Overnight on July 25, 1998, the “Lilli Ann” mural, a fixture in the Mission District for more than a decade, simply vanished. The four-story painting, which had towered over the corner of 17th and Harrison since the city commissioned it in 1986, was whitewashed by the new owners of the building on which it was painted.
The sudden disappearance of “Lilli Ann” sparked a series of suits, countersuits and rancor among the parties that had a stake in the mural. After more than a year of litigation, a settlement agreement awarding $200,000 to the plaintiffs — artist Elias Rocha and the heirs of late artist Jesus Campusano — will be signed next week. The mural, estimated to have been worth $500,000, will not be restored.
