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"Under the Bridge," Silverlake Blvd. at Sunset Blvd., 1994. One of a series of murals created by Ernesto de la Loza especially for the Silverlake/Echo Park neighborhood.

Ernesto: I grew up in Northeast Los Angeles near Pasadena--in El Sereno. We weren't considered the by-products of East L.A. We were living in "Beverly Hills," so to speak, so we were very isolated, and we weren't accepted. We had to create our own path. In East L.A. they had the Brown Berets and a lot of political stuff. I was personally more into the universal stuff. In the 1970s I was already traveling worldwide, touring many countries, going to the major museums, absorbing and trying to get inspired by the art treasures of Europe.

Interviewers: When did you start painting murals?

E: I was there at the riots of East L.A., the Chicano Moratorium, in 1970, and there seemed to be an urgency and a need. A lot of us artists got together on Whittier Boulevard and started painting our emotions and feelings. I was very non-violent and the violence created a vacuum. We wanted to do something that was passionate and positive.

I: How did you get involved in the mural project at Estrada Courts?

E: We were painting some cantinas on Whittier Boulevard and Atlantic Boulevard. Charles Felix (the organizer of the Estrada Courts murals) invited us to do a mural there. So that was the beginning of my quest as a muralist.

I: During the 1970s and later in the early '90s, you painted several significant murals in Boyle Heights and East L.A. Can you talk a little about those?

E: I did White Eagle's Dance in the late 1970s for a summer youth employment thing, CETA. It's on the Alameda Theater (Woods at Whittier Blvd.), a very good building that was restored by the L.A. Conservancy. My mural is on an emergency list for restoration, chosen as one of the more important murals that has to be addressed. It is in dire need or it could be lost.

In 1991 I did Resurrection of the Green Planet (Breed at César Chavez in Boyle Heights), a SPARC (Social and Public Art Resource Center) commission. I had four apprentices.

Then I did Bridges to East L.A. (St. Louis at First Street in Boyle Heights). It was part of Rebuild L.A. after the riots, kind of a bandaid thing. I worked with our abandoned youth in a six-month workshop. The mural is near a police station. I was working with a lot of the aerosol artists. I'm not an advocate of illegal art. I was showing them that you can do things legally. I learned their language. They had this hip-hop culture. I was in my 40s and these kids were 18 and 19. I'm the one that prospered more than they did. I got to be hip again.

I: Why did you stop doing murals in the 1980s?

E: I took a hiatus because murals kind of lost their vigor. I became more active in school, developing my skills in easel painting. It is the responsibility of the artist to improve his skills. So, in the 1980s, I did a lot of study. In the '90s I got back into murals, and haven't stopped yet!

I: Why don't you talk a little about the Blythe Street murals you did with Roberto Rubalcava in Pacoima in the northeast San Fernando Valley.

E: We were considered for Blythe Street after doing four murals in summer, 1993, in all the housing projects in East L.A. (including the first new mural in Estrada Courts in 10 years) with youth counselor and project designer Ruben Guevara. That was successful as far as working with underserved communities, which is why I think we were considered for the Blythe Street mural. We did three laws--the law of the street, the law of the land, and the Divine Law. It was a triptych. We engaged in work with youth up to 20 years old. We got a lot of feedback from ex-gangsters who are born-again Christians now. They are the mentors and the role models for the children there. You can see how tragic it is, how important it is to work with these youth.

I: When did you move to Echo Park?

E: In 1990. Before that I'd been commuting from West Covina, a lengthy drive on the freeway. So I set up, and then I painted the local record store, the local pharmacy, the local coffee house, the local shoe store. I worked my way into the community, and I started to meet all of the merchants. Then things started kicking in. Jeanette Napolitano had a gallery, the Lucky Nun. She knew that I did the storefront for this popular coffee house that a lot of artists and writers frequent. She had read a little about me, and she liked what I said about being a street artist and that I was an L.A.-based artist. She worked with the L.A.-based rock group, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, and she asked me to do a piece [Under the Bridge, 1993-4, Silverlake Blvd. just south of Sunset Blvd. in Silverlake]. It was a $15,000 commission, probably the best I had been paid so far.

I. After that you decided to really make the Silverlake-Echo Park area your canvas?

E: Yes. I did four murals in Echo Park [LeMoyne just south of Sunset Blvd., Sunset Blvd. just east of Alvarado, and two on Sunset near Coronado and Benton Way]. There wasn't much money involved. I would just hang around the neighborhood and paint, be frivolous to life. I did a mural for a lawyer that I'd been playing handball with because he encouraged me. He's on the Elysian Park Committee and the Echo Park Pride Committee, and he's Jackie Goldberg's lawyer. So I lived here and I just rejoiced and became a full-fledged painter. It was very intimate and I had a great response from the people.

I: Where would you like to go from here?

E: I would like to cross over and do three-dimensional work. It is hard to break into that arena because most of my work is considered very ethnic. Those were the venues and the areas that I was focusing on at the time. I've been in the outdoor advertising business and I've done a lot of fabrication. I know a lot about preservation of materials in working in the outdoors, and I've worked with super dynamic businesses and corporations that are very high tech.

I am a world-traveled individual, and I think I could bring an international flavor to the city and the public art. I study a lot about the art today and all that is going on, but I will have to gear up and step it up a little. It's all about opportunity, You have to create that image for yourself. L.A. is an incredible place in the public art world, there's no place like it. And it is very competitive. There are decisions you have to make, and you have to direct your own career to do what's best for you. I'm very optimistic.