On the side of a gym in downtown Los Angeles, two figures with angelic wings — Kobe Bryant, who won five NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers, and his daughter Gianna — are depicted together in the clouds. Near one feather, the words "Do not touch this mural” are sprayed in a faded white script.
No one has. The mural’s endurance is a testament to the legacy of Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash five years ago alongside Gianna and seven other people. There are more than 600 murals honoring Bryant around the world, according to one crowdsourced tally, a majority of them in Southern California.
As she waited for an Uber near the heavenly mural one afternoon, Keeley Black, of Hollywood, rattled off locations of other Bryant murals she had encountered. One is near Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. Another is in the Fairfax shopping district.
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