Today, the once-bare brick wall of La Bella Pizza Bistro in New Paltz is occupied by a flowing, faded American flag mural. The flag stretches across nearly the approximately 65-foot wall; its shadows are precise and life-like, and the end of the flag twists in on itself, as if trying to hide. On a clear day, the flag appears to blend into the blue sky, billowing in nonexistent wind.
In January of this year, the longtime owner of La Bella, Maria Lisanti, announced that she was retiring after 35 years in business, noting in a Facebook post that operating the restaurant “has been one of the greatest honors of [her] life.” Although La Bella is now closed, the flag itself, and the afterlife of its story, remains on the brick wall.
In the fall of 2018, Lisanti wanted to cover the bare wall with a mural to discourage graffiti. “I was getting bloody knuckles trying to keep it clean and presentable,” she explains to me. She did some research online, and found that if a business put up a piece of art, it was less likely to be graffitied. Lisanti, whose son was in the military, liked the idea of an American flag mural.
On the phone, Lisanti recounts her childhood memories of standing up and saying the pledge of allegiance in school. “I remember standing for the flag, the pledge of allegiance, taking your hat off. It was about respect.” At the time of commissioning the mural, Lisanti thought the flag was “kind of neutral.” But, as Lisanti interviewed artists, she noted that some disagreed with the idea of painting a flag. Others proposed incorporating homages to the Hudson Valley, such as peace signs or apples. Lisanti was uninterested.
Eventually, she spoke to Marcele Mitscherlich, a professional scenic and multimedia artist who lives in New Paltz. Mitscherlich works in New York City on scenic art for Broadway musicals such as “The Book of Mormon” and “Les Miserables,” and also completed a mural for Sideshow Kitchen & Bar in New Paltz in the summer of 2025.
Mitscherlich agreed to paint the mural, but warned Lisanti about controversy surrounding the flag. “When I chose to do the mural, I mentioned to Maria there could be a lot of negativity and issues about picking the subject of the American flag. I asked her: ‘Is this really what you are down for? People going online and saying bad things about you?’” Mitscherlich explains.
Lisanti tells me that working with Mitscherlich taught her about people’s differing perspectives on the flag and what it represents. “I didn’t realize that there were people who didn’t like the flag. You know, I’m old school, so I was really confused that it was such a controversial subject. Marcele taught me how to understand people,” Lisanti says.
The Flag as Symbol
For most of the nation’s history, the American flag functioned less as a political lightning rod than as a broadly shared civic emblem. Since the early republic the banner has changed repeatedly—gaining stars with each new state—but its meaning remained relatively stable. While political dissent certainly existed, the flag itself rarely served as the focal point of that dissent. That began to change in the 1960s, when the Vietnam War and the protest movements it provoked transformed the flag from a near-universal symbol of national identity into a site of cultural and political conflict.
When Lisanti was a little girl, standing in the classroom, hand over her heart and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, protestors against the Vietnam War began burning flags. On April 15, 1967, more than 200,000 people gathered in Central Park and burned dozens of flags in protest. One year later, Congress passed the Flag Protection Act of 1968, which was the first federal ban to prohibit desecration of the flag. Years later on September 1, 2016, as Lisanti was running La Bella, Colin Kaepernick—who was then the quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers—took a knee during the national anthem before a game against the San Diego Chargers to protest ongoing police brutality in the United States.
This American flag continues to be a complicated symbol in the history of the United States, with longstanding debates about who is seen and represented by the flag. As Mitscherlich continued to work on the mural in late October of 2018 despite online debates about its place in the New Paltz community, a friend of Lisanti’s organized an “American flag appreciation walk,” where people waved hand-held American flags in front of La Bella and around the building’s perimeter. On the other side of the street, protestors held signs and flags of their own; according to Mitscherlich, some held “Black Lives Matter” signs.
There, on each side of the street in New Paltz, stood two lines of thought about the American flag and what it represents. “I didn’t know the American flag walk would happen exactly like that, but I knew there were people who would think Maria supports the Right and therefore the mural’s flag would be seen as a Trump flag,” Mitscherlich tells me softly. “My thought was, as an American, that is a narrative I don’t believe in. We have had the flag for a long time, so it doesn’t belong to anybody, it’s for everybody, and that was my reason for doing it,” Mitscherlich continues.
