By his own description, Jit Bhatia is a 71-year-old hippie, entrepreneur, youth employer and advocate for art, music and marijuana.

Bhatia believes that Maharaja’s — the t-shirt and collectibles store he founded in downtown St. Paul 50 years ago — is among the oldest headshops in the country continuously operated by the same owner, and among the oldest immigrant-owned shops in the city.

He’s seen his share of heartache, including a divorce and the violent death of his 21-year-old daughter, Ena Bhatia, in a motorcycle accident in November 2016.

He’s also enjoyed a career’s worth of fulfillment encouraging young people to make art, like the elaborate murals that decorated the sidewalks outside his headshop and art gallery at 201-205 West Seventh St. In that project, Ena and her friends played more than a passing role.

That’s decorated, as in past tense.

On Monday, workers from the St. Paul Department of Public Works spent the day power-washing the half-block of West Seventh Street by Bhatia’s properties with high-intensity hoses, ending his four-year-long skirmish with City Hall over the illicit artwork.

“I’m sad because of this,” said Bhatia on Monday, at times wiping tears. “I don’t know what to do. I’m frustrated.”

In October 2015, the St. Paul City Council debated at length what to do about the spray-painted murals, which depict a maze, chessboard, an Indian deity and psychedelic fare meant to entice diehard fans of Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead and other ’60s and ’70s fare.

With some hesitation, the council voted to support Bhatia’s appeal of the city’s order to have the art removed, thereby allowing it stay put, even though the various artists involved did not have a permit to permanently alter the city-owned sidewalk panels.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman delivers rare veto to city council: Maharaja's street art is just not OK https://t.co/LUWw5qSo2s — Frederick Melo, Reporter (@FrederickMelo) November 4, 2015

In November 2015, then-St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman delivered a rare public veto to the council decision, effectively denying Bhatia’s appeal of the city’s order.

The art had to go, according to the mayor’s office, but only once the city established an official policy on sidewalk art. That bought Bhatia some time.

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By his own admission, Bhatia had promised the city to have the elaborate murals removed from the sidewalk panels outside his two buildings by July 1. He didn’t do it.

So the city completed the task for him and will bill him later.

“I did everything they asked. I’ve jumped through every hoop,” said Bhatia, who said he took out insurance in case of any permanent damage to the sidewalk panels. “My heart just won’t allow me to destroy artwork. … I’ll be paying for all of it. But it just hurt my heart.”