Gordon Grant Murals in the Alhambra Post Office (Photos – National Archives Center)
We’ve all been to Alhambra’s main post office on Bay State Street. Whether it’s to purchase stamps or mail a package, we’ve all stood in that line. And, these days, you usually find every person in that line looking down at their phone, scrolling away while they wait. After all there’s not much else to look at, right?
By Joyce Amaro
Well, 80 years ago in the early 1940s, a patron of Alhambra’s main post office would have had a very different experience. While standing in line to conduct their business, visitors would have been able to look up and enjoy original tempera murals on the post office’s walls. Sadly, today, those walls are bare; the murals are missing. But what happened to them? What did they look like? What was their subject matter? And, who was the muralist that painted them?
Those questions and more will be answered and presented at the September 8, 2022 meeting of the Alhambra Historical Society (AHS). AHS executive board member and Alhambra High School history teacher, Jose Sanchez, will present the fascinating information he and his students uncovered about the murals while researching the history of Alhambra’s main post office as a 1930’s New Deal Works Progress Administration (or WPA) project. The WPA was a federal program created during the Great Depression designed to put people back to work while supporting arts and culture, preserving creative skills and stimulating the economy.
Join the Alhambra Historical Society at Alhambra High School’s cafeteria (101 South 2nd Street, Alhambra, CA 91801) at 7:00 pm on Thursday, September 8, 2022 for the presentation entitled “The Mystery of the Missing WPA Murals.” The event is free to the public and light refreshments will be served. Parking will be available on the surrounding streets and in the Alhambra High School parking lot, which is located on the west side of South 2nd Street just north of the high school. To register for the event, visit this link.
If you’d like to learn more about the Alhambra Historical Society, the museum or future programming, please send an email to alhambrahistsoc@att.net or call (626) 300-8845. The museum, located at 1550 West Alhambra Road, Alhambra, CA 91801, is free to visitors and is open between 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 pm on the first and third Saturdays of every month.
Presentation by teacher and students at Alhambra High School at 7:00 pm on Thursday, September 8, 2022. Register here.
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