Murals in Long Beach have been subject to defacement through graffiti art, but on Jan. 23, a public mural graffitied over prompted a discussion about public art on the Long Beach subreddit.
A user by the name u/Localrecordsoffice posted an image of a mural off of First Street and Long Beach Boulevard that had graffiti over the middle lower half of the original image.
Users commented, expressing disappointment at seeing public art defaced and how public art brings character to buildings.
Only five days later, a user by the name u/DoctorTrash posted an image of another mural that had graffiti on it on the Long Beach subreddit, the style of the graffiti appearing to be the same as the graffiti shown in the first post, prompting users to suspect it was done by the same graffiti artist.
The mural that u/DoctorTrash posted an image of was in Cambodia Town on the side of a dentist office off of East Anaheim Street.
Artist Bodeck Luna Hernandez, a Long Beach-based illustrator, painter and muralist, created the piece in 2017 titled “Golden Boy.”
“It is my love letter to Cambodia Town which is the neighborhood I grew up in Long Beach. It should serve as a monument to young Asian-American men to fight mass media and cultural emasculation,” Hernandez wrote on his website.
Graffiti is viewed by some as a form of public art and a way of self-expression. A graffiti artist’s tags, almost like a signature, are individualized through stylized letters or designs integrated into the graffitied words and show originality. It has prompted discussions about whether to view graffiti as art or vandalism.
For some of the users commenting on the posts made in the Long Beach subreddit, the problem was not the graffiti itself, but that people were graffitiing over preexisting murals instead of finding blank spaces.
The City of Long Beach offers two programs for residents interested in removing graffiti. The Free Paint Program provides owners and occupants of private property free paint to cover up graffiti on their property.
The Graffiti Removal Program is a city-operated program that will remove graffiti from private property at no cost to the owners or the tenants, according to the City of Long Beach’s website.
Members of the Long Beach community can call the 24-hour Graffiti Hotline at (562) 570-2773 to report graffiti, request free paint to cover up graffiti or request the services of the Graffiti Removal Program.