Welcome back graffiti fans. We are enjoying spring temperatures here in New York (finally!) and I hope it's getting warmer wherever you call home.
This week's Polaroid comes from the corner of Bowery and Spring Street. This is an interesting area in Manhattan as it hugs the borders of several different neighborhoods: the East Village, Chinatown, and SoHo.
There is a lot of graffiti on Spring Street close to this particular location, as well as throughout Chinatown and the East Village. What made me decided to photograph this particular set of tags is its location. As you may be able to make out in the picture, the building that is the canvas for this graffiti is a rather large, stately building. It was probably a very grand building at another point in time, but now it seems to have fallen into a state of disrepair. I thought it was particularly interesting that the doors of this building were tagged. Like the "I Dream of Love" tag a few posts back, there are things pasted on the doors (the white and green house shape and the yellow hourglass shape) mixed in with the different graffiti tags.
It is obvious that several different artists have contributed to this particular area. I like the overall effect. It makes the building look like a collage of sorts. I also think it is interesting that the different artists are respectful of each other's work. Apart from the two paper pieces pasted on the doors, all of the artwork is distinct, and the artists do not encroach upon each other's work.
There is a lot to do in the area by this particular tag. Because it edges on three different neighborhoods, the possibilities are nearly endless. If you feel like hanging out in the East Village, I recommend Alt.Coffee, a coffee shop located at 139 Avenue A, between St. Mark's and East 9th Street. They serve up a great cup of coffee, as well as pastries and other goodies. They also serve as a gallery space for emerging artists and have internet access as well.
If you're hanging out in Chinatown, there are tons of different places to get authentic Chinese food for cheap, as well as funky indoor malls selling all sorts of goods, ranging from the basic to the crazy. One of the best things about Chinatown, in my humble opinion, are the Chinatown buses between New York and Washington, D.C. (my hometown and all-time favorite city!) or Boston (another awesome city!). For service to Washington, D.C., I recommend New Century Travel. It's only $20 for a one-way ticket or $35 round trip to our Nation's Capitol (and one of the coolest cities around) and they get you there pretty quickly. For service to Boston, there's the Fung Wah bus, which offers one-way tickets for $15 and round trip tickets for $30. So if you're feeling like seeing another city, those are some options!
That's all for this week. Until next time...
5 comments:
These collage graffiti pictures totally work awesomely in your blog. This "Chinatown" bus sounds scary.
Rest assured, Stinky, the Chinatown bus is not all that scary. It's pretty much the same thing as Greyhound, just done through Chinatown.
And I'm glad that you like the pictures.
Nice pictures, I agree that that because of the buildings location there are so many possible contributers to its new look, east village/ chinatown is one of my favorite areas too...
K, I appreciate your compliments on the pictures! And it is cool that the building is in a location where there are so many possible contributors. Thanks for checking Grafaroid out.
I was just at alt coffee yesterday, love that place. I also love the Polaroid, this area has so much neat street art. also if anyone ever wanted to take a road-trip to Philadelphia, the china town bus from NYC is only $10!
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