Powell Street

Lucien Labaudt

This fresco, the largest work of all at Coit Tower, represents the slope of Powell St. from Market to California Sts. Like the Beach Chalet murals he did two years later, every face in the enormous work was a real individual — many of whom were his fellow Coit Tower artists, as well as PWAP officials, family, friends and others in the artistic and literary community of San Francisco. Labaudt knew the street extremely well because he ran a studio and fashion school, the California School of Design, at 526 Powell Street (near Sutter). His background in fashion design it was his mother's business, which he learned as a boy meant that every stitch, shoe and accessory was a perfect rendition of San Francisco couture in 1934.