Morro Bay Friends of the Library board members Tiffany Porter and Vickie Seymour, Michael Badalamenti with the County of SLO Public Libraries, and FOL board member Jan Goldman stand in front of a portion of the refurbished mosaic mural.
City officials and members of the community gathered on June 26 for a celebration to commemorate the restoration of the mosaic mural on the streetside wall of the Morro Bay library at Harbor Street and Shasta Avenue.
“It’s wonderful. It’s beautiful,” said Morro Bay City Councilman Jeff Eckles, who attended the event. “It is something the community will cherish. The Friends of the Morro Bay Library took the time to make sure it is up to snuff again, and it is going to last for the next generation.”
Titled “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,” the mural covers the entire west wall of the library across the street from City Hall. One of the first large public art projects in the region, it was designed in 1985 by the late Peter Ladochy, a nationally recognized Estero Bay artist whose work can be seen across the country, including at several locations throughout San Luis Obispo County.
Peter Ladochy.
“The library mural was installed as the first Art in Public Buildings project in the county and was timed to be built in conjunction with the building of the Morro Bay Library which opened December 21, 1985,” Vickie Seymour, president of the Morro Bay Friends of the Library the non-profit that financially backed the restoration, told Estero Bay News. “It was a truly collaborative effort and involved the entire community. The citizens of Morro Bay not only picked the themes to be pictured on the mural, but volunteers took classes from the muralist, Peter Ladochy, to learn how to assemble the individual mural sections which were eventually placed on the wall of the library. So, the people of Morro Bay literally constructed the mural you see today.”
The library’s 650-square-foot mural is composed of 125,000 one-inch glass tiles and depicts Morro Bay’s history and environment. It features the area’s Indigenous people, explorer Juan Cabrillo (who named our famous rock El Morro), and some of the region’s early missionaries. It also includes birds and sea otters, fishing boats in the harbor, local flora and fauna and Morro Rock.
Josh LePell, of San Luis Marble, was hired for the job to replace missing tiles and restore the mural to its original condition using mostly extra tiles that were left over from the original project or had fallen off over time. San Luis Marble also took time to removed loose tiles clean them and re-install them. The project took one week to complete.
A commemorative plaque was also installed to honor Ladochy and the community effort that made the mural possible.
“I think it is important to have art in communities, and I am glad that they are taking care of it for the future of our community,” said Rebecca Rasmussen, a Morro Bay resident and library patron. “It looks more vibrant and detailed now. It looks like it is jumping out at you.”
The project had a $30,000 price tag from initial assessment to the last tile set in place.
“We were very lucky that we had built up the money in our savings and did not have to do any additional fundraising to pay for it,” Seymour said. “The money used has been raised by donations to MBFOL from generous patrons, through membership dues, and revenue from our Morro Bay Friends Bookstore.”
Morro Bay FOL has more than 180 supporters that can join as Lifetime, Annual or Business members. Seymour said they are always looking for new folks to join the group. Their numbers declined during COVID and haven’t fully recovered. Membership is only $10 annually.
“Our local library and country library have many varied services, programs and resources available that I think many people aren’t aware of,” Seymour said. “And those services and programs are free. What can be better than that? Our Friends of the Library groups in the county are fortunate to be able to step in and help fund the needs of the library when budgets are tight so our patrons can continue to enjoy all the library had to offer for free.”
Looking to get involved, join the Morro Bay FOL on their website mbfol.org or send an email to info@mbfol.org. The non-profit’s goals, according to their website, are to raise awareness of and promote the library to its greatest possible use, provide financial support for the library and supporting the development and funding of its programming, advocate for the unique Morro Bay library community and patrons, and to provide volunteering and other opportunities for patrons to share their enthusiasm for books and libraries.
“We are also always looking for new people to join our board,” Seymour said. “It’s so good to have new ideas and a fresh perspective. Right now, we have a few members who have been on our board for several years and are looking to hand over the reins to other community members who are interested in supporting our library. Our meetings are every other month on Friday afternoons. Our next elections will be in November to get ready for 2027.”
The Morro Bay Friends of the Library Book Store is open whenever the Library is open and includes books, CDs, DVDs, audio books and magazines. An upcoming project on the group’s radar is to gift books during the holiday season for the local Meals that Connect group.
