Tucson Thrift Shop

4th Ave, Tucson, AZ  (3/23/2013)

twin beaks?

mural SW of 4th Ave & 6th St, Tucson, AZ (2/9/2013)

Happy Valentine's Day

4th  Ave, Tucson, AZ (2/9/2013)

I don't know who does their outside windows, but there are often some very nice window paintings at Delectables on 4th Ave in Tucson.

cat on a mural

a portion of the huge wall mural in Haggerty Park, Tucson, AZ (2/9/2013)

This is just a portion of the wonderful "Together We Thrive" painted mural by the Tucson Arts Brigade in Haggerty Park on 4th Ave in Tucson.

[Links: Perth Daily Photo recently posted some wonderful photos of a centenary celebration at the University of Western Australia which featured a very cool light show projected on the side of a building.  The pictures intrigued me enough to do a little searching to see if anyone had made a video of it.  Success!  Here is a video of the light show (be sure to watch for the giant peacock).  Incredible.]

Happy New Year!

12/7/2012, 4thAve, Tucson, AZ

Here we go, flying off into a New Year again!  Fasten your seat belt and enjoy the ride!

keeping an eye on the parking

9/15/2012, parking lot SW of 4th Ave & 6th St, Tucson, Arizona

just chillin

7/28/2012, Cafe Passe, Tucson, Arizona

sitting on the back patio bar at Cafe Passe on a lazy Saturday morning

de Tour de Tucson

7/21/2012, Helen & Cherry

Here are a few pics of deTour de Tucson from the last week, most related to rail construction for the new modern electric streetcar line that will run through the University of Arizona, 4th Ave, and downtown Tucson.  Lots of construction going on.

riiiight...

7/21/2012, Helen & Cherry

What with the deep potholes and large piles of gravel on our streets, I guess we can say that on average our streets are nice and flat...?

7/21/2012, Speedway east of underpass that the new streetcar line will pass through

Apparently there are detour signs for animals as well...

7/20/2012, UofA Campus, near 2nd St

"Doh!  Almost missed that turn!

7/20/2012, UofA Campus, near 2nd St

Workers laying asphalt next to new tracks.  They were using a front end loader to unload the asphalt due to the narrow strip between curb and track, shoveling, and then using a traditional motorized roller for flattening.  Looked a lot more labor intensive than normal street paving.

7/20/2012, 2nd St through UofA campus

Loading the front end loader with asphalt.

7/20/2012, 2nd St through UofA campus

7/20/2012, 2nd St through UofA campus

This stretch of 4th Ave south of 6th Street was paved and open last Sunday.  Today, not so much.  Sidewalks are still open for business access.  Must be difficult on the businesses until 4th is reopened.

7/21/2012, 4th Ave south of 6th St

4th Ave almost looks like a "western" town when the pavement is all ripped up like this... 

Where are the horses?

7/21/2012, 4th Ave south of 6th St

Its no wonder they keep warning bicyclists to be very careful crossing the tracks, this looks downright challenging.  [These are actually some of the torn up old rails that used to run down 4th for the old streetcar.]

7/21/2012, 4th Ave south of 6th St

kind of looks like they didn't stop...

7/21/2012, 4th Ave south of 6th St

ok, so up and over it is...

7/21/2012, 4th Ave south of 6th St

There is actually a fair amount of parking on the streets adjacent to 4th Ave.  Don't let the construction stop you from frequenting 4th Ave businesses.  Heck, use the construction as an excuse to come down and grab a coffee, eat a meal, and shop/window shop some while checking out the construction.  I'm sure the local shops will appreciate your business during this period.  I parked on the street below this morning and had a great coffee/breakfast at Cafe Passe on 4th Ave.

