Many-hued mural OK'd for Chevron station Many-hued mural OK'd for Chevron station (February 04, 2004)

By Rebecca Wallace

Almanac Staff Writer

After taking several trips back to the drawing board, a vividly colored mural has won city approval to adorn a wall at a Menlo Park Chevron service station.

The planned 18- by 29-foot mural will splash its hues across a wall facing Oak Grove Avenue just east of El Camino Real, courtesy of local youngsters, said station owner John Conway. As part of the East Palo Alto Mural Art Project, members of local Boys and Girls Club chapters will create the mural under the tutelage of artist Mia Ruiz-Escoto.

"It's pretty incredible," Nancy Chillag, a member of the city's Arts Commission, said of the plan after the commission approved it with a 5-0 vote on January 28. "This is what the program's all about, getting community involved."

The mural, which includes images of a red vintage convertible and a new blue car at a gas pump, was proposed to meet the city's public art requirement. The law requires developers of commercial, industrial and municipal projects that cost at least $250,000 to pay 1 percent of construction costs to put in a work of art at the site.

The $1 million station renovation includes expanding the service area and moving the gas pumps farther apart. The law only requires Mr. Conway to pay about $4,000 for art because some of the work is state-mandated upgrades.

Mr. Conway has opposed the law and said he never wanted to install art, but said last week that he was "happy" with the design. When asked whether he thought the mural would fit in with the neighborhood, he responded, "I think people will like it."

According to the project application, the mural is a vignette that shows "three young people of diverse cultural backgrounds" who drive up in a state-of-the-art car, but stop to admire the vintage auto "and receive a lesson on 'the way things were' from its owner." The vintage auto's owner, who only has his back visible, is supposed to be Mr. Conway.

Lastly, the application notes, "The border hosts vines and calla lilies, which reflect indigenous flora of the region and represent the beauty and strength of the native Ohlone people who were the original applicants."

The mural is scheduled to be created throughout February, with an unveiling on March 6. Mr. Conway said it should cost about $7,000. The station work still needs a few more weeks to be completed, he added.

Mr. Conway had originally sought to pay an in-lieu fee, rather than install a work of art, but the Arts Commission turned him down. The planned mural then went through different incarnations and one artist before the present version and artist.

Meanwhile, mandated art at other city projects is taking shape. An ornamental metal bench is expected to be put in as soon as this week at a rebuilt 7-Eleven at Oak Grove Avenue and Alma Street, city officials said.

In addition, the new Mike's Cafe on Middlefield Road near the Willow Road corner will probably be finished around the end of February, owner Mike Wallau said. He said the tree-themed mural planned for a wall next to the restaurant has been completed off-site and looks "exquisite." A formal unveiling is being planned.

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