Silver Lake Walker: The Mural
If you spend any time in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles, you know the Silver Lake Walker. Bare-chested and George Hamilton-tan, the guy walks the streets faster than most people run, every day in the same green trunks and nothing else but a newspaper and a flip-phone. The LA Weekly did a piece on him, if you’re interested. Backstory: he’s not schizophrenic, he’s a family practice physician named Dr. Marc Abrams and he walks to stay in shape.
The other day, I’m walking in my neighborhood not to stay in shape, but to get a burrito and I see a guy painting a mural with various depictions of the Walker around town. (Detail image here.) I get my burrito. Shrimp. Really frickin good. Not five minutes later, I see the Walker and he’s heading in the direction of the mural. “Oh shit,” I think to myself. “He’s gonna be pissed.” And I grab my dog and my iPhone camera and get ready to capture the meltdown.
But it doesn’t come. The Walker simply walks by and barely even glances at his monument.
I stop to talk to the muralist, and ask him whether the Walker knows who or why. The muralist is a local guy named Nicky Gagliarducci and with his scarf and blazer on despite the heat, he’s maybe the artistiest dude I’ve ever seen. Could’ve played the part of Diego Rivera’s protégé in a biopic, the one who sleeps with all his mentor’s women. Story goes, Local, the restaurant next door, commissioned him to do the mural. Didn’t ask the Walker, didn’t tell him why, just wanted it. At one point earlier, when the Walker walked by, Nicky stopped him long enough to ask if it was cool. Apparently, he was unphased, said whatever and walked on.
