If you've strolled First St, you've surely noticed the tile murals sprinkled in the sidewalk from end to end of this Benicia "Main Drag," amongst the coffee shops, art galleries and vintage clothing stores.

There are similar murals prominently displayed outside our Benicia Veterans Memorial Hall at the top of First Street.

The artist behind these is Guillermo Wagner Granizo and his is a story that needs to be shared.  He was born in San Francisco in 1923 and lived a storied life including living in several countries, graduating from the San Francisco Art Institute and become the first Art Director of local TV Station KRON producing sets for them until 1959.   As written on a website created by his family:

Granizo devoted all of his energies to the rendering of ceramic tile murals and mosaics with special attention to the creatives uses of color glazes. In the late 70's he began an extraordinary career transformation as a ceramic tile muralist, historian and fine artist. Many of his works are on public display in many cities in California, the U.S. and the world. The most prominent cities displaying his art are in San Francisco, Benicia, Hillsborough, Napa, Pleasanton, Vacaville and Los Angeles. Additional works are displayed in Alaska, New Mexico, Philadelphia, Utah, Australia, Europe, Mexico, Guatemala, Japan and Nicaragua to name a few. 

More from the website:

In late 1980 Granizo moved to Benicia, California, where he spent the last two decades of his life. The City of Benicia (formerly the state capital of California) became the center of "Bill's" art world and Benicia has honored him in many ways by recognizing his art as a part of its city. In particular, the Benicia Historical Museum has been very supportive of his work by dedicating a section of the museum to him.

From Granizo's study of the history of Benicia as the original capital of California, he began creating a series of tile murals that the city placed in the sidewalks and civic buildings. Each mural depicted the historic landmarks, people and events that took place in the early part of the development of Benicia. With the historic military influence of Benicia and its Arsenal, some murals honor the American soldiers who fought in World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

We have created a Pinterest Board capturing photos of Granizo's tile murals in Benicia here (click on Pinterest logo):