Port Angeles Art Mural Trail

331 Things to Do in Port Angeles, Washington – #69 Follow a Mural Trail

Hunt and seek for art! Discover a collection of vivid hand painted outdoor art murals that tell a small town’s rich story. 

Follow a mural trail in Port Angeles, Washington on foot or by bike! Twelve outdoor art murals dot the downtown Port Angeles area and tell a tale of the town’s rich maritime history and Native American culture. This self-guided art mural tour will take you to both hidden and not-so-hidden works of art.

And there’s a good chance you might discover more … Port Angeles is known for works of spectacular art and sculptures hiding out-of-sight (underground, under bushes, lonely back alleys, etc.) so snap a photo, tag us and use the hashtag #331ThingstoDo if you find something fun to share. Book a guided Port Angeles Underground Tour to see some of our subterranean murals!

You can continue your outdoor art trek to Webster’s Woods Sculpture Park at the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center.

We’d like to give an official “appreciation” shout out to the artists, the Nor’wester Rotary Club of Port Angeles, business owners, building owners and the community who make these murals possible and for giving them the continued TLC they need to in order to preserve them for future generations. You can help fund current and future mural restoration projects by contacting the Nor’wester Rotary Club of Port Angeles.

1) Sluicing the Hogback Mural

At 94 feet long and 20 feet high, this mural depicts the process of how the streets were raised over 100 years ago to fix the flooding issues. The project was completed on June 22, 1914. The original storefronts of yesteryear are now basements today and part of Port Angeles’ subterranean underground tour. Local artists Hank Krueger and Tim Quinn (both now deceased) began work on “Sluicing” in 1996 and completed the mural in 1997. This mural received a facelift in the summer of 2019 by Cory Ench thanks to the Nor’wester Rotary Club of Port Angeles for the funding and fundraising efforts along with a grant from the City of Port Angeles.

Location: On the west wall (facing Laurel Street) of the building housing J. Ryan Salon & Boutique at 105 E. First St.

2) MV Kalakala Mural

This is likely the most photographed mural in Port Angeles with its amusing three-dimensional-like people and dog. Painted in 1995-1996 by Cory Ench, the MV Kalakala was a one-of-a-kind ferry boat designed by Boeing in the 1930s that used to be docked in Seattle and was a primary attraction before the famous Space Needle was erected. The art-deco ferry ran between Port Angeles and Victoria B.C. Canada for many years.

Location: On the back (south-facing) wall of the former Bank of America building, 102 E. Front St. (at Laurel Street)

Photo by Adam McKibben/Visit Port Angeles

3) Ennis Creek Mural

This mural artfully illustrates and recreates the early days of the Port Angeles waterfront in 1750 (Klallam tribal village) and 1889 (Puget Sound Cooperative Colony). The artist is Cory Ench, an internationally known artist who now lives in nearby Joyce, has painted posters for major festivals like Burning Man and public murals for the National Park Service. Ench also painted the MV Kalakala and Ennis Creek murals (#2 and #3).

Location: 315 N Lincoln St. (Feiro Marine Life Center building on the City Pier)

Photos by Burton Foote

4) Olympic Visions Mural

Just try and guess how many animals and insects are hidden throughout this art mural. This mural depicts Port Angeles as the gateway to the Olympic National Park and celebrates the park’s remarkable “mountains to the sea” ecosystems. The mural pays homage to the two former presidents responsible for creating Olympic National Park. The faces of Franklin Roosevelt and Theodore Roosevelt appear in the clouds, looking down upon the mountains they helped protect. The colorful mural sits in the center of downtown and is punctuated by the Conrad Dyar Memorial Fountain that flows during the warmer months. Olympic Visions was created by artist Tim Quinn in 1999. It was repainted in 2010 by Jackson Smart and Dani LaBlond. Take the steps up from the mural to capture an impressive view of the Port Angeles harbor and our neighbors to the north in Victoria, B.C. Canada.

Location: Behind the Dyar fountain on the south side of the intersection of First and Laurel streets

Photo by Adam McKibben/Visit Port Angeles

5) Pacific Fleet Mural

This 60-foot-long mural painting pays tribute to Port Angeles’ maritime history and the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet which anchored in Port Angeles Harbor for extended stays from 1895 to 1935. Notable battleships, frigates and aircraft carriers include the USS Saratoga, USS Arizona, USS Missouri, and the USS Constitution.  Two artists — Jackson Smart (who worked on four other murals in Port Angeles and a series of interpretative signs) and Bob Stokes (Stokes is an accomplished artist with a gallery and working studio downtown at 118 E. Front St.) — created the mural in 2018 with funding and support by the Capos’ family. The Capos brothers are depicted in the mural. Pete and Angelo were in the Navy, Jerry was a Bremerton shipyards supervisor and Nick was an Army doctor. Tina Capos (sister) supplied the photographs of her brothers for the mural.

