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Kobe Bryant Mural

Kobe Bryant Mural

Efren Andaluz, 2020

After painting a mural of Byrant and Gigi across the street from the Barclays Center, Efren Andaluz was contacted by the owner of the SOCIAL Costa Mesa restaurant to paint on one of the exterior walls.

“He was like, ‘Hey, can you actually put them on the wall?’” Andaluz said. “And I was like, ‘Yo, that would be a dope idea That’s great. Where are you guys located?’ And he’s like. ‘Costa Mesa.’ And I’m like what the heck is a Costa Mesa?”

Costa Mesa is a city of 113,159 in Orange County and each of the victims lived within 10 miles of the restaurant, SOCIAL Costa Mesa, owned by Andrew Dorsey.

“I always loved Kobe and the Mamba mentality,” Dorsey said. “I was talking to my wife and I said, ‘You know if we’re going to do this mural, why not represent all the families that were in the actual crash who all pretty much lived five to seven miles from our restaurant. “I felt they were kind of getting sunned out, getting eclipsed by Kobe’s celebrity.”

So Dorset began searching online for the right artist before zeroing in on Andaluz, a diehard Lakers fan despite living in New York. Dorsey said he spent $9,000, which included Andaluz’s fee, materials and a round-trip ticket from New York. The mural was unvieled on Feb. 24, the day of Bryant’s memorial that was held at the Staples Center.

Category: Mural
Location: Costa Mesa

Date created: 2020

Location

512 West 19th Street, Costa Mesa, CA, 92627