One of Kent Twitchell's 20 outdoor murals, which had been visible for 12 years from the Hollywood Freeway near downtown Los Angeles, was covered with white paint and the phone number of the outdoor advertising company that obscured the mural. The paint used when it was first painted in 1974 as part of a mural program funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and Los Angeles County had been a high-grade acrylic emulsion. It had also been coated with clear plastic at that time and once again in 1980. Public outcry led to a pledge to restore it by the advertising company involved. During the first stage of the restoration, the artist and professional restorer applied methylene chloride and used a heat gun to peel away the varnish coating, taking with it the white block-out paint. Further technical aspects are explained; legal problems of ownership of the wall space prevented completion of the restoration; three local visual arts groups formed a Los Angeles Mural Conservancy to protect and maintain the city's public murals. Further details appeared in 23 and 29 December 1986 and 22 and 23 January 1987 editions of the Los Angeles Times.