10/21/2026
La Catrina - Homage to La Mexicana Market on A.
Acrylic on wood panel by visual artist Karla Lopez.
For most of my life I lived just a few feet away from La Mexicana. My mom told me stories that when they first came to Hayward, 50+ something years ago, la Mexicana was the only Mexican store in the area. Seeing the sign on the side of the store meant I was home. When the store closed, I was sad to see the sign go, too.
For many years I had the idea of one day painting it, recreating it in my own style. I had different ideas but it was never just right, and I kept putting it off.
One reason was that I knew I wanted to paint this on a round surface. When I recently spotted and thrifted a brand new wooden round, in just the right size, I knew it was time to finally paint it. I sanded and prepared the surface over the summer, and worked on it whenever I could. It’s still not completely finished, but the show is already up!! So I didn’t want to delay any more. For now, this is my finished tribute to the iconic La Mexicana sign that stood in Hayward for so many years.
Come and see it on the 2nd floor of the Hayward Public Library, at our Día de los Mu***os exhibition, up until Saturday, Nov 7.
