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Photos by Asia Morris. Detail of the Millard Sheets Studios mosaic showing through the uncovering process.<\/em><\/p>\n What has long been a seemingly blank panel fronting the International City Bank building at 249 East Ocean Boulevard will soon give way to a much more colorful work of public art.<\/p>\n Millard Sheets, the artist and architect whose studio is most known for laying vibrant mosaics on modern bank buildings throughout Southern California in the 1950s and onward, left a mark on Long Beach in 1979 with a mosaic depicting oil rigs, ships and portrayals of rancho life.<\/p>\n Rockwell Properties, LLC, the new owners of the building as of January 2018, according to company representative Edward Ahdoot, are now working to uncover and restore the colorful, glass-tiled work of art designed by Susan Hertel, noted as head mosaic designer at Millard Sheets Studios in this 2012 article<\/a>\u00a0by the Post<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re very lucky because so far we can see that it\u2019s only missing two or three tiles, and that\u2019s amazing for a work of art that\u2019s been here more than 30 years, and it\u2019s going to give a huge color pop to the building,\u201d said Ahdoot.<\/p>\n Maureen Neeley, a local historian, told the Post<\/em> in 2012 that whoever covered the mural were professionals expecting the mosaic to eventually be reactivated.<\/p>\n Searching for Millard Sheets’ Murals in Long Beach<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/P1000630-970x648.jpg\")
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