Landlord Forces Mural Removed From Rhea’s in the Mission
Bob’s Burgers, 20th Century Fox.
Did you know that the animated series Bob’s Burgers was created in the Mission? And that it’s central diner and aesthetic were based on buildings in the Mission neighborhood? Local artist Sirron Norris was the show’s lead illustrator, and the show’s creator Loren Bouchard lived on 20th street. The house Bouchard used to live in on 20th st. is the model for the Belcher’s diner in Bob’s Burgers.
Mural by Bob’s Burger’s orignal animator Sirron Norris, on the same block the show was based on in San Francisco. Photo Ian Chang
The Bob’s Burger mural by show animator Sirron Norris painted on Rheas Deli on 20th and Bryant was the ideal location to pay homage to the show’s birth, but the landlord forced Rhea’s to paint over it yesterday.
A neighborhood local happened to walk by as the owners of Rhea’s were begrudgingly painting over the mural with a sterile and dull grey paint. Here’s the testimony from a mission resident who wished to remain anonymous:
The landlord forced Rhea’s to paint over the Bob’s Burger Mural by Sirron Norris
“Painting over it…” they said.
“WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT?” I continued to ask incredulously. At this point, a neighbor stuck his head out a third story window and started yelling distressingly:
“What??? What are you doing? Stop!”
Sirron’s mural across the street on Norm’s Market, 20th & Bryant, Mission Dist. SF
What a total disgrace. I wish the building owner could know how unhappy the neighborhood is about this. Or at least, I know I am. The owner of Rhea’s told me they were considering doing some mural work inside as a replacement, though in my opinion nothing compares to the joy of discovering art on the street. What a disappointment.
“Here’s to another lifeless gray rectangle in the mission. Thanks owner.”
http://www.sirronnorris.com/
It’s unclear why the landlord forced the removal of such an appropriate piece of art and animation history. Maybe 20th Century Fox complained? Maybe the landlord is just a robot, sanitizing his ‘investment’. In any case, checkout more of Sirron’s work at sirronnorris.com, or go see his murals in the flesh using the SF Mural Art’s site. They’ve cataloged most of SF’s street murals by artist and location, Check them out at www.sfmuralarts.com/mural, they even have an App for the iPhone that hooks you up with locations of dope street art on the go. Who knows when an evil landlord will come to sanitize more Mission art, better get out there and see it now.
Artist: Sirron Norris Location: Balmy Alley, Mission Current state: Available Photo by: SF Mural Arts
10 Comments
That’s crazy. First off, I can’t believe I didn’t know that Sirron was the lead artist… or that the architecture was a block in our neighborhood. Second, why would the landlord have an issue with a mural on the side of their tenant’s restaurant. That’s insane, right?
The landlord could have sold the door with the mural for beaucoup bucks. Idiot.
Maybe, we should add to this article, contact information for the landlord so that the Public could express their ‘satisfaction’ directly to said owner… ;(
Or maybe contact the landlord to help him pay his legal fees after being threatened by lawyers from Fox.
Also, those characters were designed by Jay Howell, who used to work one block away at Atlas.
Yeah, you gotta give big ups to Jay Howell if you want to do this story right.
http://bobs-burgers.wikia.com/wiki/Jay_Howell
The address is 2200 Bryant St, San Francisco, CA 94110
Googling the address brings up real estate pages. The one I looked at (Trulia) had no owner info though.
Another site had the owner info. Yacub N Totah Living Trust, per arivify. (archive 7Bwvi)
We paid homage to the mural for Halloween: https://instagram.com/p/Ba0Cyx9lOj1/
Then Sirron Norris re-posted it:
https://instagram.com/p/Ba2UZB7lp8U/