Why Abatement Sucks: New Mural Buffed in Ghost Town

Photos by Eric Arnold

The stretch of Martin Luther King Way running from West Grand Avenue to 580 Freeway lies within one of Oakland's deadliest neighborhoods, appropriately nicknamed Ghosttown by the local residents. Homeless encampments populate the long dark stretches under the freeway overpasses. Drugs and alcohol are rampant. Dotted with liquors store and abandoned buildings, the neighborhood accumulates the more litter than the majority of the city. Nearby San Pablo Ave is haven for prostitution.

A year ago, CRP made an effort to improve the quality of life in the neighborhood for local residents. The collective painted 5 murals along a four block stretch between 22nd and Sycamore and named the area the Martin Luther King Cultural Corridor in an effort to protect their work from city abatement. The project centered on 25th and MLK. In January 2010, CRP had picked up 7 bags of trash from that corner while birthing the original mural, Oakland Celebrations, depicting Carijama, indigenous and Chinese dancers connected through the wheels of colorful scraper bikes.

The collective had observed that the mural had accumulated a large collection of signatures from a confused fan club, who seemed to think that signing their name to mural would give them credit for painting it. Mike 360 and Desi W.O.M.E went to work transforming sections of the abandoned Foster's Freeze with new pieces and covering up the "mosquito bite" signatures. Across the street, the "Love, Art and Music are the Universal Language" mural on the chain link fence had been haphazardly flipped over by construction workers who were rebuilding the park. The park had been shut down years before when it devolved into a shooting gallery for local heroin addicts. The artists had only planned on doing some maintenance on the mural and left behind their clean-up tools. Regardless, the project was too massive for two people in one afternoon. The artists repaired the front of the building and left.

A plan was made to return the following week and do a more comprehensive project. Elijah would drive up from Santa Cruz and new works would be painted on the wood fence in the lot. The art would begin on Friday and a volunteer clean-up would be organized for Saturday morning. The trash piled behind the building dwarfed the litter in the front. Vandals had struck a newly painted, yet still boarded up house, with bubble letters that reached over the windows. The entire lot was strewn with garbage ranging from moldy couches to fast food packaging. Local dopefiends gathered in the clutter to smoke their rocks out of site. Amidst the rubble, a soggy abatement notice from the city of Oakland partially protruded limply from a pile near the fence.

As Elijah and Desi began on the most prominent area of the fence, local residents began passing by and complimenting them on their work. The two artists painted throughout the afternoon, utilizing the garbage to stand on and reach the top of the fence. Elijah was interested in making a statement for the local community and Desi drew the connection between the national foreclosure crisis and the neighborhood gentrification. Desi painted the word "Divest" in an elaborate style and Elijah complimented it with a character wearing the facade of a house as his attire, representative of the basic need in the community for adequate housing. They planned to write "Bankers' Greed vs. People's Need" on the side. As the sun was going down, the artists were joined by Beats who prepared a section to the left to say "Resistance." Right before dark, the artists were visited by two police officers. Expecting their support, Desi greeted them. They were shocked when they were told to stop immediately or face arrest. The owner of the fence had complained, even though the mural faced the abandoned lot and not the man's property. Desi and Elijah had gotten verbal permission from a man sitting on the porch of the house earlier that day, so the occurrence was strange. The artists' requests to speak to the owner were repeatedly denied. The group explained the plans for the clean-up project and were ignored. The property owner's word was final. The group was ordered to paint over the mural in the morning or face arrest. Meanwhile nothing would be done about the lot, because that was a different owner's responsibility. The next morning, the artists complied with the request and painted over the mural, leaving a message questioning the city's abatement strategy in its wake.

This experience exemplifies the city's disjointed approach to community clean-up. Artist painting a mural in an abandoned lot to improve the neighborhood are ordered to stop while nothing is done to clean the enormous piles of trash at the same location. Private property owners are the only people with rights under these circumstances. When they do not comply with abatement standards, they are given meaningless notices and the trash remains. When the community attempts to transform an abandoned and blighted lot, they are pushed out because they are not the property owners, yet the entire neighborhood is affected by the neglect of a few absentee landlords. Blight reinforces the degradation of the neighborhood in the consciousness of the community. Its demoralizes and disempowers the residents. Murals on the other hand, help define the identity of the neighborhood and become a source of pride. They give people something that they want to maintain. Given the proper support, murals can transform a community without pushing out its long-term residents and raise the property values for a neighborhood without gentrification. CRP believes in a holistic strategy to abatement that included surveys, murals, community clean-up, and block parties. Its time for a new approach to the maintenance of our neighborhoods.

