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    City Place Center

    The City Place Shopping Center is located in downtown Long Beach and is a 20-minute walk from the Aquarium of the Pacific and a view of the Pacific Ocean. The shopping center is encircled by the southern end of the Metro Blue Line. Visitors can most easily reach this area by stopping at Pacific Ave Station or 5th Street Station. Public parking in downtown Long Beach is limited and usually requires payment. Some metered parking is available, although the area from the shopping center is pedestrian-friendly.

    The area is heavily populated with murals, with at least five in a one-block area on E 4th Street from Pine Ave to The Promenade N. Eclectic and chain stores crowd the space, ranging from record shops to a Chuck-E-Cheese to discount clothing stores. The office for the Arts Council for Long Beach is within walking distance.

    Written by Amelia Nixon

     

    Source: https://www.presstelegram.com/2017/03/29/downtown-long-beachs-city-place-sheds-name-aims-to-be-focal-point-of-the-streets/

    2018

    Swamp Baby

    In the heart of Long Beach’s City Place Shopping Center, the mural “Swamp Baby” rises four stories along the outer wall of a parking structure. “Swamp Baby” was created by the artist Lauren (Lolo) YS as a commissioned piece for POW! WOW! Long Beach’s 2018 summer festival. Visitors may wish to view the mural from across E 4th Street in order to see the entire piece. However, Lauren YS has included many interesting details visitors may wish to see up close. Towering above the street, “Swamp Baby” depicts a quirky female character standing on top of a frog-like creature and under a mushroom. The colors of the mural include a background that transitions from teal to pink, with other pastel colors contrasting dark blue and black, with a few hints of neon green. Lauren YS’s “Swamp Baby” wears an eyepatch, a dress with a skeleton pattern and frog fasteners, and a band-aid with a frowny face to match her own expression. Her silver hair is styled into two buns, and her ears and hands appear a discolored purple. “Swamp Baby” is both charming and startling, causing many passers-by to stop and contemplate the mural. “Swamp Baby” resembles Lauren YS’s other pieces in that it depicts a heroine from her own imagination who exists in a world different from our own. The fantasy of the mural comes from Lauren YS’s unique imagination. Inspired by the artist’s combination of dreams, mythology, comics, animation, and her own Asian-American heritage, “Swamp Baby” stands distinctively in an area dense with other murals. Written by Amelia Nixon

    Source: https://lbpost.com/life/arts-culture/your-complete-guide-to-pow-wow-long-beach-2018/

    Untitled by Kamea Hadar

    On the side of a Jean Machine store, Kamea Hadar’s mural stretches 55 feet high. Hadar painted the untitled mural for POW! WOW! Long Beach’s 2018 summer festival. The mural depicts a female dancer in two poses. The mural’s background matches the figure’s dress and consists of a gradient that transitions from bottom to top from dark blue to navy to light blue to lime green. The mural is best viewed from the opposite side of The Promenade N. Hadar’s mural was a collaboration with Hawaiian Airlines and reflects themes of environmentalism. The female dancer in the mural appears submerged, reflecting the themes of water, the ocean, and how the flow of water brings life. The two faces of the subject represent inner conflict and balance. Fluidly reaching upward, her arm is encircled by a vine, conveying the unity of people, water, and nature. The artist is also the co-lead director of POW! WOW! Hawaii and helped create the global organization with childhood friend Jasper Wong. Since its creation in 2010, POW! WOW! festivals have taken place all over the world as the organization continues to find new partner cities. Of POW! WOW!’s choice of street art, Hadar says, “I think the thing that street art does is it becomes a lot more accessible to people. The very sterile, traditional gallery environment can be very intimidating for most people. In my opinion, art should be for everyone, and street art really helps to do that. You can paint on a building and you can lean against that building. You can touch the art. You can experience it. You can ride your bike around and enjoy it and like it or dislike it or have an opinion about it, but it's there and people are less scared to interact with it.” Written by Amelia Nixon

    Sources: https://www.pbshawaii.org/long-story-short-with-leslie-wilcox-jasper-wong-and-kamea-hadar/, https://vimeo.com/280680068

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