The Great Wall of Los Angeles

Walking Through History

Start at the intersection of Burbank Boulevard and Coldwater Canyon Avenue. The mural begins at 20,000 BC with prehistoric California. A prehistoric ground sloth sticks its tongue out from the first panels, greeting visitors at the chronological starting point. From there, panels flow northward toward Oxnard Street, moving through time as you walk.

The viewing path runs above the mural along the east side of the channel. Trees provide shade as you walk: palms, pines, sycamores. Each panel measures 13 feet high. The distance gives you perspective to take in full scenes. Some visitors bring binoculars to catch smaller details.

You can walk the entire half-mile in about 30 minutes at a steady pace. But most people take longer. The mural rewards slow viewing. Each decade contains multiple titled panels. Some depict single events: the founding of Los Angeles, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the 1943 Zoot Suit Riots. Others show cultural shifts and movements that unfolded over years.

Stories You Won’t Find Elsewhere

The mural centers voices typically left out of mainstream history. You’ll see William Leidesdorff, the biracial pilot who brought the first steamboat to San Francisco Bay. The Dunbar Hotel appears, one of the few places where Black musicians like Billie Holiday could perform and stay during jazz’s heyday. Panels show the 500,000 Mexican Americans deported during the Depression. Japanese internment camps. The division of Chavez Ravine to build Dodger Stadium.

Female athletes, labor organizers, and civil rights leaders get equal space with more familiar historical figures. The artistic style draws from Mexican muralism and WPA-era public art traditions. Bold colors, dramatic perspective lines, and symbols from indigenous Mesoamerican art create a visual language that’s both political and deeply human.

The Project’s Origins

Judith Baca was 29 when the Army Corps of Engineers approached her about beautifying the flood control channel in 1974. She saw the concrete wash differently: as a scar where a river once ran, and as a gathering place where diverse LA neighborhoods could come together through art.

Baca co-founded SPARC (Social and Public Art Resource Center) in 1976 to coordinate the project. Funding came from employment programs aimed at at-risk youth. About 400 teenagers worked on the mural over five summers between 1976 and 1983. Many came from the juvenile justice system. They represented different ethnic backgrounds and often came from “warring neighborhoods” as Baca described them.

The teens worked 25 hours per week at minimum wage. They learned painting techniques, researched history with scholars and ethnologists, and collaborated across racial and economic lines. The process itself became as meaningful as the finished artwork. Testimonials from participants describe discovering courage in historical figures, seeing their own heritage validated, and working alongside people they’d been taught to fear.

What’s Coming Next

The original mural currently ends with 1960s civil rights activism, depicted through athletes carrying the Olympic torch forward. But the story doesn’t stop there. SPARC received a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to expand the mural another half-mile. New panels covering the 1960s through 1990s are being created at LACMA before installation at the site.

A new bridge now crosses the wash, providing better viewing angles. It’s solar-lit and designed as an interpretive center where visitors can read more about the mural’s content and process.

Visiting Tips

Come during morning or late afternoon for the best light. The mural faces west, so morning sun illuminates it directly. Late afternoon brings that golden hour glow that makes colors pop for photos.

The path is narrow in places. On busy weekend days, you’ll encounter joggers, dog walkers, and other visitors. Weekday mornings tend to be quieter.

Bring your phone or camera. The scale makes it hard to capture everything, but individual panels photograph well. Close-ups reveal details you might miss from the path.

Dogs are welcome on leash. The walking path is mostly flat and paved, though some sections are uneven. Wheelchair users can access much of the path, but may find some areas challenging.

No restrooms or water fountains are available at the site. The nearest facilities are at LA Valley College nearby.

The mural sits in an active flood control channel. During heavy rain, the wash fills with water and the area becomes hazardous. Avoid visiting during storms.

Beyond the Wall

After viewing the mural, head to the nearby NoHo Arts District for food, drinks, and more public art. Or explore more of LA’s mural culture. SPARC’s website documents murals across the city. Many were created through the same community-based process that made the Great Wall possible.