New Piece by Gen (Arrow-Soul Council)

This is not my first piece I have done and surely not my best or the last I will ever do. But this experience those introduce me into these Montana Paints that are crazy good, best can ever to use to create a piece. I love the way it flows with what you do and it is stable enough so that you can be able to control the movement. This piece also rocks out my name and more practice for me and a way to improve my bars. The hard part is the way to do a filling that doesn't look sloppy or whack! And the outline was also hard to do but it's all about practice. Everything about it is fun but the most part is the way to put the colors together and make it look beast! I didn't choose the colors but I made the best of them.

Salma's first Piece

My experience with this piece was that it was hard. It was my first time doin a piece by myself. I chose the colors because i think they look good together. I wrote "twix" because i love that. The weather was so cold and there was a lot of wind. The photographer, Kathy, helped me on some parts too. I think that the piece is heka whack because I didn't feel it at the end. Probably if I had more time, I would do it better. Now that I see what I did, it motivates me to do better, to go outside the box.



Photos by Kathy (Arrow-Soul)

Concrete Jungle - Santa Fe NM - The Last Mural of 2010

The final stop on Mike 360 and Desi W.O.M.E whirlwind week-long mural tour was the Concrete Jungle in Santa Fe. Desi's last mural, Warriors Of Mother Earth, had recently been destroyed when the wall was been upgraded, so it was important to create a new prayer.

Mike and Desi experimented with drips, even painting with snow, to create the background. Then they created two pieces, say Mikitzli, the day of the mural on the Mexica sunstone, and Tochtli, the year on the sunstone, in the shape of the Ollin, a Mexica symbol representing movement.

Evolve Thrift Store, Albuquerque NM

While hosting Desi in Albuquerque, Mike introduce him to Dionisio Tafoya, who had relocated from Los Angeles as a set designer for major hollywood projects to open a shop in the south valley of Albuquerque. The three men collaborated on a new mural on the building housing his shop. At the request of P.H.A.S.E 2, elder practitioner and pioneer of the aerosol culture, the mural included a portrait of Richard Lee Cisco, the Cisco Kid, a hip-hop legend featured in the movie Beat Street, who recently past away. P.H.A.S.E 2 also contributed an outline to the mural.

The mural also depicts legendary New? Mexico potter, Maria Martinez, a youth mariachi, and the newborn son of Ahki, a local emcee who recently passed away, in front of a stormy vortex.

More Photos of the final mural coming soon!

Desi W.O.M.E and Mike 360 at Las Plazitas Institute, Albuquerque NM

Desi W.O.M.E returned to New Mexico in December and reunited with his painting partner, Mike 360,a master muralist and spray paint innovator. Their first stop was Las Plazitas Institute, an important community center in the south valley of Albuquerque. Mike and Desi contributed new works to an evolving mural representing "La Cultura Cura" or the culture cures. The mural depicts breaking through the mental and physical traps set up in our society through the connection to culture and ancestry.

Movimiento Salvadoreno Mural on Lupita's Pupuseria

In the summer of 2010, a group of students from a youth organization travelled to El Salvador as part of a program called Movimiento Salvadoreno. Upon their return, the group decided to paint a mural to reflect their experiences and the history that they learned about this beautiful country. CRP founder, Desi W.O.M.E, sat down with the group to facilitate the mural design. The mural was painted on Lupita's Pupuseria, located at 34th and Foothill.

Lupita's is an incredible restaurant and tamale truck run by Salvadorean members of the community who love to make traditional food from their homeland. Lupita herself became featured on the wall making a pupusa. Lupita was like a loving auntie to the artists, and feed the group the entire time that we were working there.

CRP was also visited by sacred geometry artist, Release, from New Mexico, who painted several young children playing throughout the mural. Desi took over the back wall of the restaurant and created a 40-ft masterpiece which he used to train several local youth in the basic of spray painting.

Another mural on the 34th side of the building is coming in 2011, so stay tuned!

Great story on last Monday's community mural with clients at St. Vincent de Paul:

"Volunteers from Community Rejuvenation Project, a mural and beautification program based in Oakland, first painted a blue background color onto the 8-foot high by 20-foot wide piece of waterproofed wood, then divided the panel up by lightly painting on a grid of small individual blocks. Each block is assigned a different color and then anyone can paint whatever design or image they like onto the blocks. When done, the final painting will have the effect of a multi-hued quilted pattern."

