Postcards, a drive-in theater, hawks, flowers and even clouds shaped like fluffy white bunnies - the imagery for the community mural in the Miracle Manor Neighborhood was designed with input from residents of all ages.
The mural on the side of the S & K Market, at 2520 N. 15th Ave. north of Grant Road, was a coordinated effort between the Miracle Manor Neighborhood Association and the Youth Empowerment Services Network. It was completed in April 2010. The neighborhood is bounded by Grant Road and Miracle Mile, Oracle Road and Fairview Avenue.
"Back in the late 1940s and early '50s when the neighborhood was being developed, residents who still lived here from that time offered up information for the history of the neighborhood," said Marsha Quinn, a neighborhood resident who was involved in the mural project. "We really wanted to have the mural be meaningful to the neighborhood, and the seniors really had a lot of input."
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Through community meetings and get-togethers with small groups, organizers decided on elements to include in the mural.
Originally, Miracle Mile was a palm-tree-and-motel-lined gateway to Tucson. Postcards depicted in the mural show lodging where celebrities stayed in town to film at Old Tucson Studios, Quinn said.
The drive-in represented in the mural disappeared decades ago, but the neighborhood elders told Quinn "the young people used to sit on the roof of one of the lower buildings at Nash school and watch the movies, but they had to stop that because some of the movies weren't fit for children."
As far as the wildlife, "I remember kids talking about wanting bunnies because, when it was less developed, there were rabbits running around in the fields," she said. "And everybody insisted we have hawks because there are Cooper's hawks in the neighborhood, at the park and the cemetery."
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Contact reporter Kimberly Matas at kmatas@azstarnet.com or 573-4191.
