Will a Pierre Robert Mural Actually Happen?

The late WMMR DJ Pierre Robert and Dallyn Pavey Uosikkinen, who is spearheading a Pierre Robert mural but running into problems / Photograph courtesy of Dallyn Pavey Uosikkinen

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Soon after Pierre Robert’s sudden death last October, Dallyn Pavey Uosikkinen, his close friend and confidante of many years, embarked on a mission: erect a Pierre Robert mural in Philadelphia. It seemed like a no-brainer. Philadelphia has been called the mural capital of the world, with more than 4,000 murals currently on display, and Robert was a truly beloved Philadelphia legend who rose to regional fame at WMMR, where he worked from 1981 until his untimely passing last October. Who could argue that he didn’t deserve such an honor? No one, it turned out. There’s just one problem. Where do you put the thing?

Pavey Uosikkinen found no shortage of enthusiasm for the mural idea, just as she found for her plan to install a bench in Robert’s honor in Rittenhouse Square, the park where he spent his last Sunday among the living, reading a book, and drinking a cup of coffee. That bench quickly became a reality thanks to a flurry of contributions from the public and the cooperation of the Friends of Rittenhouse Square, which maintains the park and its memorial bench program. Pavey and others unveiled the bench in May on the same weekend that Robert received an honorary street sign in the Gayborhood, where he spent much of his social life. As for the mural, Pavey Uosikkinen, wife of Hooters drummer David Uosikkinen, is at her wit’s end.

“I really gave it a lot of effort,” she says. “David and I drove around the city a few times — he would drive and I would take pictures and write the addresses down and then I researched who owned the buildings and would send emails and follow up with phone calls. But nobody wanted to get back to me.”

Pavey Uosikkinen says she did have partial luck with Monk’s Café, the popular Center City Belgian beer bar, saying that the owner of the restaurant seemed interested but the owner of the building apparently was not. She also emailed real estate developer Allan Domb, who owns no shortage of properties in the city.

Domb says that while he loves the Mural Arts program and all that it’s done for the city, he probably doesn’t have a wall that will work for Pavey Uosikkinen. Two murals he previously hosted turned into headaches, he says — one because the neighbors didn’t like the mural and kept complaining, and the other because the Historical Commission made him take it down.

Part of the problem with landing a Pierre Robert mural is location. As both Pavey Uosikkinen and Jane Golden, the former head of Mural Arts who has taken on a consulting role with the organization, agree, the ideal wall would mean something to who Robert was — a connection between the wall location and the man.

When Robert first worked in Philadelphia, WMMR’s studio overlooked Rittenhouse Square and the park became and remained his “favorite place in the region,” as he told me in a 2021 interview. Then there’s the Gayborhood, where he spent much of his social time. But by limiting the location of the mural to two small areas of the city, it makes the job of wall-finding significantly harder, in part, says Golden, because so many buildings are now owned by LLCs instead of identifiable people; just determining who to ask can be a daunting task. And then if the building houses, say, a restaurant, the business owner would need to get on board with the giant art that will decorate the restaurant’s exterior — and that’s in addition to approval from the building owner.

Unveiling of the Pierre Robert Memorial Bench in Rittenhouse Square on June 1, 2026. / Photograph by Laura Swartz

Golden and Pavey Uosikkinen even went on WMMR’s morning hit show Preston & Steve to ask fans of Robert and the station to help them find a wall, but nothing came of it.

“So rather than do it half-assed or anywhere else, I’d rather not do it,” Pavey Uosikkinen admits. “I’d rather wait until it presents itself at the right time and the right wall, because that’s what Pierre deserves. He doesn’t deserve to be in a neighborhood that has no connection to him. It’s very disappointing. So many people seemed to be excited about it.”

Pavey Uosikkinen has targeted three specific walls in Rittenhouse Square — one outside Tria, one outside The Dandelion, and one outside La Colombe, Robert’s favorite coffeeshop and the flagship location for the brand — but Golden says she knows these to be non-starters. “We’ve looked at those walls over and over again,” Golden insists. “I mean, we are good wall hunters, so I know that’s a tough area.”

In a dream world, says Golden, somebody reading this article will be a huge Pierre Robert fan and also happen to own a building in Rittenhouse Square or the Gayborhood that they’d be willing to offer up. Short of that seemingly unlikely scenario, Mural Arts is asking for the general public’s help in identifying walls that might work. The organization prefers a smooth stucco wall as opposed to brick but can work with brick if there aren’t deep grooves in between the individual bricks. “We’d also love it to face traffic,” says Golden. “If it doesn’t face traffic, it should be pedestrian heavy.” It’s also important that the wall isn’t located in such a place where someone is likely to build in front of it next year. Know the owner of the property? Even better. (You can email wall details to walls@muralarts.org with as much relevant information as possible.)

Of course, once a wall is identified as a potential match by Mural Arts, that doesn’t mean it’s a done deal. Murals in Philadelphia are a truly collaborative process involving lots of community engagement as well as the constituency surrounding the person who is to be honored. In Pierre Robert’s case, that would certainly include Pavey Uosikkinen, but it might also include members of Robert’s family and other close friends, and, says Golden, it’s not unheard of for there to be conflict or disagreement among a constituency about wall location, let alone the artwork.

This kind of tension cropped up during the planning of a mural honoring Pig Iron Theatre Company co-founder Dito van Reigersberg, better known as drag queen Martha Graham Cracker, who died in June.

FringeArts, the venue where van Reigersberg performed as Martha many times (full disclosure: I was her pianist) has offered up a large wall for a mural. This sounded great at first, but it turns out the wall is actually behind the venue facing a Holiday Inn Express parking lot, does not face traffic (the only drivers who might catch a glimpse would be those speeding down northbound on Columbus Boulevard). One person who was initially excited about the notion of the mural and who would be a likely funder (and who asked to remain nameless) said they absolutely wouldn’t fund “a mural where Martha is looking out at a Holiday Inn Express … that’s just wrong.”

“The beauty of public art-making is that inherent in the process is tension and debate,” opines Golden. “I don’t think there’s a project we’ve done — maybe just a few out of the thousands — that do not have those elements. The debate is a really important one, and the fact that it’s co-owned by many people and not just made by a lone person, I think there is something wonderful about that. I know a long time ago, someone once said Mural Arts is like the visualization of democracy, with all of its wonders and complexities.”

Pavey Uosikkinen said that while she is disheartened, she’s not ready to give up. “I think something will magically appear,” she predicts. “It’s Pierre, you know.”