Take a gander here at the new mural that just went up outside Tony's Pizza Napoletana at the intersection of Union and Stockton Streets in North Beach. As it turns out, artist Jeremy Fish has been eyeing this dark corner for years as a ripe, high-visibility spot for a potential project. But it wasn't until he saw something as lasting and vibrant as Tony's move in, that he decided to approach the owners at 1570 Stockton.
All three Tony's partners: Nancy Puglisi, Bruno DiFabio and pizza master Tony Gemignani, were game. And according to Tony himself "That's almost 90% what he drew in his first sketch." He went on to explain some of the symbolism to us this afternoon: the hands represent "respecting the craft," the water buffalo pays homage to his mozzarella source, there's a number 73 -- can you find it? -- to reference the limited number of margherita pizzas churned out nightly, the Roman Coliseum, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Castel Nuovo of Naples and -- perhaps most captivating of all -- flags made of dripping pizza slices on the Italian immigrants' ships. Apparently it took Fish three weeks to craft this puppy, and now North Beach inches one clip closer to the street cred of the mural-loaded Mission and Haight. "The Mission has tons of murals," says Tony. "So why not?" [EaterWire]