Freeway Underpass Mural Is Unveiled

Continuing its efforts to replace the blight of graffiti with the beauty of art, the Devonshire Community Police Advisory Board on Monday unveiled the third mural created on the concrete canvas of a San Diego Freeway underpass.

Painted on the pebbled surface of the tunnel walls beneath the freeway, the two scenes depict the splendor of the California coast from Tijuana to Oregon, including 21 missions founded between 1769 and 1823 and several species of native birds. The title? Los Pajaros de California (“The Birds of California”).

The idea, said Michelle Obregon, an art teacher at Monroe High School, whose students helped create the work, was “to show how great California is.”

Obregon and her students also created the first work in the advisory board’s Adopt an Underpass program, a whimsical underwater scene at the Nordhoff Street freeway underpass completed early last year.

“For me to be doing this, not only do I benefit as an artist but so does the neighborhood,” she said.

On hand for Monday’s dedication were Los Angeles Police Chief Willie Williams, who praised the project as “an example of the continuing partnership between the Police Department and the city of Los Angeles,” and City Councilman Joel Wachs, one of its sponsors.

“When I look at a project like this, which is so full of beauty and pride,” Wachs said, “I feel good about our community and I certainly feel good about our students.”

Other sponsors included Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), the state Department of Transportation, Operation Clean Sweep Los Angeles, New Horizons for Youth and New Directions for Youth.

For students such as Delia Gonzalez, 16, and Carlos Avila, 17, it was an enjoyable opportunity to beautify their neighborhood and remove a target for vandals’ spray paint.

For 14-year-old Ruby Fakhouri, it was a chance to surpass her own expectations.

“I didn’t think I could do anything like this,” she said. “I never did art in my life.”