FULLERTON : Student Volunteers Receive a Lesson in Art of Restoration

Arturo Ramirez watched with pride Thursday as murals on a pedestrian bridge depicting Mexican culture and community unity came alive with a vibrant and colorful face lift.

“I’m glad these pictures are getting cleaned up because they tell about the culture here and they make me feel proud,” the 11-year-old boy said.

He was not alone.

Four volunteer high school students and muralist Emigdio Vasquez, who painted two of the 10 scenes on the bridge over Lemon Street, have spent much of the past two weeks restoring the murals, washing, scrubbing, scraping, removing graffiti and retouching the paint.

“The people here take a lot of pride in their cultural heritage, which is (depicted in) these murals,” Vasquez said, while removing graffiti with paint thinner. “I hate to see them deteriorate.”

The murals, some 16 years old, have become city landmarks. The depictions include a Mexican flag with two hands clasped and the name of the surrounding, predominantly Latino neighborhood--Fullerton Tokers Town. Another includes a sign saying, “The Town I Live In” welcoming motorists to the city and a sign reading, “Come Back Again Soon,” for those driving out of town.

The city occasionally sponsors restoration of the murals to keep them looking fresh and free of graffiti that comes from taggers outside the community, said Eloisa Espinoza, a city spokeswoman.

She said the current $3,000 restoration project is being paid for through a grant from the private philanthropic Webb Berge Foundation of Arcadia. Vasquez and the volunteers hope to finish the work next week.

“This needed to be done,” said volunteer Audrey Watson, 16, as she sanded one of the murals. “They’re really beautiful murals and a lot of people identify with them.”

Roberto Martinez, 28, remembers when there were no murals.

“It was pretty nasty with graffiti all over that bridge,” he said. “It looks great now. Those pictures are perfect right here in the middle of the barrio .”