The beautiful murals on Gage Middle School (6400 Lincoln Ave., Riverside) recognize the contributions of Matthew Gage and the canal that he constructed in the development of Riverside and its citrus industry. The lead artist was Tom Seibert of Murals for Schools. There is another mural on the street side of the building with the name of the school. It is unsigned.
On the south side of the Community Settlement Association building (4366 Bermuda Ave., Riverside) at the corner of Bermuda Ave. and 14th Street and flanking a sizable and thriving garden, is a large mural exhibiting garden and Riverside themes. It was painted by Ron Del Cid (@rondeezyyyy) in 2017. A very short video of the mural with closer shots can be found on Instagram and a 50 second video showing the painting of the mural can be found on YouTube. The mural was also the focus of a 2017 article in the Press Enterprise.
The wall of Poly High's Swim Center adjacent to Central Avenue (about 2596 Central Ave., Riverside) presents two murals that show swimmers in action. They are unsigned.
The storage container near the Ameal Moore Nature Center on the Central Ave. side of Sycamore Canyon Park (400 Central Ave., Riverside) has been painted with images of the hills and animals in the park, what appears to be an overview map of the park, and a couple of flowers. The murals were painted by Ronald del Cid @rondeezyyyy and Kim Cobb in about 2017.
Two nice murals are found on the sides of Olympic Market (3072 Cridge St., Riverside). Based on information posted online, the artist who painted the murals is Juan Navarro (http://www.luvmonsterz.com ; @luvmonsterz on Instagram). I especially like the first Eastside citrus grove-themed one. The second one is usually behind a fence and normally only part of it can be seen.
On the sides of Kalaveras Cantina Urbana restaurant (1690 Spruce St., Riverside), there are a number of brightly colored murals featuring skulls reminiscent of a Dia de los Muertos theme. Apparently calavera means skull in Spanish so colorful skulls are used to decorate the Kalaveras restaurants. Several of the murals are shown. They are unsigned but based on information online may be have been designed by Michael Petow and executed by another artist such as Rick V. @utilize562. This approach seems to have been used for similar murals on other Kalaveras restaurants.
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The back of the Condron Coffee building (3696 Sunnyside Dr., Riverside) sports a bright multi-colored mural that was painted by Keely Berry (@keelyberryart on Instagram).
On the side of the building housing the Assistance League of Riverside (3707 Sunnyside Dr., Riverside) is a cheerful children-focused mural highlighting Operation School Bell, a program of the Assistance League (@assistanceleagueriverside) to provide new clothing to homeless and economically disadvantaged school children The mural is unsigned but according to an Assistance League website, it was painted by teens in the criminal justice system. The mural was part of the Creative Horizons program run with help from the Riverside County Probation Department.
On the side of Arci's Party Supply store (2870 University Avenue, Riverside), six murals were created as part of the University and Park Avenue Mural Project. As described on the Riverside Art Museum website, the project "brought together six artists to engage with the community to design and create a mural reflective of the aspirations of local residents. The community chose the following themes: unity, peace, harmony, multicultural appreciation, and family celebration across cultures. Artists worked from September 8–September 22, 2021 to complete this community mural."
Juan Navarro (@luvmonsterz) was the lead artist on Project and the other participating artists were Adrian Boyer, John Cuevas (@johncuevasstudio), C. Matthew Luther (@cmatthewluther), Robin Luther (@robinlutherphoto), and Daniel Toledo (@mister_toledo). They worked together to create this new community mural located at the gateway to the Eastside.
The murals are shown below.
On the walls of Dalcar Auto Repair shop (2391 Main St., Riverside) have been painted several murals reflecting the brands of cars serviced. There is no indication of who the artists were.
Angela's Wings mosaic is located on west wall of the building that houses Marios Place restaurant (3646 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside). It was created in honor of Angela Gomez, a Riverside native, and the other 57 people who were killed by a gunman at the Route 91 music festival in Las Vegas in 2017. The names of those who lost their lives are listed on an adjacent plaque. Riverside artists Greg and Cathy Maxwell were commissioned to create the mosaic. More details about Angela, the mosaic and those involved in its creation can be found on the Riverside City webpage.
The Cookie Plug building at 2790 14th Street, Riverside is decorated by cartoon-type murals on both its east and west sides. The murals are signed by Reason_20 and Works_74. Update June 2024: The Cookie Plug appears to have gone out of business and the murals are no longer there.
The wall to the south of the Faith Temple gardens (4520 Sedgwick Ave., Riverside) has been painted with a large mural representing gardening, heritage and Riverside. It was painted by Ronald Del Cid (@Rondeezyyyy).
A series of murals paying tribute to historic and modern individuals who have made, or who continue to make, significant contributions to Riverside, was painted on a small building at 3735 14th Street, Riverside. The individuals highlighted include Bobby Bonds, the Hard family, John Tortes Meyers, Thomas Phan, NinfaDelgado, Monica Hunter, Deborah Deas (Dean of the School of Medicine at UC Riverside), Gabriel Maldonado, Ismael Villegas, Cheryl Miller, Nice (the first African American girl brought to Riverside) and Mack Charles Parker. The first mural was the focus of a few news releases such as these from Inside UCR and Cision PR Newswire. The murals were created by a group of muralists including @rondeezyyyy, @exoskeletal27, @leilaa.creates, @darren.vs.drama, @division9gallery, @mariahgreenarts, @bendinocamillo and Christine White. The mural photos below were taken in January 2021. Unfortunately the building has since been painted over. Only the portrait of Nicey remains which is on the nearby liquor store building A January 2023 photo of one wall of the painted-over building where the first mural was located is shown. These photos remain as one of only a few publicly available records of these earlier murals.
