Holiday tree hovel welcomed to the neighborhood

An addition to the holiday tree hovel a day after it arrived here outside St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery...

...and still no trees...

[EVG Flashback] Vandals continue to violate the sanctity of the "East Village is dead" mural

Originally posted on Nov. 18, 2009 ...






Oh, wait....

[EVG Flashback] An EV Grieve investigative report: In search of the Penistrator

Originally posted on Jan. 20, 2009...

In cooperation with the National Weather Service, we arranged for it to snow this past weekend. Why? We were hoping to capture the increasingly notorious Penistrator, a brazen snowffiti artist who is leaving his (or her? Nah) mark on unsuspecting cars throughout the neighborhood. We hired a profiler to help us in the case. His thoughts: "Based on scant evidence, keep on the lookout for what is likely a white male, Floridian, football fan, in his 20s who may be resentful of the fact that he doesn't have his car in the city."

And so, with the snowfall Saturday night, we began the quest. On first watch we saw a suspicious-looking figure lurking near the site of the original snowffiti on Seventh Street near Avenue B...



Having been spotted, he beat a retreat. The cars were left unmolested. But for how long?






Until Sunday night ... when we arranged for another 1-2 inches of snow to fall on the area. Given our profiler's belief that the Penistrator is a football fan, we also arranged for two high-profile NFL games to be played Sunday.

This combination of snow, football and, possibly, large amounts of alcohol, was all the Penistrator needed... as you can see from this wide path of penistruction on 13th Street that stretches from Third Avenue all the way to Avenue B.






Another clue: An Eagles fan?




And is he adding a new body part to his repertoire?



With the Super Bowl and more snow on the horizon...there's every reason to think this will continue...

New Subway gets a welcome on Avenue B

And we expect the Grand Opening very soon.

What happens when you tag Pete Wentz's Angels and Kings

There was a rapid and heavy police response last evening on 11th Street just east of Avenue A... Bob Arihood was on the scene, and took these photos shortly after 6:30. There were reports of a fight on the corner.

As witnesses told Bob, police had arrested a young man in his 20s. Witnesses said that he tagged the rolldown gate at Angels & Kings.

An owner/manager type from the bar came outside and ran after the tagger, who had a bicycle. But he didn't get far.

Is all this response (I count 12 officers and detectives in the above photo) really necessary to apprehend a kid with a can of spray paint ... especially outside a bar that describes itself as having a "rock and roll atmosphere"?

[And be sure to see more of Bob's work at Nadie Se Conoce]

Warming up to RCN's blue wall on Avenue C

Last Tuesday, we pointed out that the first tags had appeared on the RCN building on Avenue C at Sixth Street since workers painted over Chico's murals last November...

And now... a few more appear...

Verizon doesn't allow murals on its buildings — except for in Southern California

Earlier we posted an item about Verizon's ongoing battle with graffiti on their Second Avenue building... Perhaps a local artist like Chico could create a mural here? But! A Verizon spokesperson told DNAinfo, "We typically do not permit murals to be painted on our buildings" ... adding that the company will continue to paint over the graffiti as it goes up.

As EV Grieve reader T.E.V.B. pointed out in a Long Beach, Calif. newspaper... the article, titled Mural Brightens Verizon Wall, highlights the work of Long Beach-based muralist Roy Herweck.

Anyway, as for the Verizon wall on 13th Street, T.E.V.B. said, "A community mural there is a great idea."

[Image via]

Verizon brass content to keep battling graffiti artists on 13th Street

We've been documenting the battle for the brown wall here at the Verizon building on 13th Street at Second Avenue... (Previously.)

At DNAinfo, Patrick Hedlund checks in with the Verizon folks to see what the next steps are.

"We'll try to clean it off, and the next thing you know…" said Verizon employee Sam Ashraf, who manages the phone company's retail store in the building. "It just looks bad."

The NYPD's 9th Precinct has observed the building for years, even sending undercover officers to stake out the site and making numerous arrests, said Det. Jaime Hernandez, a 22-year-old veteran of the neighborhood.

To deal with the graffiti scourge, Hernandez suggested that Verizon bring in a muralist to paint the wall, noting that street art rarely gets run over by vandals because of the respect given to the work.

However, a Verizon spokesperson said that they don't allow murals to be painted on their buildings, and that they'd simply continue to paint over any new graffiti.

Sounds good coming from the company HQ. But what about the people on the ground here?

Ashraf told Hedlund that he's tired of seeing the eyesore each day on his way to work.

"It's miserable," he said. "But it's New York."

You can't keep a good wall brown

Just keeping tabs on the ongoing battle for the wall here at the Verizon building on 13th Street at Second Avenue... Previously.

Goodbye yellow brick wall with graffiti....

Here on the sushi place on St Mark's Place at Avenue A....

Before!



Now!

And look who just had a photo shoot here.

Fresh tags (and Four Loko) on the Verizon building

Well, things have been quiet along the 13th Street wall of the Verizon building at Second Avenue ... until now... EV Grieve reader ~evilnyc passes along photos of fresh tags here...



In this photo, a fellow had passed out leaning against the wall... a precious can of Four Loko by his side...



Previously on EV Grieve:
First tag reappears on the Verizon building

Brownout: Verizon building graffiti painted over

Verizon is going to blow the budget on brown paint

Scharf Attack: Deitch Wall tagged

Billy Leroy, proprietor of Billy's Antique's, passes along these photos ... noting that the Kenny Scharf mural on Houston and The Bowery has been hit...

Updated: Sorry... missed that Animal NY already had this... See their photos here.

2 Cooper Square now officially welcomed to the neighborhood

First tag appeared sometime Saturday night.

Plus! Branding...

Noted

An EV Grieve reader passes along some pointed restroom graffiti from an undisclosed East Village restaurant.

Rag and Bone is tired of bad graffiti

Rag and Bone, which took over the former Cafe Colonial on Houston and Elizabeth, is now looking for a design for its outside wall on the southeast corner...





BoweryBoogie noted the wall had been tagged with the ever-present "You would" back in August...

The wall looked like this back in May when the Colonial said goodbye...



Personally, I like the spontaneity of street art ...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Cafe Colonial owner says Pulino's opening helped triple her rent

Future of 276 Elizabeth apparently doesn't include the Cafe Colonial

Jim Joe reaches new heights

We used to seeing graffiti writer Jim Joe's mark at street... like in this shot from EV Grieve reader Andrew....



...or...



Anyway, I'm not sure how long this has been up here... but I just noticed it the other day. I was standing across from 7B on Avenue B... and looked up...