An effective elementary school is like gold to parents. When Pacoima Elementary was first founded, the administration struggled with creating a secure, supportive, and healthy school culture. It became known as one of the worst ranking schools in America. Today, it is one of the highest-ranking schools in the Northeast San Fernando Valley. It’s a symbol for the tumultuous times experienced by residents of Pacoima in the 1970s and the current renaissance of cultural expression and the arts.

In this mural that once graced Pacoima Elementary, an Aztec warrior is standing on an eagle-shaped rock holding an Aztec maiden. He wears a Mexican woven blanket and they both share the same hair medallion.  While this image of warrior and maiden has iconic roots in the Chicano movement, here, created by a self-taught artist for elementary school children, it offers a heroic figure of Mexica descent. It provides a counter image to white heroes and superheroes prevalent in the 1970’s.

Tom Cornelius’ piece of a train station is a part of this historical monument, and it is a picture of a train station that shows off its perspective in a warm atmosphere. Zelzah Train Depot had the support of a grassroot organization called Northridge Sparkle Campaign, and it's credited by other artists due to its scenery with its blues, oranges, and yellows. Tom’s and Roger’s mural capture the beauty and representation of the San Fernando Valley community's historical beauty.

When Hector Ponce moved from El Salvador to the United States in the early 1980’s, he quickly made a name for himself as a professional painter of advertising signs. As his sign painting business continued to grow, he decided to begin painting murals on utility boxes and the sides of buildings to express and share his story with the community. He transformed these murals into a successful art career and eventually into a family business. The father of Levi Ponce is not just known for his awe-inspiring artworks in Pacoima, but also for the creation of massive iconic murals in Hollywood and Downtown Los Angeles, such as Los Angeles Teachers. Just like most artists, Ponce’s drive and passion come from his intention to offer images of peace and hope to his community. As a Salvadoran immigrant, Hector Ponce uses his talent to visually represent his appreciation for the hardworking immigrants in the San Fernando Valley and greater Los Angeles area. The holy mother who is also known as “La Virgen De Guadalupe” resides across the street from the wildly popular Danny Trejo mural created by Hector’s son Levi Ponce.

Levi Ponce, born to a sign painter and seamstress, began to paint with his dad, Hector Ponce when he was a child. After graduating college with a Bachelor of Arts from California State University of Northridge, Ponce started organizing and creating murals along Van Nuys Blvd., which soon turned into Mural Mile. As his murals gained more attention, the city of Pacoima officially endorsed his efforts and more than 100 volunteers offered their assistance to help with the painting. His modern take on Johannes Vermeer’s painting, Girl with a Pearl Earring is located between Lev Avenue  and Van Nuys Boulevard. Completed in a single day, Ponce noted to the Los Angeles' Mural Conservancy: "Most people have little or no access to museums in the East San Fernando Valley." Of course, not everyone is able to travel to Holland to see Vermeer's masterpiece so Ponce thought to bring his giant, public replica to the streets of Pacoima. Instead of the pearl earring, he gives the female figure a hoop earring, jewelry more culturally fitting for a modern Pacoima woman.  In this sense, he localizes Vermeer’s European woman.

This mural was later tagged with graffiti.  While the intentions behind the vandalism aren’t clear, it did alter the objective of Ponce and his team and it was later removed.  Some street artists view this as an ongoing predicament between allowing other artists, graffiti and otherwise, to express themselves and safeguarding community murals.

Painted originally in 1997 and repainted in the last few years, the Chatsworth History Wall mural is a three hundred foot long project funded by the Chatsworth Chamber of Commerce.  Its mission was to “transform a graffiti-plagued area” along a bike path.  Art students from three northwest San Fernando Valley schools (Lawrence Middle School, Sierra Canyon School, Chaminade College Preparatory Middle School) illustrated different eras from local history to educate the public and honor indigenous groups of the area.  Beginning with its first inhabitants, the Chumash, the mural transitions through the original founding of the city, the first world war, the ubiquity of the area's presence in Wild West film and television, through the 1970s when most of the area was developed.  The mural ends with some local landmarks that are still visible today. The Chatsworth History Wall’s eclectic imagery and varied styles abridge the countless stories of all of the peoples who have lived there throughout its history, and serves as microcosm of the story of the San Fernando Valley as a whole.

Although originally created to cover over and reduce graffiti, the mural remained a popular site for tagging before it was repainted in its entirety around 2017 with graffiti resistant paint.  Street art not sanctioned by the Chatsworth Chamber of Commerce is now removed.  The History Wall mural is a selective depiction of iconic historical moments of the region that remind visitors of its colorful past.

Juan Pablo Reyes, or JPmurals, is a young artist from Pacoima and is a passionate supporter of his community. On the one hand, JP has collaborated with established muralists like Levi Ponce on his 10,000 square foot Rushing Waters and on the other, a series of murals with untrained community members of all ages. Growing up in the Pacoima projects in close proximity to significant murals and their creators, JP was inspired to make public art and to help pass those traditions on to the next generation. Today, JP collaborates with student groups in mural creation to encourage artistic exploration and to help young people learn local history through visual representations, in part through his heavy involvement in the Pacoima Arts Incubator.

