Arts & Entertainment

Ed Massey Mural Moving from Culver City to Del Rey

The Culver Plaza Theater complex may not be able to be saved, but the iconic Ed Massey mural that stood proudly above the buildings has found a new home at a Del Rey school.

The bulldozers are set to move in shortly and tear down the entire structure that once housed the complex on Washington Boulevard and Hughes Avenue.

As Culver City residents bid farewell to the landmark theater and its array of surrounding restaurants including Choppe Choppe, Mezza Grill and Mrs Garcia’s to make way for , the city will also lose the vibrant, colorful artwork that stood proudly above the buildings.

Ed Massey’s ‘Syncopation’ mural, however, will be spared the bulldozers.  Instead, the painting - which stands at 241 feet long and 35 feet high - will be removed in sections to Del Rey’s Westside Neighborhood School and installed piecemeal on the campus over the next few weeks.

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Massey created the bright, bold shapes specifically for the Culver Theater Plaza complex in 2004, using mops as giant paint brushes on all-weather material, according to a press release. The completed painting was then installed onto the building's curved exterior walls in 11 separate sections.

Massey said he was pleased with the choice of the mural’s new home.

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“I hope that once the painting is installed at its new location that it will invigorate viewers and encourage a spirit in young and older students, campus visitors and passersby to think and act boldly, innovatively and creatively in everything they do,” he said.


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