SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL SECTION
Mural above Jalapeños Mexican
Restaurant on 21st Street by
Raphael Delgado.
CASE STUDY:
CREATING CULTURE
HUBS
Wide Open Walls shows how public-private partnerships
create social capital
BY RUSSELL NICHOLS
The big bear wasn’t going to be that
bright.
Raphael Delgado initially planned to
paint his version of the iconic California
Bear in dark tones and muted colors on
the wall above Midtown’s Jalapeños Mex-
ican Restaurant on 21st Street. But last
summer, during the inaugural Wide Open
Walls mural festival, the Sacramento artist
improvised.
“The people watching me paint were
saying, ‘Use more yellow, use more red,’”
he recalls. “By the end, it turned into this
fiery bear. I wanted to reinvigorate some-
thing we’ve seen a million times, make it
seem brand new.”
In that sense, Delgado’s vibrant mural
represents the essence of WOW, a region-
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