7th st. and 1st ave.
5th st. and ave. B
2nd st and ave. C
19th and 1st ave.
I have spent so much time walking around this old neighborhood that i am almost ashamed that yesterday was the first time i ever walked around just to look at the street art. There is probably no other neighborhood in NYC or perhaps the country so associated with its street art. Graffitti, stencils, stickers, tiled mosaics, amazing community gardens and thousand of random acts of self expression everywhere you go.
Some people complain about how the neighborhood has changed from the early days of Punk Rock to the current sate of Starbucks nation. I choose at least for now to focus on what is great about the east village. It is still a world as unique and open as any in the city. The evidence is everywhere. In the squats that still move from place to place (too many have been brutally destroyed) community centers, coffee shops, tompkins square and the dozens of activist meeting locals.
The art changes. You can still see the words of Basquiat on backstreet walls, and "Know Your Rights" murals from 20 years ago. But you also see new and yet very iconic images from the new guardians of east village culture.
Yesterday i walked down Avenue C. towards my old sublet on 2nd near Houston st. and came across a fire escape that held a half dozen umbrellas covered in paint and messages of peace and good life. Painted on the facade of the building were great images including an anarchist circle-A. These painting were not new. How is it that i live in the city and around the corner from there for 5 months and never noticed this.
This is the point of this blog and of this quest of mine: to connect with the things that we all miss everyday. Some of these things are inspiring or could be if we just look up.
check out some of the things i saw yesterday:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/82369865@N00/sets/72157601728731929/
No comments:
Post a Comment