Tucson, Arizona-- my neighborhood tour (Oro Valley, South Tucson: house, bank, live)

[kdog]

Nice job, Daniel_t. I really like the concept. It seems that you went out of your way to paint the area as dreary as you could, weather, dumpster, vacant lots and all. Now go out and shoot some nice sunny pictures of a better area.

[BillyBaroo]

Originally Posted by kdog

Nice job, Daniel_t. I really like the concept. It seems that you went out of your way to paint the area as dreary as you could, weather, dumpster, vacant lots and all. Now go out and shoot some nice sunny pictures of a better area.

Reminds me of Robert Crumb. He loved to draw powerlines.

http://www.crumbproducts.com/prints_images/sha.gif

[Memphis Mom of three]

I hope this wasn't supposed to be funny. I know that it looks like a "bad" neighborhood, but this is where many people call home. My family and I are moving to Tucson from Memphis. Although we live in a "nice" area, many people in my city live in much worse conditions as these pictures portray and are trying to make the most of their surroundings as are the people that live in this neighborhood are.

I found this to be a very realistic view of what a city offers. Thank you for sharing this. I especially loved the snow capped mountains in the background.

--This is from a totally different point of view.

[mdtoaz]

I think I could go to any town in the country and walk a few streets and snap pics pretty much the same as these. Maybe not with the snowy mountains or cacti, but noplace is Pleasentville.

[Daniel_T]

Thanks for the comments. I wasn't trying to make Tucson look worse than it is. Certainly wasn't my intention. I just take pictures of what there is, and obviously this is what there was. I plan on taking lots more photos of Tucson in the coming week or so. I am heading downtown, then plan a trek around the U of A area. Maybe head up to A mountain or somethin and get some of those panoramic shots. If there is somethin you want to see, let me know and I will see if I can get those pics for ya. Thanks again for the comments,

Daniel_T

[Chowhound]

If you could find some more pleasant pictures of Tucson area that would be great.

Chowhound.

[Daniel_T]

that is what I plan on doing. I was just walking around my neighborhood which is not that nice.

[Mugsy]

Originally Posted by Chowhound

If you could find some more pleasant pictures of Tucson area that would be great.

Chowhound.

I am flying out tomorrow to move meet/do walk thru/collect deposits/rent for our new tenants.

I will take some pics but I cannot post them here until next week sometime.

My area is Southwest, and I think the rain is gone until next weekend...

[vegaspilgrim]

Originally Posted by miamiman

Typical in-town Tucson neighborhood. Many of the neighborhoods in the older parts of Tucson look like that. Houses that are odd-looking, small, covered in bars, and painted with tacky colors, in dirt-filled lots, without paved driveways are unfortunately be the rule, not the exception in most neighborhoods.

This photo thread does truly fog any rose-colored glasses that perspective residents might have before coming to Tucson. Unlike where I live in the Phoenix area, most things in Tucson are definitely NOT brand new. This is what "embracing your environment" looks like in the Sonoran Desert.

Honestly, some of the pictures make Nogales look attractive.

Those pictures indeed looked pretty ghetto. However, I've explored a great deal of the central Tucson area, and I've seen much better neighborhoods than the one Daniel_T is showing. Actually, most of Tucson is better looking than those pictures. And yeah, I've seen neighborhoods in Tucson where they park their car on the "yard"-- but it's really a crushed rock driveway, not just dirt. I've also seen tons of neighborhoods with lush desert landscaping and trees. And a lot of it is which angle you choose to shoot at-- with a camera, you can make an ugly area look even uglier than it really is. One or two of the houses shown in those pictures actually looked kind of cool. Miamiman, I can see how from your vantage point in North Scottsdale, you think the Phoenix area is a "new" looking city, but truth is, you can find dozens and dozens and dozens of square miles in Phoenix that look pretty run down too. Just to go the area directly south of downtown Phoenix, south of the railroad tracks-- it looks like you're in a warzone. Much of central Phoenix, south Phoenix, the west Valley, even parts of Mesa look as bad or worse than Daniel_T's pictures.

[miamiman]

Originally Posted by vegaspilgrim

Those pictures indeed looked pretty ghetto. However, I've explored a great deal of the central Tucson area, and I've seen much better neighborhoods than the one Daniel_T is showing. Actually, most of Tucson is better looking than those pictures. And yeah, I've seen neighborhoods in Tucson where they park their car on the "yard"-- but it's really a crushed rock driveway, not just dirt. I've also seen tons of neighborhoods with lush desert landscaping and trees. And a lot of it is which angle you choose to shoot at-- with a camera, you can make an ugly area look even uglier than it really is. One or two of the houses shown in those pictures actually looked kind of cool. Miamiman, I can see how from your vantage point in North Scottsdale, you think the Phoenix area is a "new" looking city, but truth is, you can find dozens and dozens and dozens of square miles in Phoenix that look pretty run down too. Just to go the area directly south of downtown Phoenix, south of the railroad tracks-- it looks like you're in a warzone. Much of central Phoenix, south Phoenix, the west Valley, even parts of Mesa look as bad or worse than Daniel_T's pictures.

I have restated many times that I spent a summer in Tucson. I have seen south Phoenix, I have seem the older parts of Mesa and the west Valley, but none could compete with what I saw in Tucson. Much of south Phoenix is run-down, but just the sheer number of neighborhoods in Tucson that look run-down astound me.

I highly doubt that all of the neighborhoods with bars on the windows are actually bad areas, but it somehow seems that barred-windows are somehow fashionable in Tucson. I have seen barred windows in the Catalina Foothills, on what are probably $700,000-$900,000 homes. Those bars make the neighborhood look ghetto and unsafe, when in actuality it is probably perfectly fine.

If you look at the picture with the car parked off the street next to that beautiful pea green shack, that was not crushed gravel. That was dirt. It seems people just drive 45 MPH down their street, hop the curb, and put their car in park wherever they feel. That also makes the neighborhood look cheap.

I am disturbed because these neighborhoods can look so much better than they do. It seems that people just don't care.

For as much care as Tucsonans put into making sure their city doesn't resemble Phoenix, you would think they'd put as much care into making their neighborhoods look like they're in the developed world.