LOS ANGELES : ‘Old Woman of Freeway’ Mural to Be Restored

Kent Twitchell’s famed “Old Woman of the Freeway” mural, which was painted over to make room for billboard advertisements six years ago, will finally be restored, thanks to an eleventh-hour legal settlement reached Wednesday.

Attorneys for building owners Koichi Kurokawa and Prince Hotels Inc. have agreed to pay Twitchell $175,000 to restore the mural, which depicted a bright-eyed elderly woman with a colorful afghan over her shoulders. The work loomed above the Hollywood Freeway on Temple Street before its demise in 1986.

Twitchell, a Los Angeles artist who is one of the world’s most recognized muralists, has been given permission to extend the mural to an adjacent wall and wrap the afghan further around the old woman.

The settlement includes $50,000 in attorney’s fees and $125,000 in restoration fees. It came after four years of litigation, and on the eve of a trial that had been set to begin today.