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Randy Gilson's creation at the corner of Arch St and Jacksonia St in the Mexican War Streets area of the North Side goes way beyond a mere mural. You'll find murals, figures, garden art and more when you peak over his fence. Stop by on a weekend and if he's around he'll invite you in to see for yourself.
There's a lot to take in on the outside of the two buildings located here. On one wall you'll find a detailed map of the area, old pop signs, flags and just fun stuff. In fact that's the word to sum up Randyland...FUN!
You will have to search long and hard to find another home with as many bright, cheerful colors surrounding it.
At first there's just so much to take in that you miss a lot of the details. You have to look closely at everything to appreciate how much Randy has put into this endevour.
It's not just the work and materials either. Stop to talk with Randy for a while and he'll share his philosophy of life with you and how important it is to him that everyone enjoys this.
He even offers you a place to drop your problems before you come into Randyland.
Pass through the gates into the courtyard between the two houses and you're surrounded by an eclectic collection of items that Randy has carefully accumulated and decorated.
If you're lucky, Randy will invite you to try out one of his magic chairs. You won't believe how comfortable they are until you try them.
We found some graffiti on Polish Hill a few days before stopping by to see Randy, and the message there broke my heart. It was about having no dreams. Randy pointed to the tall, pink and red tower painted on the side of the one building and told us that was the Tower of Dreams. The antithesis of what we'd just seen, Randy had created a tower full of dreams (the pink balls in the tower) with a telescope on top to search for more. What a nice idea.
What's not to like about this place? It's full of hopes and dreams and fun ideas and a gentle, generous man that wants to share them with everyone.
Stop by and visit with Randy sometime and don't forget to look closely at things.
UPDATE
September 2014
This summer a successful Kickstarter campaign funded a restoration of the map at Randyland. When we stopped by we found that Randy had already accomplished a lot of work on the new design. We couldn’t resist adding just a few more photos while we were checking out the map too:
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