By Dara Kerr, Oakland Local, February 2, 2011

Read the full article here.

Limited First Edition 2010 CRP Photo Anthology NOW AVAILABLE!

As the year closes, we have decided to create a limited edition 2010 Year in Murals book called Rejuvenation featuring professional photography by Peskador and Daniel D. Zarazua among others. Get to know the Community Rejuvenation Project through 80 pages of beautiful murals, behind-the-scenes stories, and works in progress. Only 500 copies of the first edition will be printed. We are currently accepting pre-orders for the book. Books ordered by Dec. 19 should be delivered by X-mas. We will send you a copy of the book with any donation of $50 or more.

Rejuvenation 2010

Kilumbo Warriors Mural in Honor of the Protesters Struggling for Justice for Oscar Grant

We arrived at 10 AM to start the mural. The parking lot gates were chained up and the space was full of garbage. The area in front of the wall was overgrown and we had to watch carefully for needles and glass as we cleared the brush to access the wall. A man who was walking by saw our struggle with the huge weeds, jumped the fence with a knife and proceeded to cut down the larger stalks that our tools couldn't handle. The morning was overcast but not showing any signs of rain as we began to prime in the sky and mountains.

We had a instinct that history would repeat itself and Johannes Mehserle, the BART officer / killer of Oscar Grant would be given a light sentence. The theme of Kilumbo (or Quilombo in the European spelling) resonated with us. For the two years since Oscar Grant was murdered on the Fruitvale station, the people of Oakland had stood up and fought for justice. BART, the police and the city government had proven indifferent, if not defensive, and refused to act without prodding. Each small victory, such as the resignation of Gary Gee, the BART police commissioner, and even getting Mehserle a trial had required numerous loud protests, often resulting in at least 100 arrests at each stage. Every police officers' association had contributed to Mehserle's defense in order to maintain their hold.

Kilumbos were the communities of African runaway slaves and indigenous people that were founded in Brazil. In addition, we wanted to make connections between the other autonomous African / indigenous communities in the Americas and the traditional African tribes located in their motherland. We wanted Oakland to remember that such societies existed in the face of brutal repression and ongoing genocide and that Oakland should not give up hope.

We left for an hour to meet with some youth to plan the next day's mural. Even though the sentence was not to be announced until 2 PM, we saw students walking out from school at 1:30 telling us that Mehserle has received 2 years with credit for time served. We drove through 14th and Broadway and saw the police amassing. Arriving back at the wall a few blocks away, we knew that we would not leave until we were done. As we parked, the police helicopters arrived and we painted into the evening under the loud rattle of their propellors. Yet around 6 or 7 PM, the helicopters left and as the sun went down there was an eerie silence. Around 8:30, it became clear that the light in the lot would not turn on and it was too dark to continue painting. We made arrangements to meet the next day and put on the finishing touches. Painting all afternoon, we had been disconnected from the updates and wondered what was going on.



On the way home, we detoured up Telegraph and saw a huge crowd of hipsters partying away at the Oakland Fart Murmur like nothing had happened. Returning back downtown, we saw a huge mass of police at 14th and Broadway, yet people were heading out to the clubs and bars in apparent amnesia. No signs of protest could be found. We made our way around the lake wondering what had happened. Had Oakland just packed it up in a hopeless state of dispair? It seemed unlikely given the resiliency of the people but where was everybody? Then we saw the familiar helicoptors flashing its light into the community. Excited, we began to chase it. We drove up 5th Ave. and made a right on 17th Street and founded ourselved blocked off. The police had cordoned off 6th Ave and directed us to turn right. I drove slowly trying to see what was going on. Just then, the fire truck and the ambulance came flying towards us and we were forced to back up. The backdoors of the ambulance opened and police officer was wheeled on a gurney and placed inside. By then, the police directing traffic forced us to move on. All the streets on 18th were blocked off. We had to detour all over the place to return to my house, which further complicated by the neighborhoods stupid cul-de-sacs and blocked off streets. We were treated to the helicoptor's rattling propellors until 1 AM. At my house, we learned the cop had been hit by another cop car and that 152 protestors were surrounded without exit or opportunity to disperse and arrested.

We returned to the wall late the next day after completing a school mural with the youth we had meet with. It was quiet and sunny and the wall looked beautiful. Details we had missed in the darkness now appeared in the light. We completed our touch-ups and disappeared into the town.

350.org Mural on 10-10-10

A community rejuvenation Project from Mike Melero on Vimeo.

