Monday Mural: magic breath

Found in the Fruitvale District.  I love the magical realism that you find in so much Latino art.  I don't know who she represents but clearly magic is afoot.

Welcome to Monday Mural. If you like murals or have a mural you'd like to post, this meme's for you; just follow the Linky steps below.  You decide what constitutes a mural.  Once you start looking you find them everywhere.  Be sure to link back to this blog and visit your fellow posters.  Looking forward to your mural finds posted this week.  Google+ users, please configure your post so we all can leave a comment.  Thanks.

“ Be kind; everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”  Rev. John Watson

Theme Day: stylish

The first of each month is Theme Day in the City Daily Photo world.  This month the theme is "stylish."  Couldn't resist showing you the window of Leopard's Legz in the upper Fruitvale District.  I'm not sure this is to everyone's taste, but they surely have customers for this look.  For other takes on the theme, be sure to visit City Daily Photo.

why the drawbridge went up

I'm usually amused when I see why a drawbridge has gone up.  Small sailboats like this, with their not so tall masts, have a lot of power while tootling along the estuary.  This is the Fruitvale Bridge which also has a railroad track section that can be be lowered when a train wants to cross the estuary.  (Visible at the top of the photo).  Versatile bridge, no?

Fruitvale Railroad Bridge

The Fruitvale Railroad Bridge spans the Estuary from Oakland to the island town of Alameda (on the right).  To my eye it looks like a 1930s construction but it was actually built by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1951.  It's a vertical lift bridge with railroad tracks on it that is lowered into position when trains need to cross the estuary.  The Miller-Sweeney Bridge it the drawbridge next to it that carries car traffic.  It was designed to raise to full height it only 66 seconds.  The truth is that locals  call them both the Fruitvale Bridge.  Bridge fans will be happy to know there is a website for the bridges!  For a picture of the bridge drawn up, go here.

Monday Mural: culture is a weapon

Photographing this mural took some gymnastics because it is behind fencing on all sides.  A lot of the murals in Oakland reference cultural pride by marginalized groups.  Here we see symbols of Latino and African-American cultures both past and present.  This mural is off the traffic corridors and peeked out at me while I was driving down E. 12th Street.

Welcome to Monday Mural:  if you like murals or have a mural you'd like to post, this meme's for you.  Just follow the Linky steps below.  You get to decide what constitutes a mural.  Once you start looking, you find them everywhere.  Be sure to link back to this blog and to visit your fellow posters.  Looking forward to the mural finds posted this week.

Monday Mural: apartment decoration

This mural decorates an apartment complex in the Fruitvale district.  I'm guessing the ivy is covering a signature.  It's been there a while and because it faces southwest it has faded quite a bit.  Still, it presents a warm tale of family and community.

If you like murals or have a mural you'd like to post, this meme's for you.  Just follow the Linky steps below.  You get to decide what constitutes a mural.  Once you start looking, you find them everywhere.  Be sure to link back to this blog and to visit your fellow posters.  Looking forward to the mural finds posted this week.
  
As Jack would say, I'll be "out of jurisdiction" for three weeks.  Through the magic of automated posting the Linky will still go up on Sundays at 8 PM PST.  Unfortunately, I won't have much access to wifi so will not be able to leave comments. 

Monday Mural: more depressed birds

This is the last image I'm posting from the huge Fruitvale mural I've been showing you.  Doty's birds interweave with Cannon Dill's organic swirls and Polka's color embellishments.  The entire mural is quite something to see.

If you like murals or have a mural you'd like to post, this meme's for you.  Just follow the Linky steps below.  You get to decide what constitutes a mural.  Once you start looking, you find them everywhere.  Be sure to link back to this blog and to visit your fellow posters.  Looking forward to the mural finds posted this week.

Monday Mural: toucan tango

Here's another section of the large new mural on East 12th Street at Fruitvale Avenue.   I'm pretty sure this part is by Doty who also did the blackbirds.  I really like his images.   Told you this mural is gigantic.

If you like murals or have a mural you'd like to post, this meme's for you.  Just follow the Linky steps below.  You get to decide what constitutes a mural.  Once you start looking, you find them everywhere.  Be sure to link back to this blog and to visit your fellow posters.  Looking forward to the mural finds posted this week.

My bad--I was in a hurry and forgot the Linky.  Oh, memory, where for art thou?

Monday Mural: more Fruitvale mural

A fellow blogger tells me this part of the mural is by Cannon Dill.  Don't ask me to explain it.  I do know that all those winding line are intensely intricate and intriguing.  The tear really gets me and makes me feel that part of the commentary is about suffering.

If you like murals or have a mural you'd like to post, this meme's for you.  Just follow the Linky steps below.  You get to decide what constitutes a mural.  Once you start looking, you find them everywhere.  Be sure to link back to this blog and to visit your fellow posters.  Looking forward to the mural finds posted this week.  
Sorry for the delay; my computer went on the fritz.

Monday Mural: blackbirds singing in the dead of night

Here's more of the Doty-Polka mural I showed you last week.  It's painted on both the corrugated wall of the warehouse and the front of the loading dock.  Hence the contrast in texture and the slightly 3-D effect.  Doty is the muralist I've showed you who paints people with more than two eyes.  Now he's branching out to other species.

If you like murals or have a mural you'd like to post, this meme's for you.  Just follow the Linky steps below.  You get to decide what constitutes a mural.  Once you start looking, you find them everywhere.  Be sure to link back to this blog and to visit your fellow posters.  Looking forward to the mural finds posted this week.

