Mural Stories: Murals Are How a Community Remembers Out Loud
Sponsored by the Boys & Girls Clubs of Kern County
by Mary Anne Radmacher, Arts Council of Kern
Sponsored by the Boys & Girls Clubs of Kern County
by Mary Anne Radmacher, Arts Council of Kern
Aug 27, 2026
WHERE TO SEE IT: The Sign Center (9036 Elk Grove Blvd). Photo courtesy of California Resources Corporation
Kern County’s public art tells us something important: where we live has a story, and that story is worth making visible.
Public-facing murals accomplish far more than filling a blank wall with color. They become landmarks and storytellers. They preserve pieces of history that might otherwise disappear from memory. They honor the people, industries, cultures and landscapes that shape a place. They can bring dignity to a neglected corner, create pride in a neighborhood, invite conversation between generations and remind residents that the places they pass every day belong to them, too.
In Oildale, a community group, Citizens for a New Oildale, worked alongside Chevron and completed a mural at Beardsley Avenue and North Chester Avenue in 2011. More than a beautification project, the mural became a historical marker, reaching back to the oil boom that transformed the area beginning in the late 1800s. It places Oildale’s history squarely and colorfully in public view.
In Tehachapi, murals are so much a part of the city’s identity that visitors can follow a Tehachapi Murals Walking Tour. Throughout the community, walls become chapters in a larger story, drawing upon the area’s railroad history, agriculture, aviation, Indigenous roots and the people who have called the mountain community home.
More recently, the Elk Hills Mural grew from a collaboration among California Resources Corporation, Carbon TerraVault Joint Venture, Brookfield, the Arts Council of Kern and Lamont/Bakersfield artist and poet Jorge Guillen. Together, the partners developed a mural reflecting both the legacy of Elk Hills and a vision for its future located at The Sign Center (9036 Elk Grove Blvd).
These are only three of the stories being told on walls throughout Kern County. Murals hold four things at once: they transform an ordinary wall into an invitation, to remember who came before us, to notice where we are standing and to imagine what our communities might yet become. That may be the greatest gift of public art. It makes a community’s story large enough for everyone to see.
WHERE TO SEE IT: The Sign Center, 9036 Elk Grove Blvd., Elk Hills, CA
Find more of KCFM's Mural Stories Series below:
- Mural Stories: A Slice of Bakersfield History
- Mural Stories: Dream Center Youth Mural
- Mural Stories: Nine Parks, One Mural
- Mural Stories: EASTCHESTER: One Word, An Artful Direction
- Mural Stories: The Roots of the Basque Mural
- Mural Stories: Color Arrived Before Most People Noticed
- Mural Stories: One Love in an Unexpected Place - A Mural That Gets Respect
- Mural Stories: When the Mind Blooms
