The St. James mural is an example of a dynamic collaboration with artists Joey Mallett and Rita Buchwitz. Together the team dug deep into the history of the area to produce a mural that is a reflection of the community, past and present: The smell of the smoke of ancient fires wafts up from the cedar baskets behind glass in the Museum of Anthropology, still. For artists Joey Mallett and Rita Buchwitz, who were studying Coast Salish basket patterns, the smoke was an integral part of the St. James mural because "it is such a tangible connection to the past…" A Salish design stamped on a totem pole, a branch of cedar, and an eagle circling above the area once known as Japantown, honor the history of the area. Pink cherry blossoms reach into the view above several old buildings still standing today - once a grocery, a rooming house - across the street from the Oppenheimer Park then a thriving Japanese fishing fleet that was confiscated during WW2, when the Japanese were sent to internment camps. The boats glow like a ghostly city at sunset. A school of herring swim in a wave of abundance - the herring roe industry was big then. Shells of shucked off clam shells formed a midden off what is now Crab Park. And the seagulls? They are as they were. The St. James Mural was funded by a grant from the City of Vancouver for Vancouver's 125th Anniversary.