Sometimes big ideas can fit on a retaining wall.

Sara Rubin here, with Big Ideas on my mind. Monterey County Gives! launched on Nov. 13 and runs through year-end, with Big Idea proposals from 213 local nonprofits on how to make our community thrive. (You can donate to support them through Dec. 31.) 

But I’m thinking about how transformational ideas can come in many shapes and sizes, and one in particular that comes in the shape of a rectangle 126 feet long by up to 6 feet tall. Those are the proportions of a stunning new mural across the street from Los Arboles Middle School and the Marina Teen Center on Hillcrest Avenue in Marina. 

The mural, “A Day in Fort Ord” by Seaside artist Hanif Wondir, shows a long, narrow landscape—green hills with blue sky in the background, blooming flowers in the foreground, scattered wildlife like a soaring red-tailed hawk, a herd of deer and a mighty mountain lion that appears to be about to walk off the wall and into the street. 

The mural is lovely, but I’m particularly interested in its origin story because it shows a creative solution to a finite problem. Leland Hansen was the new principal of Los Arboles in 2024, and registered the retaining wall across the street from campus in November last year when graffiti with gang messages appeared. City officials came the same day to paint over the graffiti, but Hansen got to thinking there had to be a better idea. “Can we use art as a solution? Can we solve this problem while also beautifying the neighborhood?” he wondered. 

Working with then-Community Youth Officer Shivdev Dhillon from Marina PD and Mayor Bruce Delgado, Hansen made a plan. The wall is on private property, at the back of Lazy Wheel Mobile Home Park. Hansen contacted the property owner, who was enthusiastic about the idea (as long as they could approve the artwork). Hansen had worked with Wondir before and asked him to create something that would fit the space and that “would be easy on the eyes.” The first pitch of the landscape got approved. 

They got two grants (from the Marina Foundation and Community Foundation for Monterey County) to cover the $20,500 in costs. Students enthusiastically watched as Wondir transformed the wall into artwork. “Kids walking by would say, ‘we really like your painting’—that was the best thing ever,” Wondir says.

The result, completed in August, is a beautiful piece of art where there used to be nothing. There’s been no graffiti since. Community and MPUSD leaders gathered to celebrate the mural in early November (with more art activities). 

“We want to encourage positive things,” Hansen says. “We want to encourage students getting involved in art.” 

Given the complex triangulation of a school promoting a mural on private property and the various parties involved, Hansen calls it a “moonshot idea.”

Big Ideas take on many shapes and sizes. In the case of a boring wall that drew ugly graffiti, one idea took on the shape of a 126-by-6-foot mural.