Part III of an ongoing series of photothreads that I never got around to posting for one reason or another.
DonB, my brother and I went down to Tucson the day after Christmas 2008 to check out the Old Pueblo. To us, it was damn cold and gray, something we're not used to seeing in the desert with any regularity. Don (thankfully) didn't wear his short shorts. ;)
Maestro, kick it:
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I find the Pima County Legal Services building (Tucson's third tallest) to be delightfully ugly. This facade is made of stone, but doesn't it look like a carpet pattern you'd find in an office from the late 1970s/early 1980s?
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And then there's this...(Cathredral of St. Augustine)
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I was in DECA (marketing club) in high school. We used to come down to the Tucson Convention Center for the state championship. My high school never won any competitions.
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Festive!
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UniSource Energy Tower, Tucson's tallest at a whopping 330 ft/100.6m. Completed in 1986.
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Truly, a sight to behold:
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Random gentlemen milling about in front of the abomination
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Bank One Tower/Chase Bank Building, one of Tucson's first skyscrapers, completed in 1929
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Pioneer Plaza, originally completed in 1914. Someone went and spilled 1970s refurbishing all over it.
To be fair, the building was severely damaged in a fire in 1970, which was a major reason for its renovation
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Looking north on Stone Avenue
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Somewhere near the downtown library. To us thin-blooded Phoenecians, it was cold. Damn cold.
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Tucson's second tallest, Bank of America Plaza, completed in 1976. Overtaken by the UniSource Energy Tower as Tucson's tallest a decade later
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Pima County Courthouse, completed in 1928
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Looking at Stone Avenue from the library
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Somewhere near Tucson PD's headquarters?
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Random low-rise that caught my attention
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We demand our parking structures to be olive green
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Looking north toward the mist-covered Santa Catalina Mountains
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Train Depot
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Heading west on Congress
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Speaking of Congress...
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For all your Chicago needs...
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6th and Congress. This area was undergoing some significant development.
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Given how old these pictures are, I'd like to head back down there and check out the area to see what's changed
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I...don't get it?
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Wig-O-Rama, for all your wiggity needs
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You have any idea where you are!?
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Evo A. DeConcini United States Courthouse
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We headed north through the El Presidio neighborhood, Tucson's oldest neighborhood as well as one of the oldest establishments in the Southwestern United States
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Some of the buildings in this neighborhood date back to the 18th Century
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Tucson City Hall in the background
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Sometimes you find the strangest damn things in the street.
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I'm curious to know how well these buildings keep out heat in the summertime
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Talk about contrast
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Aerial of the Pima County Courthouse
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Tucson's claim to fame (as well as its largest employer), the University of Arizona, is only a couple miles north/northeast of Downtown
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Looking west toward the Tucson Mountains
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Bear Down
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Clouds were finally starting to part, providing a better view of the Santa Catalinas
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The El Presidio Neighborhood from a whopping five stories...
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We didn't have time to go up to Sentinel Peak ("A" Mountain), and given the weather conditions, the view probably wouldn't have been all that great. If I'm ever back down that way, I need to trek up there. Here's my lone attempt at a skyline shot of Tucson:
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And that's it. Next up, ChrisLA, KingoftheHill and I drive all over the Southland on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in January 2009.
Thanks for taking a look!