Past, present, future and forever. Those are the themes embodied on four walls of a new five-story apartment building, shareWESTSIDE, coming to Las Vegas’ Historic Westside. Commissioned by Cherry Development, the murals reflect the identity of Las Vegas’ first African American neighborhood.
“It’s kind of tough coming up with concepts for a community that is going through redevelopment and gentrification … to be able to create something beautiful, something that speaks to the community in a real way and is suitable for a commercial development. They trusted us to get that,” says Chase McCurdy, the project’s curator.
The founder of the Westside’s ThirtyThree Gallery recruited artists who grew up in the neighborhood, Courtney “Yard$” Haywood and landry Randriamandroso, to beautify the exteriors of the housing—a total of 104 units—coming to the long-neglected neighborhood.
During segregation, the area served as the cultural and economic center of Black life in Las Vegas. Often referred to as the city’s “Black Strip,” the neighborhood became home to businesses, churches and gathering spaces that flourished despite exclusion elsewhere. In the decades that followed, many residents moved away and investment slowed, leaving parts of the community struggling to maintain that vitality.
The artwork arrives at a pivotal moment when new investments and a wave of development have begun to transform the Historic Westside. Recent additions include the West Las Vegas Library and the College of Southern Nevada’s Westside Education and Training Center. The Good Word Social Club, a mix of dining, entertainment and other programming, is also expected to open next door.
“It’s a great beginning ... to actually see the physical rebuilding of the community,” says Haywood.
On the west wall, a re-creation of a 1970 Clinton Wright photograph shows neighborhood children speeding along in a soapbox race.
“It’s a picture inspired by an archival photograph,” Randriamandroso says. “That’s really the joy, the idea of freedom and the idea of happiness. It’s a universal theme.”
Images like that recall the Historic Westside of the past, back when families gathered on front porches to watch the children play, and Black-owned businesses formed the backbone of a thriving community. Those memories remain woven into the neighborhood’s identity. They’re stories that deserve to be preserved in paint—just as much as the present.
Another mural depicts an adult holding a paint roller alongside a child. “That represents the present because it’s building and transferring that to the youth,” Haywood says.
On the east wall, colorful silhouettes of children’s profiles symbolize movement and continuity.
The south wall, representing forever, features a black heart radiating bands of green, orange and yellow.
“The idea was inspired by the love of the Westside and how that will stay forever,” Haywood says.
As shareWESTSIDE prepares to welcome residents (they’re having a ribbon cutting on June 17), its exterior has become a public canvas, one that ties a changing neighborhood to the people and memories that shaped it.
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