If there was only a gold medal for finger-pointing… Caltrans says the Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles is responsible for maintaining the artworks along the freeway Downtown. MCLA co-founder Bill Lasarow says the artists signed over the works to the state of California and that the legislature just needs to add a line item covering regular cleanups. Today, any effort to bring them back appears dead in the water.
A détente was reached for a state-funded $1.7 million restoration in 2004. Caltrans provided barricades, scaffolding and water trucks to power pressure washers and crowds cheered. Three years later, Caltrans began to cover graffiti and original art with gray paint. It used the word “hibernate.” Artist Kent Twitchell called the graffiti of his works “artistic terrorism.” Artists Frank Romero and Judy Baca discussed lawsuits over Caltrans’ graywashing (Romero filed one in 2009, but it was unsuccessful)
In 2013, original muralist Willie Herrón led crews that brought the works back again, but when a helpful Caltrans superintendent died and MCLA executive director Isabel Rojas-Williams quit, there were no more fingers in the dike and taggers came out in force. Even though the works are protected by anti-graffiti coatings, Rojas-Williams estimates the cost of repairs today at about $2 million.
Lasarow says his organization is broke. Caltrans says it’s looking into the idea of stringing “fake ivy” in front of the works. Rojas-Williams thinks the money is out there to restore the freeway gallery in time for the 2028 Games. “I wish people would say thank you for our art and donate money like the New Yorkers do. Hollywood uses our murals all the time, but they don’t give money to keep them alive,” Rojas-Williams says. “If somebody said, ‘We have the money,’ I know how to do it. We could do it in time for the Olympics. Let’s do this together.”