World Encounter over El Arroyo Seco (1994) by the East Los Streetscapers (David Botello and Wayne Healy) hangs in the atrium of the Central Library. The mural is acrylic on canvas and measures roughly 9 feet wide by 24 feet high.
Mural by the East Los Streetscapers entitled World Encounter over El Arroyo Seco, created in 1994 and previously exhibited at the Burbank Airport. It will be on display through 2028.
Mural description
Two soccer players drift into orbit, chasing a ball toward a passing satellite. Below them, the Rose Bowl shrinks into the distance. The East Los Streetscapers (artists David Botello and Wayne Healy) created this dynamic image in 1994 to capture the global excitement of the World Cup when Los Angeles first hosted the games.
Botello and Healy work closely together to plan and paint their murals—sometimes even painting over each other’s work. Their murals are populated by people from diverse backgrounds, reflecting a city where cultures and traditions meet and community flourishes. The curvature of the earth, a form repeated in several of their murals, is a way they suggest our human interconnectedness. Healy’s daytime job as an aerospace engineer in the satellite division for Hughes Aircraft Company also clearly influenced the mural’s themes. And, of the two artists, Healy has the most enthusiasm for soccer. He even played goalie on the Hughes team!
Botello and Healy first met in elementary school in the 1950s and became fast friends, but they were separated when construction of the 710 freeway resulted in the razing of Botello’s family home, forcing his family to move across town. They reconnected as adults in the 1970s and, inspired by the Chicano Mural Movement, formed the East Los Streetscapers. Over nearly fifty years of mural painting, they have worked collaboratively, inviting other artists and hundreds of young people to join them on their many inspiring public art projects.