Typical activities of a beach and harbor city, Long Beach, 1938

Typical activities of a beach and harbor city, Long Beach, 1938. Long Beach Plaza parking structure, exterior, Third Street and Locust Avenue, Downtown Long Beach. When this mosaic was created for the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium, it was reportedly the largest cut-tile mosaic picture in the country and the single biggest achievement of the Federal Art Project. King supervised the actual execution, which involved the collaborative work of 40 artists. Changing the geometric shapes of tile for each pattern in a design was an innovation of Wright's, and is recognizable in his other southern California New Deal mosaics. In 1979 a major community effort saved the mural from destruction when the municipal auditorium was demolished to make way for a new convention center complex. in 1982 it was mounted at its present location and declared a City Historical Landmark by the Long Beach City Council. Glazed semi-glossed tile mosaic, approximately 38' x 22'. Original design by Henry Allen Nord, redesigned by Stanton MacDonald Wright and Albert Henry King. Sponsored by Federal Art project. -- Dunitz, Street gallery, rev. 2nd ed., p. 251, #3.