It hits you as you drive — or walk — down Manhattan Beach Boulevard toward the water from Sepulveda: a mix of oranges and purples splattered across the side of a one-story building.
The mural, which stretches across the length of the exterior wall along the quiet residential street of Oak Avenue, heralds the arrival of the building’s new occupants: the restaurant Manhattan House.
The building previously housed Aji Sushi, which closed in January. Manhattan House, which its owners describe as a “neighborhood gastropub,” won’t open for a few more weeks. But in the meantime, the mural, which was completed around April 10, has been catching eyes.
“Everyday, somebody passes by, taking pictures, popping their head in to see what’s going on,” said Jeff Kirshenbaum, who owns the restaurant along with General Manager Brett Schwartz, David Topkins and Adam Hersh. “It’s been a great way to engage with the neighborhood. I didn’t realize how many people walk by.”
Schwartz said they had their eye on the building since last May, and finally closed the deal in January. They were drawn to the location in part because of the large façade, he said.
“It had a huge wall you can see from everywhere,” said Schwartz. “It’s not even known as Manhattan House—it’s known as the building with the wall.”
The arresting colors stand out from the building’s surroundings, including the Wells Fargo Bank it faces.
“We wanted something really colorful and bright, representing the neighborhood and Manhattan Beach,” said Kirshenbaum. “We wanted it to be something that caught the eye.”
Kirshenbaum and Schwartz, who knew each other before they moved from New York City to California a couple years ago, said they came up with the general concept for the mural and then hired Los Angeles artists to execute it. They declined to give the artists’ real names, saying they only wanted to be identified as Thriller and Error from the CNG Crew. Kirshenbaum said they went through four or five iterations of the design before they settled on the current one.
Looking from left to right, the mural starts with a fiery sunrise in Manhattan, New York City and progresses to a purple sunset in Manhattan Beach. The New York side shows a gritty cityscape dotted with landmarks like the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge. The name of the restaurant, along with the artists’ aliases, are worked in as signs. The California side has a beach with surfboards, short buildings, palm trees and the pier lit up in front of a pink-purple sky. A blue ocean highlighted with white waves runs along the bottom of the piece, uniting both sides.
According to Kirshenbaum, the piece represents the restaurant, which he said plans to serve “bicoastal cuisine,” and the people behind it.
“It’s the two coasts, the two cities, coming together,” he said. ER
