Guitar Center in Hollywood is celebrating the life, legacy and music of Van Halen guitarist Eddie Van Halen and unveiled a massive mural on what would have been the rock icon’s 66th birthday on Jan. 26.
Van Halen died on Oct. 6, 2020 surrounded by his family in Santa Monica following a lengthy battle with cancer. He co-founded the Grammy Award-winning Pasadena rock band that became Van Halen, which went on to have numerous hits including “Panama,” “Jump,” “Hot for Teacher” and “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love.” He tops numerous best guitar player lists, and played the iconic solo on Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.” The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.
As the news broke of Van Halen’s passing, artist Robert Vargas, who is known for his larger-than-life murals — including a portrait of the late Laker Kobe Bryant at 5th and Hill in Downtown Los Angeles — stopped by the Rock Walk in front of Guitar Center on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, where Van Halen’s handprints are preserved in cement, to leave flowers and pay his respects.
“Robert actually came up to us and said, ‘Hey, I want to paint a mural of Eddie on your wall. I knew him and I knew the brothers; I’m a guitar player and huge fan and I want to help you guys memorialize him,’” Eric Bradley of Guitar Center’s artist relations said during a recent phone interview.
The mural is about 17 feet tall by 105 feet long and covers the entirety of the outer wall at the rear entrance of the store.
“It’s really an honor to have that presence there forever,” he continued. “When you come in and you want to try out a guitar, the first thing you see is Eddie Van Halen going, ‘Look, I can do it, you can do it, too.’ It’s been such an inspiration to watch so many famous guys from Zakk Wylde (Ozzy Osbourne and Black Label Society) and Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains and all sorts of people in between coming by as the painting has been going on.”
Jean-Claude Escudie, Guitar Center’s category manager, said it’s not uncommon to walk through the store and hear someone trying to emulate Van Halen’s style by attempting “Eruption” or messing with the chords on “Poundcake.”
“Eddie was a hometown hero,” Escudie said. “When I was young and getting turned on to rock and roll music, the biggest names in rock and roll and guitar playing were so mysterious and they had this talent that seemed so unattainable. When Eddie came onto the scene, he seemed so accessible, natural and friendly. It felt like one of us had finally made it.
“When I think about the mural on the side of our store,” Escudie said. “It’s the story of an immigrant and a kid who picked up a guitar. It’s a SoCal kid who made it big and that’s what makes it so special.”
Bradley said Van Halen was a frequent patron of the Hollywood Guitar Center and added that he felt fortunate to have had so many interactions with him. Former co-workers told Bradley stories about the Van Halen brothers coming in to hang out at the store in the ’80s, buying, trying and trading gear.
“He was an extremely generous person with his time and energy,” he recalled of meeting Van Halen and his son, Van Halen bassist Wolfgang Van Halen, in the early ’00s. “The first time I met him it was like speaking to an old friend. It took all of maybe eight minutes for him to be walking around in the store before he had a flock of people around him wanting autographs and he was just smiling.”
Van Halen also invited the Guitar Center staff down to the Forum in Inglewood for a friends and family party and private show when the band reunited with original vocalist David Lee Roth back in 2015.
“He called the store and said, ‘Anyone who is working today, you guys can all come to the show at The Forum,’” he said. “They had kegs on the floor and free parking, so like 30 or 40 of us went down there. How unbelievable is that? Who invites a whole store to the party? That’s because they were a Southern California band and wanting to give back to their community.”
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