New San Francisco Alley Murals

In the past week, CRP founder Desi W.O.M.E has created 3 new murals in the alleys of the Mission District. In the last post, we documented his piece created as part of the international Meeting of Styles. During the event, San Francisco legend CUBA invited Desi to create a new piece in the historic Clarion mural alley, between Mission and Valencia just passed 17th St. Clarion Alley has been a hub of mural artwork since the 1990s. CUBA was one of the original artists to paint the alley and has recently begun coordinating artists to continue to transform the space.

Following his mural in Clarion alley, Desi returned to Lilac alley and created another mural on a roll-down door next to his previous piece. This piece is a more traditional aerosol mask style.

CRP Founder Desi W.O.M.E representing at the International Meeting of Styles

The International Meeting of Styles is a series of weekend mural gatherings held in different cities throughout the globe. The MOS has held events on the west coast for several years now. However, or the first time, the MOS was be held at San Francisco at one of the most historic and famous places for mural art, the Mission district. CRP founder Desi WOME was invited to participate and created the mural above in a few hours on the first day of the event, on September 24. The event also featured painting by Bay Area legends, TDK Crew, WCF, and many more. Stay tuned for more photos in the days to come.

Diego's Power Alley Gym Mural

Story by Jill Replogle (http://www.jillrep.com)

Members of Diego’s Power Alley Gym, at the corner of Foothill Blvd. and Seminary Ave., already made the choice for a healthier life. Now the whole community has a vision of strength and health, brightening the neighborhood outside the gym.

The Community Rejuvenation Project recently turned the gym’s void outer wall into a portrait of health—physical, mental and spiritual. A native Aztec dancer, a man meditating in lotus pose and a Zulu nobility, expression proud, chest and arms powerful, have replaced the pale yellow wall of Diego’s. The mural was created by Desi WOME, Dave Kim, and youth apprentice Leo Delgado and other CRP volunteers.

As the mural took shape, neighbors stopped by to check out progress on the wall, and thank the artists for bringing color to the neighborhood which, one man said, is plagued by a lot of “dark things going on.”

It’s easy to guess at the neighborhood’s problems by the empty, boarded-up storefronts and ubiquitous metal gates, locking up homes, lots and businesses. With an unemployment rate of over 17%, economic recovery still on shaky ground, and public services declining rapidly, East Oakland could use some brightness on its horizon.

A mural may not solve the neighborhood’s problems, but it’s one step toward rejuvenating the community, and opening minds to the possibilities for healthy change.

Rejuvenating the Garden

Video, Story, and Slideshow by Desi W.O.M.E

The City Slickers truck arrived exactly at 11 AM laden with a huge pile of fresh steaming compost, a wheel barrow, and a pile of tools. The garden at the Oakland Green Youth Arts and Media Center had fallen into neglect and was looking shabby. Center staff arrived at the same time with a soft rumble of discontent, reflecting that it was an hour earlier than their normal schedule. "I'm here because he [Galen Peterson, OGYAMC Co-Director], made me show up," said performing artist and youth staff member, Olondis "O-zone" Walker.

The morning was still overcast as Julie Pavuk of City Slickers Farms began to explain the goals for the day. The entire garden was getting a facelift. Each of the 13 raised beds would be given a fresh layer of compost, new starters would be planted, and the group would build a worm bin. Within a few weeks, the garden would be producing fresh organc vegetables ready to eat. Julie introduced Joseph, who will mentor the group and oversee support for the center's young gardeners throughout the year.

Access to healthy food has burgeoned into a major issue throughout Oakland's flatlands, such as west Oakland, home to City Slickers, where there is one grocery store to serve over 25,000 people. Health food has been a particular challenge, because mono-cropped produce grown with pesticides are consistently being sold at below market rates while organic produce has remained expensive and is looked at as an exclusive product for a new population of wealthy residents. Breaking down these barriers, both real and perceptual, has been an impressive challenge for food-justice advocates. Probably the clearest example of this phenomenon is in West Oakland, where the Mandela Marketplace was recently opened next to the 99 Cent store. Despite having competitive prices for healthy alternatives, Mandela Marketplace has struggled to gain a foothold with longtime residents. However, many white West Oakland recent transplants, a symbol for many of the neighborhood's gentrification, have already begun frequenting the store.

The sun came out shortly before Matthew Linzner arrived with two youth from his Love Cultivating Schoolyards program. Matthew has been working at Ascend k-8 School and Urban Promise Academy through Oakland Leaf for the past 5 years. The youth that joined him were both Interns of the youth leadership program and ready to bring their knowledge back to the community. "Both of these guys have the skills to take over and manage a garden. They are ready to train and mentor aspiring farmers." The two young men busied themselves by drilling drainage holes for the new worm bin.

