While walking around his Pico-Robertson neighborhood, artist James Alfie noticed a mural on the side of Factor’s Famous Deli. While he admired the art, he noticed that it had been marred by graffiti.
“It absolutely killed me to see the mural destroyed and, more importantly, really upset me to see how that graffiti made our neighborhood look bad,” he said.
Alfie decided to take action: he spoke to the owners of Factor’s and offered to create a new mural, free of charge.
“I thought it would be great to create something that people could walk by and show their kids.” – James Alfie
“I wanted to create something nice for the people that live there,” he said. “There is a lot of foot traffic in this neighborhood. Families walk to and from synagogue all week. I thought it would be great to create something that people could walk by and show their kids.”
Factor’s agreed, and Alfie set out to make a mural that was colorful, playful and incorporated silly characters. He ended up spray painting just that, and putting “Factor’s Deli” in big bubbly letters alongside a cartoony hamburger and a hot dog.
“It was really rewarding to have people tell me that they love walking past the mural and it makes them smile,” he said.
Alfie was motivated to create the mural because he wanted to celebrate the tradition of Jewish delis while beautifying his community at the same time.
“I have always enjoyed being in neighborhoods that have murals that embody what that community is about,” he said. “The Jewish community has always been focused on food. People go to each other’s houses to break bread, share stories and spend time with their family. The deli in our community is important because it has all the treats that we all grew up with.”
Alfie was raised in a Jewish part of London, where he went to a Jewish nursery school, attended synagogue services and had a bar mitzvah. He’s been an artist his whole life, and it’s not something he chose to do. Rather, he felt he was wired to do it.
“I have been doing art ever since I was able to pick up a pencil,” he said. “Art has always been something that I have gravitated to and has always been something that came quite naturally to me.”
As a child, Alfie would watch animated movies and draw his own characters, and when he was 13, he discovered spray paint. In London, the city’s buildings and train stations were covered with graffiti.
“I was obsessed with painting big and trying to get my art up on walls,” he said. “There is nothing like using spray paint… Painting with spray paint is more of an experience than any other medium. You have to use your whole body when painting, and you get to paint outside. The smell of the paints surrounding you is part of the experience.”
The artist spent much of his time in high school drawing on every surface in the art department.
The artist spent much of his time in high school drawing on every surface in the art department, and when he graduated, he came to Los Angeles to attend Otis College of Art and Design.
Along with the mural in Pico-Robertson, he also makes real and digital paintings and pictures books in his signature colorful style. His next project is also a Jewish one.
“Passover is my favorite Jewish holiday, and so creating a Passover picture book has been on my mind for some time,” he said. “[It’ll be] something that’s very playful and funny.”
The picture book will help Alfie to live out his dream, which is to leave a positive impact on the world through his art.
“My ultimate goal is to leave behind a body of work that best explains the way I see and navigate the world, and to create art that makes people happy and want to have fun,” he said. “I want to use my art to tell funny and silly stories. I write books about socks, toast, space, jam and creatures that don’t fit in. The world we live in, especially now, seems to be getting more divisive, angry and dangerous. I want to use my art to create the absolute opposite.”
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