Be Saddened: Say "goodbye" to the "Hello!" bear of Silver Lake

From The Eastsider LA:

It was about a year ago when cartoon-like drawings of a happy bear - sometimes waving its paw and greeting passersby with a "Hello!" or a "How do you do?" - began appearing on walls across Echo Park and Silver Lake. Silver Lake residents Amy Seidenwurm and Russell Bates were so charmed by the bears and other critters that they commissioned the artist, Phil Lumbang, to paint a mural on the approximately 30-foot long by 10-foot high wall in front of their home. Most people loved it, stopping to have their photos taken in front of the colorful scene painted last April. More than 35,000 people viewed a YouTube video Bates shot of Lumbang painting the happy forest creatures. But one neighbor objected, complaining that the mural would make their Silver Lake street "seem ghetto" and attract taggers and other street artists, Bates said. Now, under orders from the city's Building & Safety Department, Bates and Seidenwurm have until March 1 to paint over the illegal mural. "I think the mural is on its way out," Bates said. "We are not interested in having a big fight with the city."

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