Lawndale Tribune
AND lAwNDAle News
The Weekly Newspaper of Lawndale
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 79, No. 27 - July 2, 2020
High School Sophomore Supports
El Camino College’s Warrior Pantry
A big thank you to sophomore honor student Natalia Brar for donating $1,000 to ECC’s Warrior Pantry from her nonprofit organization, Helpful Homeless Hands! “I really like the Warrior Pantry’s mission and what they are doing to help students who are hungry,” Natalia
said. Due to physical distancing and safer-at-home guidelines, she started sewing masks and offering them free of charge to those in need. Many people offered to pay for her homemade masks, and Natalia used proceeds to make the Warrior Pantry donation. Photo
courtesy of El Camino College.
El Segundo Sidewalk Artists
Work to Brighten Your Day
By Duane Plank
Photos by Jeff Williams and
Rolland Mattoon
If you have been cooped up in your home
for three months like most El Segundo
residents, unable to go to the gym or run on
the track at the high school to get your daily
exercise, you may have taken to walking or
jogging on our city streets. And you may
have noticed patches of sidewalks adorned
with “sidewalk art,” colorful chalk renderings
meant to cheer-up and inspire residents,
boosting our morale as we all deal with one
crisis after another.
Two young ladies who have utilized their
artistic talents to brighten the streets of El
Segundo are nine-year-old Valerie Williams
and Sienna Mattoon. They have colorfully
chalked inspirational messages on patches of
local sidewalks, hoping to provide positive,
thought-provoking messages to those out-andabout,
momentarily escaping the stay-at-home
edict. The girls also set-up an outdoor stand
for a couple of weeks that provided masks and
other supplies to residents passing through the
neighborhood, seeking to collect donations
to replenish their chalk supply.
According to information gleaned from the
somewhat reliable Internet, sidewalk chart
art had its genesis in the Stone Age. 16th
Century Italians were credited with scratchingout
somewhat of a living by coloring the
cobblestones with depictions of the Madonna
(not the singer). Folklore says that in the late
19th century, English “screevers,” took to the
streets with chalk, sometimes spicing their
offerings with a moralistic or political slant.
Sidewalk art has evolved over the years to
the point where there are reportedly more
than 50 chalk festivals typically held each
year in the United States.
Jeff Williams, Valerie’s father, said that
“What was originally meant to entertain them
for one afternoon turned into a new-found
creative outlet that became a daily ritual
for months. The girls really do like to put a
smile on people’s faces,” he said, “and we
all enjoy watching the different families walk
by to enjoy the pieces. Our favorite part was
all the kind notes left in the box when the
girls were giving away masks and supplies
and collecting donations for more chalk. It
is then they realized that they could have a
positive impact on others. Thank you to our
community!”
Rolland Mattson, Sienna’s father, said
his daughter gets a chance to utilize her
creative talents while colorfully adorning
the pavement. “Sienna is a very competitive
girl, and always wants to give her best,” he
said. “She now challenges herself every day
to get more creative and put a smile on the
people that pass by her art.”
Valerie said that her aim when creating
her chalk art is to “put smiles on people’s
faces.” Her favorite chalk motto: “You +
Me = Unstoppable.” Like most El Segundo
students, Valerie finished the school year
distance learning, which she said was “harder”
than the classroom experience, and is looking
forward to the planned re-opening of ESUSD
classrooms on Aug. 26. Imagine that a student
is already looking forward to returning to the
classroom environment!
When she is not sharpening her sidewalk
chalk skills, she plays softball, pounds the
keys on the piano, and enjoys ballet and
tap-dancing.
Initially, the girls had grandiose plans to
decorate large swaths of El Segundo, but
soon realized their brand of craftmanship was
very time-consuming, so they have focused
their chalking talents on the pavement near
their homes, at the intersection of Center
and Pine Streets.
Sienna said she enjoyed seeing people
coming to view their art every day. They
were a little bummed when a rain shower
and some pesky sprinklers, wreaked havoc on
their earlier chalk efforts, but the girls quickly
went back to work adorning the pavement.
Sienna, who is looking forward to, hopefully,
the upcoming soccer season, enjoys playing
the piano and reading. She said, “Have fun,
do your best, forget the rest!” is her favorite
motto to festoon the sidewalk with.
Margie Lynch was Valerie’s third-grade
teacher at Center Street this school year. “Can
I just tell you she is an absolute joy!!!” she
emailed. “I refer to her as a ‘walking ray of
sunshine!’ She is always polite, kind-hearted,
looking out for her fellow students. She just
mailed me two of the Zentangle art she
See Sidewalk Artists, page 6