A Picture Of History And Hope

After a bit of a struggle to cut it using garden shears, a simple pair of scissors helped part the ribbon on the new mural at the southwest corner of North Fair Oaks and Montana Avenue in Northwest Pasadena before nearly a hundred local residents on Saturday.

The mural by artist Jason Timothy Smith—which was commissioned by the North Fair Oaks Empowerment Initiative—depicts the creation of an African American quilt, and highlights a number of notables from the neighborhood, once a thriving African-American “Main Street.”

According to a statement from the organization, the mural is part of an effort to “Beautify, not gentrify, the neighborhood.”

Among those pictured on the quilt are Jackie and Mack Robinson, science fiction author Octavia Butler; Edna Griffin, the first Black woman doctor in Pasadena, Canto “TNT” Robledo, a blind prize fighter/trainer; Loretta Thompson-Glickman, Pasadena’s first Black woman Mayor; the Woods-Valentine mortuary, which is Pasadena’s oldest Black-owned business) and Doug Kosobayshi, the owner of Berry and Sweeney Pharmacy.

“When I was researching this mural,” said Smith, “I talked to the neighbors and I asked for their stories. They shared with me how North Fair Oaks and Northwest Pasadena were created.”

According to local activist Jill Shook of Making Housing Happen, the mural is part of a larger effort to improve the community.

Said Shook, “The Bible says, ‘We have not, because we ask not.’ So we asked the community members and business owners what they would like to see in the neighborhood. Our first win was a $268,000 traffic signal, and that began to resurrect hope.”

Then, Shook said, Councilmember Tyron Hampton helped smooth out sidewalks in the neighborhood, all of which is part of a neighborhood vision plan that Making Housing Happen is currently promoting.

“And now we have this beautiful mural,” she said. “We learned how to ask for what we wanted.”

Each “panel” of the quilt also features a QR code so that visitors to the mural can find the story of that person or business online.

Muralist Smith, who has completed six indoor and outdoor murals, lives in Pasadena, and has created and exhibited art in Louisiana, Minnesota, Washington D.C., California, and Kenya.

“His artistic journey spans over 25 years, marked by a commitment to collaborating with community groups and nonprofits to express their sense of community, history, and message through aesthetic means,” according to a statement from the Initiative.