Teddy's in La Quinta has new location and new mural!
When you visit the new "Teddy's" on Calle Estado in La Quinta...just a block south of Old Town Village-- not only will you be greeted with a friendly smile and a warm welcom-- but you will notice the striking mural on the east wall!
Several weeks ago a local artist, Susan Smith Evans was having breakfast at the original Teddy's on Avenida Montezuma-- she had no idea she would soon be working for Teddy! Susan Smith Evans, an artist and now-retired College of the Desert teacher, Evans admired a mural on the wall — a landscape with mountains and a casita. Then she noticed the chips in the paint and missing chunks of plaster.
“I said, ‘I can fix that for you,'” Evans says she told owner Teodoro Zaragoza (Teddy) , 59.
Zaragoza, however, didn't need to have the repairs made because he was closing the shop after 17 years at the same location off Avenida Montezuma. The owner of the adjacent gas station bought the property to expand. Instead, Zaragoza needed a whole new mural for his new restaurant about two blocks away, on Calle Estado behind Old Town La Quinta.
Evans, 64, began working on the mural about two weeks ago. The dining room wall is a surrealistic nod to Zaragoza's childhood and his memories of his hometown in Mexico. Located prominently in the mural is a not-yet-completed cathedral, the kind that routinely dots a traditional Mexican landscape.
“It's not meant to be a historical depiction of Guanajuato, but a flavor,” says Evans, who visited the city's famed mummies 30 years ago but still remembers the mountains and vibrant colors. “My impression of Mexico is that it's very colorful.”
The mural is a work in progress — on purpose — so diners can watch Evans put the finishing strokes on it during lunch and dinner. She expects to have the mural completed today.
“We thought it would be interesting to see it created,” Evans says.
A drop cloth and work bench have temporarily replaced a booth along the back wall of the restaurant, which opened July 1. Evans pulls paper towels and masking tape — tools of the trade — from a blue, cloth cooler and begins painting in an oversized plant she has already stenciled on the wall.
I had lunch there today and the mural is just beautiful! Here is a photo of the artist finishing up her work of art at Teddy's!
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