Route 66 Mural in Azusa, CA

It’s been an honor to finally bring this Route 66 mural to life with the City of Azusa. We started first talking about a potential mural with the city back in 2023. Three years later, it’s so rewarding to finally put the paint on the wall and have an awesome Route 66 Centennial Monument to go along with it!

Route 66 has always meant a lot to me. My wife and I spent over five years traveling full-time in an RV, painting murals across America—many of them happened to be right along the mother road from Chicago to Santa Monica. We created artwork in bigger cities and small rural towns like Auburn, IL where we painted standing on the original brick road that still exists today. Over the years, we had the opportunity to work with so many amazing communities with inspiring people and Azusa was no exception.

Like so many a century ago who once took this road west in search of a better life, I took the same risk myself and decided to settle here in the Southern California to start a family and look for new opportunities. I’m originally from New York, and in many ways I’m just continuing the journey my parents started when they traveled even much further west all the way from China to live this American dream.

One of the things I’ve learned from all my travels is that a community’s richest culture is often built by people who come from somewhere else, fall in love with a place and decide to settle there. They build their businesses, rain their crafts and contribute with respect for those who came before them. It’s safe to say that I definitely fell in love with the diversity of this place I now call home and will always do my best to give back when possible.

This same ethos was reflected in the team that helped out with this mural—every artist involved is from a Route 66 city in the San Gabriel Valley: Ernie Nazarian from Glendora (not pictured since he helped take these progress photos!), Alec Pelsone from Monrovia, and myself now based in Pasadena. The first day at the wall painting, I also met Darwin who lived right across the street. He could see the wall from his balcony and he was a local artist that offered to help out. I handed him a brush and he got down cleaning up the negative space around the mural. Much appreciated and I’m glad to always have someone literally watching out for the piece everyday!

The design of the mural celebrates how Route 66 helped shape Azusa throughout history—from the lure of the citrus boom to the growth of the automobile culture that led to oil companies, roadside attractions and the rise of the modern strip mall that defines so much of the urban landscape today. When it comes to the history of Azusa, I’m not going to pretend that I know more than the city clerk Jeffrey Lawrence Cornejo, Jr. That man is a walking encyclopedia of local knowledge and you can check out his book all about the history of Azusa here.

Below are a few shots of some of the mural references as they exist today:

Many people will pass this mural for years to come. One day, someone might look it up and discover it was painted by a Chinese American, ex-graffiti writer from New York who somehow ended up living in the San Gabriel Valley. And honestly—if that makes them smile and think, “Yeah… that actually fits the spirit of Azusa,” then I think that says everything about the cultural openness of this city with it’s iconic highway that connects the rest of the country.

On January 20th, 2026, the city revealed the mural and adjacent Route 66 Centennial monument with a ribbon cutting ceremony with city officials. Check out some photos of the event below:

If you’d like to see more of my Route 66 murals—from Chicago to Santa Monica—you can browse my past projects here. And if you have a Route 66–related mural idea in mind, feel free to reach out through my contact page!

Press:

SGV Tribune - Azusa unveils towering tribute to Route 66, plus new mural

Title: Route 66 Azura, CA Mural

Year: 2026

Mural Size: 7'H x 75’W

Location: 141 Historic Rte 66, Azusa, CA 91702 (Northwest corner of Alameda & Foothill)