Paradise Lost

Our house was built in 1962 and one of the things that made me a little sad when we bought it was knowing that at one point there'd been a bar in the downstairs tv/family room. It didn't look like anything too spectacular - the bar itself had been pulled out and stuck in the backyard; just a simple wood bar frame. Covered in decaying dark wood paneling, the room just seemed like it must have been a pretty cool lounge area back in the day. I kept wishing I could see pictures of it from that time.

We recently needed to make some repairs to the walls, so the old broken paneling had to be removed. Imagine my heartbreak when panels on the upper part of the walls came off and revealed this:

Naturally, none of it's salvageable. I guess we really did buy the right house. Just 4 or 5 decades too late.

Cool!!!!!!!! looks like a view of Diamond Head in Hawaii.

If your walls could talk.....

There has to be someway to restore the walls, there obviously is some history there.

Things are always salvageable, it just depends on time, money, expertise, etc.
I think I'd clean it up, cover the electrical with something to camouflage it, frame it out with something and leave the history exposed!
I don't think I'd even tint the plaster showing through to match, but that's another option.
Or, you could find a wallpaper mural of diamond head and cover the whole area with it as a nod to what was once there.

Are there any older neighbors next to you?? If so, you may want to start asking questions. Perhaps someone knows about it or has seen it back "in the day" and can fill you in.
I think it would be cool to frame it off and leave it "as is", too. Things like that don't happen everyday!

I'm with Luke. I'd definitely preserve that hunk of mural.

I really wish it were in better shape. It's not an actual painting, that I would definitely restore with full abandon. It's a super thin paper that was glued to the wall and unfortunately is really disintegrating - it you touch it, it actually flakes off in areas. Our house & budget have really taken a beating with all the repairs, so any restoration is sadly going to have to be a future project. For the time being it's unfortunately going to end up being covered again, but left intact with the hope of resurrecting it again in the future. Nice to know it's there, but sad.

We do have a couple neighbors who've been here since the houses were new, so we're going to have to really grill them now. You'd think that would've been the first thing anyone mentioned to me!

If it already falling about, then you could try a spray shellac and try to seal what's left. Ive never tried it on a mural you really dont have anything to lose.

That's what I was thinking. Either that or just cover it with a sheet of plastic or glass, but I'm afraid that would stick to it and pull more off the wall.

Thanks for the ideas!

That's the truth of history.
You'll have to be busy for some days. lol