A six-story, three-panel mural of Dodgers great Fernando Valenzuela was painted by L.A. artist Robert Vargas on an apartment building near the 1st Street entrance to the 101 Freeway in Boyle Heights.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
Here are 11 Fernando Valenzuela murals to visit in L.A.: ‘He did so much for the Mexican community’
When Gustavo Zermeño Jr. heard about the death of legendary Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela in October, the Los Angeles artist knew what he needed to do.
Paint.
Zermeño had a Dodgers wall in the Mid-City neighborhood, and adding Valenzuela’s image between those of fellow icons Vin Scully and Tommy Lasorda was a welcome distraction from the sad news.
“My way of coping is painting, whether it’s a personal loss or something going on in the family or in a relationship or something.” Zermeño said. “I don’t want to sound cheesy, but it is my way [of] escaping and just really kind of not thinking and just letting go and working. It’s really just my stress reliever, my meditation, all that stuff kind of combined together when I paint.”
Fellow L.A. artist Robert Vargas had already started on his massive Fernandomania mural in Boyle Heights when Valenzuela died at age 63 on Oct. 22. Like Zermeño, Vargas was glad to have been working on something meaningful to help himself and others deal with the loss of such a beloved figure.
“As devastating as his death was, it only sharpened my focus to continue doing the work, which I think in its production also supported the [Valenzuela] family in seeing it through,” Vargas said. “I had my own dialogue with him as I painted him and I think it was a safe space for everybody to be able to partake in.”
Fernando Valenzuela died Tuesday, the same day L.A. artist Robert Vargas started a mural honoring the Dodgers legend. He says, ‘Now it takes on even a greater meaning.’
The number of local murals featuring Valenzuela has increased significantly in recent months, although there are some that have been around much longer. Here’s a guide to help find murals of the Mexican left-hander, along with some background on each one.
Showing Places
(Chuck Schilken / Los Angeles Times)
Noho Tires & Wheels
North Hollywood Mural
Artist Louie Palsino was working on another project when he heard the news that Dodgers legend Fernando Valenzuela had died.
“I literally stopped what I was doing,” said Palsino, who immediately started work on a mural honoring the pitcher in North Hollywood.
“I knew I had to do it right away. I wanted to pay my respects and have something for the people to come pay their respects to and just try to represent him. He did so much for us, especially the Brown community, the Mexican community in L.A. So I dropped what I was doing and started it that night, probably like an hour after we received the news. We worked till late. We got it done within three days, almost two days.”
Palsino said Valenzuela was more from his parents’ generation than his own, but he’s always enjoyed hearing stories and watching videos from the Fernandomania days. He chose a spot for his Valenzuela tribute next to another Dodgers mural he painted after their 2020 World Series championship and one featuring iconic broadcaster Vin Scully.
“Pretty much turned into a whole Dodger building,” Palsino said.
He added: ‘It was very fun. Very on the spot. Nothing was really planned. Nothing is ever really planned when I do murals. I just find a picture and I just kind of freestyle everything. We were in a rush to get it up, especially because the [2024] World Series was coming up. I just wanted it done by then, you know, just something to hold us high after [Valenzuela’s death].”
“I literally stopped what I was doing,” said Palsino, who immediately started work on a mural honoring the pitcher in North Hollywood.
“I knew I had to do it right away. I wanted to pay my respects and have something for the people to come pay their respects to and just try to represent him. He did so much for us, especially the Brown community, the Mexican community in L.A. So I dropped what I was doing and started it that night, probably like an hour after we received the news. We worked till late. We got it done within three days, almost two days.”
Palsino said Valenzuela was more from his parents’ generation than his own, but he’s always enjoyed hearing stories and watching videos from the Fernandomania days. He chose a spot for his Valenzuela tribute next to another Dodgers mural he painted after their 2020 World Series championship and one featuring iconic broadcaster Vin Scully.
“Pretty much turned into a whole Dodger building,” Palsino said.
He added: ‘It was very fun. Very on the spot. Nothing was really planned. Nothing is ever really planned when I do murals. I just find a picture and I just kind of freestyle everything. We were in a rush to get it up, especially because the [2024] World Series was coming up. I just wanted it done by then, you know, just something to hold us high after [Valenzuela’s death].”
