Farmer John Mural Art

deberían de chequear mas a sus empleados y ser más limpios! un señor que trabajaba ayi me dijo que son muy cochinos y que hasta estornudan en la comida y se suenan las narises ayi… que asco!!!

Meat is Murder! That said, these murals are amazing in a really disturbing way. Where else can you see a porker warily eyeing a package of pork rinds. Or see bucolic scenes of piggy families while their loved ones are being slaughtered, rendered and encased a few feet away. The plant is a bit off the beaten path but if you’re going to the Citadel or even downtown make a detour. Also a worthy stop on the way to the LA River Bike Path or the Watts Towers. If you love folk art (or outsider art and naïve art), nature scenes or frescoes and murals, the Farmer John murals are a must.

Great artwork, parking wasn’t so bad. We stopped in here while in LA as it was on a old tour map my Dad got at auto club/​AAA years ago. It did not disappoint and was worth stopping by off the freeway to look at it and see what Vernon is about. Spoke to some friendly employees driving by, and we chatted, and they told me a little bit about the mural. It is a very interesting piece of LA folk art. I would advise the average person to come to Vernon with their mind open to the fact that it is the center meat packing district of Southern California, much the center of what is left used to be the central processing point for livestock from Downey, Chino, San Bernadino and beyond. So basically, the mural has significance as great LA folkart, and the area is significant because it has remained a great industrial point in Los Angeles. Well worth the 20 minutes I was at Farmer John driving by, and hour total I was in Vernon.

Really intetsting. The part that is bad is parking. We didn’t see any close by. Would like to return again and walk it, but you can get a pretty good idea by driving past several times.

The mural is by no means an accurate depiction of what really goes on inside the hell house known as a pig processing plant. It’s offensive and insulting to depict happy animals enjoying a romp in the green grass and has no place on this facility where animals meet their deaths. If there must be a mural depicting factory farm life and death at processing plants, the mural should depict what actually goes on inside that facility in gruesome detail.

I had a good look at this mural as I was interviewing for an HR Manager role w/​Farmer John/​Hormel Foods in… ehhh… maybe 2007? Or 2008?
Anyways, yes, the mural is certainly eye-​catching and shows various swine in their happy states of life.
Aside from the heavy, negative vibe on property (perhaps it’s the hasty, violent deaths or unhappy hourly employees being ripped off by their «trusted» Union?). I dunno, but I have to say — I was relieved when I *didn’t* get the job. I love animals. And, yes, I had a sausage omelette this morning, but I don’t think I would do well working at a slaughter house.
This is even growing up on my grandparents’ farm where I saw decapitated chickens, etc. I just can’t… Plus the smell?
Anyway, back to the mural — it is nice to look at, I guess. I think it’s quite ironic that the artist depicts such a joyous and Norman Rockwell-​esque life of the pigs, but knows what goes down on the other side? And for you movie buffs — Carrie (1976) was filmed here.

I work in the garment manufacturing industry so most of my jobs have been in the city of Vernon. I just wanted to say that on certain days the whole city of Vernon and most of the city of Commerce stinks to high heaven and the bowels of hell from the stench of burning pig remnants. No, it is not an unpleasant odor from canned ham and it’s NEVER smelled like bacon. It’s a hog slaughtering house and there’s no questioning your gag reflex when you smell this gut wrenching awfulness. The mural is okay.

I took a 70 mile drive just to see the Farmer John Mural and I wasn’t disappointed. A bright spot in an otherwise dreary industrialized section of Vernon California. This mural is Hog Heaven for fans of this art form. Much larger than I had expected, covering two and a half sides of this large complex. I took my time and walked from one end to the other and enjoyed every square foot of this marvelous mural. If you search carefully may even find baby Jesus (photo posted). Click this link
to see the video I shot during one of my visits.
As you stroll around the mural you will notice the changing styles of the various artists that have worked on it over the years. The mural looked in good shape when I visited, I would imagine that it requires quite a bit of upkeep to keep it looking good.
I did not notice any unpleasant odors during my time here, the only scent I picked up on was something reminiscent of canned ham, which I suppose may be unpleasant to some but it didn’t bother me in the least.
I recommend that you pay a visit if you enjoy this kind of art as much as I do!
If you are hungry before or after your visit there is a small restaurant less then a mile away on the North West corner of Washington and Soto called Mike’s Sandwich Shop. I stopped there after my mural visit and had lunch, look it up on Unilocal,it has 4 stars with over 65 reviews.

