A Mural Hangs in Limbo

When artist Judith Hernandez went to West Los Angeles in 1976 to help unite a community torn by gang violence, she never imagined that her mural would be controversial decades later.

A debate has erupted over the future of the Latino-themed painting that celebrated cooperation between residents and the Sotel gang. Although some feel that the colorful depiction of the Virgin of Guadalupe with her arms outstretched over gang members is an important piece of history, others say it’s simply a stinging reminder of the community’s darker past.

City officials say that the recreation center on which the mural is painted is crumbling and must be renovated, and that there is no easy way to save the painting.

For the last year, they have been planning a $2.2-million project for Stoner Park that will include two new swimming pools and the renovated recreation center. A new artist has been commissioned to create metal turtles playing with balls for the pool room, officials said, but there are no plans for a new mural.

Residents are divided over the issue.

“People here have this attitude like ‘Gee, wouldn’t it be really terrible if they destroyed it?’ But there’s this sense of powerlessness about it,” said Janet Canterbury, who has lived in the area for two years and jogs past the mural with her beagle every day.

On the other hand, Raymond Cano, a 50-year resident who has always opposed the mural, was relieved to hear that what he called the “source of pride for gang members” is going to be removed.

Taking their name from the surrounding Sawtelle area, the Sotel gang once dominated Stoner Park, spending afternoons hanging out and covering any available space with graffiti. It got so bad, Hernandez recalled, that the park’s modest recreation building was covered in spray paint. When the menacing letters started to spread to nearby garage doors, city officials recruited Hernandez.

Gang members and residents were given a role in coming up with the theme of the mural and helping to paint it. In return, the two dozen Sotel members agreed to stop spray-painting the area. “Those who once destroyed would help rebuild,” said Hernandez, who now lives in Chicago.

It wasn’t easy. Gang members in their khaki pants and suspenders contrasted with the more straight-laced adults both in dress and mural proposals.

“The kids wanted guns and cops getting shot, and the residents wanted sunshine and little international faces,” Hernandez said. “They were light-years apart.”

But an unusual relationship unfolded. And when the controversial project was unveiled amid the protests of a few officials who complained that it glorified gangs, some community members passionately stood behind the teenagers, Hernandez said.

The final artwork was an “idealized version of who these kids were, with the Virgin of Guadalupe surrounding and protecting them.”

Since then, the area once known as a working-class Latino neighborhood has become gentrified. Over the years, the one-story Spanish-style homes have been replaced by high-priced condos and luxury apartments.

Stoner Park, the community’s linchpin, has also changed. On any given day there are kids playing basketball next to the Japanese gardens, young parents lulling babies in strollers and retired veterans engaging in tai chi under the cherry trees.

“The mural just sits and looks over all of us with this beautiful Mexican spiritual flavor,” Canterbury said. “Without it, it will be a completely different experience going to the park.”

The history of the mural has been forgotten by many people, who generally remember something vague about the police and gang members when asked about its significance.

Some older residents who lived through the experience, however, say it’s time to let go of the past.

“You have to contribute to a community to be a member,” said one elderly man. “They didn’t go to war, go through the Depression, or pay taxes. A picture of Cesar Chavez would have been better.”

Although city officials have tried to save the mural, the center’s new architect says that will be impossible because of the cracked stucco it is painted on.

They have held meetings and discussed the expensive prospect of removing the mural in blocks, the legal implications of reproducing it and the possibility of taking a life-size photograph of the artwork to mount inside the new building.

Supporters are running out of time.

“We thought the giant-sized poster of the mural would be a solution,” said Stoner Park recreation coordinator Jason Liss, “but at the very next meeting, the same people were there repeating, ‘How can we save the mural?’ ”