Statesman & Hollywood Mural

A diamond and a 1977 time capsule.

Notes for the beginning of an epic adventure comic:

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The Bank of America Mural

In the Bank of America on Vermont in Los Feliz neighborhood of Hollywood, California, there is — or at least, there was the last time I visited – a mural depicting Hollywood Blvd in 1977. It’s a view that includes the intersection of Hollywood and Highland, and you can see Mann’s Chinese Theater there along with other buildings and, as I recall, possibly the mountains in the background.

What is most astonishing about the mural is how sparsely populated it seems now: there are open spaces of real estate there along the boulevard, a stark contrast to the insanely packed cheek-by-jowl maximalism of the modern-day Hollywood and Highland. Walking there now feels like there are thousands of voices screaming at you and that every inch of real estate is claimed. Back then, it seems there was room for an empty lot or an open field even in such an enviable world-famous location.

I wonder how much longer can we go on like this?

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And the award for the most weirdly evocative headline I’ve come across in recent memory goes to this:

’Voyager 1 finds wall of fire at 90,000 ºF — It’s impossible for us to cross’

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My illustrated book World Exhibition, is out now from Mist Castle Press!

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