Extract pages of self-published tour Mural, Mural on these Walls.

1. This exploration of the city centers on murals and their cousin, graffiti. As
long as man has walked the earth he has communicated with wall drawings About Town Taste walking adventures……weave art,
and scrawling’s. Murals we know today evolved from early graffiti dating architecture, history and food into walks of discovery in diverse local
back to ancient times. Originally a means of basic communication and neighborhoods.
storytelling graffiti takes many forms and murals are simply one form or
style. The word graffiti tends to be unpopular today as it conjures thought Our vision is to be experts on our community and share our love of this
of decay and blight. city with locals and visitors alike. Each weekend our walking adventures
tread into local neighborhoods that explore the art and architecture of the
area woven with tales of our historic past.
 We take you to the art, discussing various aspects of art and the
community
 We have exclusive interior access into historic buildings
 We examine neighborhoods as they are and face its current conditions as
well as what is in development.
The word mural makes this art form an acceptable way of storytelling
usually on a large scale, while graffiti has come to mean tagging. Tagging
causes fear and distrust since it is often used by gangs.
Walking adventures step out every weekend:
 1st wkds Downtown Art & Architecture
 2nd wkds Art of Graffiti
Today graffiti is part of many neighborhoods rebirth. It has since evolved
 3rd wkds Art & Antiques
into a pop culture….and at least in Fresno, seems to be strongly related to  4th wkds Tower Art Taste
the rebirth of neighborhoods. Broadway St, once a thriving city street slid
into decline and now, today, is renewing itself again as a vibrant mural art Each of our regular adventures include more art, architecture and tales of
district’s pivotal point. our historic past along with food tastes along the way just $30pp.
Be they artists, pioneers or restaurateurs; characters all, they make our city
Creative Fresno has the Mural Project, a vehicle for bringing together the unique!
talent, organizations and financial resources needed to create artistic murals
throughout downtown Fresno and the greater community at large. Since Adventures are Saturday morning @10a and May 1st to Sept 1st we add
murals create an awareness and appreciation for the visual arts while Friday evenings about 6p too. All walks last about 2hrs. and include tour,
building a sense of pride they bring a connection within and throughout the tax and food.
community. Public art in general and murals in particular can create and
define a neighborhood, enhance the urban environment and feed the
cultural soul of the city. Moreover, murals allow us to showcase the Advance reservations necessary via
tremendous creative talent we have in Fresno.
info@AboutTownTaste.com or 559.392.4471
This exploration guides you to many murals throughout our diverse mention this Explore guide for $5 discount pp
city. It is by no means exhaustive! If you keep your eyes open you may
even find more murals not mentioned. Meanwhile here we go on the
Explore the City! mural tour. Now you can follow our blog Seen About Town on wordpress!
web site coming soon until then see us on facebook

2. All directions and addresses appear in GREEN.
Please obey all traffic laws and parking regulations. These sites are
combination drive by and many are stop and walk a short distance, like
around a building. You would then drive to the next location.

3. Begin the tour @ City Hall 2600 Fresno St. 93721
The walls between the fabricated corals were ours to fill with extremely
detailed ocean life. Inside city hall floating above the
multistoried lobby you will find a
Carol and Richard Manuputy, an artist/designer team based in Los Osos on playful and fantastical mural
the Central Coast were commissioned for the 3yr. project. The joyful originally done as a chalk painting
colors and varieties of so many different reef scenes and abundance of
on the Fulton Mall, the city
underwater life has been, and continues to be, a delight to all.
commissioned a copy in oil for the
new city hall.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mozart’s Magic Flute is a fairy tale and a philosophy; it is an adventure-
rescue story and political commentary. It is, simply stated, an endlessly
fascinating work of art!
The Magic Flute has been described as an opera with its head high in the
Although this is the end of this Explore the City!© adventure guide you clouds and its feet planted firmly on the earth. Designed to entertain the
may enjoy others: decidedly unroyal audiences, the opera also had a profound moral purpose
to improve, to inspire, and to enlighten. As a member of an audience today,
Sacred Places you may treat the story as a charming and tasty entertainment, just as the
Planes, Trains & Automobiles character Papageno accepts his simple pleasures - a good meal, lots to
Soup to Nuts: a culinary adventure drink, and a loving wife. Or, you may find in The Magic Flute the message
Farm to Fork that things are not as simple as they may seem…. that an internal struggle
Yard Art is at work within us, and that faith, love, truth and wisdom will enable man
to prevail in that internal struggle.
There is even a children’s booklet called Seen Around Town, a special
Visiting Mozart's enlightened world through his work we are invited to be
version of the regular tours offered by About Town Taste, free actors able to create our own destinies just as the characters in the
best described as a scavenger hunt for little eyes. opera are able to influence their own lives.
All the guides are available at All Things Fresno in the historic Warnors
building on Fulton St or by mail $10 each. Next stop is Fresh N Easy on Tulare St, south
Send payment to 4666 N Glenn Ste D, Fresno CA 93704 side at R St. You may want to view it from across
Please allow 3 wks. return. the street and then up close. Once you park walk
around to Tulare St to view the mural on the
building. This mural was created by Stan Bitters
a world renowned sculptor from Fresno.
Bitters is noted for his thick, rich clay work
that gives great texture to his works. The
colors, texture, relief and the strength with
his use of materials enables the viewer an
excitement and visual experience rarely seen

