Pas de deux (someday, pas de trois?)

The right edge of the photo above, at the corner of 4th Avenue and Stevens Avenue, shows two sculptures on pedestals. (The empty third pedestal is near the middle of the photo.) Below is a closer view of the two:

This pocket park is in a great location. As David Aber (who sent the photos) wrote: "It’s a nice place to rest and find some shade after a hard day of shopping, eating and drinking on 4th Ave." I'd add that it's also a good place to go on warm evenings." He added "[It has] free-standing wood benches, and two small concrete picnic tables with small benches. It has no name that I could find. However, it is the site of two bronze sculptures by Melody Peters. Melody has named her sculptures ‘Pas de Deux’. I think that is a good name for the park."

The sculptures are a big part of the story of this pocket park. The original plan was for the sculpture to be in the park by the time the new 4th Avenue underpass opened in 2006. My memory is that there'd be two sculptures (a ballet pas de deux) or three (a ballet pas de trois); there are three pedestals. But controversy over the dancers not wearing clothes put the project in limbo… and, as the delays mounted, the price of bronze was skyrocketing. The parklet opened without any sculpture and stayed that way for years.

Eventually, though, the Tucson Transportation Department public art manager realized that the artist might make two identical sculptures from the same mold — which would cut costs. Melody (the artist) agreed, and also aimed to raise funds to make a third sculpture. At the time David took the photos — August 27, 2017 — the two female dancers were still on their own.

(There's more of the story in the 2012 Arizona Daily Star article Long-delayed sculptures to be installed in underpass and the Arts Foundation page Pas de Deux?.)

Location: Corner of 4th Ave. and Stevens Ave. Get here from the Hotel Congress area by walking through the 4th Avenue underpass.

Parking: Limited during busy hours (which is most of the time). Try parking somewhere along the modern streetcar line and riding it to the parklet… or walking south on 4th Avenue to just before the underpass.

Hours: Early morning through late evening.

Christopher Franklin Carroll Centennial Park

This place, squeezed between a street and a parking lot, has been a long time in the making. (Our February 20, 2015 article Coming soon, we hope: Centennial Park(let) shows the empty space.

As the Tucson government page for the parklet says: “Christopher Franklin Carroll, a downtown preservationist, developer, and fourth-generation resident of the El Presidio neighborhood, passed away on July 8, 2013.”

It's a nice place for a stroll — but not a seat because, inexplicably, there are no benches to sit on. (There are benches across the street Next to the Corbett House. You probably shouldn't try sitting on these rocks :)…

Here's the parklet from Main Street. This is where you enter. (The Paseo Redondo address is at the south end)…

Inside the pocket park are three Tucson history plaques:

The March 30, 2016 KMOV-TV (St. Louis) story says the park was dedicated on February 12, 2016. The story is at Park to honor Tucson historic preservation advocate.

I took these photos on June 21, 2017.