Post #636992 by TikiVato on Thu, May 17, 2012 11:13 PM

My first stop was at the Rosarito Beach Hotel. I was able to track down a bartender (Fernando) that has worked there for 39 years. He was unaware of any paintings or murals by Frank Bowers. He said most of the murals in the hotel were painted by Diego Rivera. (Not the famous Rivera but someone before him)Circa 1943

He was unaware of any murals ever in the Beachcomber bar. I went to the Beachcomber bar and was disappointed to find that the walls were made of glass. Fernando said that this bar was never remodeled during his employment.

I found Alfredo Derek at the cultural center. He said that the painting above the bar was wrongfully called a Ramos Martinez painting. Derek has a college degree in Art and art restoration.

Derek said his research found that Frank Bowers painted the Mural at the Playa Hotel in 1929 while the casino was being constructed next door to the hotel. The hotel and casino were left abandoned for decades. Derek was hired to restore the mural and that took him 5 months to accomplish. There is no signature on the mural.

I took several pictures (with no flash) of the murals. I am by no means an expert on Frank Bowers and have only seen a handful in person. Although the mural was disappointingly not the beachcomber we were hoping to locate, it appears it might be a Bowers. I will leave it to the experts to declare.
I must say, the more I drank at the bar, the more it looked like a Bowers. I will return to the cultural center and try and interview Derek. I will show him the picture of the napkin and try to locate the Hotel Riviera del Pacífico. Derek was adamant that there were no other paintings or mural by Frank Bowers in Ensenada.
This was a long day but I will try to gather more information tomorrow.
The lighting inside the bar was poor and caused some glare on the pictures. Some of the glare was caused by the restoration. Derek said the mural was covered with filth and an oily film.