All anyone in Walla Walla can talk about this morning is how the city painted over the beloved Inland Octopus toy store mural in the middle of the night. By the time people headed to work, it was gone. We've got photos of the before and after. The battle over the sign goes back years. The city claims the toy store is in violation of law. The most recent claim is the mural is a business sign, and is 500 square feet over the allowable size for a sign. Anyone who's been to the store know it's not a sign, it's a mural. The toy store has battled the city to protect the wonderful art featuring a long-legged purple octopus. Owner Bob Catsiff filed a lawsuit to keep the mural in 2010. After he lost in state supreme court he appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court saying it was a freedom of speech issue. The court declined to review the case back in late February, which meant Catsiff had until this week to take it down, and he did not.

A Facebook page advocating for the mural attracted over 5,100 Facebook fans!

LET'S REVIEW SOME HISTORY

How the building was transformed by mural

Facebook.com

This is how the store looked for years

Katie O'Neal

This is what happened in the wee hours of the morning