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Fernando Valenzuela, center, is one of several people featured in Louie Palsino’s Highland Park mural, “From the Raza with Love.”
(Chuck Schilken / Los Angeles Times)
Cactus Tacos
Highland Park Mural
Until recently, the only painting of Fernando Valenzuela by artist Louie Palsino that could be seen by the public was part of a sprawling mural in Highland Park titled “From the Raza with Love.”
“It wasn’t solely on him, but his face is pretty big on it,” Palsino said of the painting that also includes images of Cheech Marin, Carlos Santana, Vicente Fernández, Frida Kahlo, Salma Hayek, Jenni Rivera and Selena.
“That one’s just a tribute to all Mexicans, Chicanos and stuff like that,” Palsino said. “I really enjoy the Highland Park one — I put a lot of love into it. It’s a huge wall and it runs on the Metro link, so that one’s pretty cool.”
“It wasn’t solely on him, but his face is pretty big on it,” Palsino said of the painting that also includes images of Cheech Marin, Carlos Santana, Vicente Fernández, Frida Kahlo, Salma Hayek, Jenni Rivera and Selena.
“That one’s just a tribute to all Mexicans, Chicanos and stuff like that,” Palsino said. “I really enjoy the Highland Park one — I put a lot of love into it. It’s a huge wall and it runs on the Metro link, so that one’s pretty cool.”
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(Chuck Schilken / Los Angeles Times)
Former Mailers Engineering building
Elysian Valley Mural
A lot happened between the time Jonas Never started designing his massive Dodgers mural in Frogtown in early October and when the L.A. artist finished the project in mid-November.
“We didn’t know they were gonna be in the World Series. We definitely didn’t know Fernando was going to pass,” Never said. “So this one kind of took on a whole life of its own.”
While Freddie Freeman’s grand slam pose from Game 1 of the 2024 World Series was a late addition to the design, Valenzuela was always going to be included in Never’s tribute to the Dodgers’ modern-day championships. It was one of the first parts of the mural Never worked on.
“I started it like on a Friday and got Fernando done that weekend, and then he passed a day or two later,” Never said. “I had his portrait done but kind of cleaned up the area around him to look presentable when people started coming by.”
The mural also features Kirk Gibson from the 1988 World Series and current Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani — “because Ohtani is the Dodgers,” Never said — as well as images of the L.A. skyline and Dodger Stadium.
“It became a memorial mural halfway through and a world championship mural partway through also,” Never said. “It’s just kind of a very unique situation and to see the fans actually driving by on the way to the stadium for these games and for the tribute to Fernando and then for the parade, it was a really, really unique experience and made me really proud to be an Angeleno and just pretty inspiring to be a part of all of this.”
“We didn’t know they were gonna be in the World Series. We definitely didn’t know Fernando was going to pass,” Never said. “So this one kind of took on a whole life of its own.”
While Freddie Freeman’s grand slam pose from Game 1 of the 2024 World Series was a late addition to the design, Valenzuela was always going to be included in Never’s tribute to the Dodgers’ modern-day championships. It was one of the first parts of the mural Never worked on.
“I started it like on a Friday and got Fernando done that weekend, and then he passed a day or two later,” Never said. “I had his portrait done but kind of cleaned up the area around him to look presentable when people started coming by.”
The mural also features Kirk Gibson from the 1988 World Series and current Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani — “because Ohtani is the Dodgers,” Never said — as well as images of the L.A. skyline and Dodger Stadium.
“It became a memorial mural halfway through and a world championship mural partway through also,” Never said. “It’s just kind of a very unique situation and to see the fans actually driving by on the way to the stadium for these games and for the tribute to Fernando and then for the parade, it was a really, really unique experience and made me really proud to be an Angeleno and just pretty inspiring to be a part of all of this.”
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(Chuck Schilken / Los Angeles Times)
Southern California Student Housing
Echo Park Mural
It’s less than half a mile from Dodger Stadium.
It’s in an area where Dodgers signs, flags and decorations are in abundance.
