Downtown will be a little brighter once a mural honoring a former police officer graces the wall of the Northern Knives shop.
Bill Hollingsworth was with the Anchorage Police Department for 27 years and died two months after retiring in November. He worked the downtown parking beat.
Ray Thibault, co-owner of Northern Knives, said Hollingsworth was a customer as well as a friend. He said Hollingsworth was known for friendliness, professionalism and always having a joke to share.
"We were going to do the wall and then he passed away and it just seemed proper," Thibault said."It put a smile on all our faces to think of a kind of a tribute out on the wall to him."
The finished mural will feature Hollingsworth shining a flashlight into a picture of the part of the store customers don't usually see.
"We'll have grinders and all the tools we use," Thibault said. "[Bill] loved giving away flashlights to fellow APD officers, and that's the reason for the flashlight in his hand."
The artist, Maximino Gonzales, works on the mural at night so he can use a projector and hand-crafted stencils to create the mural. It's a slow process, according to Thibault, but the finished product will remind him, and the community, of his friend.
"To think of him and give him a little nod," Thibault said. "His friends on the force will see this and it will be a nod all the way around."
The mural is still under construction.