{"id":86790,"date":"2025-08-26T09:52:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T16:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=86790"},"modified":"2025-08-26T09:53:33","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T16:53:33","slug":"the-art-of-chicken-fingers-a-famed-long-beach-muralist-painted-faster-than-ever-to-dress-up-a-raising-canes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/food\/the-art-of-chicken-fingers-a-famed-long-beach-muralist-painted-faster-than-ever-to-dress-up-a-raising-canes","title":{"rendered":"The art of chicken fingers: A famed Long Beach muralist painted faster than ever to dress up a Raising Cane’s"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Call it the Sistine Chapel of drive-thrus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raising Cane\u2019s, the nationwide fast food chain famous for its chicken fingers and creative restaurant design, just opened its first \u201cimmersive art\u201d location in the Long Beach Towne Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The flashy new store is plastered with hand-painted murals by Grammy award-winning Long Beach artist Dave Van Patten. Most notably, drivers pulling up to the take-out windows will pass through tunnels with interiors almost completely enveloped in Van Patten\u2019s work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going through drive-thru lane No. 1, drivers will be surrounded by Van Patten\u2019s mural of a dog dance party inspired by the song \u201cAtomic Dog\u201d by George Clinton<\/a>. Van Patten said he was going for a retro vibe that depicts people coming together for a fun time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Looking up to the ceiling of a drive-thru at the new Raising Cane’s painted by local artist Dave Van Patten in Long Beach, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In drive-thru lane No. 2, customers are surrounded by Van Patten\u2019s favorite piece at the restaurant, one he calls a \u201clove letter to Long Beach.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In it, locals bask in a sunny Sunday afternoon riding bikes, skateboarding, surfing or walking their dogs. It\u2019s the kind of day that leaps to mind when Van Patten thinks about why he loves Long Beach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that Long Beach represents just a really great culture, a very community-minded culture, a very humble and welcoming culture. I think it represents kindness,\u201d Van Patten said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
A drive-thru painted by local artist Dave Van Patten at the new Raising Cane’s in Long Beach, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Raising Cane\u2019s has carved out a niche for restaurant designs with flair \u2014 at one point partnering with Post Malone<\/a> for a completely pink-wrapped restaurant \u2014 and last year, drawing backlash when it planned to convert an iconic Googie-style Norm\u2019s restaurant<\/a> into a new Cane\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this case, Raising Cane\u2019s art director specifically asked for Van Patten\u2019s help with designs that would represent Long Beach while also incorporating the values of the corporation, something Van Patten said he was happy to try in a new, immersive format.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was just excited to take on new challenges, \u2026 to see my art represented in a different way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019ve driven through Long Beach, you\u2019ve probably seen Van Patten\u2019s bold and surrealist style before, including his 60-foot mural on the side of Alex\u2019s Bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Dave Van Patten\u2019s 60-foot mural at Alex\u2019s Bar in Zaferia. Photo courtesy Dave Van Patten.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In 2023, Van Patten even won a Grammy for his art design on a Grateful Dead box set, but he said he\u2019d never worked quite as fast as he did on the Cane\u2019s project, which required him to paint five walls and two ceilings in four and a half weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe time constraint was my biggest challenge, but is also the most exciting aspect of the mural, because I thrive on personal challenges,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the two tunnels, diners who pull into the parking lot will also see a mural of the Raising Cane\u2019s signature dog sitting near the beach at sunset with a boombox on his shoulder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n Link<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo me, the hip-looking guy with the boombox is Long Beach,\u201d Van Patten said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raising Cane\u2019s aims to create a similar environment in all of its restaurants, and the corporation has always been active in neighborhoods where it places stores, supporting over 30,000 local organizations, according to its website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur goal is to be a positive, lasting presence in this community we\u2019re proud to call home,\u201d Restaurant Leader Valentin Alvarez said in a press release<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Two drive-thrus painted by local artist Dave Van Patten at the new Raising Cane’s in Long Beach, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The new Raising Cane\u2019s celebrated its grand opening Tuesday morning, where the first  20 customers won free food for a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new Raising Cane\u2019s Chicken Fingers immersive art restaurant, 7204 Carson St., is open Sunday through Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. and Thursday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3:30 a.m.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI think that Long Beach represents just a really great culture, a very community-minded culture, a very humble and welcoming culture,” Dave Van Patten said about the vibe he tried to capture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":207,"featured_media":86789,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[32346],"class_list":["post-86790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86790"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86797,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86790\/revisions\/86797"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86790"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=86790"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=86790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}