Update:  A fellow Oaklander sent an email with more information on the group that did this mural.  She say the artists represented in the whole piece are Ernest Doty, Cannon Dill, Koleo Koleoptere and David Polka.   I didn't know that, so thanks a lot for the extra info, Janet.

Monday Mural: night fox

Three weeks ago I showed you part of a large mural that was going up on a warehouse/work space on E.12th Street and Fruitvale Avenue.  The project now seems completed and is a vast collaboration between Doty and Polka that covers (I'm guessing) 200 running feet of corrugated wall.  This beautiful patchwork fox takes center stage on the tallest wall of the complex.  In the coming week's I'll share other parts of the wall and revisit the finished fox originally shown.

If you like murals or have a mural you'd like to post, this meme's for you.  Just follow the Linky steps below.  You get to decide what constitutes a mural.  Once you start looking, you find them everywhere.  Be sure to link back to this blog and to visit your fellow posters.  Looking forward to the mural finds posted this week.

Monday Mural: time to quit smoking

Here's more of the huge mural that is being created on the sawtooth building on San Leandro Blvd. in the Fruitvale District.  I think this sad sack fox is another work by Cannon Dill.  If I'm wrong someone will correct me.  What can I say--it's my cup of tea.

If you like murals or have a mural you'd like to post, this meme's for you.  Just follow the Linky steps below.  You get to decide what constitutes a mural.  Be sure to link back to this blog and to visit your fellow posters.  Looking forward to the mural finds posted this week.

colorful crosswalks

Sometime in the last couple of years or so, these colorful crosswalks have appeared in the Fruitvale district.  You can't mistake where you're supposed to cross the street.  These designs look Moorish too me, reminiscent of what can be found in Spain.

wise guy

This is a flashy looking ride.  Right after I took this picture, the owner got on and rumbled away.  Spied at Fruitvale and E. 12th St.

Monday Mural: drumming shaman

This is only one section of a large mural on the side of a Smart & Final warehouse in East Oakland.  As this section suggests, the mural illustrates scenes of Latino culture from several countries.  I'm assuming we're observing a shamanic ceremony that bridges the corporal world with the spiritual.  I have to hand it to Smart & Final for permitting the use of their walls for this vast mural.  Unfortunately, I could not find a title or signature.

If you like murals or have a mural you'd like to post, this meme's for you.  You decide what constitutes a mural.  Once you start looking, you find them all around.  Follow the Linky steps below.  Be sure to link back to this meme and visit your fellow posters.  Looking forward to the mural finds posted this week.

Monday Mural: V is for La Virgen de Guadalupe

This is a section of a mural devoted to the Virgin of Guadalupe in the Fruitvale district.  Her feast day in Mexico is December 12.  You'll find her image in murals, churches, tattoos, bumper stickers, tee shirts, and more.   She is ubiquitous and beloved in Latino communities.  Last year I posted a mosaic mural in honor of her day.

If you like murals or have a mural you'd like to post, this meme's for you.  You decide what constitutes a mural.  Once you start looking, you find them all around.  Follow the Linky steps below.  Be sure to link back to this meme and visit your fellow posters.  Looking forward to the mural finds posted this week.  Also linked to ABC Wednesday.

Monday Mural: Clothing Town

Clothing Town, a discount store at 34th Avenue and Foothill Blvd., added this mural to its wall in 2011.  The mural was made by many community volunteers with the guidance of the Eastside Arts Alliance, previously featured here and here.  The cultural and historic references in the mural no doubt educate some who view it.

If you like murals or have a mural you'd like to post, this meme's for you.  Just follow the Linky steps below.  You decide what constitutes a mural.  Be sure to link back to this blog and visit your fellow posters.  Looking forward to the murals posted this week.  Once you start looking, it's amazing how many you can find.

Monday Mural: Aztec dreams

Otaez Mexican restaurant was one of the first businesses on International Blvd. to use murals to decorate their exterior wall.  More recently they've used murals to add pizazz to their interior.  For years I've seen this mural's central image on various business advertising calendars.  You see it almost as frequently as the Virgin of Guadalupe, (see her with Pope John Paul II in a framed print touching the left side of the mural?), which suggests it's an important cultural reference.   I'm embarrassed to admit I don't know what it refers to.  Can anyone enlighten me? 

If you like murals or have a mural you'd like to post, this meme's for you.  Just follow the Linky steps below.  You decide what constitutes a mural.  Be sure to link back to this blog and visit your fellow posters.  Looking forward to the murals posted this week.  Once you start looking, it's amazing how many you can find.

Weekend Reflection: Peralta Creek

Down the hill from the Peralta Hacienda (previous post) is Peralta Creek.  This is one area where it comes above ground and creates an authentic riparian ecology niche.  This is one of the things that is so surprising about Oakland.  In the middle of a decidedly urban area, there are these oases of rural life that appear and delight.  This small section has picnic tables and access to surrounding streets.  I imagine this creek provided the adobes their water source and probably helped irrigate crops.  Because there are tiny glimmers of watery reflections, I'm linking to Weekend Reflections.

Theme Day: tranquility

Today is Theme Day in the CDP world.  This month's theme is "tranquility."  I found these two friends enjoying a talk in the Fruitvale Plaza.  They seemed content to be there.  Maybe the plaza reminded them of their hometown zocalo.  Click here to view thumbnails for all participants in this month's Theme Day.