P-22 and Friends - Public Art Tributes to Local Mountain Lions

 

The sad demise of our famous "Hollywood Cat," formally known by the National Park Service as puma P-22,1 has prompted public artworks honoring his amazing 12 years in the wild, crossing no fewer than two major freeways from his birth in the western Santa Monica mountains to his long-time home in Griffith Park and the Hollywood Hills.  

P-22 achieved such star status that the Park Service dubbed him "ambassador for urban wildlife,"  inspiring a 2017 L.A. Times "week in the life" feature, the National Wildlife Federation's #SaveLACougars campaign, yearly festivals in his honor at Griffith Park, and these recent murals showcasing his 123-pound physique. 

Watts P-22 Wildlife Mural (2021)
by Jonathan Martinez

Long Live The King (2022) by Corie Mattie

    

These public art tributes to cougar P-22 himself continue California's history of splendid public artworks of native pumas.2

Cougars I and II by Gwynn Murrill

Cougar Park Mural by Art Mortimer

Cougar Intagio (2008) by Gwynn Murrill

RECENT MURALS OF P-22

Long Live The King (December, 2022) by Corie Mattie

(mural tribute to P-22;  Melrose Avenue near Ogden, Los Angeles)

Silver Lake Peace Love & P-22 Mural (October, 2022) by Corie Mattie

(mural tribute to P-22; 1932 Hyperion Avenue, Silver Lake District, Los Angeles)

Watts P-22 Wildlife Mural (April, 2021) by Jonathan Martinez

(mural tribute to P-22;  Compton Avenue & E. Century Blvd., Los Angeles)

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1  The National Park Service's official label for this puma is P-022.

2  The term mountain lion is synonymous with puma, cougar, panther, and catamount.