Read more about this mural here.

Location: 125 W. Front St.

Photo by Lynnette Braillard/Visit Port Angeles

6) Family Shoe Store Red Goose Shoes

This vintage advertisement for Red Goose Shoes was discovered underneath layers and layers of peeling paint. The owner of the Family Shoe Store, Kevin Thompson, hired Jackson Smart to restore the shoe advertising on the front of the building and repaint the large Red Goose Shoes logo on the east side of the building. The locally-owned shoe store is located in one of the oldest buildings in Port Angeles dating back to 1913 and is operated by one family for over four generations. This family believes in preserving Port Angeles’ history. It’s worth a visit to not only buy some of the latest hiking or athletic shoes, but to also check out the antique foot x-ray contraption and the hand-carved animated wooden animals in the kids’ shoe section.

Fun fact: This building has been proven to be haunted by paranormal investigators and is a stop on the famous Port Angeles Underground Heritage Tour (find out what’s in the attic!). 

Location: 130 W. Front St. Family Shoe is adjacent to city Parking Lot C (“3 hours free parking”)

Photo by Lynnette Braillard/Visit Port Angeles

7) Welcome to Port Angeles Mural

Painted by Jackson Smart in 2009 on the north wall of the Black Ball Ferry Building, it greets travelers arriving in Port Angeles from Victoria, B.C., Canada on the MV Coho ferry. The 10-foot-by-20-foot mural depicts the first European ship — the San Carlos from Spain — in Port Angeles Harbor in 1791. It is shown being greeted by members of the Klallam tribe in their canoes. Smart also created a series of interpretive signs mounted on pedestals along the Port Angeles waterfront and also made a welcome sign in 2004 for the eastern entrance to Port Angeles on U.S. Highway 101 as part of a Port Angeles Rotary Club project.

Location: Black Ball Ferry, 101 E. Railroad Ave.

Photo by Lynnette Braillard/Visit Port Angeles

8) ‘The Norman’ Mural

This was the first mural in Port Angeles, painted by Jackson Smart, Hank Krueger and Tim Quinn in 1993. It depicts The Norman, the first locomotive and tender to arrive in Port Angeles and named after Norman R. Smith, a businessman and son of an early Port Angeles pioneer. For many years Smith tried to promote and develop a railroad line to Port Angeles. The Norman was transported on a barge from Seattle and off-loaded in 1903 at the dock used today by Black Ball Ferry Line’s MV Coho. The Port Angeles & Pacific Railroad got a right of way through town and cut ties and laid track. Smith put bleachers on a flatcar and took some 50 friends on a triumphant ride. Then Port Angeles & Pacific went broke, and The Norman never saw commercial service. It was scraped to aid the U.S. war effort during World War I.

Suffering from years of Northwest weather, discussions are underway about restoring this mural.

Location: East wall of Barhop Brewing and Artisan Pizza, 124 W. Railroad Ave. (Railroad Avenue runs along what was a timber-hauling rail line between Port Angeles and Port Townsend. After many ownership changes, rail service stopped in March 1985, and the rails, ties and equipment were removed in 1987. Today significant sections of the abandoned railway have been dedicated as a rails-to-trails route known as the Olympic Discovery Trail.)

Photo by Lynnette Braillard/Visit Port Angeles

9) Logging Mural

Located on the south wall of Angeles Machine Works Inc. at Second and Peabody streets, a few blocks east of the downtown area, this mural shows a Port Angeles logging operation at the turn of the century, with a steam-powered traction engine and a steam donkey yarder (a winch). This mural was done by Howard Chadwick in 1997.

Location: 404 E 2nd St.

Photo by Lynnette Braillard/Visit Port Angeles

10) Pedestrian Passage Way Mural

11) The Peaceful Valley Mural

Painted on the back walls of Alley Cat Boutique, this mural brings the calmness and relaxation — and some of the animal inhabitants — of nearby Olympic National Park into downtown Port Angeles.

Location: Back walls (west and north) of Alley Cat Boutique, 123 W. Front St., between the pedestrian tunnel (see Mural #10) and The Ballet Workshop, and across city Parking Lot C (“three hours free parking”) from the Family Shoe Store

Photo by John Brewer

12) Strong People Mural

This colorful 30-foot-wide mural tells the tale of the origin of the name for the Elwha Klallam people as the “Strong People” or “Nəxʷsƛ̕áy̕əm”.

Notable Mentions

• Alley behind Sound Bikes & Kayaks and The Metta Room
• Elaborately painted doorways (look for these throughout downtown)
• Olympic Veterinary Clinic murals by local artist Todd Fischer

Port Angeles Art Mural Trail Map

Click to view the Mural Trail map.