Mattucci’s Tailors, located at 530 S. Pacific Coast Highway, recently commissioned John Lovano, a 54 year-old, 20 year resident of Redondo Beach to paint a mural on their wall facing Pacific Coast Highway.
The mural had been a dream of Joe Mattucci’s for many years, said his daughter Diana. “He just always wanted to do something with the wall,” Diana said. “My dad moved from Italy to Westwood in 1955, so movie stars were a big deal to him. He was mesmerized by the whole thing.”
Mattucci had the idea to paint movie stars on the wall, but had to wait until the perfect idea found him. He talked to Lovano about the mural, and Lavano came back to him with a basic outline for the painting.
“When he showed the sketch we were blown away by it,” said Diana. “Since then it has evolved so much, he gets a new idea and just does it. We’re getting what we want and more.”
The original design included Frank Sinatra and The Rat Pack. However, other characters from the time period popped into Lovano’s head and wanted to be included.
“Once we added Marilyn it became something else,” said Lovano. “Charlie Chaplin just happened to make his way in there too.”
Throughout the week he kept adding to the mural with different people, shapes and colors.
“Marilyn looked really fat,” said a customer at the tailors, “Until he put a head on her.”
Lovano has been painting his entire life. He was an art major in college in Ohio and has been painting professionally for interior designers ever since. Many of the brush strokes he did on the mural, such as the marbleized strokes on the pillars, he uses on interior designs as well. He was hired by Mattucci because of family ties and his ability to transform a space. However, his work has never been featured so big or outside. “This is pretty good exposure,” Lavano said.
The project used over 10 gallons of paint and over 30 different colors. It was supposed to only take a couple of days, but after all the characters convinced him they needed to be added in, it has taken a little more than a week.
“There are so many talented people who live in the beach cities,” Diana said. “It’s nice to be able to show his work so big.
