Come Walk the Art

The last time I wrote about this public art installation was in July 2025, when I noted that some projects take a long time to coalesce.

Well, here we are 14 months later, and I’m happy to say we did it!

As with most things, it takes a village—beginning with the Port of LA grant and a subsequent grant from Arts United (the Arts and Culture District coalition, designated by the state of California). The people we met along the way were the most gratifying part of this project.

The goals for this project were to provide visitors and residents with wayfinding clues and to use these artist-designed crosswalks to signal that this is an arts and cultural district. There are also two artist-painted storm drains at this intersection – by Mer Young and Jay Davis.

To award this commission, the San Pedro Arts District conducted an extensive public process, culminating in a social media campaign that allowed the community to vote on one of the three finalists. Along with the community, we selected the artist behind the design, Lua Kobayashi, who drew inspiration from the Japanese art of gyotaku and her great-grandfather’s ties to the Los Angeles fishing community.

The artist comments: “Furusato: Home Sweet Home has been a dream to bring to life. I hope it invites people to pause, reflect on the history of San Pedro and the Japanese Americans of Terminal Island, and recognize how memory continues to live within the places we pass every day. It’s an honor for this work to become part of the community’s present as well as its history. My thanks to the San Pedro Waterfront Arts District for their support and for making this project possible.”

The next hurdle was how to apply this design to the street. We tried to work with one paving contractor, but when they ‘ghosted’ us, we gave the job to Wellington Signs. We were fortunate to work with the founder and current owner, Randy Westin, who was intrigued by the idea and devoted many hours to making test stencils. He then figured out how to create the complex set of stencils for the street installation. They even repaired the pothole.

In the spirit of ‘pictures or it didn’t happen,’ we hired videographer Pamela Torrance, a scientist turned storyteller and the Founder of Torrance Productions. She blends analytical precision with creative vision across documentary and narrative filmmaking, scriptwriting, and digital marketing. Pamela beautifully captured the story of this project and created the video content we’ve been promoting on Instagram and Facebook.

We partnered with the CD15 Office’s Port & Capital Projects Director, Aksel Palacios, to help us navigate the City of LA’s permits and requirements. After we sent out a Call for Art, we learned that if we chose a crosswalk with existing white stripes, the design would need to fit within those stripes. If we had known this at the beginning of the project, we could have adjusted the Call for Art to reflect this rule. Since we did not want to alter the chosen artist’s design, we pivoted to an intersection at the center of DTSP, further proclaiming this area as our ‘town center.’

In addition to installing a beautiful, meaningful piece of art on the street, we worked with the artist to design merchandise featuring the bluefin tuna design. At the upcoming First Thursday ArtWalk ceremony on September 3 and the Port Town Brewery afterparty, we will launch this merchandise, with the hope that it will raise funds for the San Pedro Waterfront Arts District.

Come celebrate with us on First Thursday, September 3, at 6 p.m., to unveil the new artist-designed crosswalk at the intersection of 6th and Mesa.

Join us for an energizing performance by the Improv Taiko drummers, then walk over to the afterparty at Port Town Brewery (285 W. 7th St.), where we’ll have an Artist and Maker’s Pop-Up Gallery, oysters from Holdfast Aquaculture, and more. spt

Do you have arts and culture ideas? Please share them via email: 55lindagrimes@gmail.com.