Yet, artist Jules Muck‘s mural of Fernando Valenzuela in Echo Park stands out from the other displays of Dodger fandom.
At three stories tall, it also stands above the rest in the area.
“The purpose was to instill Los Angeles pride and inspiration,” Muck told The Times in a text message. “Personally it helped me to feel more connected and appreciative of the community.”
It’s in an area where Dodgers signs, flags and decorations are in abundance.
Yet, artist Jules Muck‘s mural of Fernando Valenzuela in Echo Park stands out from the other displays of Dodger fandom.
At three stories tall, it also stands above the rest in the area.
“The purpose was to instill Los Angeles pride and inspiration,” Muck told The Times in a text message. “Personally it helped me to feel more connected and appreciative of the community.”
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(Chuck Schilken / Los Angeles Times)
Speedway Tire and Repair
Echo Park Mural
L.A. mural artists Jonas Never and Droyce came to a realization several years ago.
“We were kind of taken aback,” Never said. “It was in 2015 maybe. ‘How are there no Kobe [Bryant] murals near Staples Center and how are there no ‘88 World Series/Fernando murals near the stadium?’ And so we kind of took it upon ourselves to do both those in the same week or month or so. It just felt like part of L.A. that was missing.”
The duo painted Bryant on a wall near the L.A. Convention Center. For their Dodgers tribute, they painted two of the team’s most iconic players from the 1980s on a wall about two minutes away from Chavez Ravine.
“I vividly remember [Kirk] Gibson’s home run off [Dennis] Eckersley and [Droyce] grew up loving Fernando, so it was the perfect choice — pay homage to the city, pay homage to the heroes of that team,” Never said. “Those are such powerful moments for the city.”
“We were kind of taken aback,” Never said. “It was in 2015 maybe. ‘How are there no Kobe [Bryant] murals near Staples Center and how are there no ‘88 World Series/Fernando murals near the stadium?’ And so we kind of took it upon ourselves to do both those in the same week or month or so. It just felt like part of L.A. that was missing.”
The duo painted Bryant on a wall near the L.A. Convention Center. For their Dodgers tribute, they painted two of the team’s most iconic players from the 1980s on a wall about two minutes away from Chavez Ravine.
“I vividly remember [Kirk] Gibson’s home run off [Dennis] Eckersley and [Droyce] grew up loving Fernando, so it was the perfect choice — pay homage to the city, pay homage to the heroes of that team,” Never said. “Those are such powerful moments for the city.”
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(Chuck Schilken / Los Angeles Times)
Witmer Auto Service
Westside Mural
Artist Alex “Ali” Gonzalez has been painting Fernando Valenzuela‘s image on canvas for years. In fact, the lifelong Dodgers fan once got the legendary pitcher to sign one of his earlier paintings at Dodger Stadium.
“He used to exit in the eighth inning at every game. He’d leave his office and be done for the day and people would be waiting,” Gonzalez said. “I caught him a few times and he was really, really nice and humble. He signed my canvas, so I hang that canvas really proud and high in my home. I got it framed, and it looks really nice.”
When he decided to do a Dodgers-themed mural during the team’s 2024 playoff run, Gonzalez realized it was the perfect opportunity to include Valenzuela’s likeness in a mural. He had already started on that portion of his project when he heard the news of Valenzuela’s death.
“Up the street there’s a school, so a lot of parents walk their child to school and a lot of the parents were like, ‘Hey, Fernando Valenzuela!’” Gonzalez said. “They were saying in Spanish, ‘Oh, que lástima. He passed away.’ They were very heartfelt about it and like, ‘He’s a legend. He was one of the greats here in Los Angeles.’”
Gonzalez said his idea for the mural was “a fun night at a Dodgers game,” with images that are both whimsical (a Dodger Dog catching a baseball and “a little Dodger monster” hitting a home run) and more realistic (portraits of Valenzuela, Shohei Ohtani and a Vin Scully bobblehead).
