Past Meets Future at Mural Fundraiser

Robyn Alatorre dramatically swayed back and forth while leaning over a canvas mural streaked with various shades of blue and sand-colored paint that illustrated the Hermosa Beach Pier.

"Make broad brush strokes like this," she said, demonstrating the movement for Marcus Loera, 9, and his two brothers who traveled to Hermosa from Hollywood to help paint the mural.

Spread out on the ground near Pier Avenue and the Strand, the mural painting was the finale of the  Walk in History 1900-1919 fundraiser Saturday for the Hermosa Beach Mural Project, a community initiative to paint 10 murals around town over the next 10 years. The mural will be showcased at the Hermosa Beach Art Walk next weekend.

Don DeMaderios, vice president of the mural project organization, said that the afternoon's festivities exposed residents to some interesting local history and to the mural project. Money raised at the Walk in History event will go toward hiring renowned artists for the 10-murals-in-10-years project, starting this year.

"A lot of people were involved in the walk, and a lot of people learned more about the mural project," DeMaderios said.

About 100 participants walked through downtown, stopping at historic landmarks around the city before ending at the canvas mural for children, a sort of past meets the future of Hermosa Beach.

While touring, families learned that the city's first public works project was the construction of a pine boardwalk in 1901 that then had to be constantly repaired as the planks drifted out to sea with the tide.

As the tours proceeded, Alatorre, an art teacher in the Hermosa Beach City School District, helped youngsters paint the mural canvas. Together they painted a large beach and pier scene on dropcloths. Alatorre spent a couple of hours outlining the scene before youngsters showed up and contributed their talents.

"Art is integral to the development of adolescents," Alatorre said.

Youth use art as an outlet in today's information-based educational system, which emphasizes standardized testing, she said.

"Kids come into my class and they are able to create," she said. "They are able to be themselves [and] build skills that they never had before in an environment that doesn't have that stress."

Hayle Reiner, an Alatorre student who participated in the historical tour, painted a red and yellow umbrella on the mural.

"I love to paint," gushed the Hermosa Valley School sixth-grader.

Madison Shaw, 8, of Santa Clarita jumped in to paint several people in red, complementing Reiner's red and yellow umbrellas. Yadira Stuart, 7, of Monterey saw the mural-in-progress and chipped in, mixing acrylic paints to create new colors.

"Art opens the mind," said Yadira's father, Manny, as he watched his child paint. "Art gives us good things to look at. A world without art would be pretty dull."

This appreciation of art and the city's history and culture serves as the driving force behind the mural project. Once an artist and location are selected, the first mural could be completed by 2011, organizers said. One challenge in identifying a location is predicting which buildings will still be around in the next decade.

"We anticipate a lot of Hermosa Beach architecture will be changing," DeMaderios said.

After all, according to the historical tour, a lot has changed since 1914. Then, the city jail was located where Café Boogaloo sits on Hermosa Avenue. Residents could visit with inmates through the bars facing the street because the jail wasn't enclosed.

The major change that DeMaderios hopes to see around town between now and 2020 is for the streets to come alive with art.

For more information on the mural project, visit hermosamurals.org.