Murals Pay Homage to Riots’ Dead

HOLLYWOOD — The riot-charred walls of Samy’s Camera in Hollywood have been transformed into a richly hued flower mural by the brush strokes of 35 elementary schoolchildren, artists and members of a group called Urban Pride.

The group formed after the riots to help unite Los Angeles’ diverse human colors.

“Fifty people died behind these walls,” said organizer David Greenberg, smoothing paint on a post Thursday as he alluded to the lives lost in the spring upheaval. “The flowers pay homage to the people who died.”

So far, three murals have been created. The first went up about three weeks ago at La Cienega and Venice boulevards. There’s also one at La Brea Avenue and Pico Boulevard. And a third at 58th Street and Western Avenue. A wall at Crenshaw Boulevard and 43rd Place is next, said Greenberg, an urban designer and president of Urban Pride.

A $3,000 grant from the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department Arts Recovery Program helped him get the project going. Standard Brands Paint Co. donates the paint.

By Christmas, Greenberg said, he hopes to have the group paint about 50 more charred walls throughout the city.

“We’re hoping that these burnt-out walls will only be temporary,” he said. “Flowers are a temporary thing. We wanted an image that had some meaning on some level but yet was temporary.

“We’re just bringing attention to these burnt-out walls and that they should be rebuilt.”

The schoolchildren who help create the murals are chosen from different schools, each near a mural site. And to put the experience in context, they talk about the riots and the effort to rebuild the city before they paint.

With each group of students, the unifying message they are taught is the same: The flowers are a symbol of hope and regrowth.

As the third-graders of different races walked the four blocks from Melrose Elementary School to Samy’s on Thursday, they spoke of happy flowers. Happy flowers bloom and grow and don’t droop, they agreed.

As she painted, Joyce Young, 8, said the flowers will help the city come together.

“They make me happy and they’re pretty,” she said.