Since early March when I decided to seclude myself at home after a day at the races with a scary ending, almost all my exercise has been walks around my neighborhood in the streets–not on sidewalks. Traditional urban concrete sidewalks are uncommon in Tucson.
Only in downtown Tucson are there sidewalks on both sides of the streets fronted by tall office buildings. After all, one can’t have a new client who just signed at $20 million deal step out of the marble-floored lobby of the building onto a gravel path.
In the neighborhoods, however, the old, traditional pattern of gravel and dirt paths continues. In the Midtown area where I live, there are some sidewalks, but not many. There are fewer still in the Catalina Foothills, and few over on the newish Eastside. Although, interestingly enough, a couple of the 100+ year old barrios adjacent to downtown, have sidewalks. (More about the barrios in an upcoming post.)
There are also dirt streets within the city limits of Tucson — whole neighborhoods of them. Which I love! The past is not past! It’s still here. (But more about this another time.)
So here is a tour of the “sidewalks” in my neighborhood.
As you can see each property owner has decided what to do or not do with an area usually occupied by city owned sidewalks. The spirit of individualism still lives in Tucson!
Black Lives Matter.
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Tucson trivia: the city was founded in 1775 which is six years before Los Angeles was. Of course, there were native Americans living here long before that.
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