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Renowned LA muralist Robert Vargas's next subject: Altadena
Sisters Christy, left, and Janet Lee own Fair Oaks Burger in Altadena. The business has been a center of food aid and distribution after the January fires.
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Adolfo Guzman-Lopez
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LAist
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The Hollywood sign and the Capitol Records building are undisputed L.A. icons. But the L.A. murals of Fernando Valenzuela and Shohei Ohtani by artist Robert Vargas aren't far behind.
On June 7, Vargas is set to unveil his latest work on a wall of Fair Oaks Burger, a longtime Altadena business whose owners helped feed residents and workers after the January fires.
Robert Vargas' mural of the late Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela.
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Courtesy Robert Vargas
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“I said yes to painting a mural at Fair Oaks Burger, because it was a great opportunity to be able to join in the support of this incredible resilient community of Altadena that is just trying to pick up the pieces,” Vargas told LAist.
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Listen
• 2:36
Listen: A new mural for Altadena
If you don’t know muralist Robert Vargas by name, you know his art.
There are grim reminders of the Eaton Fire’s devastation on all sides of Fair Oaks Burger.
Rubble is all that’s left of apartments next to its parking lot. The walls of a cinder block building across the street still stand, but its roof and insides are ash.
The January fires destroyed an apartment building next to Fair Oaks Burger in Altadena.
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Adolfo Guzman-Lopez
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LAist
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Fair Oaks Burger, however, did not burn down, and the owners, sisters Janet and Christy Lee, opened their parking lot in March to feed residents for free. They continue to host a free farmers’ market food distribution there every Saturday.
“We wanted to put something that is impactful, an inspiration for people that when they do come back for the first time ... it's not just all doom and gloom; that there is some hope and there's something bright and inspirational,” Janet Lee said.
Many other new murals have been going up in the area, and she hopes they’ll attract people from outside Altadena in order to help struggling businesses.
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Fair Oaks Burger in Altadena has been part of the food aid effort after the January fires.
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Adolfo Guzman-Lopez
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LAist
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What the mural will look like
The idea for the mural came after Janet Lee attended the unveiling of another Vargas mural at a MacArthur Park food pantry run by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. She approached Vargas, who later stopped by the restaurant, looked at the south-facing exterior wall and got inspired. The foundation will pay Vargas to paint the mural.
Vargas grew up in Boyle Heights, and requests for his art have taken him to Japan and, more recently, New York. He doesn’t just paint celebrities. A work in progress in downtown L.A. depicts a Tongva girl.
Many of Vargas’ murals are monumental, and he specializes in depictions of expressive faces.
What will he paint on the wall at Fair Oaks Burger?
“I can't tell you exactly what it's going to be,” Vargas said, “but I can tell you that it's going to be something that reflects the community and even, possibly, integrates some of the people there from the community in the mural.”
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Robert Vargas paints on a high rise building in downtown Los Angeles.
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Courtesy Robert Vargas
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Vargas works fast. He said it’s going to take him about four days to finish the mural, which is set to be unveiled June 7.
“I think the unifying theme from my murals is, really, a sense of compassion for humanity ... wanting to create something for the greater good,” Vargas said.
The restaurant’s owners want to start replacing the image of devastation people have of Altadena with images of hope, resiliency and the desire to help each other to rebuild their neighborhoods.
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