JP has also completed restoration on the legendary San Fernando Valley High mural, which was painted in 1977 by Jose Luis Rivera. JP hopes to “increase its lifespan for another 40+ years”. Still a college student himself at the time of this writing, helping young artists and sharing good opportunities with youth is an important motivating factor in his work. 

This mural is emblematic of a new generation of Pacoima muralists getting their start in recent years. Even as the opportunities and space in which they create murals have changed, these artists continue to make art to beautify and educate their communities.  

The artist Kristy Sandoval set out to create a mural that depicts the community of Pacoima in a new light. After studying at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco where she was surrounded by murals and artwork, she moved back to the San Fernando Valley and reached out to non-profit organizations.  By bringing public art to her community, she hoped to dispel the association of Pacoima with crime and violence. 

After the mural ordinance in 2002 banned mural production, Sandoval created Decolonized, a mural which uses the building’s window and the awning to create a three-dimensional illusion. The window creates a cage and the awning creates the skirt for the woman. Decolonized honors Chicana women in the community who grew up speaking English in school and Spanish at home. As she was painting the female subject on the mural, Sandoval realized that she resembled Cristina Tacata, an English language arts teacher in the special day program at Van Nuys Middle School. The female figure has a tattoo of the Aztec moon goddess Coyolxauhqui to honor her Mexica heritage. She is depicted releasing monarch butterflies and macaws from the cage, a representation of that which held them back. In this case, the monarch butterflies symbolize immigration reform, as birds can migrate freely across borders. The uncaging of the macaws and monarchs can also be read as the freedom mural artists again have to paint legally. 

The California poppies remind us that they once covered the hills of southern California.

Rushing Waters, adjacent to the train tracks of the Metrolink near the 118 freeway exit, is an accumulation of four years of planning and community outreach in Pacoima mural mile. Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez secured half a million dollars for mural projects in the seventh council district and $100,000 USD was used to fund the Rushing Waters public painting. The mural was created by Levi Ponce with assistance from established muralists and graffiti artists. The team was assisted by the Los Angeles Native American Commission, Walt Disney Imagineering designers, local businesses, and local community leaders. The mural is 10,000 square feet long and by far, the largest above-ground mural in the San Fernando Valley. Levi Ponce has said

This is a historic endeavor and my team and I are extremely honored to be trusted with a project that means so much to Pacoima and what it will represent for generations to come. We hope this project serves as a catalyst for change not only in art but for the people of this beautiful City. For years, red tape kept this project out of reach -- I commend Councilwoman Rodriguez for stepping up and making this project a reality for our community.

The mural depicts Pacoima and its cultural and geographic history.  As the centerpiece, a colossal Tataviam woman is flanked by freeways and iconic LA landmarks such as the Hansen Dam, Whiteman Airport and the Sylmar Aqueduct.  Depictions of the natural landscape also symbolize communal memories.  Forget-me-not flowers, for example, symbolize commemorate of the Armenian genocide in 1915. Overall, the mural depicts the diversity and historical depth of the Pacoima neighborhood.

This memorial mural was painted by Jonas Never and Ruger to commemorate the passing of Trigz, a prominent graffiti and tattoo artist based in the San Fernando Valley. Painted in 2014, the artists wanted to commemorate and embody Trigz’s personality.  Trigz was shot and killed in 2014 outside of a Los Angeles tattoo parlour. The artists were inspired by a photograph taken by one of Trigz’s close friends and well-known commercial photographer Pep Williams.  This mural, located behind the tattoo shop that Trigz owned, is an important location for this public memorial where the community can continue to gather.  

Jonas Never, is a Los Angeles graffiti artist who transitioned to mural art. Ruger is a self-taught Los Angeles tattoo artist who worked in Trigz’s tattoo shop at that time that he was killed.

Artist Jaimie Zacarias, aka Germs, stated in an interview on Wescover that he likes to “challenge the traditional interpretations of the icons we all know so well.”

On this building along the Mural Mile, he uses a wild array of colors with the iconic image of the luchador mask with tentacles squirming out of it.   What appears to be an alien from another planet becomes, with the mask, an alien from another country.

This mural is 30 feet tall located at the Entrepreneur Center in Pacoima. The Center provides workforce development to help low income residents and find and keep jobs.  

Jaimie states that he wants the viewer to be “drawn into a complex layering of cultural references; comfortable and familiar, often times playful and childlike imagery” 

Not only is this mural important for the community as a representation of the powerful Assata Shakur, a Black Panther activist, but it also sets itself apart from all the other pieces on the Mural Mile which were painted by men.  It was created by women artists of color to commemorate a strong black woman.

The mural is located on the Stylesville Beauty Shop in Pacoima. Stylesville, which opened in 1957, is the oldest black owned barbershop in the San Fernando Valley. It is fitting for this work to be on this building as barbershops have always been important spaces where the community comes together to talk.

Assata Shakur Freedom Fighter is a joint effort by Kristy Sandoval and The H.O.O.D. Sisters.  Kristy Sandoval is an art director and muralist who is dedicated to bringing arts to the communities that are undeserved. 

According to the H.O.O.D. Sisters own website, The H.O.O.D. Sisters are a collective of powerful women and women identified who use their art to bring awareness to certain issues around the community.