{"id":78524,"date":"2026-01-09T16:55:52","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T00:55:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=78524"},"modified":"2026-01-09T16:55:52","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T00:55:52","slug":"as-murder-trial-starts-mural-for-killed-grandpa-vicha-to-come-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=78524","title":{"rendered":"As Murder Trial Starts, Mural for Killed \u2018Grandpa\u2019 Vicha to Come Down"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
By<\/span>Christopher Alam<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/i>
\n
\n
\"\"
Monthanus Ratanapakdee stands in front of the mural honoring her father, Vicha, who killing in 2021 propelled the fight against anti-Asian hate. (Credit: Peter Schurmann)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

SAN FRANCISCO<\/strong> \u2013 San Francisco\u2019s Historic Preservation Committee has decided not to grant historic landmark status to the\u00a0billboard mural<\/a>\u00a0commemorating \u2018Grandpa\u2019 Vicha Ratanapakdee. His killing in 2021 triggered national outrage and became a symbol of\u00a0rising anti-Asian violence<\/a>\u00a0during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

The decision comes as the suspect, Antoine Watson, finally\u00a0faces trial\u00a0<\/a>in San Francisco after years of delays. Neither then-District Attorney Chesa Boudin,\u00a0criticized for his comments<\/a>\u00a0on this case, nor his successor, current DA Brooke Jenkins, added a hate crime charge.<\/p>\n

Ratanapakdee, an 84-year-old immigrant from Thailand, was walking in his Anza Vista neighborhood when a teenager shoved him to the ground unprovoked, inflicting a fatal head injury. The mural bearing Ratanapakdee\u2019s likeness was put up in the city\u2019s Chinatown neighborhood a few months later.<\/p>\n

Intention to remove Vicha mural<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201c<\/strong>Within a week of when my father was killed, I heard a conversation between my 11 year old son and my husband talking about doing a billboard or mural,\u201d said Monthanus Ratanapakdee, Vicha\u2019s daughter and head of the Justice for Vicha Ratanapakdee Foundation. \u201cAt that time elderly people were getting assaulted and killed, and my father\u2019s death became part of the national movement for anti-Asian hate\u2026 so that\u2019s when my husband went to knock on doors in Chinatown, because it\u2019s a good place for a mural to remind people not to do violence or attack the elderly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
The property at 717 California, in San Francisco\u2019s Chinatown, where the owners say the mural was never intended to be permanent. (Credit: Peter Schurmann)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Eric Lawson, Monthanus\u2019s husband and Vicha\u2019s son-in-law, contacted California Grant Family LP, the owners of 717 California Street. They signed an agreement to install the artwork temporarily for at least six months on the side of the building, where it has remained for the last five years.<\/p>\n

Jeff Chen is one of the owners of 717 California and its property manager. He spoke before the Historic Preservation Commission in their last December meeting.<\/p>\n

Lawson \u201cresponded to me on March 3rd, that it doesn\u2019t need to be permanent, it was temporary, that he just wanted to get the word out and it could be removed at any time\u2026 it was always our intention to have rotating artwork there. Several attempts have been made earlier this year, notifying Eric that it is our intention to remove the artwork and move forward with other art which we have lined up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mural ruled not a historic landmark<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Ratanapakdee\u2019s filed to declare the billboard mural a historical landmark shortly after.<\/p>\n

Kelly Oshima is the attorney for California Grant Family LP. She told the Historic Preservation Committee that the artwork, which she argued was a \u201csign\u201d rather than a mural, did not meet the criteria for historic landmark status.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sign is not directly connected to any historic event that happened at 717 California St. The tragic incident involving him did not happen at or even near this address. Second, there\u2019s also no evidence this location has a special connection with Ratanapakdee\u2019s life or that it holds historical significance for him. The sign itself does not have any unique architectural qualities or show particularly outstanding craftsmanship, nor does it reflect a lasting or widespread sense of attachment for Chinatown or this building.\u201d<\/p>\n

The SF Historic Preservation Committee ultimately agreed, mainly on the basis that the mural is too recent to qualify as a historic landmark, which are typically at least decades old. Commissioner Robert Vergara added that he hopes the discussion brings awareness to the other memorial for \u201cGrandpa\u201d \u2013 the\u00a0Vicha Ratanapakdee Mosaic Stairway<\/a>, a colorfully tiled installation unveiled in 2024 near his Anza Vista home.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Family members say a new potential location for the mural might be emerging on Market Street, in the Tenderloin neighborhood, home to a sizable, pan-Asian community. (Credit: Peter Schurmann)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Vicha mural \u2018reflects memory, awareness\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In a statement, Monthanus Ratanapakdee said, \u201cWe respect that process even though it has been disappointing. Our focus has always been on what the mural represents for the broader community and future generations, not just one family. The mural reflects memory, awareness of anti-Asian hate, senior safety, and community care. Even as circumstances change, we remain committed to supporting public safety and working respectfully with the city and the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

She followed through on that commitment, being\u00a0appointed to<\/a>\u00a0the SF Immigrants\u2019 Rights Commission in 2024, and with the\u00a0Justice for Vicha Ratanapakdee Foundation<\/a>, sharing information with Asian seniors on personal safety, resources, and how to report hate crimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people have a different language. They don\u2019t know how to report a hate crime, and they\u2019re scared to report at all, even though the Hate Crime Act passed already,\u201d said Monthanus, referencing the\u00a0Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act<\/a>\u00a0passed by President Biden in 2021 in response to the\u00a0still-rising trend<\/a>\u00a0of anti-Asian discrimination.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re doing for the mural, for Grandpa, it\u2019s not only for our memory, or for our family, but we\u2019re representing another family\u2019s victims of crime too.\u201d<\/p>\n

New location for Vicha mural<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As the Ratanpakdee\u2019s are planning the future of the mural, Lawson says a potential location might be emerging on Market Street.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve met with this building owner in the TL (Tenderloin), and she has art permission to write on the whole wall. And she was saying we could maybe do a whole new one that\u2019s even bigger in the TL, where there\u2019s a more mixed Asian community, and maybe they would accept it a little better.\u201d<\/p>\n

But for now, their attention is shifting to the long-delayed trial of Vicha\u2019s attacker, where they are hopeful to receive justice.<\/p>\n

Chris Alam is a\u00a0California Local News Fellow<\/a>\u00a0with the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ByChristopher Alam Jan 9, 2026 Monthanus...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ca-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=78524"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78525,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78524\/revisions\/78525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=78524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=78524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=78524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}