Tuesday, November 2, 2021

Outside the Bored Ape Yacht Club pop up on 3rd Street

In case you were wondering about those long lines on Third Street and First Avenue yesterday (not for Starbucks! Or Brickman & Sons!). 

The creatives behind Yuga Labs and Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) — called a "collaborative art experiment for the cryptosphere" — are hosting a two-day merch pop-up at 91 E. Third St. (RIP the Edge) yesterday and today ... part of their Ape Fest 2021

EVG digital collectibles reporter Stacie Joy shared these photos of the lines (which also went back toward Second Avenue) ...
The Board Yacht folks acknowledged the line and apologized...
The people Stacie spoke with didn't seem to mind the wait...
This Rolling Stone piece from yesterday has more background on how BAYC came to be.

Last week, Bored Ape Yacht Club #8817, one of 10,000 unique cartoon apes on the Ethereum blockchain, reportedly sold for $3.4 million. The BAYC NFT collection has seen more than half a billion dollars in sales to date.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this info. I walked by yesterday and asked one of the people in line, but only understood it had something to do with crypto. I guess I need to get out more.

Anonymous said...

The whole nft thing is beyond stupid

Anonymous said...

I saw the long line yesterday that went up 1st Avenue I thought it was for the Starbucks on the corner. Thanks for clarifying.

Anonymous said...

So crypto, young, high tech, and hip. Yet here we are with a 1980's Soviet Union style line. An old adage from those USSR days.

"If you see a line, get on it."

https://www.rbth.com/history/331276-lines-soviet-union

Anonymous said...

I just read all the words and saw all the pics and still have no clue about any of this. Guess I am missing the boat? [shrug]

Anonymous said...

@9:33am: Trust me, you didn't miss anything. This is a bunch of people who *imagine* they're super-cool, showing how utterly uncool they are. I'd cry if I had nothing better than this to do on a weekend.

PS: The only thing worth a line like that is the St. Nicholas Cookie Walk!

Anonymous said...

I don't get buying merch just to say/show you have merch. It's some street cred bs. But then there are likely a crap ton of people in this line just waiting to sell it online.

The whole thing is dumb, but they are pleasant enough out there - quiet lines, no mess. I'm across street watching from my window as i work for the last 2 days and other than the stupidity of it all, it's fine. ;)

VH McKenzie said...

I know of a local East Village "artist" who has jumped on this bandwagon HARD but his work is just godawful.

Worse, he primarily just grabs images off the internet, makes a few airbrush marks over them (or slaps on a "beanie" like the board ape wears) and puts them all up as his own work as NFTs.

Anonymous said...

This new "art" leaves a lot to be desired. I mean, now their just selling merch to say they missed out on the NFTs ($300 a GIF???) and people are eating that up? Kinda like a YMO (You Missed Out) club? Is that a thing too? Also, why do you need a physical store to sell a digital thing? In ten minutes this will all be over.

Anonymous said...

Is anyone selling NFTs of Beanie Babies yet?