Quick Take:
Painted by noted Santa Cruz County muralist Taylor Reinhold, the artwork on the development between Cedar and Center streets gives us a sense of what downtown’s new paseos might look like.
After enjoying a refreshing beverage at Lúpulo Craft Beer House at Cathcart and Cedar streets in downtown Santa Cruz, step out onto the sidewalk and face west. Do you see it?
It is the latest contribution to the aesthetic look of Santa Cruz, the south-facing wall of the new Cedar/Center apartment project. Until the fencing comes down and the building opens, the Lúpulo corner will be the best vantage point to see downtown’s latest mural. Unlike most of the other murals in town, this one is more of an abstract, swirls of blue and white that merely suggest ocean waves.
The mural is the work of public art Artist of the Moment Taylor Reinhold, the driving force behind the “Sea Walls” murals project throughout Santa Cruz. Working with the project’s developer, The John Stewart Company, Reinhold created a look inspired by classical Japanese art.
“I wanted it to look like a kind of Japanese woodblock print,” said Reinhold. “There are these little Japanese-style wave shapes and a symmetry going that line up the two back walls. If you stand in the right spot, you can see them line up perfectly.”
The new painting will be the dominant theme of the first of several public “paseos” to emerge in downtown Santa Cruz with the new housing construction. This one will connect Cedar Street and Center Street. It is expected to feature new landscaping and perhaps other elements of public art.
“It’s a pretty cool project to see come alive,” said Reinhold.
The first residents of the new Cedar Street family apartments are expected to move in Feb. 1.
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