At some point a local girl scout troop painted this mural in the tunnel near lower Arroyo Park. During the day, it's a charming little bit of children's art on otherwise drab concrete.But by night... it's all kinds of creepy.
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Where's Princess Di when we need her?
Yep, by nite, all kinds of creepy, unbelievable things can take life.
L, keep up de good work!
Great idea for a pic, looks fantastic
Cheers
http://reginainpictures.blogspot.com
Thats really a different place to see a mural.
I hope you didn't get out of your car to take this!
Interesting idea, murals by night. A seemingly innocent scene does somehow appear spooky at night. Excellent perspective.
Great capture, did you take it through the windshield of a car?
We had a tunnel from our school that ran under the busy street beside us so the kids walking to and from school could cross safely. The art club did a super Keith Herring mural. You guessed it, grafitti punks. The city had to paint over it all. Hope this mural gets to stay in tact. Love your perspective.
Laurie, you have a gift for ever-so-slightly shifting the rift between our parallel worlds, allowing us glimpses into alternate realities. This is the back entrance to the Toon-Town galaxy! It is frightening because we don't know what we'll find through that black, event-horizon gate... made all the more threatening by the innocent children's art sliding toward it.
And the colors! I especially love the eerie, watery reflections on the cold, sharp wall. Any moment, this image will animate itself and tell its story!
Near our community is a small tunnel which runs under a railway line. For decades this tunnel has been painted on....mostly graffiti, sometimes teenage words of love, sometimes a memorial for a lost loved one.
The graffiti is actually encouraged here. It's become a tradition...something that is expected. I always look for something new every time I pass through this tunnel.
I should take a photo of this place to share....thanks for the inspiration Laurie!
A striking shot, Laurie. I like rigid sraight lines converging and crossing creating a geometric space so evocative. Great work!
this tunnel, under the 110 freeway (the old 11) between the golf course/racquetball center and the playing fields, has always been a bit creepy. I walked it a few times when I had to, but I really disliked having to do so. Cars so close, the sounds of the freeway above and the creepiness of the tunnel just freaked me out. Not nearly as creepy as going past the fields and making a left into (dummmm-di
iii-deeeeee-dummmm-dummmmm) Highland Park! I lead a sheltered life as a kid in SoPas!
I believe it was a troop in the early 70's or late 60's that painted it. All I know is that it was NOT my troop (568), at least not while I was in it. There was a tag I think at the golf course side, that said which troop and when the mural was done. I believe, it was done to combat the kids "coming across the creek" from HP to not tag the tunnel.
It was the only pedestrian/vehicle tunnel in SoPas that I knew of. There are bridges, but no tunnels for peeps and cars other than this one.
There are the pedestrian tunnels at Huntington and Fremont that were closed eons ago due to "the bad element".
Great pic tho---and a kewl perspective on it! I think the night time shot captures it better than a daytime shot could.
After dark, the innocent can look kind of children of the cornish.
I'm getting a pretty clear picture of Laurie's idea of a night out in South Pas. If she isn't playing on the train tracks, she's lingering with her camera in dark creepy tunnels.
I don't even go outside once the streetlights come on.
de cafe, I thought of Princess Diana too. Makes it even more creepy. We don't have tunnels where I live. We live on solid rock. Have to get a jack hammer to plant a tree. Seems like a dangerous undertaking for Girl Scouts. Cookies are safer. Besides, tunnels give me claustrophobia. Laurie, your ability to be creative continues to be great, underground or at ground level. Your blog and my coffee start off my mornings. Thank you.
Eerie...something about children's art when the children are asleep pulls up all our horror film references!
People are nice in Highland park. They were then, they are now. Tagging is a phenomenon that came much later. For years the only tag in the wash was "Overby has a good friend" over by the York Blvd bridge.. The tunnel: it's been painted with rainbows and such since the 70's.
Just stepping in to mention one of my favorite tags of all time -- in Hollywood in the 80s on a wall on Hollywood Blvd.: "Agnes Moorehead is God"
I always loved that.
Great picture! Reminds me I'm gonna have to get out at night more often to take in these mysterious scenes.
In the 80s I was recruited by a Girl Scout troop to apply an anti-graffiti clear coating over the art that had just been applied at that time.
It held up well until it was time for a new impression by the next generation of Girl Scouts!
A nice initiative. I suppose you have your regular crowd of (uninvited) concrete artists and it's good to see that they've resisted the urge to destroy this.
Seems like a dicey location to throw a bunch of little girls to do painting. Not much space along there. The effect of the lighting is fantastic. Great job, as always.
But you make it look so good - not creepy at all. I love the reflecting colors.
I believe it can be a bit creepy at night, but it looks great on your photo! Nice shot!
You're right, it's very Stephen King.
The tunnel looks great at this time of night!
A nice catch, Laurie!!
Fantastic tunnel. I don't think it's creepy at all. The word that popped into my head was magical.
Greetings y'all,
Welcome migs cfl fan, Belgrade Daily Photo, jm and benjamin madison! Nice to have all of you here!
Cafe... yikes. Princess Di. You know, I didn't think of that when I shot this picture but now it seems like an obvious association. I was going for creepy/magical -- not tragic!
Tanya, belgrade and Wayne, I actually stopped the car and leaned out of the driver's side window to take this shot. I feel very lucky to have managed to hold the camera still since this really needed a tripod. Luck favors fools, right?
YakPate -- I want a device whereby I say something into it and the words that come out sound like what you write. Girl, you are poetry in motion.
HOpe, it's your turn to post a tunnel picture!
Trish, I am so glad to have you here for all the great South Pas history details. It's great.
Pasadenaadjacent -- some of my dearest loved ones are in Highland Park! (Hello Shanna!)
Thanks for the props, Dixie Mom. You rock, oh original photographer sublime...
Ryanpainting, I always wondered if a coating was used on these murals!
Elaine, ha! I thought the same thing about how weird it was to put little girls in a tunnel with paintbrushes. (Almost as weird as a grown woman hanging out of her car window to take the picture in the middle of the night.) We think alike.
Sharon, I'm glad you think it's magical. I like the idea of magic with just a weird enough undercurrent to make it interesting!
Like all of us here, right? Just weird enough to make things interesting?
Thanks for all the great comments, everyone. See you tomorrow!
It's very beautiful, but dangerous to take a picture !
What the heck were you doing in that tunnel at night anyway? ;)
It does look creepy.
I really like the night vision aspect of it. Very surreal and quite sci-fi from the thumb but a bit more whimsical when you look at the big version.
My favorite part is how it goes up and over the tunnel!!!
Phantastic shot, Laurie! Cheers!
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