This LAist poster trudges through Union Station every day for work. Usually the long hallway that connects old Union Station to Gateway Plaza is bland, beige and just plain boring. But once in awhile, some advertiser will cover the walkway with wallpaper for eye candy for tired commuters.

Recently, Starbucks commandeered the area to wish everyone a good holiday season. And this morning, we finally noticed it. Move over Santa and elves -- there are new holiday mascots in town.

On the advert-mural are your typical snowy scenes: a couple amongst the snowflakes, friends creating snow elephants (yes), and the topper: pals mongoose and cobra hanging out arm-in-arm in the winter wonderland. Mr. Cobra is all decked out in a Santa hat. (Who knew that it snowed in the tropics? Must be the global warming.)

Most of us heard about Rikki-tikki-tavi when we were kids, but in that story, the mongoose killed Mr. and Mrs. cobra. So what is Starbucks telling us here? That if the mongoose and cobras can be friends, then maybe there is hope for peace in South LA...in the Middle East...as long as there is a peppermint latte being served on every corner.

Another photo of the pals after the jump...

Photos by Christine N. Ziemba for LAist.