Room 8, Echo Park, Los Angeles, 1976

Room 8, Echo Park, Los Angeles, 1976, Elysian Heights Elementary School, exterior, 1562 Baxter Street (mural faces Echo Park Avenue), Echo Park. A portrait memorializing a cat called Room 8. He was named after the classroom where he spent her weekdays for more that 16 school years, beginning in 1952. When he died in 1968, people in the neighborhood began donating money to the school for a special memorial fund. Enough money was raised to sponsor a bed at Orthopedic Hospital in downtown L.A. Also, in the auditorium are three panels (4' x 8' each) of a CETA-funded 1979 project by students and artist Joan de Bruin. They portray Echo Park Lake, Elysian Park, and the nearby hills. It was originally a four-panel portable mural that traveled to schools in Malibu and Highland Park to show children what different communities look like. The fourth panel is at Arroyo Seco Alternative School in Highland Park. Approximately 8' x 20', byy Denis Fitzpatrick and Michael Chaffey. -- Dunitz, Street gallery, rev. 2nd ed., p. 106, #7