Englewood – So what’s wrong with a caterpillar smoking shisha in a hookah anyway? Or a white rabbit popping a pill?

Plenty, if you’re the city of Englewood.

The city is forcing a South Broadway pipe and smoking-accessories shop to get rid of a mural painted a few weeks ago depicting characters from “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”

“It’s a cartoon, people. Let’s move on,” said Mike Mahaney, owner of Headed West, at 4811 S. Broadway.

Mahaney grew tired of painting over the constant barrage of graffiti at his shop, so he had a mural painted on the walls.

All seemed fine, until some people complained that the mural was inappropriate because they said it depicted drug use.

Some members of the City Council agreed.

This week, the city said the mural, no matter what it depicts, had to go because it was too big, and murals fall under the signage code – which requires a permit that Mahaney didn’t get.

“I won’t tell you everyone who’s seen it likes it,” said Englewood Deputy City Manager Mike Flaherty. “But that’s not the reason why we are taking the action.”

Mahaney and the artists aren’t buying it.

After all, they say, no one complained about the mural they painted on the other side of the shop a few weeks earlier, which shows Jimi Hendrix, Jerry Garcia, Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin.

“Our art tries to inspire, take a second out of people’s lives and say, ‘Wow, this is cool,”‘ said the artist, known as Wiser. “It takes them back to a time when they were a little kid.”

Wiser and his partner, Keith White, owners of yournameingraffiti.com, work with the city of Denver on its anti-graffiti campaign. The murals, or graffiti art, deter kids from painting vandalism graffiti, Wiser said.

But some, like Dave White, owner of Englewood Auto Repair & Body Shop, across the street from Headed West, don’t agree – at least in this case.

“With kids around, it sends the wrong message,” said Dave White, who complained to the city about drug overtones in the mural. “A lot of customers have complained about it.”

With the prospect of a year in jail and a $1,000 fine with a 15-month-old daughter at home, Mahaney says he has no choice but to comply, even though he had the pill painted out of the rabbit’s mouth.

He has until next Friday to get rid of Alice and her gang.

But he’s going out in style.

“I’m going to paint it the brightest yellow I can possibly find,” Mahaney said. “And maybe some polka dots.”

Staff writer Carlos Illescas can be reached at 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com.

Children’s tale an acid trip?

Some believe “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” is one big acid trip. Alice chases a white rabbit, then ingests potions and mushrooms that alter her size. Psychedelic band Jefferson Airplane wrote “White Rabbit” based on the 1865 Lewis Carroll story.