Sergio Mayora: Renaissance Man

Creating Weeds Tavern: Poster Art and Singing with the Jazz Lizards

Weeds are generally something to be avoided, however, the tavern known as Weeds was a place where art bloomed under the careful nurturing of a humble man known as Sergio Mayora. Wearing overalls and sunglasses, under a rain forest of brassieres surrounded by funky dumpster dive finds, Mayora fueled customers with shots of tequila, poetry (hosted for over 20 years by Gregorio Gomez), music, and late night soirees. In the days before social media, Mayora beaconed new clients inside of Weeds with brilliant posters he created from collage. This was how he advertised the tavern where he worked as bartender and host. 

The result was a comfortable, bohemian-style environment that encouraged free thinking and creativity. In his book Weeds Tavern: Poster Art, Mayora created colorful psychedelic advertisements for this historic time. He also can carry a tune. Audience members will be able to experience the legendary creative force that is Sergio Mayora first hand as he sings with the Jazz Lizards, April 4th at 7:30 pm when he performs at The Black Eagle, located at 1938 West Irving Park Road, where Mayora will most likely be performing a poem as well. 

Weeds Tavern was famous for performances and poetry over 20 years. Poetry flowed freely every Monday night when it was hosted by Gregorio Gomez. Righteous Bob Rutnick started it, Marc Smith came in for a short time, but soon lost interest. It was Gomez, who, “At first,” according to Mayora, “He was terrible! But he grew into the role.”  Gregorio has moved on to write books, and create music, as well as gracing the cover of photographer Diana Solis’ most recent book “Luz: Seeing the Space Between Us.”  It is Mayora, however, who created posters to advertise Weeds. 

He is not only famous for his poster art, Mayora is also famous for what he calls his “Spirit boxes.” Which he invented when his son was small. Mayora couldn’t afford a fancy gift with Christmas on the way. His son was playing with a wooden cigar box, drawing on it in crayon. Mayora was inspired to create his first Spirit box as a gift for his little boy. Subsequently, Mayora has had his work with Spirit boxes displayed in art galleries, and was commissioned to create work for such musical geniuses as Carlos Santana. “It was the Willie Dixon Foundation that commissioned me to make the Spirit Box for him.” Said Mayora. Willie Dixon was a guitarist, and wrote one of Santana’s favorite songs, so it is only natural that the Willie Dixon Foundation would want to do something special for Carlos Santana. 

Mayora has a unique way of connecting with the world that needs to be cherished, and fondly remembered. He has thrived despite the fact he uses a flip phone and still does not use social media.