Jul 192011
Chinatown – San Francisco
711 Pacific
Bok Sen – Eight Immortals
I was stopped short by this set of murals. The style is so obviously asian and yet you just don’t see that style outside of the asian world when it comes to murals. This is the front of the Ping Yuen Public Housing Project on the corner of Stockton and Pacific in San Francisco. The housing project was built in 1952, and designed by Architect Henry Temple Howard. Howard was a graduate of UC Berkeley and the Ecole de Beaux Arts. After a stint with his father, architect John Glen Howard, he went to work for Blakewell and Brown, the architects of Coit Tower. He worked with landscape architect Mark Daniels on this project.
Ping Yuen has three buildings, east, middle and west. There are playgrounds in the back and small landscaped areas for sitting. Despite being surrounded by high fences and lots of bars on the windows most people that live there consider it a very safe place to live.
This particular wall is outside of the walls, which is how it got tagged. These murals have a very interesting story. They were done by Josie Grant. The original mural, painted in 1979 depicted representations of classic tai chi poses. The city had hired a contractor to seal the walls after some roof damage, the contractor white-washed over the murals. In 1995, the city hired Josie again to put up new murals. She did not want to recreate the original murals, so this is what she did, apparently with some acrimony from some of the tenants. There was considerable discussion about the fact that she was not Asian, and that these aren’t what people expected. I think they are wonderful, and so very different than what is around town.
The title of these murals is Bok Sen – 8 Immortals. All these shots were taken through the bars of the fence that surrounds the property.
These are marvelous! I love the shot of the mural beneath the laundry:)
…and that is another reason why San Francisco is awesome.
Beautiful shots…great idea! You could drive by every day and not see the beauty and creativity in these murals but you captured it! It’s just good to slow down and notice the beauty in even everyday things. Thanks for sharing!
Amazing murals!! Such beautiful colors in them!
Thanks- josie
http://www.upagainstthewwall-murals.com
cool artwork!
THANK YOU FOR NOTICING…AND THE LOVELY REVIEW-
ONLY SORRY IT TOOK ME A YEAR TO FIND MY NAME LISTED!…I’D LOVE TO KNOW WHO YOU ARE- SO PLEASE RESPOND- AND THANKS FOR ALL THE GREAT RESPONSES!