Sign of the times: Painter returns 20 years later
Pablo “Daddio” Galvan sands a sign before painting it July 17. His van is his traveling business card, he said. Photo by Ed Pilolla.
Twenty years ago, Pablo “Daddio” Galvan painted the original Birkenstock and Meg Company signs at 901 Hermosa Avenue, and this week he began repainting them.
Galvan, 42, who lived in Redondo Beach for seven years during his twenties, now lives in Ontario. His van is his traveling business card, and he paints across Southern California. Galvan said his time living in the South Bay and his friendship to Meg Co. owner Yuki Matsuda makes for a “special connection” to the signs on Hermosa Ave.
In the 90s, Galvan painted more than 20,000 articles of clothing for Matsuda, including shirts, shoes, jackets and pants, which were all sold in Japan.
One of the neatest things Galvan has painted in his career is the landmark Tyrannosaurus rex statue on top of the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum in Hollywood.
“It has speakers embedded in the body of this beast, and it would roar every ten minutes or so,” Galvan said. “I was sitting inside the mouth painting the teeth and it would just roar behind me. It was one of the coolest experiences, I’ve got to say.”