Earlier the same day, on the KPFA morning show, Jason Harvey, founder of the Oakland Food Connection, estimated that 30 - 40% of Oakland's produce could be grown locally, if its abandoned lots were used for localized gardens. OFC has been supporting local gardens in east Oakland in a similar way that City Slickers has been in the west. In some cases, this includes reclaiming some of the abandoned lots left vacant by their owners for many years. Cultivating food locally is the one of the ways to reduce the cost of healthy produce and since the lots are not being used for anything, they provide the perfect locations for local gardens.

Back at the Oakland Green Youth Arts and Media center, an hour's worth of work produced a notable difference. The youth's grumbles have been replaced by the steady banter of people deeply engaged in their work. City Slickers produces dozens of starters cultivated in their greenhouse from the back of their truck and the young men carefully loosen the sod around their roots as they place them in shallow holes in the raised beds. Joseph guides them and explains that the plants will need to drenched in water once a day for the next two weeks if they are to survive. Several questions are raised about proper care for the young plants and the youth seem genuinely engaged in their new project.

Its garden education programs like this that make local urban farms sustainable. Like the plants themselves, it takes time for the programs to take root. The Community Rejuvenation Project recently reclaimed an abandoned lot by Mills College on the corner of Seminary and MacArthur. The newly renamed Life Garden was started by youth in CRP's Arrow-Soul Council, an after-school program at Unity High School, along with Oakland activists and artists from the collective. CRP recognized immediately that maintaining the garden was beyond their capacity and turned the space over to nearby neighbors. However, reclaiming space is central to the collective's mission and their appetite for transforming lots was not satisfied. CRP has reached out to several food-justice organizations to build a support network of farmers to help train local residents in community gardening as more sites are reclaimed. They are applying for funding to bring together the aforementioned groups along with other likeminded organizations such as Grind for the Green, Women's Earth Alliance, and the Land and Life Garden to support an ongoing collaboration. They intend to start with a food justice mural on People's Grocery and continue with a series of projects to bring awareness to urban gardens and food equity.

Back at the center, just after 1 pm, the group quickly circled up to review plans for watering and garden maintenance. Food justice begins in these humble spaces with just few raised beds, new starts nestled in some fresh compost and a small cohort of fledgling gardeners.

Live Painting at Fresh Fest (Mosswood Park, Oakland)

View all

Get your own

Photos by Mike Melero. Story by Jasmine Sherren.


Community Rejuvenation Project is a unified expression of energy through public art. On Saturday August 14, Desi W.O.M.E., CRP founder and muralist,
and Dave Kim, longtime CRP volunteer and artist, hauled three 8"x10"
canvases on an enormous bamboo frame by hand to North Oakland's
Mosswood Park of the day of Fresh Fest.

Why did they do this? To educate the public on a serious local issue:
Oakland's rising rates of asthma, primarily in West Oakland.
The artists spent many hours painting these canvases to create awareness
about the Toxic Triangle in Richmond, Bayview and West Oakland.
Hopefully these efforts will lead the city to begin the necessary
change in West Oakland.

What is a city without its citizens at their strongest, where many
remain ignorant of the problems, and others must face them in their own
backyard? It is a city in crisis, and the first step in eliminating crisis
is education and understanding. Clearly these artists did not work in
vain.

CRP Featured on Oakland North with Legendary Muralists Estria and Dan Fontes

Oakland murals color the urban jungle from Jill Replogle on Vimeo.

Audio and Photos compiled by Jill Replogle and Malia Connor for Oakland North

Ancestors and Native Wildflowers at E. Oakland Mural Dedication

video by Mike Melero

Ancestors and Native Wildflowers at E. Oakland Mural Dedication
by Jess Watson

Last Saturday, volunteers converged on a vacant lot at Seminary and Macarthur to install as a native wildflower garden under the benevolent gaze of the freshly painted Egyptian deity Ptah Hotep. The event marked the completion of a large-scale mural along the back of the lot on the theme of black and brown unity, co-designed and executed by Unity High School students, the Community Rejuvenation Project (CRP), and neighborhood activists.

