‘Dodgers Rule’: Graffiti artist Chaka, others inspired by repeat champs

Legendary graffiti artist Daniel “Chaka” Ramos once claimed to have marked over 40,000 locations in Los Angeles.

Now he can add seven more. And unlike decades ago – when Ramos had to sneak around in the dark to paint his nickname in large block letters all over the city and surrounding areas – this time it was completely acceptable.

Earlier this month Nike hired Ramos to add his signature style to seven murals celebrating the Dodgers. back-to-back World Series titleswhich the team won on November 1st with dramatic Game 7 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Ramos, a Los Angeles native and Dodgers fan, was more than happy to participate by adding his name and Nike-created slogans to each item. He told The Times in an email that it was his “first major project with a corporate giant like Nike.”

“They are one of the most prolific creative forces in the world, and collaborating with them was a major milestone for me,” said the 53-year-old artist. “The rush of graffiti cannot be compared to commissioned work or gallery work, but this experience was close to that.”

Nike murals, which will run until November 30, are among the items included in the new and rapidly expanding collection. online map detailing the location of the Dodgers murals in Los Angeles and its surrounding areas. The map was created and curated by Mike Asner, the mastermind behind a similar website that documents the locations of hundreds Murals of Kobe and Gianna Bryant all over the world.

Asner already works full-time as a sports and entertainment marketing director and maintains a website featuring Bryant murals. However, the morning after the Dodgers won their second straight championship, Asner knew it was time to start tracking more murals.

“I think the reception from the fans and artists I met through the Kobe mural project was very positive,” Asner, who also has Instagram page Highlighting the Dodgers murals, he said. “And the main thing I realized was that I was helping people, providing services and making their lives easier… After the Dodgers won back-to-back championships, we started seeing murals pop up right away, so I felt like it was right to do it again.”

The map currently includes 54 murals located north of Van Nuys all the way to Lake Elsinore. One of Asner's standout pieces is the artist's expansive painting of Royal Dog in the Florence-Graham neighborhood of South Los Angeles (2619 Firestone Blvd.). It features portraits of many of the all-time Dodgers greats, including Tommy Lasorda, Fernando Valenzuela, Orel Hershiser, Clayton Kershaw, Justin Turner, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman And Shohei Ohtani.

Another one of his favorite works is that of an artist. Gustavo Zermeño Jr. at the Eat Fantastic building in Redondo Beach (701 N. Pacific Coast Highway). Tribute 2024 World Series ChampionshipThe mural features Betts, Freeman and Ohtani, but the larger image of Lakers legend Bryant stands out. wearing a basketball jersey with flowers and the words Dodgers..

The Nike-Chaka collaborations represent some of the new artwork documented on Asner's card. A Nike spokesman said the idea was to provide Ramos-approved locations in local areas to express the pride Dodgers fans feel after back-to-back championships.

Two murals were painted directly onto the walls by Los Angeles artists, after which Ramos added slogans and his mark. Artist Swank One painted the one at 2844 1st St. in Boyle Heights. It contains a spare jug. Rocky Sasaki and Smith hugging after the Dodgers won the National League pennant with the slogan “On double“

Artists incognita And Kirk painted at 4560 Whittier Blvd. in East Los Angeles. The mural features pitcher Blake Snell, whose postseason included a one-hit, eighth-inning gem in Game 1 of the NLCS, with the slogan “Twice as good as Nice” This mural has since been removed.

For the other four, Nike licensed game photos from Getty Images, overlaid them with tag designs from Ramos, then enlarged the images and printed them as murals.

These include “Twice in a Blue Moon” in Silverlake (at Hollywood Boulevard and Hillhurst Avenue) featuring Max Muncy and Hyesung Kim;Recurring characters” in Echo Park (at West Temple Street and North Boylston Street) featuring Smith and Sasaki; “Make two, earn two” in Echo Park (at Sunset Boulevard and Marion Avenue) featuring Muncie; And “Dodgers rule— a play on Ramos' longtime slogan “Chucky's Rules” — at Westlake/Echo Park (at Beverly Boulevard and Commonwealth Avenue) featuring Sasaki.

The last mural shows Yamamoto roaring. The photograph was raised several stories and installed several floors above in downtown Los Angeles at 213 S. Broadway. Ramos then climbed onto the suspended scaffold and was lifted. high above his hometownwhere he spent four to five hours adding his tag and tagline “Back 2 Back.»

It may not have been as daring as some of the stunts he's pulled off in the past, but Ramos certainly felt energized.

“I've done graffiti at daring heights without a seatbelt before, but nothing on this scale. I actually had to equip myself with a seatbelt this time – haha,” he wrote. “It was intense, but a lot of fun.”

The Nike-Chaka murals will soon be gone, but Asner says he can't wait to see what other new creations might populate the map after the last championship.

“We're going to see some really amazing artwork, and we're going to see images of Dodgers that weren't necessarily in the murals, like Will Smith and Yoshinobu Yamamoto,” Asner said. “There are a lot of really big stars in this series who deserve praise for their amazing work. …

“You know, Ohtani was incredible, obviously Friedman was incredible. But there were a lot of big players who stepped up – Miggy Rojasright? A huge, huge reason they won. So it’ll be great to see what these artists do and I’m looking forward to seeing it for myself.”