Alex “Ali” Gonzalez married three distinct brands in one visual that evokes neighborhood vibes, America’s favorite pastime and the famous Charburger.
Publish date September 10, 2026
Image provided by Habit Burger & Grill.
Habit Burger & Grill started in Santa Barbara, California, in 1969. It’s since grown to almost 400 restaurants across the United States but has remained true to its Californian roots through its laidback atmosphere and made-to-order fare, featuring burgers chargrilled over an open flame, just like food was prepared at the original Habit nearly 60 years ago.
In 2025, the brand added another California connection by teaming up with the Los Angeles Dodgers in a sponsorship deal that included a Habit location in the stadium’s Centerfield Plaza and led to the opening of Dodgers x Habit Home Base, a Dodgers-themed restaurant located nearby in Echo Park. The latter includes a mural complete with a bobble head ball player holding a Charburger, painted by Los Angeles native Alex “Ali” Gonzalez.
“Ali’s work stops people in their tracks,” said Jack Lettenmair, Habit director of Brand & Product Marketing. “People don’t just walk past one of his murals. They stop, take a photo and send it to someone. His work is rooted in L.A., but it travels far beyond the walls of the city.”
True to form, Gonzalez’s Habit mural already has amassed hundreds of thousands of virtual shares, including by some notable Angelenos including two starting Dodgers pitchers, who appear in two of his murals in Pawradise Park and Burbank. The players’ images are so lifelike, they appear as photographs, a nod to Gonzalez’s skill and “grayscale realism” style.
“I’m mostly self-taught,” Gonzalez said. “I’ve always been attracted to drawing and painting, and over the years I just kept practicing, experimenting and figuring things out through doing the work. A lot of my learning came from actually taking on projects that were bigger and more challenging than what I had done before.”
One such project is a mural featuring a U.S. President at Gonzalez’s former high school in Granada Hills. It was his first mural and gave him the confidence to pick up additional work, including a role as a production assistant on a prolific reality competition show during its first season. Five seasons in, he pitched an idea for original artwork on the show, which executives greenlit, leading to independent commissions from multiple judges from that same show.
“Ali is this homegrown talent who’s a celebrity in his own right,” Lettenmair said. “A lot of artists come to L.A. hoping to make it. Ali’s from here. He built his following doing what he loves, and you can see that love and connection to the city in his work.”
To date, Gonzalez has drawn murals for renowned U.S. and international brands and has featured basketball greats in his work. For Habit, he wanted the design to “feel like L.A. and authentic to the Dodgers, but I also didn’t want it to just look like a giant Dodgers advertisement.” With a cityscape towering over a sign welcoming guests to Dodgers x Habit Home Base, and some nods to Dodgers iconography, the mural achieves his vision.
The art also evokes the feel of Echo Park. Known for its popularity with artists, musicians and young professionals, the area combines an edgy, urban cityscape with trendy coffee shops, vintage boutiques and late-night taco trucks.
“I wanted the mural to make sense where it was actually going to live,” Gonzalez said. “You’re not just designing something for a blank canvas. You’re designing something that people are going to see as part of their neighborhood. The L.A. cityscape and Dodgers…connection felt very natural for that location.”
Front and center of the art is Gonzalez’s go-to Habit order – a Double Charburger with Cheese – which is held by the team mascot, a Dodgers Bobblehead. Missing from the mural is a side of Green Bean Tempura Fries, which Gonzalez also swears by and admits that many were consumed while working on the mural.
Responses to the Habit mural have been overwhelmingly positive, Gonzalez said.
“The best reactions are when people stop while you’re working and immediately recognize the Dodgers and Habit connection,” he said. “It’s a very unique, one-of-a-kind restaurant location and mural.”
As for what’s next for the artist, he’s up for another collaboration.
“I’d love to keep doing projects that bring together art, sports, music and LA culture. There are so many possibilities,” he said. “A major project with the Dodgers or another iconic L.A. brand would definitely be a dream. Maybe a custom mural for a baseball legend would be the Grand Slam of a project.”
And with a Double Charburger with Cheese and Green Bean Tempura Fries as part of the process, Habit may just be the fuel behind his next larger-than-life tribute to L.A. culture.
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