Oakland Urban Paths: downtown murals

Saturday was a walking tour of some of the murals downtown, organized by Oakland Urban Paths and our parent organization, Walk Oakland Bike Oakland, and led by local artist and organizer Sorell Raino-Tsu. The walk was originally scheduled for March, but rescheduled for this month because of the weather. And the weather definitely cooperated—it was warm and sunny, not too hot, perfect for a walk around downtown.
After an introduction and safety reminder by WOBO president Chris Hwang, Sorell led us up Telegraph to view the first mural.

On the back of the Cathedral Building is the United Nations Mural. Sorell told us about the challenges in getting permission (separate permission for every floor of the building) and painting it (the height caused the crane to start tipping). And in an echo of the past, the mural was originally intended for San Francisco. But the artist Zio Zigler wanted to do it in Oakland, and Sorell helped make it happen. The mural was probably intended for San Francisco because that's where the United Nations Conference on International Organization was held in 1945. But in 1966 when it came time to fly the UN flag, San Francisco said no, and the flag ended up in at Jack London Square in Oakland.

Then it was up a ways and over to Broadway to view another large piece, by far the largest of the Beacon Mural Series by Joshua Mays. On 19th near Flora is a smaller piece by Argentinian artist Pastel (aka Francisco Diaz), featuring his trademark deadly flowers. On Thomas L. Berkley Way on the back the I. Magnin building is a large, striking mural of flowers by Jet Martinez. it's painted in shades of green to echo the green terra cotta tiles of the building shown at the start of the post. On Franklin St. there are two notable murals on opposite sides of the same building: Water Writes on one side, painted by Estria and crew, and a striking human rights mural on the other, painted by Ricky Lee Gordon from South Africa. Over on Webster, there's a combination fence and ground-based mural by Brett Flanigan. Brett broke his foot during the painting, and finished the job with help from others while he was in a wheelchair!

Near 19th and Webster is a large mural sponsored by the Oakland A's, painted by Illuminaries. Going down Webster a bit we passed a temporary mural by Sorell on a construction fence. Across the street on the back of Howden Market is another piece by Zio Zigler. It was painted shortly after he broke up with his girlfriend, and so fittingly, it features a man with his heart being ripped out. A couple doors down on the side of the former Oakland Business and Professional Women's Club building is a piece by Irot. And across the parking lot is a work in progress called Elevate. And next door to that was our final mural, a somewhat disturbing rabbit mural painted by Nychos, an artist from Austria.

Thanks to WOBO for organizing the walk, and to Sorell for sharing his knowledge!

See the Athen B Gallery website for lots more photos, including some of the murals in progress.
See here for more photos from the walk.

We're here! We're here!

It's been a busy month. But (mostly) busy in a good way:

• learning about Your Local Cousin
• leading a walking tour of Chinatown
• meeting up with other local history fans
• learning about local mapping tool Streetwyze
• leading an Oakland Urban Paths + WOBO + Streetwyze walking tour
• celebrating the repainting of the zebra murals on Broadway
• helping with a WOBO + OMCA black history bicycle tour
• hooking up with Oakland small businesses
• co-leading a walk about Jack London for the Oakland Heritage Alliance
• talking to people about Oakland and selling Legendary Locals of Oakland

That's only the highlights, and there's almost 1/4 of the month to go! Which is all to say, I may not get around to posting about all these events anytime soon... Especially since I have regular, paying work to do, too.

more about the Key Route Plaza mural

So, not only did people in the neighborhood around the Key Route Plaza mural not know the mural was going to be destroyed, the artist who spent more than 6 months painting the mural wasn't told. Below is a statement from Erica Rische-Baird on behalf of herself and Rocky, and they are understandably upset. The news that the zoning commission had already told them to protect the mural from the outdoor seating changes things—that means they knew the mural was valued by the community.

Ethan Fletcher of Inside Scoop on SFGate.com has a good article about it. It doesn't make me any happier about what Kronnerburger did, though. (Kronnerburger and Oakland neighborhood association at odds over mural). Ironically, borax kills black mold, so with a bit of time and a little work, the mural including "Borax" Smith could have been saved by borax.

Rocky and I found out yesterday that his incredible Key Route Mural off of Piedmont Avenue in Oakland (that had won the award for Best of the Bay for art and best mural by the SF Bay Guardian, and had been featured in Sunset Magazine as a must-see thing on Piedmont Avenue – something not to be missed when visiting Oakland, and that had been featured in many other publications beyond being beloved by the community) has been destroyed and demolished by developers converting the historic Key Route building, which the mural had been painted upon, into a high-end hamburger restaurant. We knew nothing of any of this happening until after the fact – after it had already been destroyed - when a concerned citizen wrote to ask if we knew the Key Route mural had been torn down. Rocky and I had not known.

Rocky had only found out last week that they were renovating the building at all when he was asked (not by the developers or building owner who never contacted him but by a member of the Piedmont Avenue Neighborhood Association), the best way to preserve some cracks in the mural. We thought it was going to be a matter of sealing those, and perhaps better reinforcing an area behind the mural wall that was weakening by replacing it with a proper support. Worst case scenario, we thought last week, was that a relatively small square of the mural where an old vent used to be and was patched up before the mural existed - would have to be taken out, which Rocky could have then re-plastered and repainted again to preserve the whole after it was reinforced from behind.

