Have you noticed the building on North Broadway that suddenly has three murals on it, while the storefront two blocks over on Main Street only got one?
It is not a coincidence, and it is not a snub. If you have walked past 1419 N. Broadway this summer and wondered why one building turned into an outdoor gallery while the rest of downtown stayed exactly as it was, the answer says something worth knowing about how public art actually gets made here. It is not the city drawing up a map and deciding where the color goes. It is property owners opting in.
Three Murals, One Wall, One Property
In July, four new murals went up in downtown Walnut Creek as the first completed projects funded through the city's Mural Grant Program. Here is where they landed:
- Steve Anderson, "Junglelaya" — south-facing parking lot wall at 1419 N. Broadway
- Joey Rose and Alexandra Underwood, "Creek Dwellers" — two walls in the breezeway at 1419 N. Broadway
- Tsui Xiao Rui and Elliot Trent Thompson, "Confluence" — north-facing parking lot wall at 1419 N. Broadway
- Zoe Adiah Boston, "A Step Off The Path" — 1372 N. Main St.
Look at that list again. Three of the four murals sit on the same property, the building that houses Zebra Tattoo & Body Piercing. Only one made it to Main Street. If the city were simply distributing art evenly across downtown, you would expect something closer to four different blocks. Instead you get a concentrated gallery on one wall and a single, quieter piece a short walk away.
Why the City Doesn't Choose Where the Art Goes
The reason comes down to how the grant itself works. The murals were made possible through a mix of artists, participating property owners, community partners, and the city, which means the program is a matching grant rather than a top-down installation plan. The city puts up funding and sets guidelines, but nothing gets painted unless a property owner agrees to host it and often helps cover the cost. Walnut Creek Downtown, BH Development, Lamorinda Developments & Investing, and Zebra Tattoo & Body Piercing all had a hand in getting this round funded, alongside ABG Art Group.
That is why the wall at 1419 N. Broadway ended up with three separate commissions. Whoever manages that property said yes three times over, turning a parking lot and a breezeway into what is functionally a small outdoor gallery. Down the street, a different owner said yes once. Neither decision was wrong. But it means the density of public art you see downtown right now is a map of which property owners were willing to participate, not a map of the city's priorities. The program describes the intent behind this year's batch as murals celebrating the community's natural beauty, diversity, and local character, and that intent shows up differently depending on which wall said yes first.
If you're the kind of person who likes knowing why a place looks the way it does, that is the detail. The next round of murals will not necessarily spread evenly across downtown either. It will land wherever the next property owner opts in.
Where to Actually Find Them
None of these four pieces are on a main retail corridor where foot traffic naturally flows. You have to go looking.
The cluster at 1419 N. Broadway sits behind and beside Zebra Tattoo & Body Piercing, which means the two breezeway panels of "Creek Dwellers" and the parking lot walls holding "Junglelaya" and "Confluence" are easiest to see if you walk into the lot rather than just passing the storefront. "A Step Off The Path" at 1372 N. Main St. is a few minutes away on foot, close enough to fold into the same walk if you're headed toward Locust Street or the Lesher Center.
That contrast between how you find murals and how you find Oktoberfest is worth sitting with for a second.
| New Downtown Murals | Walnut Creek Oktoberfest | |
|---|---|---|
| Location | Scattered, tucked into parking lots and breezeways | Centralized in Civic Park East |
| Duration | Permanent | Two days, September 25 to 26 |
| Who decided the location | Individual property owners who opted into the grant | Walnut Creek Downtown Association |
| How you find it | You have to know to look | Signage, crowds, and a main entrance point you straight there |
Oktoberfest is easy. It runs Friday, September 25 from 5 to 10 p.m. and Saturday, September 26 from noon to 9 p.m., with the main entrance at 1375 Civic Drive across the bridge from Civic Park. It is free, it is next to the Iron Horse Trail, and it is a ten-minute walk from the Walnut Creek BART station. Thousands of people will pass within a few blocks of these murals that weekend and most of them will never see a single one, because Oktoberfest pulls you toward Civic Park East, not toward a parking lot on North Broadway.
A Weekend That Can Hold Both
If you want to catch the murals before the Oktoberfest crowds take over downtown's attention, the window is now through the end of September. After that, the murals are not going anywhere, but the rest of your fall calendar starts filling in fast.
The Lesher Center has a packed September on deck. Center REP's production of The Glass Menagerie runs September 6 through 27. Smuin Contemporary Ballet brings its 2026-27 season opener, French Kiss, for two performances on September 18 and 19. And sportscaster Bob Costas appears for a Newsmakers talk on September 22.
A reasonable way to string this together without overplanning it: walk North Broadway and Main Street some afternoon this week to see all four murals in about fifteen minutes, catch a Lesher Center show later in the month, and save Oktoberfest weekend for Civic Park East knowing you have already seen the quieter part of downtown's fall lineup that the festival crowd will walk right past.
None of this requires a special occasion. It is just what changed in your own downtown over the last two months, and most of it happened on walls you probably drive past without looking.
If you want more of what's actually happening in Walnut Creek's neighborhoods, from downtown art to the restaurants opening up around it, I keep a running list on the Walnut Creek neighborhood page. And if a conversation about the neighborhood ever turns into a conversation about your own home, whether that's timing a move or just understanding what's happening on your block, I'm always glad to talk it through. Reach out through Joanna Chen any time.
