When World Cup fans came to Los Angeles in 1994, they were greeted with five new murals painted to honor this historic moment. For the first time, the US was hosting the FIFA World Cup and the finals would be played in Pasadena’s Rose Bowl.
ARTS94, the World Cup program that funded cultural events across the US, sponsored a number of arts events in Los Angeles, including this mural initiative it created with the Social and Public Resource Center (SPARC). Five murals were commissioned and then painted on locations along the freeway route from LAX to Pasadena’s Rose Bowl.
Before the Game: the Eternal Practice by Olivia Gude
Solo Unido, Un Mundo Vencera by Willie Herrón
Stamps of Victory by Johanna Poethig
Ricochet by Roberto Salas
Honor For Us All by Michael Schnorr
As these murals were announced in the press in 1994, ARTS94’s Polly Kroeger told the Pasadena Star-News, “We think this is a terrific way to welcome people to Los Angeles and to leave a soccer legacy behind after the World Cup is over.”
Well, I’m not sure how long that “soccer legacy” lasted, at least in terms of these murals. As of 2026, they are no longer visible in their original locations. I believe most of them were painted directly on the cement walls and eventually painted over once the graffitti swallowed up the acrylic colors. The exception was Willie Herrón’s mural. He painted on a 40-foot canvas that was then hoisted onto a building at LAX. He and his mural made headlines in June 1994 when 30 m.p.h. winds threatened to destabilize it. I wonder if he still has the 40-foot canvas?
Thankfully, another 1994 World Cup mural was preserved due to the efforts of East Los Streetscapers. In 1994, muralists David Botello and Wayne Healy painted World Encounter over El Arroyo Seco for the Burbank Airport as a way to welcome visitors to flying in for the World Cup games. Botello and Healy brought out their mural for the Los Angeles Public Library and it’s been hoisted onto a Central Library wall where it will stay until the LA 2028 Olympics.
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