The Mural on Lake St. (Photo – JerryShots)
Progress is being made on the large mural on the Lake Street side of the Grocery Outlet in Altadena.
By Jerry Friedman
Located at 2270 Lake Ave, the Grocery Outlet has been a type of proxy community center. They have been attracting and hosting events regularly and so they were an easy choice for this project. It took a while, but the money was raised through donations from a diverse group of local sources and that allowed the project to move forward.
Greetings Tour is the brainchild of Victor Ving, who has created well over 55 murals in over 25 states. Having successfully completed a mural at Highlight Coffee shop, on Lincoln, and another at Altadena Hardware, on Mariposa, plans for a third Altadena location began to take shape.
Months were spent polling Altadenans at various locations, including a poll on Reddit, for suggestions and votes for iconic imagery that captured the essence of life in Altadena. Over 400 votes were collected and the View Down Lake Street took 1st place followed closely by Christmas Tree Lane. Mount Lowe followed with half as many votes trailed ominously by A Bear! Also-rans’ included JPL, Cobb Estate, and the McNally House. The Bunny Museum hopped over Elliot Magnate School to avoid last place although there were many singular votes for iconic local images, like the Star of Palawoo.
The brutal heat is sure to slow progress, but as of yet there has been no announcement of a completion date. If you get a chance to see the mural in progress you will get to see its scope, the boom lift and scaffolding – And all that blazing sun…It’s quite an undertaking!
Love to see a complimentary parklet instead of car parking space around this mural 🙂 Adding to the sense of place would be amazing!