Hermosa Beach Centennial Mural To be Unveiled — Again Nearly 20 Years Later

HERMOSA BEACH, CA — As an artist, second chances are rare.

But that’s just what Dawn Whitney-Hall got when the city of Hermosa Beach and Hermosa Beach Kiwanis Club asked her to recreate the city’s centennial mural after the original fell into disrepair.

Whitney-Hall first completed the piece in 2007 with her ex-husband, Neal Von Flue.

With maybe eight weeks to work on the mural, Whitney-Hall said, “It was kind of a rush job.”

This time around, however, she had about five months to think, plan and create.

“I had the time to, you know, give it a little more headspace,” Whitney-Hall said.

The painting, as a result, is a bit different than he one she painted nearly two decades ago.

The mural’s differences are not just the result of additional planning, though. The new piece comes with changes afforded by time, things like the internet.

“We had the internet, but it wasn't like it is today (for) looking up stuff and finding imagery,” Whitney-Hall said. “I'm also a 20-year more mature artist now, so I did things a little differently compositionally.”

After months of work, Whitney-Hall’s new centennial mural at 11 Pier Avenue will be unveiled at 10:30 a.m. this Saturday with a celebratory event also meant to honor the 100th anniversary of the Hermosa Beach Kiwanis Club.

“It’s a special day when we get to celebrate both the rededication of our Centennial Mural and the Hermosa Kiwanis Club’s century of service,” Mayor Rob Saemann said in a written statement. “As both the Mayor of Hermosa and President of our Kiwanis Club, I’m especially proud to see Hermosa’s residents and Kiwanis members come together to celebrate their respective beginnings.”

Rick Koenig, the Kiwanis’ Lieutenant Governor who spearheaded the project in the 2000s and today, said he will start installing the mural’s 10 panels Thursday in preparation for Saturday’s unveiling.

“I am very pleased with its vibrant portrayal of our history,” Koenig said of the completed mural.

As such a small beach community, Koenig said he thinks “a lot of people don't even realize just how much history there is here.”

Koenig said Whitney-Hall’s centennial piece captures the city’s history that he hopes visitors will take with them when they see the mural.

Original Mural Falls Into Disrepair

The city’s centennial mural, an homage to the city’s rich history and gradual evolution, was first unveiled at the Vista/Mermaid parking lot in 2007.

“The mural had the best view in town, watching everybody on The Strand, getting sunlight every day,” Koenig said.

The sun rays that came with that picturesque view took a toll.

“Even the best materials fade and crack and peel, and we really didn't put it in our budget 18 years ago to do ongoing maintenance,” Koenig said.

Over time, Koenig said, the painting had become so damaged that it would have been more expensive to fix the existing one than to commission a new one.

“I was tasked to do the repaint,” Whitney-Hall said. “And in the repaint, some things have changed."

Still, the new mural “is very reminiscent, reminiscent in composition, to the old one, lots of the same elements, but with a few added and updated,” said Whitney-Hall.

‘Timeline Style’ Mural

The new mural, like the original, is done in a “timeline style, from left to right, starting with the Tongva,” Whitney-Hall said.

“And then there's a famous story about Colonel Duncan, evidently a pirate,” Whitney-Hall said, adding that a street in the city is also named after Duncan.

The name became more symbolic of a “kind of pirate-type personality, which everyone agreed was, you know, there's some salty parts and times of Hermosa Beach,” Whitney-Hall said.

“And we just thought that it was clever and funny, but also historic to put his ship, kind of like a pirate ship, in,” she said.

From there, the piece moves throughout the city’s history, alluding to key moments and symbols from the city’s first century.

It references everything from the Red Cars that once passed through the city to Dewey Weber, a well-known surfer from the 1950s, Whitney-Hall said.

The mural also alludes to Iron Man, a unique Hermosa Fourth of July tradition of running a mile on the beach, paddling a mile in the ocean and downing a six-pack of beer.

“I have Annie Seawright’s portrait down at the far right,” Whitney-Hall said. “I think she's won it a couple of times.”

The piece also includes plenty of references that only locals may catch note of, such as a Shakespeare Beach sign, she said.

At some point in the city’s history, there was a property development in the area called “Shakespeare Beach,” Whitney-Hall said. In her mural, “there's a sign modeled after the original design of the Shakespeare Beach sign,” she said.

“So there's a kind of a lot of that throughout the mural, really just sort of Easter eggs for the regs,” Whitney-Hall said.

‘The Best Reaction’

Whitney-Hall worked on the piece three boards at a time, swapping out a board when one board was complete. She had yet to see the entire completed 10-panel mural until a recent signing party.

When she arrived, people were already admiring her piece.

“Everybody was standing there with their hands over their mouths,” she said. “And I was like, ‘Wow.’ That's the best reaction I could possibly have … My hand was over my mouth too, just because it was an out-of-body experience.”

Koenig hopes attendees of this weekend’s unveiling will have the same reaction.

“I think they walk away with a bunch of, ‘Wow,’” Koenig said. “They’ll think, ‘I am so glad that I suited up and showed up and was here for this event, because I would hate to have to listen to it at the water cooler at the office next week and not have been there.’”