Gateway to the San Gabriel Valley

This mural in Alhambra, CA is painted on a wall separating the busy street that the mural faces from the railroad tracks on the other side of the wall. The specially constructed wall section in the center is shaped in the outline of the painted archway in the mural. The archway celebrates Alhambra as the "Gateway to the San Gabriel Valley" and is adapted from a pen and ink illustration done in about 1910. It depicts, through the archway, an idealized view of the San Gabriel Valley in the early 20th century. On either side of the archway a lower wall extends for about 250 feet in either direction and is painted to look like it is covered with a series of flowering vines. The mural adds interest and life to an otherwise drab part of Alhambra and highlights some of the city's history. Photo © Art Mortimer