Goleta Old Town residents may have noticed the beige, blank wall of a local carpet and flooring store undergoing a major transformation. 

A new “Welcome to Goleta” mural is in progress at the Carpeteria store building at 5610 Hollister Ave., across from Jonny D. Wallis Park and near the two new roundabouts. 

It will feature Goleta history icons and local flora and fauna.  

Goleta screen printing and design studio Foundation Press began painting last week and has already completed some elements of the large mural, Curtis Crawshaw, business owner and mural artist, said. 

While the mural doesn’t have an exact completion date yet, it makes steady progress each day, Crawshaw said.

“My strategy so far is to attack it aggressively, and (it) being so prominent, I want the final result to be great, not good,” he said. 

Carpeteria owners Avo Semerjian and his family told Noozhawk that people stop by the wall daily to admire the art.

For the 47 years that the local family business has been at the Hollister Avenue storefront, that wall has been blank, Semerjian said. 

Foundation Press is leading the installation and collaborated on the design with local artist Jessica Altstatt, who was the initial lead artist but had to step away for personal reasons, she told Noozhawk. 

Altstatt, also a marine biologist and community science leader, presented a conceptual design to Goleta’s Design Review Board in June. 

“Hopefully I will get another chance to create something beautiful in Old Town once things settle down for me,” she said.

She was, however, able to collaborate on the design with Crawshaw.

Crawshaw appreciated Altstatt’s expertise in marine wildlife and the local environment to ensure the design would feature accurate depictions.

“She and I both wanted it to be as correct and good as possible,” he said.

One challenge in the mural’s design was the two pillars that segment the large wall. 

“I pushed quite hard and encouraged them and said, ‘This is such an awesome space, let’s make those three pieces an asset, not a deterrent,’” Crawshaw said.

Crawshaw does not want to publicly reveal the final design and instead wants to surprise residents with the final product as elements get painted on each day.

On Thursday, the wall was adorned with paintings of lemons, California poppies, the train, Goleta Pier and the historic Barnsdall Rio Grande Service Station under the phrase “Welcome to Old Town Goleta.”

Crawshaw, a Goleta native, said he wanted the mural to feel timeless and designed it in a way to have it feel like “it belongs to everyone,” he said. 

“Any image that I make possible, I want it to look like it could have been there 200 years ago or yesterday,” he said. 

Crawshaw estimated about 200 hours of work had already gone toward the mural and split among five people as of Thursday.

The mural, supported through the city’s Old Town Pride of Place grant program, awarded the local family-owned business $15,000, according to Carpeteria owners. 

However, Semerjian said the grant does not cover all of the mural’s expenses and the family is fronting the rest.

“Goleta has been good to us, so this is our way to thank Goleta and the residents and the Goleta City Council,” he said.

While the paint is donated, other expenses include installing security cameras and a topcoat treatment to deter vandalism, Semerjian said.

“It’s an investment we want to protect,” he said. 

The mural has been a community partnership that even has included neighboring residents in the painting process. 

Crawshaw also said the mural feels like “perfect timing” with ongoing Project Connect in Old Town Goleta and Foundation Press’ 20th anniversary.

“It’s an absolute honor to be given the permission to just be creative in such a public, open and big space,” he said.

Goleta City Councilmember James Kyriaco, who represents the Old Town area, applauded the mural’s progress at a meeting earlier this week.  

“It’s been fun to watch it grow and evolve,” he said. “This is part of a larger effort to really support the Old Town community during a period of a lot of construction and a lot of change.”