The San Francisco Bay Area's art community was thriving until the Great Depression strangled commerce in the 1930s. Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal art programs brought relief to many talented but financially strapped artists. Their legacy, and that of the New Deal, adorns the walls and halls of many public spaces throughout the region. Murals cover the lobbies of the Coit Memorial Tower, the Beach Chalet, and the Aquatic Park Bathhouse (today's San Francisco Maritime Museum) and decorate many public schools and post offices. Today, almost all of this wonderful art can be viewed by the public, free of charge. Depression-Era Murals of the Bay Area was written by four Bay Area art enthusiasts. Nicholas A. Veronico is the author or coauthor of five other history books for Arcadia Publishing; Gina F. Morello is a project specialist at NASA Ames Research Center and is a student of New Deal art; Brett A. Casadonte is a creative director, cinematographer, and photographer who has traveled extensively photographing New Deal art; and Gilda Collins is the co-owner of a boutique creative agency and is passionate about art history.