Mitscherlich’s awareness about the flag’s complexity also influenced her creative approach to the piece. There is a haunting quality to the mural, with the flag fading into wisps in certain areas. The side of the building that the mural is on faces New Paltz Middle School and a black, chain link fence, behind which often stand local children who have remarked that they can see ghosts in the mural. Although Mitscherlich notes that while she is glad to see people engaging with her work, hiding a ghost was not her intention. “They have a whole story about the ghost and why it’s there,” Mitscherlich explains with a laugh.
While this ghost scavenger hunt was unplanned, Mitscherlich did explain that the painting technique she used on the mural is called “ghosted,” where the paint is intended to look older and more weathered than it actually is. When standing in front of the mural, it is easy to notice small swirls and tears along some of the fabric, giving the flag a distressed look. “I wanted the flag to look a little more weathered. Maria said some people came up to her and said that the tattered part of the flag was disrespectful, but the narrative around it is that we, America, have been around for a while,” Mitscherlich says.
Tim Rogers, current Town Supervisor and former Mayor of New Paltz, also anticipated some degree of pushback due to the mural’s content, reflecting: “Sure, everyone knew we were walking a fine line and about to endorse something that was challenging.” But, Rogers also mentioned that the care and nuance of Mitscherlich’s design created opportunities for interpretation and dialogue surrounding the symbol of the flag. “If it was a simple US flag without some nuance and messaging it could have been more challenging,” Rogers notes. Eventually, Mitscherlich—with the support of Lisanti—decided to create an artist’s statement plaque to pair with the mural, which reads:
“The flag’s sturdy pole is drawn in perspective as if it were high above us, with the flag tethered tightly billowing in the wind, with crisp lines transitioning to the organic gestures, weather worn and tattered, painted in sun bleached colors with aged textures, as if it was a vintage sign that lives on the building and withstood the test of time. The design reminds us of the timelessness and inclusivity of our national flag, which has remained through centuries of sometimes turbulent history and different political climates and is a symbol that is owned by all Americans.”
The mural’s controversy did not end with the protests, nor did it end as attempts were made to explain its intended message. On the morning of November 6, 2018—the day of the midterm elections—someone threw balloons of red paint on the mural.
While Lisanti was upset about the vandalism, Mitscherlich remained calm. “Maria was a wreck, and couldn’t believe it was happening,” Mitscherlich notes with a low voice, and then switches to her usual, upbeat cadence. “That was a lame attempt to deface it. You’re using a color in the painting and it didn’t even stick. If you’re going to deface it, do it with some spray paint and do it right.”
After the American flag walk and vandalism, Fox News published two stories. In one article, Fox published cropped images of people who protested against the flag walk. Mitscherlich explains to me that the actual crowd of dissenters was quite small—much smaller than some media reports claimed. “They acted like something big was happening. But to me, being there for three weeks, it was a little bit of false reporting,” says Mitscherlich.
In the other Fox piece, the opening paragraph reads: “An American flag mural in a small town in New York was vandalized after several protesters started calling for a boycott, claiming it is a symbol of hate and oppression.”
Fox interviewed Lisanti; she told me she was disheartened by the way her story was portrayed, noting that the news outlet focused on the negativity of the protests rather than her intended message with the mural. “Fox was really focusing on the negative, the people that were against the flag, the people who were protesting. That wasn’t my vision at all. I wanted to create something that represented our country. My mistake was thinking everyone was on the same page. Fox was more interested in the controversy that came up with the mural rather than what it really represented,” Lisanti explains.
For Lisanti, the flag represents freedom. “I would like to say it loud and clear, because I think people need to understand what I meant. It’s not about anger and hate, it’s about freedom, and red, white and blue,” Lisanti says.
For others, however, the American flag does not represent freedom. Rather, it represents an aspirational goal that has not yet been achieved. Supervisor Rogers encapsulated the various perspectives of the flag and its symbolism when reflecting on his experience of watching the mural’s progress and resulting protests, saying: “Was it received perfectly by the community? No. But that is because these are spirited discussions. ‘Liberty and justice for all’ is aspirational. Have we gotten it right? No.”
Since the immediate media coverage by Fox News and some local outlets, the flag remains. It is billowing, static and stuck in time. The paint—now graffiti proofed—still has that weathered-over-time look. Something else remains, too—the same sentiments that called the flag into question years ago during the Vietnam War. The same sentiments that prompted Colin Kaepernick to take a knee during the national anthem, and the same sentiments that inspired New Paltz residents to march both for and against the flag in the fall of 2018.
After the retirement of Lisanti and closure of La Bella, the future of the mural remains uncertain. The flag could stay. The flag could go. The discourse it represents, however, will forever remain—not only in New Paltz, but in the United States as a whole, too.
