CLEVELAND — It’s the mural that looks good enough to eat and serves as a delicious backdrop for Instagram-worthy photos. The Pizza Mural, as it's known, is located at the corner of West 28th and Church, and it celebrates a favorite food that Cleveland does well.
The Pizza Mural, which is featured in our list of Cleveland's 100 Hidden Gems, is the creation of artist Mike Sobeck.
“When Mike painted the pizza on the side of this building, I didn't expect there to be droves of people who would come for a pizza pilgrimage," said Hingetown neighborhood developer Graham Veysey.
The mural, says Sobeck, is a slice of Ohio City Pizza. He says he smeared it on a piece of paper and took a picture of it, and the idea for the mural was born.
“That pizza mural really helped my art career way more than I ever thought it would. A few organizations came together to do a big mural project in Hingetown, and my name got mentioned as one of the local artists," Sobeck said.
The larger-than-life pizza won’t be around forever. The side of the building it sits on is in need of some restoration work that will alter the mural to to the point where Sobeck will be commissioned to create another piece.
"It's sad to see, a piece that you made kind of go away. I think why the pizza mural works so well is it's not an ad for a certain pizza place. Nobody knew it was even Ohio City Pizza. It's just pizza. It's not so and so's pizza, you know, it's like a hot Instagram spot. But it's not an advertisement. It's a piece of art. There will be another pizza one of these days. You know it's got to be the right wall," Sobeck said.
Renovation work on the building where the mural sits won't begin until after Labor Day, so you still have some time to get a selfie.
Watch this video for a deeper look at the Pizza Mural.
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