“I have El Toro there tossing up a baseball, very confident as a rookie, when he had that hairdo, kind of just like a mop. Really cool style there,” Gonzalez said. “So what I did with his portrait was, for me to kind of stand out from a lot of these artists, I like to do different textures in my painting. So I did a geometric jersey, then kind of just threw in very clean lines of the gray scale from the gray jerseys that they had. That’s how you know like, ‘Oh, that’s an Alex ‘Ali’ Gonzalez piece.’”
“He used to exit in the eighth inning at every game. He’d leave his office and be done for the day and people would be waiting,” Gonzalez said. “I caught him a few times and he was really, really nice and humble. He signed my canvas, so I hang that canvas really proud and high in my home. I got it framed, and it looks really nice.”
When he decided to do a Dodgers-themed mural during the team’s 2024 playoff run, Gonzalez realized it was the perfect opportunity to include Valenzuela’s likeness in a mural. He had already started on that portion of his project when he heard the news of Valenzuela’s death.
“Up the street there’s a school, so a lot of parents walk their child to school and a lot of the parents were like, ‘Hey, Fernando Valenzuela!’” Gonzalez said. “They were saying in Spanish, ‘Oh, que lástima. He passed away.’ They were very heartfelt about it and like, ‘He’s a legend. He was one of the greats here in Los Angeles.’”
Gonzalez said his idea for the mural was “a fun night at a Dodgers game,” with images that are both whimsical (a Dodger Dog catching a baseball and “a little Dodger monster” hitting a home run) and more realistic (portraits of Valenzuela, Shohei Ohtani and a Vin Scully bobblehead).
“I have El Toro there tossing up a baseball, very confident as a rookie, when he had that hairdo, kind of just like a mop. Really cool style there,” Gonzalez said. “So what I did with his portrait was, for me to kind of stand out from a lot of these artists, I like to do different textures in my painting. So I did a geometric jersey, then kind of just threw in very clean lines of the gray scale from the gray jerseys that they had. That’s how you know like, ‘Oh, that’s an Alex ‘Ali’ Gonzalez piece.’”
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Artist Gustavo Zermeño Jr. recently added Fernando Valenzuela in between fellow Dodgers legends Vin Scully, left, and Tommy Lasorda to a mural he finished in 2022.
(Chuck Schilken / Los Angeles Times)
Bixby Roasting Co.
Mid-City Mural
Fernando Valenzuela was always meant to be featured on artist Gustavo Zermeño Jr.‘s Dodgers mural in Picfair Village.
The original plan was to feature large images of late Dodgers legends Vin Scully and Tommy Lasorda on either side, with smaller images of several other greats from the team’s past — including Orel Hershiser, Sandy Koufax and Valenzuela — in between.
But Zermeño ended up abandoning that plan and finished the mural in 2022 with just an image of the Dodger Stadium field with “Let’s go Dodgers” written above it in the space between Scully and Lasorda.
“The wall is made of a weird kind of brick I’ve never worked on before,” Zermeño said. “It has ripples and there’s big gaps. I originally wanted to do a bunch of detail in there — basically it never happened.”
After Valenzuela died, Zermeño headed back to that wall and was able to add a large image of the iconic pitcher in one day.
“The space fit perfectly,” he said. “And where it’s at now, it just seems like it was always meant to be — you know, the Big Three.”
Zermeño added: “I was a huge Fernando fan. I’ve been painting him since I started painting portraits basically in 2015, 2016. For me it was always Kobe and Fernando. Those two were kind of my big inspiration guys in a sense. Fernando, him being Mexican and obviously a Dodger, that always resonated with me. My brother is seven years older and he was a big Fernando fan, so anything he liked, I liked. So that was instilled in me since I was young.”
The original plan was to feature large images of late Dodgers legends Vin Scully and Tommy Lasorda on either side, with smaller images of several other greats from the team’s past — including Orel Hershiser, Sandy Koufax and Valenzuela — in between.
But Zermeño ended up abandoning that plan and finished the mural in 2022 with just an image of the Dodger Stadium field with “Let’s go Dodgers” written above it in the space between Scully and Lasorda.
“The wall is made of a weird kind of brick I’ve never worked on before,” Zermeño said. “It has ripples and there’s big gaps. I originally wanted to do a bunch of detail in there — basically it never happened.”
