A Mural Honoring Forest Hills & Rego Park History

Please donate to help create a large-scale architectural & cultural history mural in Forest Hills. Historic icons will be meticulously painted on durable sign panels to commemorate Forest Hills (1906) & Rego Park (1923), two historic communities which has outstanding architecture, but where some unofficial landmarks are endangered & underwent demolition. The mural will be a visual & interactive anchor on a large brick wall alongside The Bagel Spot at 101-01 Queens Blvd, near Federoff Triangle, apartments, & other longtime small businesses.

As Chair of Rego-Forest Preservation Council & a member of Four Borough Neighborhood Preservation Alliance, my colleagues & I have appointed an exceptional artist named Gigi Chen. Her unique artwork appears in galleries citywide & she produces murals for many clients.

We are in partnership with the highly talented sign design & fabricators, Noble Signs, which will provide & install high quality sign panels. Cleanfellas, Inc, a versatile firm, will professionally strip layers of paint & restore a circa 1940 varied shade orange brick wall. Graffiti repellent will be applied to the wall & mural panels. This is an over $10,000 project, & nearly half has been raised so far. After our community history mural will be installed, we will coordinate a ceremony & maintain our mural in the long-term.

Gigi Chen’s artwork creates an aesthetic that combines her training as a traditional animator and painter, along with her love of the techniques of old-world masters. Entrenched in the art of storytelling, her work consolidates her love of photo realism, contemporary idioms of cartooning, texture, and design to produce works that coalesce into love, craft, and fun.

The Bagel Spot acquired two earlier bagel shops that operated since the 1990s, preserving a tradition & expanding its line of delicious food, and is a supporter of a unique celebratory mural.

Mural donors in the form of residents & businesses will be recognized in print &/or a sign. May we honor our architecture, culture, art, history, & neighborly spirit through a creative and commemorative mural, and beautify a wall that has been neglected for years. With your help, a focal point can only become a reality. Please donate & spread the word. Thank you very much!