Mid-City mural celebrating Lakers championship win features tribute to Kobe Bryant's impact

MID-CITY, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A mural in Mid-City dedicated to the Los Angeles Lakers in honor of their 17th NBA title now features Kobe Bryant as a poignant tribute to his lasting legacy and impact.

The mural, located on a wall of the Bixby Coffee Company on the 5500 hundred block of Venice Boulevard, shows a smiling Bryant overlooking this year's team, including LeBron James and Anthony Davis, while holding the championship trophy.

But the mural features other messages in the background: demonstrators holding signs that say such things as "Black Lives Matter," "Education is Power," and "Justice Now," among some of the messages.

As people stopped by to take a look at it, they reflected on the symbolism of the mural entitled "Leave a Legacy."

Onlookers of the piece said the mural represents more than the championship win.

"It represents how the community feels about social injustice, what we want to leverage in the moment... We're a community, we're all here together, we're all equal in that effort," said Remington Hotchkis with the coffee company. "(It) captures that we're strong, we're going to be like the Lakers, we can be like our community, we're proud to be from L.A. and we're proud to be from this community."

Artist Gustavo Zermeño said he worked with the team and UCLA Health on the design of the mural to make a statement that resonates beyond basketball.

"Yeah, 2020 has just been a really crazy year and I think they wanted to highlight everything that's been going on beyond basketball. But you know it all comes into play when leaving a legacy is the mission," he said.