A new mural honoring legendary mountain lion, P-22. Has been unveiled in Hollywood. Gordon Tokumatsu reports for the NBC4 news at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024.
He never starred in a movie, never sang a hit song nor never courted fame on purpose. But now, P-22’s likeness looks down on Hollywood Boulevard is immortalized in a large mural, just like Marilyn, Bogey or Elvis.
“P-22 was a question on Jeopardy,” said Beth Pratt of the National Wildlife Federation, “He was featured on Rolling Stone magazine!”
The famed mountain lion, who died in 2022, became an LA icon after his plight made global headlines. Alone and isolated by two freeways that he miraculously survived crossing, he eventually made his home near Griffith Park.
Pratt joined muralist Corie Mattie at the giant painting’s unveiling on Wednesday – an event in advance of “P-22 Day” at Griffith Park, which is scheduled for Oct. 19.
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The mural is done in primary yellow on the side of a building near N. Cahuenga Boulevard. It depicts the world-famous mountain lion in a striking pose, larger than life between stores and theaters on both sides of the street.
“Classic Hollywood feel,” said Mattie of her vision, “and him just disrupting the whole Hollywood Boulevard”
Pratt points out that P-22 may never have graced a silver screen or appeared in a TV show, but his story reads like any classic Hollywood tear-jerker.
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His isolation in the park came after he had journeyed there to find a mate. However, he soon found himself trapped, unable to safely return to his birth home in the Santa Monica Mountains. When wildlife officials finally euthanized him, he bore the scars of a tortured life: diseased, seriously injured by a car strike and incapable of surviving much longer.
Even more heartbreaking -- he never found the mate he had been searching for.
“He was that underdog – or “under-CAT,” said Pratt, “that people related to, and connected with in really meaningful ways.”
Perhaps his greatest legacy, she pointed out, is bringing worldwide attention and funding to the plight of his fellow lions – a dwindling population that is constantly threatened by car strikes, disease and poisoning in the Santa Monica Mountains. Pratt gives P-22 credit for the nearly completed Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing bridge, which received substantial support after his death.
“We now have the world’s largest wildlife crossing being built here, because of him,” she said.
The new mural includes a virtual reality feature, which can be accessed through your phone via a QR code on the wall. In real-time, it animates the painting and allows you to see what a P-22 star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame might look like.
