The Holy Grail

Back when I first started taking photos of carnicerias back in 2005.
I actually started off with what I consider the one that started my fascination with these
special types of murals.

I like to think of it as the Mona Lisa, the Sistine Chapel, nay, The Holy Grail of meat murals.

I'm talking about the city of Vernon.

I'm talking about the Farmer John's processing plant.

Yup, I'm talking about Hog Heaven.

If you live in L.A. and haven't driven by this GARGANTUAN mural called Hog Heaven, I pity you.

I grew up in Bell Gardens and anytime we would be driving back from the old Sears building I'd ask our dad to take us to see "los puercitos."

Or little pigs.

I really didn't know what the building was, but I knew what was on the outside of it.
Pigs, and lots of them.
Everytime we drove by it was a treat.
It seemed like it was alive like the cartoons I would see on television.

Pigs running.

Pigs fighting for their lives.

Pigs feeding.

I never forgot that place even after we had moved.
From time to time whenever we would go visit family back in the old hood, we'd drive by it.
Like a good friend, it was always there waiting to be visited.
When I finally decided to start taking pictures, I had realized that I had never gotten out of the car to see it up close and personal. Thats when the mural became something more special.

A pig whistling with little musical notes coming from its mouth.


A fox in a chicken cage.


Baby Jesus in a barn.
Yes, there's even baby Jesus.

I never knew much about the mural until I started my blog. Even so, I've tried not to learn much about it. Like all the murals that I find on our little adventures, I try to keep my sense of childhood fascination about these fantastical paintings.

I like to think they were always there.

Magically painted on the streets of L.A.

More next week...