First of all, go check out my new renter, Recommended. You'll find a bunch of really cool stuff and if we do good, maybe Down With Pants! will get recommended. One can only hope.
Continuing on in my two (or three, or four) part series of Olympia Murals that I photographed during my trip home last weekend, I bring to you my favorite downtown mural. On the old Old School Pizzeria building near the corner of 4th Ave and West Bay Drive, this wicked Star Wars mural encompasses the entire side of this two story building, windows and all.
Painted in 1995, almost exclusively done graffiti style with spray paint, this mural stands as a tribute to the mix of hipness and nerdiness that typifies Olympians and makes the city great.
Admittedly, the artwork on this one isn't totally up to par. Princess Leia looks awful. She has one humongous eye and doesn't appear to have a second. And the either Lando or Hans frozen in carbonite looks more like Sammy Davis Jr. But you gotta love how badass Boba Fett and the Jawa look. And a huge Yoda head just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, even if he looks disturbingly like Mickey Rooney.
The other thing that I love about this mural is that it is almost completely unknown. It sits near a major intersection in downtown, but because it is on the wrong way side of a one way street, hardly anybody has ever seen it. I only saw it because I turn around a lot farther than most when I check my blindspot before changing lanes, one day I just happened to make a lane change there and it caught my eye.
I'm glad it did, because now whenever I make it home to Oly, I make a point to visit this mural. It's one of my favorite places in one of my favorite towns.
5 comments:
good pizza here too...
I love that mural!! :-)
Kapgar - Yeah, he does look a little like Shaft. Lando Calrisian, he's a bad mutha...
Replicant - Old School isn't at this spot anymore. I don't think anything is there right now. But Old School lives on a few blocks into downtown where the comics mural is.
Omni - So do I!
that building now houses Lit Fuse Tattoo, the owner was actually the kid that painted the star wars mural about 11 years ago.
Josh - I did not know that he was the one that owned Lit Fuse. It didn't look very open (still in business) the day that I shot these. Of course it was the Sabbath.
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