4. fence/building… there’s so much more to see!
More the traditional graffiti style, this free wall has been around for a few
years now, decorated by writers throughout California. Local artist Chris
Sorensen who started the wall said he was motivated by a need to provide
Drive west on Tulare St to 1050 O St. CA State Building West Side space for artists to express themselves. The murals are complex works of
across from Co library. Most likely the oldest remaining mural in the art, with precise line work, detailed landscape backgrounds, vibrant colors
city, this spectacular public artwork The Planting of the Cultures, by F. and even character illustrations.
John Sierra and Ramiro Martinez, graces the wall of the state employment Drive north now on First St. to Shields, turn left going to Blackstone Ave.
office on O Street. Dive west again on Turn right heading north.
Just north of Dakota on Blackstone is the Great American Car Wash on the
Tulare St, ½ block
right, 3854 N. Blackstone Ave.
2309 Tulare St. Building is on
the north side of the street.
Along the south facing wall is the largest military mural in Fresno. Owner
Inside the US Post Office and A.J. Rassamni, a refuge from Lebanon, said he had the three-story high
administration building for the mural painted as a tribute to the United States. Rassamni plans to paint
school board, is a terra cotta pictures of the 40 Valley military vets who have lost their lives since the
mural Grape Harvest by three 911 attacks on that scene.
sisters. Helen originally wanted to be a sculptor but turned instead to
woodblock printing and engraving. She later became known for her
mosaic murals. Esther is best known as a skilled muralist, and for her
ability to work with wood and paint. Margaret- known for her
landscapes, figures, graphics and murals. This painted, glazed
ceramic tile mural was made for the interior of the post office .Their
work for the Public Works of Art (WPA) government project,
including these mosaic panels date to the 40’s depression era.
The next mural work is a very different style. Continue west on Tulare St
to Van Ness turn left (south) into the warehouse district near 2223 S
Van Ness outside the Sorenson Gallery. It is some distance into the Next up are the Murals of the Jellyfish Café at Children’s Hospital of the
warehouse area. 3 Stop signs and a couple railroad tracks, right to the very Central Valley. Drive north on Blackstone Ave to Ashlan Ave, turn right.
end of Van Ness. The building is on the left when you reach the famous Take Fwy 41 north. After crossing the river past Woodward Park, exit
Welcome to Fresno sign. Park there on the gravel area on Van Ness. Once Children’s Blvd. Turn left following the signs to the hospital.
you take in this side, be sure to walk toward the tracks and along the

5. The undersea life murals were commissioned by Children's Hospital of the
Central Valley formerly known as Valley Children's Hospital. The design
of the hospital is consciously geared to provide as complete a healing
environment for children as possible many of whom suffer from terminal
illnesses.
The arts are a very prominent component of the hospital's design concept.
For example, the three main floors each have a distinct theme. The first
floor has an ocean/under water theme, the second floor has an earth theme
while the third floor represent the universe. The Grape Jellyfish Cafe on
the ground floor was designed to look like an underwater ocean reef.
Fabricated coral pillars protrude from the walls. The ceilings are stepped
and curved with fiber optic lighting changing colors constantly to simulate
the ocean waves breaking overhead. Drive north again on Van Ness back to Tulare St. Turn west on Tulare St,
across the railroad tracks to 1041 Tulare St- Louie Kee Market Over the
span of five months, young people in Fresno came together to design,
sketch and paint a massive mural for Louie Kee Market a family-owned
business with more than 87 years of history and service to the residents of
Turn and look north to see Amazing Grace. West Fresno. Under the creative guidance of artist Josue Rojas, the youth
designed a mural depicting pride of the local community and its youth.
Warnors Theatre Director, Rose Marie Caglia was responsible for the Youth groups, along with many community members, worked together to
sponsoring and development of two major arts projects. The first we saw, create the new mural:
the Cultural Arts District Mural was developed and designed to represent
the arts and entertainment of the area. The mural was the second largest of  The Know Youth Media ,The Muralistics, Youth for
its kind, second only to John Sierra's mural on the O Street State Building. Christ
A second mural, Amazing Grace was commissioned by Caglia and painted  Youth Engagement Team of Building Healthy
in 1993, signifying the commitment to music as a driving force within the Communities
area. The mural, Amazing Grace was probably a determining factor in the
emergence of several religious organizations to the neighborhood.
The mural is part of a long-term project to promote healthy and positive
Many shops and business continue to open within the Cultural Arts youth participation in the community, and is made possible by a grant from
District. Artisans who were in awe of the projects have since moved into Building Healthy Communities, an initiative of the California Endowment.
the area, creating a name for themselves, painting airbrush images of
psychedelic images of figures and images, reminiscent of the 60's and 70's Drive east on Tulare St to Broadway St, turn south to 648 Broadway.
era. Artwork continues to be a major contributing factor in the presence Yoshi Now! is always worth a stop, both for the murals and the vintage
and continued growth seen in the area. items in the store. Several murals run across all sides of the building, but
the masterpiece is out back. Be warned, to really see it, you may be
Drive north on Broadway to Calaveras street, turn right onto Van Ness tempted to jump a chain link fence; which we don't condone.
heading north. Keep your eyes open for a few minor murals.
Walk across the street to the north to Fulton St for the mural on the facade
of Mecca Billiards, a pool table outlet and service center at 732 Fulton St.
The distinction of the work is the brilliance of its colors and simplicity,
based upon a game of nine-ball. "It has a lot of elements," Vargas says.

6. "It's larger than life, as if somebody was sitting at the rail watching the
break-out. He'd be focusing on the hand and the stick and seeing the balls
explode around the table.”
Walk to 746 Broadway St next to Pep Boys, south of the
Grizzly Stadium, Welcome to FRESNO also by Vargas….