We were told last week by another concerned citizen that the burger place was highly in debt and highly behind schedule for their opening and that they were pissed that citizens had expressed concern about the restaurants’ outdoor seating plans, which they felt could mar the mural with the tables and chairs scratching it. They had told the planning commission about those concerns and the planning commission sided with the citizens and told the restaurant they had to redesign their outdoor seating plan to protect the mural. Last we heard, a tarp had gone up to supposedly protect the mural from the big rainstorm, but really, they used the time with that tarp under cover, to completely demolish the mural, sight unseen, without any community outreach or without contacting the artist. They gave no one any choice in any of this. They did not let the community give their feedback or give the artist a chance to address it or work to save it or fix it. The community had self-funded the mural and many had donated their own money to help have it created.

What took over six MONTHS of Rocky painting every day – all day – over eight hours a day - they destroyed just like that. Something that was beautiful and amazing and so incredibly full of details and history, beyond being so incredibly painted. Something that cannot be replaced. Something TRULY irreplaceable. Something special. Their claim is that there was mold in the wall behind the plaster, but the reality is that if they wanted to save the mural, mold or no mold – and there is no proof there was mold – it is just the burger places’s word and a very easy out) they could have. They simply did not want to deal - they would have simply had to take their time in the problem area - carefully from the inside, to reinforce the mural and preserve it. It would have taken a bit of time, but it could have been done. But they never wanted the mural. They wanted a window in the wall where the mural is, so that their customers, paying top dollar for over-priced, fancy-pants burgers with sides like rabbit sausage, could have better light to take selfies of themselves with their edible yuppster status symbols in this new world of foodie culture/cult consumption. And they wanted their outdoor seating plan the way they had it before being told they had to modify it to protect the mural.

I feel so sad and angry about all of this. It simply is not fair. They stole the mural from the community that loved it and had paid for it, and they stole it from the artist and all those who loved it, such as myself. And they are using the mold as an easy out to do whatever they wanted and make it seem like they had no other choice, when that is not true – there WAS a choice. And they made the choice, without letting the community or artist have a say. A choice to save it would have taken a bit of effort and time, which the mural was WORTH. Where was the protection of this piece of art? How can something that incredible and wonderful and amazing just be destroyed without any conversation or contact or community feedback or artist feedback? There was absolutely no effort to protect or preserve this mural. The action feels a definite reflection of the values of these times. And I feel so very angry and sad and grieving. I really like something that Rocky said: “It seems like this mural about communal loss because of blind consumptive greed has fallen to the same enemy. Interesting.”

Key Route Plaza mural is gone

One of my favorite murals was on the back of building adjacent to the Key Route Plaza just off Piedmont Avenue. J's Mexican American closed some time back, and the building has been sitting empty. The good news is that the building is being worked on, and a new tenant will be moving in. The bad news is that the lovely mural on the back is now gone. We discovered it during the Oakland Urban Paths walk on Saturday, while a construction crew was working on the building. Several neighborhood residents were visibly upset when they learned the mural was gone.

The mural was painted in 2005, and showed a Key System train, and Francis Marion "Borax" Smith, who created the Key System by buying up and merging smaller streetcar lines. Various figures and symbols from history were represented. The train shown is #159, which last left the station at 6:45 pm on April 20th, 1958. Artist Rocky Rische-Baird raised additional funds for the creation of the mural by depicting the donors as passengers on the Key System train.

According to Kronner Burger, the new tenant, the wall was full of black mold, and the middle had been a window and wasn't properly supported. They're looking for a space for a new mural. Regardless, it's sad to see the mural go

new mural going up in Montclair Village

There's a new mural being painted in Montclair Village on the outside of the local Yogofina frozen yogurt shop. There are a few murals in the village and possible plans for another, but this is only the second spray paint art piece in the village, and by far the most visible. It's being painted by Lisa Pisa and Nite Owl. Read more about it on the new entry on the Oakland Wiki. Way cool.

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It's true. I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, even though it may seem like it. Between a nasty cold, lots of (needed) rain, and work, I haven't been out and about in Oakland much, and I've been blogging even less.

photo of the week: Giraphics

It looks like the painted giraffe is trying to keep the underside of I-580 free of vines, but imagine that's actually a Caltrans crew that does the work. The giraffe is part of a set of murals where Harrison and Oakland Avenue pass under I-580. Read more about the Giraphics mural on Oakland Wiki and see a full set of photos.

photo of the week: Oaksterdam mural

Lots of people in Oakland were surprised, even those who aren't marijuana supporters, when the beautiful Oaksterdam mural was painted over earlier this week. According to Matthai Kuruvila on SFGate, Oaksterdam University moved out of the space in November after the building was sold. The new owner apparently didn't want to be associated with Oaksterdam and the medical marijuana community.

If you look in Google Maps Street View, it shows the mural, as well as various photos of it. But if you walk by in person, all you'll see is a blank beige wall. That's what it was for a long time, and was frequently tagged with spray paint. Then it was a large, collegiate-looking Oaksterdam University sign, which apparently fell afoul of city regulations regarding the size of signs. The mural was partly a response to that, by creating something that highlighted all of Oakland. Sadly, even the mural got tagged (with large red letters), which was probably part of the new landlord's decision, as fixing the mural would have been extremely difficult.

Read more about the mural and the original controversy, and see some pictures of the painting in progress in an old post on Living in the O.

Here's a closer look at the whole mural:


Note: I fully intend the new photo of the week feature to be, well, a photo from the current week. And while I have some photos that would work, it seemed appropriate to include this one from last year's walking tour of Uptown since the mural was painted over this week.