The mural was organized by Unity High School's Arrow-Soul Council afterschool program teacher Desi W.O.M.E, a founder of the Community Rejuvenation Project. He says, “It's all about mentorship, giving kids a safe space to create their first works and develop their own individual style. We talk a lot about history and context before designing the mural together.” The theme of black and brown unity was inspired by the Oakland Museum's recent exhibit The African Presence in México and was enriched through consultation with local activists and artists.

Unity Lewis, a neighborhood activist and hip hop artist who contributed to the mural's conceptualization, was thrilled with the final results: “I feel like it's really an amazing piece with powerful energy jumping off it because it's been blessed with the spirit of the ancestors and energy of the young retelling the tale so we don't forget our history. I see that mural every day. I've been over there and prayed over there. It's helping raise the consciousness in the community, as people discuss who the figures are and the meaning behind it. I hope we can use the space for some powerful community events in the future.”

The garden beds were created out of discarded boards and iron rebar found in the lot, supplemented by community donations of soil, compost and seeds. Local businesses provided access to water, and volunteers hauled bucket after bucket the fence.

Leo Delgado, a Unity High junior who painted parts of the mural's sunset and temple, talked about why he came back to install the garden: “This mural is important to me because we have worked really hard and put a lot of effort into caring for the community. The garden is important because it shows how we all come together to make our community a better place.”

The Community Rejuvenation Project (http://crpbayarea.org/) is an Oakland-based nonprofit targeting blight and neglect by creating murals to celebrate the local community and reflect neighborhood culture. CRP's model combines mural painting with the installation of native, drought-resistant gardens and healthy food distribution. The murals become a focal point for neighborhood cohesion through CRP's block parties thrown at each mural dedication in collaboration with the nonprofit Roots and Branches. Block parties always include hip hop performances, live aerosol art, and healthy food. CRP's next summer block party is this weekend - Saturday July 17th from 12-4 pm at Matilda Cleveland Transitional Housing at 8314 MacArthur Blvd. Come on down!

Parkway Funk Brings the People

(originally printed in Oakland Local)
By David Kim

It was old school fun under a blazing sun on Saturday as more than 300 community members showed up in support of the Town Funk Summer Block Party near the Parkway Theater.

Neighbors partied and danced in the street, as part a celebration of their community and the inauguration of the new Funktown Arts District. It was the first time since the Parkway Speakeasy theatre closed that Park Blvd has seen this much action.

Park Blvd. was filled with fantastic fun which included live hip-hop and reggae music from a range of artists, free food for everyone, and a massive jumper for the kids.

Midway through the event, the dance area was taken over by dozens of colorful scrapper bikes, which had paraded all the way from 73rd Ave, Led by Baby Champ, "the Original Scrapper Bike King," the crew proceeded to perform several scrapper bike anthems.

Neighborhood artists Rocker T and Jern Eye culminated the afternoon after DJ Zeph tore the house down with an incredible Michael Jackson tribute mash-up that had the crowd dancing.

The party, part of an ongoing effort to unite the local community and Oakland at large, was a collaboration between a diverse group of local organizations and churches which included; Regeneration, Trybe, Lake Merritt Business Association, Lake Neighbors, Roots and Branches, Woodys Cafe, Lotus Bloom; Beats, Rhymes and Life, and Community Rejuvenation Project.

Many at the event said the party was a fantastic demonstration of community love.

"I think it's good for Oakland. The city needs more events like this," said Lisa O’Brien, a parent of one of the Future Shock dancers, who also performed.

Besides good music and food, the party also featured a live aerosol painting on Yuens Automotive by the Community Rejuvenation Project, which has recently begun transforming the neighborhood with several murals in the immediate vicinity of the event. The new murals have led the community to rename the area "the Funktown Arts District," depicted in colorful images of musicians and artists on the automotive shop. Around the corner, guest artist and San Diego master muralist, Mario Toredo, painted a large colorful portrait.

"The Community Rejuvenation Project believes that the solution to neighborhood blight and neglect is community involvement and engagement, through cultural artwork and community celebration. The Town Funk block party is a perfect example of this," said Desi W.O.M.E, the program's founder and director.

The Community Rejuvenation Project (CRP) cultivates healthy communities through beautification, education, and celebration. The group achieves this mission through experiential programs that promote professional development, artistic and cultural expression, and community empowerment.

CRP recently inaugurated the Martin Luther King Cultural Corridor with a series of murals between West Grand Ave. and 28th St. on Martin Luther King Jr. Way. The group is currently completing a large mural on Mills Grocery at Seminary and MacArthur and transforming an abandoned lot next to the wall into a community garden with local high school students.

Town Funk SlideShow and Video by Mike Melero