Ben-Hur Coffee
San Diego, CA Photo courtesy M.C. Morrissey
A coffee can this size ought to get the morning started. The Ben-Hur Coffee mural brought a bold bit of advertising to a brick wall in San Diego’s Little Italy, giving passing travelers something to admire without having to wait for a pot to brew.
The building dates to 1913, when it was constructed for the Adams-Henry Company’s coffee, tea, and spice business. The San Diego Coffee Company later occupied the property and distributed Ben-Hur products, giving the painted advertisement a connection to what once went on inside.
Check out the oversized can and its chariot-and-horses emblem. There was plenty of action on the label for something usually enjoyed while sitting down. Painted across the brickwork, the package became a piece of neighborhood scenery long after the coffee brand faded from store shelves.
UPDATE: The mural documented here was painted in 1982 to replace an earlier Ben-Hur advertisement accidentally lost during restoration work. Its old-fashioned appearance carries on the building’s coffee history, though the paint is younger than it first looks. 10-26
Top Value Stamps Mural
San Diego, CA Photo courtesy M.C. Morrissey
Near 32nd Street in San Diego, this Top Value Stamps mural recalled the days when a shopping trip could bring home groceries and a handful of stamps. Save enough of them, fill the books, and something from the redemption catalog might eventually follow.
The painted wall advertisement gave the stamp company a presence well beyond the checkout counter. Its lettering turned the side of a building into a reminder to keep collecting. Apparently those little stamps needed a fairly large wall to get their message across.
UPDATE: This Top Value Stamps mural recalls the trading-stamp days, when shoppers saved their stamps in books toward merchandise from a redemption catalog. The painted advertisement captured here preserves a little of that once-familiar shopping routine. 10-26
Caliente!
San Diego, CA Photo courtesy Ken Lux
Racetrack excitement found its way onto the side of San Diego’s California Theatre with the Caliente! mural. Its oversized lettering and charging horse and jockey advertised Tijuana’s Agua Caliente racetrack. Quite a bit of movement for something that stayed on the same wall. 05-05
Painted decades after the theater opened in 1927, the yellow-and-red advertisement became a familiar downtown landmark. The horse kept making its dash long after the mural’s original advertising days.
UPDATE: The Caliente mural has been in danger of being painted over by the city for a beer advertisement since 2011. Not sure of its current status. 02-13
UPDATE: A proposal to cover the mural with a beer advertisement prompted preservation opposition in 2011. In July 2026, the Prebys Foundation announced plans to prepare the theater property for demolition, placing the mural’s future in jeopardy. 10-26
Books
San Diego, CA Photo courtesy Ken Lux
No elaborate sales pitch on this San Diego wall. The Books Bought and Sold lettering gets right to the point, letting passersby know that a few unwanted volumes could leave through the same door where another stack might come home. 06-07
There’s something fitting about a bookseller leaving its message on a building. While the titles inside could change with every purchase and sale, the words outside kept offering the same invitation. Take a look at the lettering, another small piece of commercial scenery preserved in a roadside photo.
UPDATE: The Books Bought and Sold lettering shown here offers a look back at the straightforward wall advertising of neighborhood bookstores. A few painted words were enough to let passing readers know where to bring their old books and look for a few more. 10-26
Ben-Hur Coffee
Top Value Stamps Mural
Caliente!
Books
