Los Angeles graffiti artist Alejandro “Man One” Poli Jr. hunched near the top of a steep incline underneath the 57 Freeway at West Crowther Avenue in Placentia. Car sounds ricocheted off the walls like a grating, mechanical song as he guided his 2-inch paint brush over the coarse concrete.
Stray pieces of broken glass hint that the underpass used to be a large homeless encampment.
But today, the 185-foot-wide by 29-foot-tall slopes on either side are Poli’s 10,730-square-foot canvas. The vibrant new artwork emerging there, he said, “is based on the mythology of the sun and the moon and how it relates to our current views on housing, shelter and community.”
The transformation began two years ago when the city cleared the area, moving about 90% of the people sheltering there to the Placentia Navigation Center, which opened in March of 2020, Deputy City Administrator Luis Estevez said.
Then, Caltrans officials contacted the city about the Clean California initiative that was launching, part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s California Comeback Plan, which commits $1.2 billion toward road and neighborhood beautification projects across California, including hiring more crews, holding cleanup events and supporting public art pieces.
From that, the Placentia Gateway Public Art Project – the creation of two murals and a sculpture – was born. The sculpture, by artist Cliff Garten, will be installed at the southbound 57 Freeway off-ramps at Orangethorpe Avenue.
Estevez said the city wanted to create a dramatic presence at one of the main entrances to the Placentia Packinghouse Transit-Oriented District, a newly renovated neighborhood featuring a mixture of housing, office space, retail and transit in a walking-friendly community.
Poli’s “Good People Under Our Sun and Moon” mural design was selected a year ago by Arts Orange County, an independent nonprofit council. He met the city’s goal for the project by creating a “bold and colorful design,” to drive both foot and car traffic to the neighborhood, Estevez said. Poli beat out 35 other Southern California artists, and was given an all-inclusive $100,000 budget.
The moon side of the underpass, in hues of pink and purple, features an abstract outline of a woman sleeping and dreaming. The sun side hosts shades of blue with a splash of “Solar Energy” yellow. An abstract man is crouching and holding up the weight of the world, the artist said.
“The everyday person is not going to know, so they’re going to have to figure it out on their own,” he said of his imagery’s meaning. “And that’s OK. Art is subjective.”
Both sides are meant to represent shelter from Mother Nature’s harsh elements.
The artist said he studied the light beneath the underpass and created geometric shapes that followed the shadows of the sun.
By the time he’s done, Poli will have used 80 gallons of eye-popping paint on his “futuristic-primitive” murals.
Poli said he has only three seconds to catch motorists’ attention as they zip through the tunnel while going about their daily lives.
“They don’t have time to interpret the piece. They’ll see purple and blue and pink, and hopefully they’ll want to come back to walk through,” he said. Each painting needs to be observed from the opposite side of the street to see the whole picture.
Saturday, Sylvia Ortega and others did just that. Ortega walked her bike so she could take in the large-scale art and chat with Poli.
Her father-in-law has lived for 48 years on Crowther Avenue, where Ortega now lives.
“A couple of years ago, I was afraid to walk through the tunnel,” she said. “People had taken over and made it theirs.
“I would go a quarter-mile out of my way to avoid that area,” she said. “And I most definitely would not go there at night.”
Today, with improved lighting and the welcoming colors of pink and blue that “feel like an embrace,” Ortega said she has peace of mind and the confidence to stroll through, even at night.
The backdrop to the ledge at the top of the incline is brightly painted, which she said helps pedestrians clearly see if someone is up there in the dark.
Throughout Poli’s recent painting day, people drove by and waved, gave thumbs-up and even clapped. A man, who identified himself as a resident, put on his hazard lights, jumped out of his car and conducted an impromptu interview with the artist on his cellphone.
A day earlier, Poli said a motorist pulled over and “the guy just sat in his car.” He thought it was odd until the rear window rolled down and a little girl peered out from the back seat and smiled.
Videographer Badir McCleary, a friend of Poli, has been documenting the installation and interviewing locals like Ortega about what shelter and a home mean to them.
A QR code will be painted into the mural so people can learn about the art and watch videos of the artistic process, McCleary said.
“People don’t usually get a chance to talk to an artist, but most people want to be involved,” he said. “When something beautiful is going up, they care even more and they’re going to protect it.”
A two-layered anti-graffiti coating will also be applied.
Poli said he knows graffiti goes with the territory.
As a high-school tagger himself, he signed, “Mantronix,” the name of his favorite hip-hop group, on walls and other public places – partly out of boredom and partly out of a need to express himself, he said. He soon shortened the moniker to Man and added the One as a graffiti trademark.
“In the ’80s there was nothing for graffiti artists,” he said. Today there’s a lot more opportunities. “You can always turn your talents into something positive.”
Help Clean California
Caltrans is celebrating the Clean California initiative this week and has several community events planned on Saturday, March 25, across the state.
In Orange County, there will be a Community Day featuring sustainability and the arts from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Mike Ward Park, 20 Lake Road, Irvine.
The family festival will feature bands and dance performances on a stage as well as presentations and panels with local leaders talking about sustainability. Families can enjoy games, a touch-a-truck demonstration and food trucks and wander among more than two dozen booths featuring local agencies to learn about “sustainability and proper waste management practices.”
Clean California is also accepting adopt-a-highway applications, with up to $250 a month available to volunteers; has created several grant projects; and has job opportunities. Find out more at cleancalifornia.dot.ca.gov.
