Armenian Street is the most visited street in central Georgetown, a single block of restored shophouses that has become the heart of the city's street art and café scene. The name commemorates the small Armenian merchant community that lived here in the 19th century — only a few of whose buildings now survive. The most famous resident of the street, in spirit at least, is Sun Yat-sen, whose Penang base for plotting the Chinese revolution sat just up the street and is now the Sun Yat-sen Museum.
The blocks-long mural project began here in 2012 when the city commissioned Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic to create a series of paintings for the George Town Festival. His "Children on Bicycle" on the side of a green shophouse — a real bicycle bolted into a painted scene — was an instant phenomenon and remains the most photographed object in Penang. Several other Zacharevic murals are within a few minutes' walk, alongside steel-rod wall sculptures by the local Sculpture at Work studio.
The shophouses themselves are now full of craft shops, antique dealers, third-wave cafés and the occasional small temple. Early morning, before tour groups arrive, is best.