Chicano Murals Are Slowly Disappearing

During the peak of the mural movement in Los Angeles, there was an estimated 2,500 murals on city walls. Now, due to whitewashing and taggers, there are hundreds fewer.

The walls that surround Ernesto De La Loza’s work office in Echo Park look much different than they did 20 years ago. The vibrant mural of the Lady of Guadalupe is no longer there. Instead, there is a wall filled with graffiti and attempts to paint over the unrecognizable words. 

He points across the street to show me the new upstart businesses that have come into rapidly changing neighborhood,that he says once “had a mural on every corner”. 

De La Loza, 71, knows his way around Los Angeles and he also knows how it used to look. That’s because he was a muralist during the Chicano Pride movement in East L.A. in the 60’s and 70’s. He was behind some of the most iconic pieces of work in the city that included murals that highlighted environmental awareness and the struggle for Latino rights.