Life and Death of an Emperor Norton Mural (Bottle Caps Edition)
A fondly regarded Emperor Norton-themed public artwork came on the scene in The Mission, San Francisco, in late 2011.
It left quietly a few months ago.
Here are the street-level garage doors of 2785 Bryant Street — east side of Bryant, between 25th and 26th Streets — in June 2009.
Google Street View of 2785 Bryant Street, San Francisco, June 2009 (screenshot).
Here are those same doors in May 2011.
Google Street View of 2785 Bryant Street, San Francisco, May 2011 (screenshot).
At this same time, one of the residents of the building was Scott Bowers, a software engineer.
Bowers had realized that it would be possible to create a pixellated image of Emperor Norton, using bottle caps. He collected some 6,000 caps — including from New Belgium Brewing Company, Bender’s, Recology, Pops, Napper Tandy, Skylark, El Farolito and La Taqueria, according to his website. (The owners of Bender’s bar went on to open Emperor Norton’s Boozeland in 2013 and have been among The Emperor Norton Trust’s most steadfast friends.)
Using this c.1871–72 photograph as his guide…
Emperor Norton, between spring 1871 and spring 1872. From carte de visite by Tuttle & Johnson studio, 523 Kearny Street, "Heliographic Artists." Collection of the California Historical Society.
…Bowers set to work. By late September 2011 — after five months of work — Bowers had transformed his building’s plywood garage doors into art. (Click on the photograph for a fabulously hi-res and detailed 7,352 x 4,920 pixels version!)
Emperor Norton mural made out of bottle caps, 2011, by Scott Bowers. Photograph: Carol M. Highsmith, 2012. Credit: The Jon B. Lovelace Collection of California Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith's America Project, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
By November 2013, the mural had begun to fade with exposure to the elements. The original colors, though, still were recognizable.
Google Street View of 2785 Bryant Street, San Francisco, November 2013 (screenshot).
But, by July 2015, the Emperor’s hair and beard had gone ghostly.
Google Street View of 2785 Bryant Street, San Francisco, July 2015 (screenshot).
By September 2017, the mural had taken on the darkened, “colorized sepia” appearance that it showed in this January 2019 photograph.
Emperor Norton mural, 2011, by Scott Bowers. Photograph © 2019 Dwayne Ratleff
:: :: ::
Alas, we recently learned that Scott Bowers’ Emperor Norton mural is no more.
The mural was removed early this year.
Bowers notes that
the property owners never mentioned anything to me, and then one day it looked like someone tried to restore it, they had painted over some of the bottle caps. Then, the work stopped for awhile, and finally it was gone. No one ever told me anything even though I live a block away from there….I never thought it was going to last forever outside.
After the mural was taken down, Bowers says, “[t]he garage door was tagged within the week, serves them right. (no, it wasn't me).”
Perhaps one of those tags is in this photo from this past May.
R.I.P.
View of 2785 Bryant Street, San Francisco, May 2020. Photograph © 2020 Dave Schweisguth
:: :: ::
For an archive of all of the Trust’s blog posts and a complete listing of search tags, please click here.
Search our blog...