Three Macaws and a Liquor Store – Columbia Road near 17th Street N.W., Washington, D.C.

The three bright parrots overlooking Columbia Road symbolize the ethnic diversity that characterizes the neighborhood – the birds are native to Central and South America, Africa, and Asia. Artist G. Byron Peck initially planned the mural to celebrate the vibrant Latino Adams-Morgan community, featuring two parrots with an Aztec relief to honor the rich tropical forest and ancient Indian civilization. Latino culture also is represented in the work by a Mexican deity signifying renewal and rebirth – perhaps an allusion to community healing after ethnically charged riots in the neighborhood two years earlier. A Polaroid image of children from a variety of ethnic backgrounds anchors the mural in the here and now.