Andy’s Mural Meiners Oaks Inspiration
Artists create the mural on the once-graffiti-laden side wall at Andy’s Liquor on El Roblar Drive and Lomita Avenue.
By Laignee Barron
Around the corner from Oak Grove School and two blocks away from Meiners Oaks Elementary is Andy’s Liquor Store, on the corner of El Roblar Drive and Lomita Avenue. It’s a busy site — locals pass by, as do kids and teens on their way to and from school. Taggers have also been frequent visitors to the site, using the blank wall as a canvas for their graffiti.
The side wall of Andy’s has been repeatedly spray-painted with profanities and gang signs, which the owners quickly painted over. Just beyond the patches of black paint, however, the words were still decipherable and the intentions obvious.
Nearly everyone sees graffiti as an increasing problem in the Ojai Valley, but few have attempted to solve it. Last weekend, however, kids from the Once Upon a Wetland preservation group tackled the problem — with art.
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This is a beautiful example of the directive of social architect R. Buckminster Fuller: The way to solve a problem is not through protest, but to make the system that created it obsolete. Bravo!
Kudos to everyone involved in this important community project. It has completely transformed the feel of that intersection. Thank you!