Tucson, Arizona -- The 3rd Largest City in the Desert

[MNiemann]

Tucson's population is around 550,000 (near 800,000 metro) and behind Phoenix and Las Vegas is the largest city in the desert southwestern United States. My brother lives there so I went to visit him last week. I did not think I would like it at first but then I felt what so many people who spend a few days in the desert feel--this sort of intoxication with the odd plants, odd architecture, and dry weather. Now I want to move there, haha.

The Tucson metro area has the largest population of Saguaro cacti in the world. Saguaros are nationally protected plants that can only legally be chopped down by the state to make room for strip malls, and suburban housing Supposedly all the cacti are replanted elsewhere but at over 1000lbs per cactus I doubt it. These giants are also OLD. One arm can take up to 100 years to form, making the average 2-armed Saguaro at least 500 years old. Also, there is no water ANYWHERE in the whole town. No rivers, no lakes, no sea...just dry gulches that fill up under overpasses when it rains. All this said it was so different that I fell in love.







Rich people's houses




Now for pics of downtown. I took them my last day in Tucson at 6 AM. I was on a trip with family and this was the only time that I had opportunity to take the pics. I know the streets are empty, no need to point it out. Before proceeding you must take this oath,

"I do solemnly swear to not point out over and over again how dead the streets of downtown look, and point out how sad U.S. downtowns are compared to Europe, Asia, etc. I promise to not say that it looks boring and ugly because it is so dead."

Thank you.

















UniSource Tower, tallest in Tucson:


















If you follow my threads you know that I love back-alley shots:










My favorite building in Tucson:












Window in the City Art Museum:


An Old-Fashioned Music Store:










The University of Arizona:






















Up in the mountains it's a whole different terrain:




Thanks for looking!

[palermodude]

thanks for the pics of Tucson.
(pronounced TOOK-SOHN)
just joking ...

[christos-greece]

Very nice Tucson

[Brisbaner21]

Does is sprawl like Phoenix? The desert looks great!

[Quall]

I love the landscape. Looks like a nice city.

[TheTramp]

tucson does sprawl, but not as bad as phoenix

[philadweller]

cool kind of looks like albuquerque.

[MNiemann]

Originally Posted by Brisbaner21

Does is sprawl like Phoenix? The desert looks great!

Yeah...it does. Downtown Tucson, which used to be in the center of the city is now in the southwest corner of the city because the suburbs in the hills have expanded the city so far north and east.

However, Tucson does not sprawl nearly as bad as Phoenix. People in Tucson say that Phoenix is getting out of control. Also Tucson is not nearly as bad as my hometown, Orlando.

People in Tucson are also, in general, very committed to "living with the land" and going green, even though the city is growing out and not up. I'd hate to bring politics into it but Pima County is overwhelmingly liberal and environmentalist and many of the new projects in the city are designed to be low-impact and use renewable energy. The suburbs surrounding Phoenix, which are overwhelmingly Republican, do not have these

[arzaranh]

Originally Posted by MNiemann

Saguaros are nationally protected plants that can only legally be chopped down by the state to make room for strip malls, and suburban housing Supposedly all the cacti are replanted elsewhere but at over 1000lbs per cactus I doubt it...
...If you follow my threads you know that I love back-alley shots:

...

the red building on the left looks like it is made out of straw bales. they do allot of that in the SW. also, you can't "chop down" ANY saguaro. you can move them, though, which happens very all the time but you have to have permission - even if it is in your front yard.

[MNiemann]

Originally Posted by arzaranh

also, you can't "chop down" ANY saguaro. you can move them, though, which happens very all the time but you have to have permission - even if it is in your front yard.

yeah but do you really think that's what the AZ government does when they remove 25 at a time to make room for a Target?

[pogo_mieze]

Originally Posted by MNiemann

Before proceeding you must take this oath,

"I do solemnly swear to not point out over and over again how dead the streets of downtown look, and point out how sad U.S. downtowns are compared to Europe, Asia, etc. I promise to not say that it looks boring and ugly because it is so dead."

err.... but it looks dead empty, sorry

it seems to be a nice sprawly south-werstern desert town though

[Clay_Rock]

Nice pictures! I've never heard of a 'Cereal Cafe' before.

[MNiemann]

Originally Posted by Clay_Rock

Nice pictures! I've never heard of a 'Cereal Cafe' before.

It's near the University. I think they put cereal in a bowl with milk for you and people pay like $5 for this. The café was PACKED too! They must be making millions. Why didn't I think of this first?

[palermodude]

thnks again ... great pics

[xiaohx08]

wedding dresses, wedding dress, wedding gowns, bridesmaid dresses

[Cherylwhy]

Even though I am from Tucson, I have to admit that it is not only the 3rd largest but also the most beautiful city in the desert! I am very proud to be a native!

Cheryl
Tucson Arizona

[Aaron W]

Originally Posted by MNiemann

It's near the University. I think they put cereal in a bowl with milk for you and people pay like $5 for this. The café was PACKED too! They must be making millions. Why didn't I think of this first?

I had seen a couple of those in this area, but they closed. I think there was one downtown if I remember correctly and also one up in Evanston near the Northwestern campus. When they were open I don't recall ever seeing them even a quarter full.

[eastadl]

nice pics. I gather this city would have a fairly high average summer temperature

[MNiemann]

Originally Posted by Aaron W

I had seen a couple of those in this area, but they closed. I think there was one downtown if I remember correctly and also one up in Evanston near the Northwestern campus. When they were open I don't recall ever seeing them even a quarter full.

Yeah...I don't see places like that doing too well in more cosmopolitan environments like Chicago, NYC, San Francisco...in Orlando, however, I think people would be duped by the thousands into buying bowls.

Originally Posted by eastadl

nice pics. I gather this city would have a fairly high average summer temperature

Yeah pretty high about 105*F (38*C) daily in July. And that's lower than a lot of the other cities in Arizona during the summer.

[natepdx]

Very appealing! I grew up in the desert and have no desire to return, however if I did have to Tucson would be at the top of my list. Maybe just during our northwest winter & spring???? Thanks for the tour!