How would people feel if they had a picture of happy people flying to the sky after being blown up with the «arabs» drawn on a building next to the trade center where september 11 happened. I am sure people would be very upset

This place disgusts me. They paint a mural of a happy farm with the pigs and farmers like a cartoon, but what occurs inside the door is unexplainable. They torture the pigs, beat and abuse the, taser, slit their throats and send them off to scolding ALIVE! everyone that works here should spend eternity being «processed». the pigs have been locked up in gestation pins so small they can not turn around, then get beaten, broken bones, infections and open wounds, but this is OK.
Some pigs cant even walk so they are dragged out of the trucks because the legs cant support the body filled with hormones. They should paint the walls with the blood of the pigs dripping down the sides of the walls and have a stereo playing the screams of the pigs inside. I’m glad the painter fell to his death while in the last stages. Its called Karma for the Hell you turn your back on! The owners and employees should be tied up, beaten, tased, slit your throat, and sent to scold in hot water to make your pathetic lives into bacon and hot dogs. I hope you all suffer an eternity it the hell you do to those pigs!
The most helpful thing would be shut this slaughterhouse down and find more Humane treatment of animals. Until that day comes I will boycott your product and be Vegetarian
The smell is not shit, its Death and Torture

Anyone who thinks this mural is tasteful is a sadist.
«Hell is empty all the Devils are here.»
–William Shakespeare on Farmer John’s ;)

Every day I drive by, it smells like shit

I dont know how a place of death can have stars… the only thing good about the mural. is the pig with the dodger cap on. LOL

A friend mentioned the mural being a main topic of discussion in his college art class one day, speaking of busty women leading happy pigs to the slaughter, cheerful little picnics and smiling swine ending with cherubic, angel pigs at the end. Apparently the mural had been a work in progress for 15 years, and the original artist died before it was completed.
After looking into it, the art is much older than that, having been started by Les Grimes in the 1950s and was picked up by different artists all the way through the 2000s.
However tacky you might find the notion of painting happy hogs on a place where they’re slaughtered and processed, the mural itself is an interesting piece of American folk art, which seems to change styles depending on whichever section of wall you’re looking at. In places where the paint appears newer, as though it was being restored, the pigs’ faces have wider, creepier looking cartoonish eyes.
It’s definitely kitschy. We came specifically to see if there really were angelic pigs (an aspect my friend’s professor said was in place to ease the reality of the pork industry to what children might see the mural, although I’m confused as to what children would be wandering about this area that’s almost nothing but factories and warehouses).
While there is ONE winged pig next to the billboard on the property, we couldn’t find any traces of these celestial swine my friend saw in archival footage.
With how many years it took to complete this mural that wraps around the factory, could this be Vernon’s Sistine Chapel?
It’s best to look over the mural while standing across the street to see the bigger picture. Some parts are definitely being worked on, like the logo, while one side (the one with the greased pig competition and a pig wearing a Dodgers cap) is almost entirely peeling away.

In a sea of blight and industrial buildings, this is a beacon of color; a mural masterpiece. It is nothing short of fantastic.

Tacky, and a little disturbing.

If you’re one who likes to go hog wild, you may find the mural surrounding the Farmer John Farmer John Brand Clougherty Meat Packing Company in Vernon, CA, just your thing. It certainly got my attention — so much so that I whipped out my camera and took photos from one end of the mural to the other.
The mural basically depicts farm landscapes where you can see fields, trees, corn, barns, etc and of course, lots of pigs, big and small. Some of the pigs are happy and carefree, either laying in the grass, playing in the mud or with each other, flying airplanes, sleeping in hammocks and interacting with everyone from a buxom hill billy gal to keeping a boy company while he’s fishing to pulling a wagon for a Gladiator wanna-​be.
Other pigs are trotting happily following a road and «Farmer John» signs to what they think is probably OZ, but is actually a smokehouse or a greased pig contest. A variety of other animals also grace this mural like dogs, chicks, quails, hawks, crows and probably even more that I may have missed this time around.
If you’d like to know the history of this mural, it basically goes like this. In 1957, Barney Clougherty, then owner of Farmer John, was approached by Les Grimes, a talented painter of scenic backgrounds for Hollywood movie sets, to decorate the outside of his building. With Barney’s blessing, Grimes spent the next eleven years working on his «masterpiece.» Unfortunately, Grimes died in a fall from a fifty– foot scaffolding he was using to paint a portion of the sky on the mural.
After Grimes’ death, Clougherty hired Arno Jordan to finish the murals. Arno Jordan continued the legacy by painting new murals and restoring Grimes’ originals. To noted art dealer Ivan C. Karp, the murals are «a fundamental tract for West Coast vernacular painting.» What’s great about this mural is that it includes several gatefold plates of entire walls. Now that’s some great detail. The plant was purchased by Hormel who intends to maintain the murals.
To see the the photos I took of the mural, go to: