Juneau Mural Project

A coalition of business and property owners, and others that have joined together to tackle problems in the city's core.

As stores in the tourist district pack up and shut down for the fall and winter season, the Juneau Economic Development Council wants to make sure downtown remains an inviting place to be.

This Friday, Pipeline Skate Park will celebrate new work by internationally known artist Spencer Keeton Cunningham. Cunningham, who arrived in town Oct. 1, created two murals at the skatepark.

Sonny Pittman and Jordan Kendall feel a sense of ownership with the city-owned Pipeline Skate Park, and it's something they hope to cultivate in other skaters as well. "It's part of that do-it-yourself culture," Kendall said about skateboarding.

Here is a news story from KTOO about the Winter Windows project & here is a link to the City & Borough of Juneau's ordinance on window displays.

Here are images of four businesses (two buildings) that have decorated for the holiday season... Red Dog Saloon & then Trove, Tracy's Crab Shack, & Simply Natural (from left to right). 

In contrast, next to Northern Treasures, we have Digital Express & Celebrity Jewelers which are both dark and gloomy. Only half of the businesses on this block complied with the ordinance, both of these businesses remain open during the winter. 

The Harrisburgh Building, which includes the Red Lady, Brilliant Handknits, & Tanzanite Heaven... was only moderately decorated. It appears that the first half of the building's store the Red Lady has a decent (but poorly lit window display) while all the other windows are covered in blinds or paper.  

The windows on the shops in between Lambros & Invisible world are covered in paper, boarded up, and quite sad. It is especially unfortunate that windows directly next to open and thriving businesses are dark and gloomy. 

In the next block we noticed that while the buildings seemed nicely maintained and freshly painted, only 1/3 of the businesses had complied with the city ordinance in a suitable way. It appears the store next to House of Russia posted one historic newspaper and photograph in empty display cases, but it is poorly lit and stands in sharp contrast to the House of Russia's display.

Overall this building stands out on South Franklin Street as being one of the best examples of the Winter Windows concept. It also shows cooperation between businesses that have remained open and those that close during the winter season to ensure that an entire building looks visually appealing and welcoming to local shoppers. 

This is a series of photographs of the businesses across the street and further down from the building where Trove is. Again, although many of these buildings are seemingly well maintained, the windows are left with advertisements, the buildings are dark, and paper covers many of the doorways. It appears Milano Diamond Gallery displayed historical photos of Southeast Alaska in its windows, but again it is far from inviting to local shoppers, or even locals out on a walk through downtown. 

This building, which has multiple businesses (Alaska Shirt Co., Lunchbox, Orca, etc.) has been left with very little window display. This last photo shows a great way writing could be used on the windows to decorate... but instead old advertisements remain.