Murals

Exploring murals in the area has been on my list for years. We have viewed murals on Route 66 and in cities like Los Angeles. Why not check out our local area? 

Roosevelt Row

We started our two-hour mural tour at Roosevelt Row in downtown Phoenix, around 695 E Roosevelt Street. We parked along the street and walked only one city block, finding several murals in that area. We could see many more if we ventured further. Definitely will need to make another trip...or two!

1350 W Rosevelt

Our next location was in a parking lot, so it was quick. The wall of the building and the back block wall of the parking lot had car murals.

1220 S Central  --  Light Rail on Central & Washington

We headed north to see the murals on Central. Papa and I were looking for the basketball mural and had a bonus of the Black Lives Matter mural pictured on a building across the parking lot. There was considerable light rail construction along Central Avenue so this was a bit challenging to locate.

Top left:  Second & Adams Street   

Middle & bottom left: 100 N. First Street (corner of Adams St.)

Top right: 24 N. 2nd Street  --  Bottom right: 110 N. Central Avenue

It was a perfect day with temperatures in the upper 80s. That's amazing for June! We took advantage of the weather and parked in a garage at 1 E Washington Street for an hour while we walked to see murals downtown. We saw more than pictured above, and missed so many too!

Top left, clockwise: Chase Field (Diamondbacks), Phoenix Convention Center, 

downtown office buildings, Footprint Center (Phoenix Suns, Mercury)

We wandered around the downtown area, checking out sports venues and office buildings. It was at that point we had our epiphany. We do this in so many metro areas as we travel. Why don't we explore our own "backyard” more often?

Top photos:  Somewhere in Phoenix

Bottom left: 1001 N. Central Avenue

Bottom right: 901 N. First Street

I hope the addresses listed are correct, but obviously I don't remember them all. A couple take-aways after this day trip: (1) I need to take a couple minutes to document the place/address/notes on pictures, especially when taking many photos in the same day. The mind does not remember! (2) In trying to verify addresses once home, I found nearly 50 more murals to see in the East Valley area. 

Given the number of murals available, planning a mural tour using the light rail sounds intriguing. Plus more trips exploring murals in other East Valley cities. Hopefully our weather stretches on a bit so we can do this soon. Definitely something to plan for this fall and winter, too!

Online ideas:

- Melrose District (LINK)

- Roosevelt Row (LINK)

- Oak Street Alley (LINK)

- Downtown Phoenix Murals (LINK)

- Phoenix Larger-than-life Murals (LINK)

- Tempe Murals (LINK)

- Tempe Murals Part 2 (LINK)

- "Every Mural in Tempe" (LINK)

- Public Art in Mesa (LINK)