Route 66 Mural in Monrovia, CA

I recently applied for a grant to paint a mural for Satoru Tsuneishi Park in Monrovia, CA. Although I wasn’t selected for that particular project, the City of Monrovia reached out shortly after with another opportunity: a companion mural on the back wall of a Chick-fil-A that faces the park. While the original grant mural would have focused on Satoru Tsuneishi—a Japanese American poet and strawberry farmer with deep Monrovia roots—the city envisioned this new wall celebrating Route 66, which is my specialty! Route 66 is also celebrating it’s centennial in 2026 so this was all very fitting.

Even though I’ve stepped away from commercial work to focus more on public art, this project felt like the right fit. Route 66 has been a long-standing passion of mine, and the location was close to home. I also wanted to be mindful about keeping the mural from feeling overly commercial, since most of my work avoids branding. Fortunately, the history of fast-food culture along Route 66—and Monrovia’s own legacy as the birthplace of the McDonald’s Airdome—helped the collaboration feel authentic rather than promotional. It didn’t hurt that the Chick-fil-A franchise owner turned out to be really nice and from Pasadena, just like me.

The wall itself presented a unique challenge: a row of tall bollards took up nearly the entire bottom half, casting shadows for most of the day and making the area nearly impossible to work behind. So I kept the entire composition above them, which resulted in a really wide design ratio. Luckily, the concept adapted perfectly from my original proposal for the park which was another wide wall.

The concept for the mural became a stylized map tracing the evolution of Route 66 as it winds through the San Gabriel Valley. I highlighted the route’s passage through Azusa, Monrovia, and Pasadena, anchoring the composition around Monrovia itself with the classic shield logo in the middle.

A huge thanks goes to Impact Pasadena, who sent volunteers to help prime the wall. One of them even worked with us earlier this year on the Route 66 mural at Villain Custom Cycles in Pasadena. After letting the primer cure, we returned with a lift generously supplied by Simon Rents, the equipment rental shop right next door. They happened to have one of my favorite vintage neon signs in Monrovia. Ironically, we already incorporated a version of it into the mural—swapping their name for “Route 66” to keep things less commercial while still honoring the nostalgia.

Shoutout to Ernie Nazarian as well, who helped transfer the design to the wall using the traditional pouncing method and captured progress photos. Ernie was the one who originally told me about the grant, so having him involved felt fitting. Once the design was up, the rest of the painting moved quickly—we finished the mural in about three days, including the final UV and anti-graffiti coating.

As someone who spent five years living full-time on the road in an RV, the map element is particularly meaningful. Traveling Route 66 isn’t as simple as plugging an address into a GPS—modern navigation rarely follows the historic highway, and the route has evolved into countless alignments over the decades. We found ourselves relying on old-school maps and guidebooks to stay on course, so weaving that cartographic theme into the mural felt like a personal tribute to those years on the road.

I also wanted the mural to reflect Monrovia’s agricultural heritage. Citrus groves and strawberry fields once defined this region, so including those nods felt essential. The “You Are Here” Chick-fil-A cow ended up fitting naturally into that idea—lighthearted but grounded in place. On the right side, I added a rendering of the historic Flying A gas station that once stood in Monrovia. The overall design blends graphic elements with realistic touches, giving the mural a fresh style that I really enjoyed exploring.

Huge thanks to Lamar from Chick-fil-A and Tina Cherry from the City of Monrovia for making the entire process incredibly smooth. I’d love to bring an official Greetings Tour mural to Monrovia someday, and I hope this is just the beginning.

In January of 2026, the park was officially opened and there was a ribbon cutting ceremony held with city officials:

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!

Title: Route 66 Monrovia Mural for Satoru Tsuneishi Park

Year: 2025

Mural Size: 5'H x 40’W

Location: 1111 Encino Avenue Monrovia, CA 91016 (behind the Chick-Fil-A on Huntington Dr.)