Greetings From San Francisco: Umbrella Alley’s Flagship Mural Is Coming Back
One of Umbrella Alley’s most recognizable murals is returning.
Artist Maxfield Bala originally created the Greetings From San Francisco mural at the first Umbrella Alley location in Fisherman’s Wharf in 2019.
Inspired by the giant-letter “Greetings From” postcards of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, the mural transformed some of San Francisco’s most famous landmarks into one enormous, colorful postcard.
Over the years, it became one of the signature images of Umbrella Alley — and one of our most photographed murals.
Unfortunately, when the original Umbrella Alley location closed, the mural could not be moved. It was eventually painted over and destroyed.
But this one was too important to leave in the past.
The Greetings From San Francisco mural is being recreated at Umbrella Alley 2.0 in Fall 2026.
Maxfield Bala will return to create a new, even larger version at our new home at 366 Jefferson Street in Fisherman’s Wharf.
The new mural is planned to measure approximately 14 feet tall by 27 feet wide, making it one of the largest and most prominent artworks at Umbrella Alley.
The Greetings From San Francisco Mural Is Coming Back
Umbrella Alley 2.0 is about creating new artwork, but it is also about preserving some of the pieces that helped define the original Alley.
At the top of that list is Greetings From San Francisco.
The original mural could not be physically relocated when Umbrella Alley moved from its former Beach Street location. Because it was painted directly onto the structure, the artwork remained behind and was ultimately painted over.
The mural itself disappeared.
The idea did not.
A completely new version is planned for Fall 2026, with Maxfield Bala returning to reinterpret his original design for the walls of the new Umbrella Alley.
The new piece will be approximately 14 feet high and 27 feet wide — larger than the original mural and positioned to become a major visual anchor inside Umbrella Alley 2.0.
This is not simply a replacement.
It is the next version of one of our most important artworks.
The Original Greetings From San Francisco Mural
Maxfield Bala was originally commissioned to create a large-scale mural for the Umbrella Alley project in Fisherman’s Wharf in July 2019.
The goal was simple:
Create a giant San Francisco postcard that visitors could actually step into.
The first mural measured approximately 13 feet tall by 18 feet wide and used oversized lettering filled with San Francisco landmarks, neighborhoods, architecture, transportation and cultural symbols.
From a distance, visitors saw a giant vintage postcard.
Up close, every letter became its own miniature San Francisco mural.
That combination helped make the piece one of the most photographed murals at the original Umbrella Alley.
It also established an idea that continues to shape the Alley today: art should be fun to look at, fun to photograph and full of things to discover.
The Story Behind the Classic “Greetings From” Postcards
Long before Instagram, travelers had another way of showing everyone where they had been: the postcard.
The large-letter “Greetings From” postcards became especially popular in the United States during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.
Many were printed using a linen-textured process that gave the cards their distinctive saturated colors and slightly exaggerated look.
The postcards typically featured the name of a city or destination in huge block letters. Inside each letter were miniature illustrations of landmarks, architecture, scenery and attractions associated with that location.
They were souvenirs, advertisements, travel bragging rights and tiny works of graphic design all rolled into one.
The style became so closely associated with American travel that it remains instantly recognizable decades later.
Maxfield Bala took that classic postcard language and turned it into something much larger: a hand-painted San Francisco postcard that visitors could stand in front of rather than mail home.
San Francisco Inside the Letters
The original Greetings From San Francisco mural packed an extraordinary amount of the city into its oversized lettering.
The new Umbrella Alley 2.0 version will once again celebrate many of San Francisco’s most recognizable landmarks and symbols, including:
- Golden Gate Bridge
- Fisherman’s Wharf
- Painted Ladies
- Palace of Fine Arts
- Chinatown
- San Francisco City Hall
- Alcatraz Island
- Lombard Street
- Coit Tower
- Bay Bridge
- Ferry Building
- San Francisco cable cars
- California quail and golden poppies
In the original mural, individual letters were devoted to specific pieces of San Francisco. The Fisherman’s Wharf sign, Painted Ladies, Palace of Fine Arts, Golden Gate Bridge, Chinatown, City Hall, Alcatraz, Lombard Street, Coit Tower, Bay Bridge, Ferry Building and cable cars all appeared within the postcard design.
That detail is a big part of the fun.
Visitors can take the big postcard photo and then move closer to see how many San Francisco landmarks they can identify.