After Valenzuela died, Zermeño headed back to that wall and was able to add a large image of the iconic pitcher in one day.
“The space fit perfectly,” he said. “And where it’s at now, it just seems like it was always meant to be — you know, the Big Three.”
Zermeño added: “I was a huge Fernando fan. I’ve been painting him since I started painting portraits basically in 2015, 2016. For me it was always Kobe and Fernando. Those two were kind of my big inspiration guys in a sense. Fernando, him being Mexican and obviously a Dodger, that always resonated with me. My brother is seven years older and he was a big Fernando fan, so anything he liked, I liked. So that was instilled in me since I was young.”
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Fernando Valenzuela is one of several L.A. sports icons featured in an Arlington Heights mural by Gustavo Zermeño Jr. Clockwise from far left: Wayne Gretzky, Bo Jackson, Serena Williams, LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, Landon Donovan and Valenzuela.
(Chuck Schilken / Los Angeles Times)
Soul on Ice
Arlington Heights Mural
Gustavo Zermeño Jr. wanted his tribute to L.A. sports icons outside the Soul on Ice sportswear store in Arlington Heights to include at least one athlete from each local team.
There was never any question of which Dodgers player Zermeño would choose. It’s the same Dodgers player he always paints for such projects — Fernando Valenzuela.
“I have plenty of Dodger jerseys, but I would always get blank ones, just ‘cause you know in baseball they rotate players all the time,” Zermeño said. “Fernando is literally the only Dodger jersey I have with an actual player name on it. All the other ones have a blank back.”
Some of the other athletes included on the mural are Kobe Bryant and LeBron James from the Lakers, Kawhi Leonard from the Clippers, Bo Jackson from the Raiders, Candace Parker from the Sparks, Tyler Skaggs from the Angels, Landon Donovan from the Galaxy, Wayne Gretzky from the Kings, Keyshawn Johnson from USC football and Compton-raised tennis great Serena Williams.
There was never any question of which Dodgers player Zermeño would choose. It’s the same Dodgers player he always paints for such projects — Fernando Valenzuela.
“I have plenty of Dodger jerseys, but I would always get blank ones, just ‘cause you know in baseball they rotate players all the time,” Zermeño said. “Fernando is literally the only Dodger jersey I have with an actual player name on it. All the other ones have a blank back.”
Some of the other athletes included on the mural are Kobe Bryant and LeBron James from the Lakers, Kawhi Leonard from the Clippers, Bo Jackson from the Raiders, Candace Parker from the Sparks, Tyler Skaggs from the Angels, Landon Donovan from the Galaxy, Wayne Gretzky from the Kings, Keyshawn Johnson from USC football and Compton-raised tennis great Serena Williams.
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(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
Boyle Hotel Apartments
Boyle Heights Mural
Robert Vargas came up with the idea for his three-panel, six-story mural honoring Fernando Valenzuela in Boyle Heights in early 2024.
“The first two panels really represent, I believe, the player,” Vargas said. “And the third panel represents more of the man, as he is looking towards Dodger Stadium and he tips his hat towards Dodger Stadium to say thank you, to say farewell, to say welcome into the neighborhood. That gesture says so much.”
Vargas started painting the mural on the morning of Oct. 22. Valenzuela died later that day. Vargas worked diligently over the next 10 days — sometimes not bothering to eat or sleep — to have the first two panels done by the Nov. 3 unveiling. The third panel was finished a week later.
“It really became a community mural where people were there, hundreds of people were there every single day if you add them all up as I was painting that mural,” Vargas said. “And it became a real source of comfort, a source of discussion, a source of culture, cultural pride.
“So it wasn’t necessarily solely a memorial or just an altar but also a celebration of who we are as a people and what we can achieve if you persevere and apply yourself. It was so much more than just a static image on the wall. And I understood that, which is why I put in the kind of hours that I did.”
Among the frequent visitors to his work site, Vargas said, was Valenzuela’s wife, Linda, and other family members of the Dodgers pitcher. Vargas attended the Nov. 6 public funeral Mass, where he said one of Valenzuela’s sons mentioned the mural during his speech.
