Top photo from the EVG archives
The 10-year-old commemorative plaque honoring Jean-Michel Basquiat outside his former home on Great Jones Street has disappeared — apparently stolen from the building's facade.
The photo below is from Saturday morning...
The plaque was first noticed missing on Tuesday... (the newly-installed plastic drawing plaque by @modomatter was always snatched). 
The Greenwich Village Society of Historical Preservation (now Village Preservation), in partnership with Two Boots Pizza, placed the marker here in July 2016.
Andrew Berman, executive director of Village Preservation, confirmed the loss at the two-level building between the Bowery and Lafayette. Public records list Mond Design Associates as the owners. (Angelina Jolie's Atelier Jolie is the retail tenant.)
"We have been in touch with the owner about it. It does appear it was stolen — another in an ongoing rash of stolen bronze plaques in our neighborhood," said Berman.
The plaque has attracted attention in the past, such as in 2023 and 2024, when someone rolled over the whole building with pink paint.
Berman said they are considering replacement options and new materials that are less attractive to thieves.
"We've begun using terra cotta plaques — which look as nice if not better than the bronze ones — which have little or no appeal to thieves due to the lack of any resale value. So far, they have all remained untouched. We are discussing replacement possibilities with the owner," Berman said. "These are not cheap. We are raising funds to be able to replace these and other stolen plaques in the neighborhood, as well as to do all our other work."
The building's façade has served as an impromptu memorial to Basquiat over the years. The artist lived and worked there from 1983 until his death in 1988 at age 27.
Read more about the building's history at Village Preservation.
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