplane mailbox is based on a Curtiss P-40 Tomahawk Fighter Plane. It was used in China by the American Volunteer Group (the Flying Tigers) in WWII. They were in China from 1941-42 and they downed 296 Japanese planes while losing only 14. Damned good shooting!
I wondered whether there might be other mailboxes like this one around the country, so I pasted the photo into Google Image Search. (Once you go to the page, click the camera icon and you can upload a photo to search for.) All Google showed me were photos of cars.

Amazing find! Thank you, David.

Friday, June 3, 2016

924 East Desert Parkway


April 9th, along the Heart of Tucson Art spring open studios tour, I found this artistic mailbox near (where else?) an artist's home.

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

2850 North Tyndall Avenue



This plain white mailbox could use some zap, for sure… the (much) larget-than-life jar of Tabasco sauce is a great addition. This is the third of three fun boxes that I found it its block on March 12th.

Friday, May 27, 2016

Mailbox(es) #400: Fish(es) out of water

After three and a half years of mailboxes, we're at the four hundredth:


I reeled it in March 12th at 2841 North Tyndall Avenue.

Before I showed you this “box,” I wondered if it was made commercially. First I did a Google image search of that exact image (click there to run it). I found lots of fish, but almost all of them were real. Next I did a Google image search for fish mailbox.

After looking at a few hundred fishboxes, I found a couple of green fish that looked a lot like this one. But they were in locations that seemed a lot closer to abundant fishing spots than Tucson. (Have you heard the saying: “You know you’re from Southern Arizona when… You no longer associate rivers or bridges with water”? :)

The second search above is fun to run: You'll see lots of fishy mailboxes.

With apologies for all of my puns over the years… Please stay tuned for the next 400 boxes.

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

2829 North Tyndall Avenue


I'm not sure exactly what's perched on the top back corner of this black mailbox. It looks like a bug, with bugged-out eyes, shielding its eyes with one hand while its other hand wraps around its belly. I'm even less sure what's hanging from its tongue: a door knocker?

Hmmm…: this was March 12th.

Friday, May 20, 2016

5221 East 3rd Street

Here's a black box with handpainted flowers and orange sripes around the side of its door:


David Aber was driving through the neighborhood on the morning of March 10th when he spotted it.

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

612 North Rook Avenue


So many mailboxes include quail that I've thought about adding them to our boring mailboxes list. But, like a lot mailboxes with other critters and plants, each “quailbox” (as David Aber dubbed this one) is generally artistic and pretty unique.

So, bring on the quail! These are cut from a rusty sheet of metal that also includes a prickly-pear cactus and what looks like tree branches.


The mailbox itself has a sort-of copper patina finish with splotches of gold. (I made that photo from the single original photo David sent me on March 10th.)

Friday, May 13, 2016

5637 East 4th Street




Some mailboxes as clever as this barn-shaped box (red sides with white stripes over the door and a black shingled roof) are commercially-made. We tend to avoid those and lean toward one-of-a-kind mailboxes. This one — which David Aber found on March 10th — looks to me like it's made of wood and is just a bit irregular.

(Who knows? It's fun, anyway.)

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

3250 East 27th Street


Here's a large metal mailbox, painted lavender, with flowers on top and around its brown post.

I couldn't possibly miss it as I drove by on March 5th.

Friday, May 6, 2016

3919 East Cooper Street


Bursting out of the middle of a spectacular iron sunflower is this rust-finished mailbox…

David Aber, who took the photo, calls it “Sunflowerbox.” Seems like a good name to me! He sent his photo on March 28th. Appreciated as always, Dave…

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

9066 East 20th Street

On top of curvy pipe sections is this rust-finished mailbox:


David Aber (who also contributes to the Tucson Murals Project blog) found it on March 17th.

Friday, April 29, 2016

1521 South Bristol Avenue

Here's another gorgeously-painted mailbox: white, covered with gardens full of clusters of flowers:



I took the photo on January 31 — the same day I was photographing a nearby spot for the Tucson's Pocket Parks blog. To see the tiny “park” and a link to the little mural near it, scroll down that page or click on Your own parklet.