Footage captured by neighbors shows a mural on Mission Street by deceased local artist Mario Cid Gonzalez being vandalized on Sunday night. It’s at least the second time the piece has been targeted, neighbors said.
In a video obtained by Mission Local, a woman is seen spray-painting over the mural, to the surprise of onlookers recording the act. For about 15 minutes, the woman tags over “Carnaval on Mission,” which details traditional dancers, lowriders and neighborhood theaters.
The incident occurred around 10:30 p.m. on Sunday, at the front gate of Best Collateral pawn shop at 2449 Mission St. between 20th and 21st streets.
Antonio Barrera, a neighbor and witness, said the woman, who is blonde and wore white boots, a white coat and a white and brown scarf, had started spray-painting walls before reaching the mural. She started around the corner, at the laundromat at 20th and Mission streets. She then walked about half a block south, to the location of the mural, and started tagging it.
After 15 minutes of spray-painting, the mural, which honors the neighborhood’s Carnaval festival, had been turned into a shadow of what it once was. The faces of dancers, low-riders and iconic marquees are now barely recognizable.
“I wasn’t the affected party here, but I feel frustrated to see how this person gets away with this,” said Barrera, in Spanish. “She didn’t even care that we were recording her. She didn’t say anything. She didn’t say why she was doing it.”
Asked if he, or anyone else witnessing the attack had called the police, Barrera said no. He says that when neighbors reported a similar incident a few months ago, police told them not to call if it wasn’t an emergency.
That previous incident, Barrera recalled, was to report the same woman.
“I was told then that the police could only do something if a unit happened to be driving by while a person was committing the crime,” said Barrera.
The San Francisco Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
On Monday afternoon, a few hours after the tagging, Omar Perez stood next to the mural. The rain had cleaned the streets and curbs along Mission, but did not wash away the spray paint on the mural. Perez said he knew the now-deceased muralist, Cid Gonzalez, and that the artist had been dedicated to this mural.
“Yes, I knew Mario. I saw him working on this piece so hard,” said Perez, who also said it was not the first time this mural had been vandalized. “He was such a happy person. Everyone here knew him.”
Cid Gonzalez died this year on Jan. 23, according to a GoFundMe from the time.
Perez recalled Cid Gonzalez as a lover of cumbias, especially the old ones, salsa and an avid dancer.
“He taught me some of his steps,” said Perez. “He was very talented and he had so much imagination.”
Local muralist Josue Rojas, who finished a “slow streets” mural on 20th Street last month, called Cid Gonzalez a true Mission muralist.
“It’s hard to deny that he’s put in work in the community. I admired his work because he was a very independent artist. And he embodied the sort of Mission, like, ‘do it yourself’ kind of aesthetic,” said Rojas. “[his work] has delicacy and it also has roughness. He just did his own thing.”
Rojas said that since the pandemic, he’s seen more acts of vandalism targeting murals, which he described as very painful. The issues, he said, can be complex, and can include young taggers as well as non-locals and substance users.
“In many ways, murals were sacred and, for a long time, people would respect them,” said Rojas. “This post-Covid-19 era kind of vandalism that doesn’t respect murals.”
Rojas said he keeps tabs on his murals, and those of other artists, to restore them in case of vandalism. And when asked if you would be open to restoring “Carnaval on Mission,” he said he would, if given the chance.
Mo Mosa from Mission Cannabis Club, where Cid Gonzalez painted two murals, remembered him as “a very nice guy and a good man,” one whose art he recommended widely to neighboring businesses.
Mosa lamented the vandalism, and said the owners of the pawn shop had installed cameras, in part, to protect the mural.
“It’s fucked up. It’s really bad,” said Mosa.
Despite the incident, residents can still see more of Cid Gonzalez’s work around the neighborhood. A serpent at the intersection of Mission and 20th streets, a serenata at Casa Lucas at 24th and Alabama streets, and a low-rider at 23rd Street and South Van Ness Avenue, among other businesses, such as restaurant Hermelinda at 2277 Mission St. at and Ambaro Salon & Barberia at 2915 24th St.
When he reflected on his own murals and the fate of Cid Gonzalez’s piece, Rojas said he’s got a ritual when he finishes every mural.
“I usually kiss it goodbye the moment I’m finished signing it,” said Rojas. “I expect nothing more than for it to last a day. Anything else is kind of a bonus.”
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