About Artist Maxfield Bala
Maxfield Bala is a San Francisco Bay Area muralist, illustrator, designer and creative director whose large-scale work combines bold color, detailed imagery and collage-like compositions.
Born in California in 1993, Maxfield grew up around art and product design through his parents’ creative careers. That early exposure to illustration, toys, commercial design and pop culture became part of the visual vocabulary that still appears in his work today.
His practice expanded across illustration, graphic design, sculpture, fine art and large-scale mural painting, with each medium influencing the others.
In 2015, he founded Maxfield Bala Creative, a Bay Area mural and design studio specializing in large-scale murals, public art, branded installations, live painting and visual storytelling.
Maxfield’s signature work often combines many individual images into a single composition — landmarks, people, typography, animals, architecture and pop-culture references layered together with strong color and movement.
That style made him an especially good fit for the original Greetings From San Francisco mural: an entire city had to fit inside a handful of letters.
From Umbrella Alley to Major Bay Area and National Projects
Since the original Greetings From San Francisco mural was painted in 2019, Maxfield Bala’s mural practice has continued to expand.
Bala Creative has produced murals, public-art projects, branded installations and live-painting activations for companies, organizations, cities, schools and cultural events throughout the Bay Area and beyond.
Recent and notable projects include work connected with:
- Disney+ and Marvel Studios — including a live-painted Ant-Man and The Wasp mural in San Francisco
- UCSF Health — a large-scale “love letter to San Francisco” mural in Hayes Valley
- Tesla — mural work for the company’s Palo Alto offices
- Switzerland Tourism and the Swiss Consulate
- Sony Music and Jefferson Airplane — commemorating the band’s San Francisco history
- Bay Area Air Quality Management District / Spare the Air
- 2K Games
- DHL
- Lagunitas Brewing Company
- Outside Lands
- BottleRock Napa Valley
- Coachella
- City and community public-art projects throughout Northern California
Bala Creative has also completed large-scale murals covering thousands of square feet, along with projects for schools, municipalities, businesses, festivals and community organizations.
Despite that growing portfolio, the Greetings From San Francisco mural remains closely tied to Maxfield’s work in Fisherman’s Wharf and to the early history of Umbrella Alley.
Why This Is Umbrella Alley’s Flagship Mural
Umbrella Alley has hosted dozens of murals, installations and artists, but Greetings From San Francisco has always been different.
It became our unofficial front door.
For many visitors, it was the first mural they saw, the first picture they took and the image they remembered after leaving the Alley.
It worked because it was unmistakably San Francisco.
It didn’t highlight just one landmark or neighborhood. It tried to squeeze the whole city into one giant postcard.
That is why bringing the mural back is one of the biggest art projects planned for Umbrella Alley 2.0.
The new 14-by-27-foot version will once again serve as a centerpiece for the Alley — a large, colorful welcome to San Francisco created by a Bay Area artist in the heart of Fisherman’s Wharf.
Help Put Greetings From San Francisco Back on the Wall
Recreating a mural this large takes more than paint.
It requires an artist, wall preparation, materials, equipment, fabrication, protective coatings, installation work and ongoing maintenance.
Umbrella Alley is a volunteer-run, community-supported art project. Donations help us support Bay Area artists and fund the murals and installations that keep the Alley growing.
Right now, one of our biggest goals is simple:
Get the Greetings From San Francisco mural back up on the wall.
If you remember the original mural, took a photo in front of it, follow Maxfield’s work, or simply want to help bring more public art to Fisherman’s Wharf, this is a great project to support.
Every donation helps move us closer to painting the new flagship mural.
Donate to Help Bring Back the Greetings From San Francisco Mural →
Donations also help fund new murals, artist projects, paint, materials, installations, repairs and future improvements throughout Umbrella Alley.
Visit Umbrella Alley 2.0
While we work toward bringing the flagship postcard mural back, there is already plenty of new art to see at Umbrella Alley 2.0.
Umbrella Alley San Francisco
366 Jefferson Street
Fisherman’s Wharf
San Francisco, CA 94133
Umbrella Alley is a volunteer-run public art project, so opening days and hours can be unpredictable.
There is no public phone number for the Alley.
For questions, contact: info@umbrellaalleysf.com
Same-day opening and closing updates are occasionally posted on @umbrellaalleysf.
We recommend checking Instagram before making a special trip.
More Umbrella Alley Art
Greetings From San Francisco is only one part of a growing collection of murals and interactive artwork at Umbrella Alley.