Eureka Mural Walk

Eureka Old Town Mural and Historical Walk

Description:  Some of the most interesting walks have turned out to be incredibly close to home. Case in point is this meandering journey through Eureka’s commercial district and Old Town (an 11-block long, three-block wide district of Late Victorian, Greek Revival, Classical Revival storefronts and residences recognized on the National Register of Historic Places) designed to pass nearly two dozen murals that decorate Eureka and, in the process, get a taste of the historic architecture of the area. There may be a few cars to dodge but no streams to ford. And unless you get really lost, you won’t come home with your shoes muddy.

The route:

MURAL – Firehouse Alarm: Horse Drawn Fire Wagon

3^rd and N Street (next to Eureka Public Library)

Go west on 3^rd Street to ‘M’ Street and turn left to 4^th.  Turn right on 4^th Street.

MURAL – Murray Field Vintage 1930

4^th between ‘L’ and ‘M’ Streets (on the east side of the Roy Hansen Building)

MURAL – Animals are People Too

905 4^th Street between ‘J’ and ‘K’ Streets (on the east side of Courthouse Market)

Either turn right on ‘J’ Street or go through the Courthouse Market parking lot and left to ‘J’ Street at the alley. Turn left at the alley between ‘I’ and ‘J’.  Take note that this is a one-way alley with the traffic flow going against you.

MURAL – Egrets and Water Scene

In the alley between 3^rd and 4^th Streets between ‘I’ and ‘J’ Streets

On the south side of the Law Office of Lawrence O Eitzen, 816 3rd St

Turn right on ‘I’ Street and left on 3^rd Street.

MURAL – The Gray Victorian

723 3^rd Street between H and I (east wall of Times Printing)

Turn left on ‘H’ Street and proceed to 6^th Street.

Tropical Fish – INVOLVES A SLIGHT DETOUR OFF SUGGESTED ROUTE

728 4th St (east side of the Scrapper’s Edge)

BUILDING -514 ‘H’ Street – The U.S. Post Office and Courthouse was built in 1909 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

MURAL – Building Architecture

538 H Street between 5^th and 6^th (north wall of Expert Tire)

MURAL – Climbing Plants

616 H Street between 6^th and 7^th

Turn right on 6^th Street and right again on ‘G’ Street viewing the following as you continue all of the way to 1^st Street.

MURAL – Arkley Center for the Performing Arts

G Street between 4^th and 5^th (viewed to the east across the parking lot)

BUILDING – 412 ‘G’ Street – The Arkley Center for the Performing Arts is on the National Register of Historic Places. Built in 1919 as the Sweasey Theater-Loew’s State Theater.

MURAL – Alley Cats

G Street between 4^th and 5^th

BUILDING – Vance Hotel, 2^nd and ‘G’ Streets – (See description on the Eureka Waterfront walk, Hike #37)

Turn left on 1^st Street viewing the following as you proceed to ‘C’ Street.

MURAL – Wild Seas

1^st Street between ‘G’ and ‘F’ Street

BUILDING – 112 ‘F’ Street – This Stick/Eastlake style building is on the National Register of Historic Places (1893)

BUILDING – 422 1^st Street – Was initially H.H. Buhne’s hardware store. It is on the National Register of Historic Places. Buhne was the first American to cross the bar into the bay. On the bay side of the street is Eureka’s oldest commercial building (c1858), Buhne’s General Store.

MURAL – Remnants of the North Coast Co-op Mural

1^st Street between ‘D’ and ‘E’ Street

MURAL – Bearymore, the Great Winged Grizzly

220 1^st Street between ‘C’ and ‘D’ Streets

Turn left on ‘C’ Street and left on 2^nd Street. Continue on 2^nd Street to ‘F’ Street.

BUILDING – The Eagle House Hotel – 2^nd and ‘C’ Street – built in 1888 in the Queen Anne style originally served those traveling by steamship.

PUBLIC ART – Romano Gabriel’s Sculpture Garden

2^nd between D and E Streets

Turn right on ‘F’ Street viewing the following as you continue to 7^th Street. After reaching the mural located between the Morris Graves Museum of Art and the Eureka Theatre retrace your path to 4^th Street.

BUILDING – Carson Block Building, 227 ‘F’ Street. In 1891, William Carson, anxious to create a positive community spirit in the face of a logging recession, built this massive office building. It included the 1,400 seat Ingomar Theatre (closed in 1923 and gutted in 1958). The building received a $5.3 million facelift and seismic retrofit in 2016.

MURAL – Tribute to Architecture and Performing Arts

‘F’ Street between 4^th and 5^th  (viewed to the east on the back of the Arkley Center for the Performing Arts)

MURAL – No Barking Any Time

426 ‘F’ Street between 4th and 5th (north wall of North Coast Dance Studios)

MURAL – Inharmonious

520 F Street on 5^th and F Streets

BUILDING – Eureka Theatre (1939) – On the National Register of Historic Places.

BUILDING – Carnegie Building/Morris Graves Museum of Art – On the National Register of Historic Places (1903)

MURAL – Indian Island – The Sun Set Twice on the People

612 ‘F’ Street between 6^th and 7^th (north wall of Eureka Theatre)

Turn left on 4^th Street and proceed to ‘A’ Street. Turn left on ‘A’ Street.

MURAL – The Hidden Mural – Where Eureka Meets the San Francisco Earthquake

See the thin, 3” separation on the west side of the George Petersen Insurance Building, between ‘D’ and ‘E’ on 4^th Street

MURAL – Nature’s Bounty

425 4^th Street between A and B Streets (south wall of the North Coast Co-op)

MURAL – Two Whales

On ‘A’ Street between 4^th and 5^th

MURAL – Indigenous Man wearing a Huge Headdress

Southeast corner of 5^th and ‘A’ on the west side of “A Fertile World”

Turn left on 5^th Street (perhaps with a short walk past the “Indigenous Man” mural to the “Harvey’s Fine Used Cars” mural and back)

MURAL – “Harvey’s Fine Used Cars”

Northeast corner of 6^th and ‘A’

Walk to ‘E’ Street (4 blocks) and turn left after locating the “Play within a Play” mural. Walk to 3^rd Street (3 blocks).

MURAL – Play within a Play

On the south side of Wells Fargo Advisors and Starbucks at the west end of the parking lot, ‘E’ and 5^th Street

Turn right on 3^rd Street and walk to ‘L’ Street (7 blocks).

BUILDING – The Clark Museum (3^rd and ‘E’ Street) – On the National Register of Historic Places. Formerly the Bank of Eureka building (1911).

BUILDING – Carter House – northwest corner of ‘3^rd’ and ‘L’ is a replica of a house designed by the Newsoms and built in San Francisco in 1884.

Turn left on ‘L’ Street for one block and right on 2^nd Street for one block to ‘M’ Street at the Carson Mansion.

BUILDING – Carson Mansion, 2^nd and ‘M’ Streets – Outside of our redwood forests and stunning coastline, the most iconic (and photographed) symbol of the North Coast. (See description on the Eureka Waterfront walk, Hike #37.)

Finish the route by returning to 3^rd Street (one block right/south) and left on 3^rd the short distance to the Humboldt County Library.