A pair of dogs swim in the lake while cats climb the pergola. A dog on a gondola flies a rainbow kite as more dogs in a horse-drawn carriage meander beside the lake.

Arnold Gutlaizer, a veterinarian with the Broadway Pet Hospital, 4920 Broadway, hired Stefen to cover up the wall, which had irked him for years. It was once the wall of a Grand Auto store, and Gutlaizer's pet practice was a few blocks away from it. He passed by "that ugly wall" every day and wished it looked different.

Then about three years ago he began renting the building.

"I knew I wanted Stefen to do a mural on the building," he said. "Stefen is a genius. There's nobody who can do murals like his."

Stefen, a self-taught Bay Area artist who goes by one name, has painted more than 100 murals mainly in the East Bay, including large murals for businesses in Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond and El Cerrito.

He spent about 500 hours working on the Broadway Pet Hospital piece, which he started a little more than a year ago. He put his signature on the work and dedicated the mural to the Lake Merritt Institute on Wednesday.

"What is special about it to me is these columns define what it would be," Stefen said Wednesday. He originallyhad wanted to paint something other than Lake Merritt on the side of the building, but its design was a perfect match for Lake Merritt's pergola area.

Stefen solicited photos of people's pets for the mural, and those of Broadway Pet Hospital staff and regular customers got first priority. Some of the animals featured on the mural, such as Violet the pug, died long ago. Others are still living companions, some of whom stopped by the mural Wednesday for the opening ceremony. Their likeness was startling.

"This is just absolutely incredible," said Fern Jilek, an Oakland resident and friend of Broadway Pet Hospital, whose cat, Brockley, and service dog, Shayna, are part of the mural.

Each time she sees it, Jilek said, she notices a charming little pet scene she missed the last time she passed.

Stefen even included a red duck and an alligator in the painting, at the request of Gutlaizer and his son.

"People who aren't my clients and people who I just know are so happy to see something was done with this corner," he said. "It just brightens this place up, and I am thrilled about the way it turned out."

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