7/21/2012, from 4th Ave looking west

out west

7/15/2012, 4th Ave, Tucson, AZ

out in the morning rain

It was a simply beautiful morning to be sitting outside watching the rain come down at Cafe Passé.  I could get used to this...   Reminded me of trips to Oregon.  :-)

[Links: First, check out this very palatable (pallet able?) 4th of July Flag art up at Prescott Area Daily Photo.  Next up, some amazing Australian star trail photography by Lincoln Harrison is featured at courier mail.com.au.]

ok, well...  made up for some missing blog time...  Back to work tomorrow and hopefully it won't be so long between shutter snaps and blog posts this time.   I hope everyone had a nice 4th of July in the US, and a nice day everywhere else!

Tucson Electric Streetcar Progress

4th Ave, 6/17/2012

I snapped this picture last Sunday of the freshly laid tracks for the new electric streetcar route in Tucson (4th Avenue between 6th Street and University Blvd).  A lot of streets on or near the route are currently being torn up as utilities are relocated, tracks laid, and overhead power lines put in place.

This project will ultimately construct an infrastructure to support multiple electric streetcars traversing a route from the UofA Medical Center, through part of the UofA campus, up University Blvd, down 4th Ave, through downtown and ending on Congress Street a little ways west of I-10.   About a 4 mile route.

Although approved by voters in 2006, the $200 million dollar project is not without controversy and has its share of advocates and detractors with some valid points on either side.

One nice thing to see is that since its been approved and funded, it is actually taking place!  [unlike some other Tucson projects which have been approved, funded, and have little to show for the funds]

Personally, I'm looking forward to using it when it goes into service.  Ultimately, time will be the ultimate test of ridership and how it affects the UofA, 4th Ave businesses, downtown, and community.

Ironically, one of my concerns is that it might be successful enough to drive up land/business value along the route which in turn could change the flavor of the businesses that can afford the higher property values along 4th Ave.

I'm also a bit concerned that there might be a lot of bicycle accidents along the University route due to new students not being used to the dangers of riding parallel to tracks and dropping wheels when crossing (was a bike hazard on the previous short route of old trolley tracks on 4th Ave).

For more information, background, pictures, and routes, please see this FAQ.

I'll be posting more construction pictures as I stumble, sometimes literally, across construction areas of interest.

Fords on Fourth Ave

 I went down to the Fords on 4th Avenue show this morning expecting to find shallow water flowing across the street to wade or drive through, but alas, no fords to be found.  They couldn't have meant a fjord show, being this far from the sea?  So I settled on taking pictures of a bunch of the cool cars that happened to be parked along the street with their hoods open for some reason...

flower trash can

keeping with the bike gear theme, a sidewalk trash can on 4th Avenue

heavy metal -- surfing saguaros

I shot this picture at the 4th Avenue Street Fair of a rather cool shadow cast on the canvas wall by another vendor's metal art displayed in the next booth.  The actual metal art in the next booth was made from horseshoes (saguaro) and various sprockets, disc brakes, and bike chains (surf board).

four off the wall faces

Wall mural in the patio area of Mr Heads on 4th Ave.

All Souls Procession 2010 Costume Fashion Show

I had a fun time down at Cafe Passe thursday night watching a show of costumes used in past year's All Souls Procession events. Nicely done! But where's the burlap? Here are a few pics... (click for bigger pics)

Flam Chen is known for their stilts and very unique creative costumes! and fire, of course... but that's for another night.

As part of the event, they had an auction of customized All Souls Procession tee shirts from prior years -- customized is a huge understatement!

Cool band playing afterwards... Bummed that I had to leave before the Mission Creeps played, but it was great to be able to come down here and people watch.

Outside the Little Village on 4th Ave, home to Cafe Passe, and the Bohemia, The Wooden Tooth, and Ventana Galleries.

I was trying out my new G12 camera in low light shooting for the first time. It performed pretty well for a small camera, especially considering that I was juggling a book in one hand while trying to take steady shots and had just thrown down a large coffee since I was going to have to do a little late work for the U tonight. [More (better) pictures of this event by me and others are on flickr, select slideshow at top right]. (more better?!)

One more week until the All Souls Procession -- really looking forward to it! A great Tucson event!