“This mural obviously really resonated for them,” Vargas said. “His wife, Linda, told me that Fernando is in that mural, that she sees him 100%. She was very, very kind and the family has been extremely gracious. I’m just humbled to be able to paint that and do right by them.”
“The first two panels really represent, I believe, the player,” Vargas said. “And the third panel represents more of the man, as he is looking towards Dodger Stadium and he tips his hat towards Dodger Stadium to say thank you, to say farewell, to say welcome into the neighborhood. That gesture says so much.”
Vargas started painting the mural on the morning of Oct. 22. Valenzuela died later that day. Vargas worked diligently over the next 10 days — sometimes not bothering to eat or sleep — to have the first two panels done by the Nov. 3 unveiling. The third panel was finished a week later.
“It really became a community mural where people were there, hundreds of people were there every single day if you add them all up as I was painting that mural,” Vargas said. “And it became a real source of comfort, a source of discussion, a source of culture, cultural pride.
“So it wasn’t necessarily solely a memorial or just an altar but also a celebration of who we are as a people and what we can achieve if you persevere and apply yourself. It was so much more than just a static image on the wall. And I understood that, which is why I put in the kind of hours that I did.”
Among the frequent visitors to his work site, Vargas said, was Valenzuela’s wife, Linda, and other family members of the Dodgers pitcher. Vargas attended the Nov. 6 public funeral Mass, where he said one of Valenzuela’s sons mentioned the mural during his speech.
“This mural obviously really resonated for them,” Vargas said. “His wife, Linda, told me that Fernando is in that mural, that she sees him 100%. She was very, very kind and the family has been extremely gracious. I’m just humbled to be able to paint that and do right by them.”
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Fernando Valenzuela is featured in the center of a South Central mural by Jonas Never, surrounded by, clockwise from top left: Galaxy’s Landon Donovan. Kings’ Wayne Gretzky and Lakers’ Magic Johnson.
Athletes in the Making
Historic South-Central Mural
Artist Jonas Never featured Fernando Valenzuela in a collage of local sports heroes he painted outside the building of the Athletes in the Making nonprofit organization that helps provide children with experiences in teamwork and learning through sports.
“I remember really just trying to show the different cultures and teams and heroes of L.A. sports,” Never said of painting the mural, “kind of showing the kids at the nonprofit that anyone could be a hero in L.A.”
“I remember really just trying to show the different cultures and teams and heroes of L.A. sports,” Never said of painting the mural, “kind of showing the kids at the nonprofit that anyone could be a hero in L.A.”
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(Chuck Schilken / Los Angeles Times)
Wilmington Middle School
Wilmington Mural
In the summer of 2023, Marathon Petroleum and Sharefest teamed for a beautification project on the campus of Wilmington Middle School.
A group of youth interns worked together to paint murals on the walls of nine different buildings, each one paying “tribute to iconic sports figures who embody Wilmington Middle School’s core values: determination, teamwork, and resiliency,” according to the Sharefest website.
One of those walls is dedicated to Fernando Valenzuela.
“Beyond his electrifying presence on the mound with his signature windup and devastating screwball, Fernando has always been an immense source of pride and inspiration for millions of fans, particularly those in the Mexican community,” reads an Instagram post by Sharefest featuring a photo of the Valenzuela mural.
“Thank you, Fernando, for your unwavering passion, talent, and the inspiration you continue to provide. Your impact will forever be etched in the annals of baseball history.”
A group of youth interns worked together to paint murals on the walls of nine different buildings, each one paying “tribute to iconic sports figures who embody Wilmington Middle School’s core values: determination, teamwork, and resiliency,” according to the Sharefest website.
One of those walls is dedicated to Fernando Valenzuela.
“Beyond his electrifying presence on the mound with his signature windup and devastating screwball, Fernando has always been an immense source of pride and inspiration for millions of fans, particularly those in the Mexican community,” reads an Instagram post by Sharefest featuring a photo of the Valenzuela mural.
“Thank you, Fernando, for your unwavering passion, talent, and the inspiration you continue to provide. Your impact will forever be etched in the annals of baseball history.”
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