European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 22, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Re outdoor murals grimacing grandma peering Down on the Hollywood freeway a fire escape in Munster Germany. A by Mike Mewhinney associated press even the Walls have of Bravo likes to Call his Eye catching outdoor murals people s  it used to be that Only Rich people could afford to have murals painted said the bearded 26-year-old san Fernan do Valley artist. Art should belong to the people an this Way it can be enjoyed by the entire Community and not just a select  is one of several visionaries who use brushes and buckets of paint to trans form Urban blight into visual Delight along the streets of los , lifeless Walls that once bore Graffiti have come alive with surrealistic fantasies and Serene still lifes a Bravo and other artists perform their mural magic. There Are political murals one shows a blonde woman representing Justice blindfolded by the american Flag. There Are murals painted by rival Street gangs depicting their members in various activities ethnic murals feature mexicans Blacks indians asians another races from the municipal melting pot. And there Are murals for farm workers students newlyweds nature lovers and just Plain Folk. One on the outside Wall of a Post office in West los an Geles shows an elevated freeway abruptly chopped in half the victim of a massive earthquake. Another Rendi Tion of an old woman wrapped in an afghan can be seen by motorists driving North on the Hollywood freeway. Murals reflect the mood or feeling of the Community and people often come by and make suggestions said Bravo who favors Blue jeans and Funk hats when doing his outdoor paintings. I Welcome thursday september 22, 1977 the suggestions it just makes my Job  a graduate of California state University at North Ridge Bravo used to work As a commercial artist but decided murals offered greater Freedom of expression and More  Are my own ideas not somebody else she said. In other words i m doing the driving instead of being  while outdoor murals Are found in several other Large cities in los Angeles they enjoy the the Blessing of the City Council which provided in 1974 an annual budget of about $100,000 for new murals each year. Since the City began financing the projects about 75new murals have been painted by artists such As Bravo. In All there Are probably More than 1,000 murals in Losangeles. Building murals also Are popping up around Europe but not in such profusion. In los Angeles project artists Are paid $395 for their efforts. Their assistants Are paid $2.50 a hour. Once a site and subject Are chosen the Wall has to be sanded and under coated to prepare it for the Bright acrylic paints. It s not like a Canvas where you can jus begin immediately some of those Walls Are really rough Bravo said. You really have to work to get the smooth enough to  perhaps the most ambitious project undertaken is pictorial history of California that dominates a Quarter mile Long West Wall of a Concrete flood Channel in the Sanfernando Valley s Tujunga Wash. Painted in the summer of 1976 by 70 teen agers the 12-foot-High mural covers the period from prehistoric times to Post world War i in 13 chapters each 100 feet Long. The stars and stripes Page 13