Enclave!

It's been a while since I've visited the street-art enclave (I don't know what else to call it!) on 1st, between Battery & Wall. The last time I actually noticed, the huge "Welcome to Belltown" wall had gotten "Zebbed." Yeah, that guy was such a egocentric dumbass that even legitimate street art was fair game for his scrawls. Anyhow, that's fixed and things have been added. Here is a sampling:





OK, the hot-dog people aren't new. I just like them. Stop by and have a look.

Speaking of Graffiti...

I want more like this, please:

It's from the firehouse (currently under renovation) at 4th & Battery.

Belltown's Street Art Enclave

OK, it's a parking lot - more specifically, the parking lot between the community center (formerly the Underground) and the Cyclops/Ace Hotel/Kuhlman building. Over the last year, it has evolved into an interesting venue for street art. Some of the best pieces have been added in just that last few months.

The site itself, on 1st between Battery & Wall, doesn't attract much attention unless you're practically on top of it. I eventually discovered it, but not after walking past it about 100 times. Yeah, I'm not the most observant of people. Once you walk down the stairs, you find yourself in a different world from the street and sidewalk above:



There are larger pieces like this, as well as Banksy-esque stenciling in smaller areas:




There's even a contribution from Bill Hinker, who painted room #306 at the fantastic City Hostel just a block away:

As you can see, Hinker is known for painting hot dog people.

The wall of the Cyclops/Ace Hotel/Kuhlman building hosts just one work. It's quite huge and impressive:


I'm not sure what the connection between King Kong and Belltown is, but does there need to be one?

In addition to those works, there's also some elaborate tagging. I'm not a fan, but you can't deny that unlike most tagging, there's a certain amount of skill involved:



This impromptu gallery is a great idea, but it's currently running out of space. It would be great to have other walls in the neighborhood allow this kind of decoration. Although these creations are known generically as "graffiti art," you notice the complete absence of scrawls by dumbass taggers. That's because these kinds of works command respect. The wall of Vain at 1st & Lenora also spurns taggers with its mere presence. I'd like to see more of these walls around here.

Here's a Cool, New Thing!

I was walking along 1st Ave. last week just like a normal citizen when something new and colorful caught my eye. It was in this parking enclosure between Battery & Wall, and it looked like this:

Very big and nice, isn't it? The only problem is that it's not all that visible tucked away like it is. You can see it if you're walking by on the west side of the street, but it's very tough to see otherwise. Funny thing, though, it wasn't quite finished. I passed by today and found that a giant, angry gorilla had been added, like so:

And so:

Yeah, ever neater, I say. Let's not waste our time speculating about why a giant, angry gorilla would be welcoming you to Belltown. Let's just appreciate it for being cool. Thanks, whoever painted this, it's a nice addition to the neighborhood!

And speaking of that, you can check out a variety of other good stuff (and very little tagging) at that little parking lot. If you look at the Google Maps shot of it from last year, you'll notice that nothing's there. That's not true any more. Go check it out. Like I said, there's some very worthwhile stuff there, like this:

I'll Have Flies with That!

A while back, I discovered this nice bit of figurative graffiti along 1st Avenue. At the time, I deemed it "very Banksy" or some such and welcomed it to the neighborhood. Well, it turns out that the fly-guy wasn't finished. I found this pair behind Buckley's on Battery St., between 1st & 2nd. Observe:


So it appears that they're from the same stencil - only they were applied with a lot less skill. It doesn't matter. It's still my kind of graffiti. I mean, I much prefer this to people's names or initials. And fly-guy, while you're at it, could you maybe do up a monkey stencil. I wouldn't mind seeing monkeys around Belltown. That would be awesome. Thanks.

1st & Lenora: A Tale of Two Walls

Today we turn our attention to Belltown's only (to my knowledge) fully-sanctioned graffiti wall and it's non-sanctioned challenger. Both occupy opposite sides of the same parking lot at 1st & Lenora. Observe:

The sanctioned wall belongs to Vain, a hair salon located in the building that used to house the Vogue, back when it was a goth-magnet. It closed down in the nineties and moved up to Capital Hill. I haven't seen a goth in Belltown for at least 10 years. Anyhow, they have a fairly extensive graffiti wall:



Pretty flashy stuff, no? Actually, I'm indifferent-to-mildly-hostile to the illegible lettering, but I am pretty partial to the Secret Squirrel and Morocco Mole renderings. They're not bad and the people who contributed to it aren't without ability. So yeah, it's not all terrible. Obviously, somebody took some inspiration from this and felt the need to show the Vain wall what he was made of - and chose the opposite wall to make himself known:

Wow, way to express yourself in an urban environment, dumbass! What's that you say, it's not finished? I'm pretty sure it would look even worse then. Whoever did this has no business wielding a spray can. Dude, someone of your ability shouldn't venture outside of tagging dumpsters. Take lessons or something, willya? Somebody please paint over this!

Good Graffiti of the Week

I never thought that this would become a regular feature, but I'm finding more worthwhile stuff in my circuits around this rotten neighborhood. A few days ago, I was just walking around, when I saw this on the west side of 1st Ave., halfway between Bell & Battery:

It was nice to find this. Yeah, it's very Banksy, but without the relevant social commentary. It's just a giant fly on a concrete apron above the entrance to the Battery Street Tunnel. More like this, please.

Good (for once) Graffiti of the Week!

Look, I don't consider all graffiti to be visual noise. A very small amount of it is actually quite good. Observe:

This is part of a graffiti wall of sorts along 1st, between Wall & Battery. I quite like this. Sure, it's only a matter of time till talent-free, dumbass taggers scrawl all over it, so I thought I'd feature it now.