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The crew and I just finished a large mural on the Pierside Hotel at Ocean and Colorado directly across from the Santa Monica pier in west LA. Santa Monica is a beautiful place with a vibrant history filled with creators and rebels from surf, skate, and music culture. No neighborhood is one-dimensional, so I chose to emphasize themes and bits of history related to Santa Monica that I most enjoy. I’m drawn to the hippie spirit of the neighborhood, which is welcoming of all types, the natural beauty, ocean air, and the way the Pacific Ocean Park (POP) once it was abandoned, provided a fertile wasteland for surfers and skaters to flourish. As someone whose life was changed by skateboarding, I can’t overstate Santa Monica’s importance to the evolution of skate culture! There’s way too much cool Santa Monica history to reference in one mural. Thank you to my crew of Dan Flores, Nic Bowers, Rob Zagula, Luka Densmore, and Jon Furlong (who also shot the photos) for their hard work.
–Shepard
Photos from the process:
