From Scaffolding to Sweeties: The Diridon Station Renovation Story

Dear Friends,

I hope this letter finds you well! I’m pleased to share the biggest project of my career—one that’s been a long time coming in the telling.
Last fall, Caltrain upgraded all its trains from diesel to electric, bringing more energy-efficient and better-equipped trains to our Bay Area public transportation system. (It worked! There’s been a 40% increase in ridership over the past year!) As part of this major modernization, they renovated the San Jose Diridon Train Station, which was originally built in 1935 and desperately needed a reset. The ceiling, in particular, was visibly peeling away from the rafters.
Bianchi Construction was awarded the restoration contract. I initially met Travis Bianchi on a mural project for the Los Altos School District at Egan Middle School over a decade ago. When he saw the enormous ceiling and the considerable undertaking it would involve to restore it, he thought of me! (Thank you, Travis!)

With a team of six talented artisans, we completed the restoration of the ceiling last summer in just seven weeks. I am so proud of how the project turned out! The faux woodgrain, the stencil patterns, and the colors: I had to guess how they would look from 30 feet below once they removed the scaffolding and the room was again flooded with natural light. When I came back after they had removed all the scaffold, I got chills. If I was a gymnast, I imagine this is what a perfect landing would feel like.

This project was the most memorable of my career, and it had nothing to do with working three stories up in 95-degree heat with my neck craned back at an uncomfortable angle. The magic had everything to do with the people I was working with.

The support I received throughout the project from Caltrain management and Travis and his team was amazing. I LOVED working with these people! They were competent and professional, giving us the setup and support we needed along the way, which allowed my team to focus on making the art great. Caltrain shut down the entire station for the renovation. Belated apologies for making everyone walk around the building for two months, but the wall-to-wall scaffolding setup was a work of art in itself.

I recruited a “dream team” to complete the project with me. Elan Evans, my lead artist, has been perfecting her wood grain, stencil, and glazing techniques for over 30 years. She is, in my humble opinion, the best decorative artist in the Bay Area. She brought on two other seasoned decorative painting pros, Margarita and Paige. The steadiness of hand and stamina of these three women, with nine decades of painting experience between them, inspired me daily. The team was rounded out by Juyoung Kim, an amazing artist and human being based out of South San Francisco.

I also had two “Sweeties” working alongside me—my partner Greg and my daughter Allie. In order to maintain a professional atmosphere, I tried to tamp down the “Sweetie” name-calling when the higher-ups were around. I was terribly unsuccessful. It worked out that I slowly fell in love with the whole team, so I just started calling everyone “Sweetie.”

Greg and Juyoung took on the most physical aspects of the work, base coating and glazing three sides of 127 beams and 110 panels. (Yes, I counted—twice!) My daughter Allie spent her entire summer break climbing up and down the scaffold, fetching us food and supplies—finally some dividends from all the money I invested in her gymnastics! She was a quick study with the brush work as well and earned three promotions in just eight weeks. That’s my girl! By the end of the project, Elan and Margarita were recruiting her for their future projects. Greg’s glazing skills caught management’s attention too: when our ceiling project wrapped up, Caltrain hired him to refinish all their station benches. Go have a sit—they’re beautiful!

Margarita spent 7 years painting Matryoshka dolls in a factory in her native Ukraine before emigrating to the US. She told us that since she was  exceptionally fast at painting these dolls she could finish all a days work in a matter of hours, and would then forge a “leave pass” and sneak off into a day of adventures. Creating a perfectly straight line above your head is harder than you might expect. 108 minor rafters to pinstripe, 4 red stripes, four blue stripes, two coats, your math is probably better than mine. She whipped out those lines in under two weeks. Unfortunately, no leave passes were granted on our project.

Each day at noon we would climb down from the heat, strip off our PPE, and sit in the shade in a circle on the grass in front of the station for lunch. We shared takeout food family-style and swapped stories. The project was unique, a historic undertaking and we all felt that and rose to the challenge it presented.

This summer I’m planning a “real” vacation—six weeks of travel abroad. I just hope I have as much fun as I did last summer…

With paint-stained fingers and a grateful heart,

Morgan

The photos of the finished station in this newsletter were provided courtesy of my friend and professional photographer, Harlan Crowder. Thank you for sharing your art with me, Harlan!