{"id":31126,"date":"2025-10-31T01:23:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T01:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/31126\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T01:23:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T01:23:15","slug":"downtown-long-beach-has-a-new-mural-highlighting-its-north-pine-neighborhood-press-telegram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/31126\/","title":{"rendered":"Downtown Long Beach has a new mural highlighting its North Pine neighborhood \u2013 Press Telegram"},"content":{"rendered":"

The people is what makes the North Pine neighborhood in Downtown Long Beach so special, said Robert Lebsack, a local artist who just finished painting a mural that highlights the different qualities of this neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Painted on the side of Planet Fitness at Fourth Street and Pine Avenue, the artwork is the first in a series of murals that will adorn different neighborhoods of the downtown area thanks to the Downtown Long Beach Alliance.<\/p>\n

The organization launched the project, called the DTLB Neighborhood Map Mural Project, which aims to serve as a colorful visual guide to Downtown Long Beach neighborhoods\u2019 landmarks, personality, and pride. The initiative is being led by the Placemaking team and the DTLB Alliance Placemaking Committee, officials said.<\/p>\n

In an effort to build stronger neighborhood identities ahead of the 2028 Olympics and foster a sense of local connection across downtown, there will be seven murals part of the project. The first mural, painted by Lebsack, kicks off this effort.<\/p>\n

On a background of sunset orange, letters that spell \u201cLong Beach\u201d feature iconic downtown places, such as the Pine Avenue gateway sign, a Metro train, the farmers market, and the Lions Lighthouse. People are walking, riding their bike, and walking their dog across the mural, which Lebsack said reflected what he sees in the neighborhood on a daily basis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people is really what makes it interesting,\u201d Lebsack said in an interview. \u201cThey\u2019re all mixing together, so I wanted to put not just the places but people in there too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The North Pine neighborhood has a new mural. The mural is part of the Downtown Long Beach Alliance\u2019s Neighborhood Map Mural Project, which was painted by local artist Robert Lebsack. (Photo by Christina Merino, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Artist<\/p>\n

Artist Robert Lebsack painting his North Pine mural, located at 345 Pine Ave., for the Downtown Long Beach Alliance\u2019s Neighborhood Map Mural Project. (Photo courtesy of Robert Lebsack)\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The North Pine neighborhood has a new mural. The mural is part of the Downtown Long Beach Alliance\u2019s Neighborhood Map Mural Project, which was painted by local artist Robert Lebsack. (Photo by Christina Merino, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Artist<\/p>\n

Artist Robert Lebsack standing in front of his North Pine mural, located at 345 Pine Ave., part of the Downtown Long Beach Alliance\u2019s Neighborhood Map Mural Project on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. (Photo by Christina Merino, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The North Pine neighborhood has a new mural. The mural is part of the Downtown Long Beach Alliance\u2019s Neighborhood Map Mural Project, which was painted by local artist Robert Lebsack. (Photo by Christina Merino, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The North Pine neighborhood has a new mural. The mural is part of the Downtown Long Beach Alliance\u2019s Neighborhood Map Mural Project, which was painted by local artist Robert Lebsack. (Photo by Christina Merino, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The North Pine neighborhood has a new mural. The mural is part of the Downtown Long Beach Alliance\u2019s Neighborhood Map Mural Project, which was painted by local artist Robert Lebsack. (Photo by Christina Merino, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The North Pine neighborhood has a new mural. The mural is part of the Downtown Long Beach Alliance\u2019s Neighborhood Map Mural Project, which was painted by local artist Robert Lebsack. (Photo by Christina Merino, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Artist<\/p>\n

Artist Robert Lebsack painting his North Pine mural, located at 345 Pine Ave., for the Downtown Long Beach Alliance\u2019s Neighborhood Map Mural Project. (Photo courtesy of Robert Lebsack)\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The North Pine neighborhood has a new mural. The mural is part of the Downtown Long Beach Alliance\u2019s Neighborhood Map Mural Project, which was painted by local artist Robert Lebsack. (Photo by Christina Merino, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

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The North Pine neighborhood has a new mural. The mural is part of the Downtown Long Beach Alliance\u2019s Neighborhood Map Mural Project, which was painted by local artist Robert Lebsack. (Photo by Christina Merino, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

The Downtown Long Beach Alliance stives to capture the feeling of belonging and understanding of other neighborhoods as well, including the Historic East Village, Willmore City, among others, through visual storytelling.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s extremely important for us to focus on our various neighborhoods,\u201d said James Ahumada, the Senior Vice President and Deputy CEO of the DTLBA. \u201cThere\u2019s many distinct and unique neighborhoods and different types of businesses in each of those neighborhoods. I think it\u2019s important to us to give them a voice and spotlight.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are many murals in the downtown area, Ahumada said, but very few highlight each neighborhood in a specific way like this project is trying to do.<\/p>\n

Lebsack has been painting murals for 15 years, and said that this project was a great opportunity to paint a big mural and highlight the neighborhood he lives in as well. It took a month to complete the mural and was finished at the beginning of this month. It was unveiled during this month\u2019s Art Walk that the Alliance hosts to highlight local artists.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like that\u2019s really interesting, especially since I just live a mile down the street,\u201d Lebsack said. \u201cI was able to come and explore the exact parameters that they had set up for what is North Pine. I tried to get a feel for the area that they were trying to describe.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is the advice that he gives for other artists interested in participating in the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cTry to get a feel for the neighborhood that it\u2019s in, because these are supposed to be really community-based,\u201d he said, \u201cand try to get each the unique personality of each neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the beginning of next year, Ahumada said, is when the process will begin again for the next two murals in the series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The people is what makes the North Pine neighborhood in Downtown Long Beach so special, said Robert Lebsack,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31127,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[7,23,131,133,132,137],"class_list":{"0":"post-31126","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-local-news","10":"tag-long-beach","11":"tag-long-beach-headlines","12":"tag-long-beach-news","13":"tag-los-angeles-county"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}