SLO County city wanted to deny mural on a bookstore. It’s getting one anyway
A dispute over whether a mural constitutes public art or a promotion for an Arroyo Grande bookstore saw the City Council ultimately side with the business this week.
At Tuesday evening’s City Council meeting, the council was given the choice between approving or denying a large mural by Marmalade Mural Co. on the western-facing wall of Monarch Books on East Branch Street, which features a monarch butterfly, books, ocean imagery, UFO and local wildlife with the slogan “What’s your story?”
Though the mural complied with many of the city’s objective design standards, city staff found that the imagery depicting a monarch butterfly and stack of books could be construed as promoting the business, which goes against the city’s standards.
The debate drew a strong response from community members and fans of the bookstore, who argued that the staff’s interpretation of the city’s standards unnecessarily limited an opportunity for more public art at a well-loved local business.
Following a public comment period that skewed heavily in favor of people supporting the mural, the council voted 4-1 to approve the mural, with Councilmember Jim Guthrie the sole “no” vote.
“What is your story? My story is that I grew up down the street,” Monarch Books owner Taneesha Regez said during public comment. “I’ve been in this Village, I’ve seen these walls for decades now, and then I get the privilege of owning a business within this beautiful Village, and I love to engage with others and their story, and so it’s more than just a mural.”
Public art or promotion?
According to the city staff’s report, the rule stopping murals from promoting a business dates back to a March 14, 2024, decision by the City Council, which revised the city’s public art guidelines that apply to public art on private property.
The 150-square-foot mural does not carry Monarch Books’ name, but does include some elements such as the butterfly, a stack of books and a slogan that could be construed as promoting the business, planning manager Andrew Perez said.
“I think here it’s a little more clear that there’s books painted on a mural that’s for a bookstore,” Perez said. “We have the monarch butterfly, which kind of references the name of the bookstore, so in staff’s opinion, that’s not a subjective judgment call, it’s objective.”
However, there are elements of the mural that don’t refer to a specific business, such as the wildlife and a spot where people can pose for pictures under the UFO to look like they’re being beamed up.
Guthrie, siding with city staff, said while he found the mural artful and attractive, it clearly wouldn’t make sense without the business whose wall it would be painted on.
“It’s beautiful, but it’s way more a sign to me than it is a mural,” Guthrie said. ”I’ll be voting ‘no’ tonight, but if this passes, then future ones I’ll certainly be in favor of.”
That sentiment seemingly stood alone on the dais and in the room.
Mayor Caren Ray Russom said imagery of monarch butterflies is not exclusive to the bookstore or most of the Central Coast and said she supported more art downtown.
“I think it enhances the downtown feel,” Russom said. “There is no title here — it is admittedly tangential, but I think it also directly references, as I said, someplace else in the city, and I think it can absolutely coexist.”
Monarch Books owner grateful for mural approval
While Regez doesn’t yet have a set date to have the mural painted, and must seek the City Council’s final approval to get that painting date set, she said she’s glad the mural wasn’t shot down at the meeting.
The navy blue color of Monarch’s storefront will be wrapped around the corner by a separate painting company from Marmalade Mural Co., followed by the mural itself from Marmalade’s artists, she said.
Regez said she hopes to have the mural complete by peak tourism season this summer.
“This is our fourth anniversary, just now, and obviously we have this big blank wall, and we had to wait till we had money, to be honest, to be able to do something with it,” Regez said. “We started at the beginning of last summer, working with Marmalade Murals, and the first thing we said was, ‘We want a statement piece.’”
This story was originally published April 15, 2026 at 2:43 PM.
