5 points has a bunch of cool murals on it now.

I get that painting over the tunnel sucks, but it might have been for a practical purpose. Those walls might have been molding

I haven't been back by 5 Pointz since I graduated, but I'll have to go back to check out the murals - do you know if you can see them from the train or do I need to get off at the stop and walk over?

You can see them from the train! They're right at eye level. I live right across the street and see them from my balcony. They're pretty cool. They also commissioned graffiti artists to paint all of the fire staircases in the building.

weekend plans!!

Wave at me from the 7. I'll probably be watching tv

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They've done this at 191st before. It upsets me too, but it likely won't be long before the artists reclaim it again.

Maybe an unwanted opinion but I will share anyway.

Many people, including plenty of life-long New Yorkers associate graffiti with criminal activity and violence as it is the hallmark of an abandoned building, or neighborhood where criminals feel safe.

They will fail to see any artistic or historic beauty in tagged walls, only that this place looks like a likely location where you can expected to be mugged or shot. The needles, urine smell, trash and derelicts around will not help matters.

Further, as people grow up and adopt an ownership or community mentality (starting a garden, purchase of a bike, car, hone or condo or even start a family) any perceived nostalgia for graffiti tends to evaporate when it is around what you consider to be ‘yours’

You don’t want to lock up you bike, park your car or walk your dog or have any member of your family in such an area that resembles a slum because you care about how it looks not just to yourself and your local friends but to family and guests.

So, I gave my 2 cents. Downvote away, or perhaps comment or I don’t know, maybe reply with some decent counterpoints.

Looks like some tags are already back https://www.reddit.com/r/nyc/comments/10jkiiw/191st_tunnel_getting_its_colors_back/

That was fast! It was still blank when I came home Saturday night but I haven’t seen it since. Excited to check it out tomorrow.

I was amazed the first time I walked through that tunnel. I wish I’d taken more pics and videos.

I agree with the sentiment…fuck the buff!

Its a criminal act to vandalize property that is not yours. If you liked it so much then invite people to do it in your apartment or on your car.

Excited to see what exactly? Some tags that look like a child made? The video is right there.. it looks like shit, and if the thought of “getting to see” that IRL gets you excited maybe consider getting a life and learn to appreciate beauty not these god awful graffiti tags. Ugh

Excited to not see the tunnel I use every single day to go to and from work look like the inside of a solitary confinement cell

As someone who may or may not have dabbled in street art, lol. The complaints are of the pieces that are now gone but ignore that those pieces had been defaced with crappy scribbled tags for ages. Ruined art is a mess and it gets messier. There no curating that tunnel.

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The problem is when the moron taggers write over the truly artistic pieces then it spirals into a mess. We can’t have nice things because there are morons amongst us. And the misguided protestors will think the community supported the mess when they loved the murals. Dysfunctional loop there.

Art or vandalism?

Agree it also attracts and encourages more inconsiderate teens and adults to come vandalize but to selfishly expand to personal property and business. So people just trying to get by are forced to waste time and money cleaning up after selfish kids.

Good. It looked like shit and most people in the city associate grafotti with crime and danger. Let's keep it up

I live in the neighborhood, and I would always compare it to the other tunnel off broadway to the A train. That tunnel is always much cleaner and they keep it buffed... and it looks like a nazi bunker.

It wasn't just graffiti/tags, the designated murals underneath were really good. For me 'ownership' means having some visuals to break up an otherwise long somewhat creepy walk through a tunnel.

Edit: Somehow the beige paint feels like another slight in a long list of disinvestment in this area. They took something away and gave nothing back, much like the nearby Amelia Gorman Park that the city chained up 5+ years ago and has never repaired.

Why don't they tag their own shit instead of other people's buildings or community spaces?

most of these tags are toy shit anyway. i used to write when i was young but once i had to be responsible for cleaning up shit on my block you get over it fast.

and i dont know why anyone expected 5 pointz to stay that way forever. y'all real selective on what change for the city is okay or not.

Where have you been? This has been all over NYC related subreddits...

Bc is more fun to ruin someone else's property

/s

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The 5 Pointz factory was torn down in 2014 and replaced with 2 high-rise towers of luxury rentals (complete 2021 I think). The developers named it “5PointzLIC” for name recognition/marketing. They planned to have graffiti in the reception and designated area/s on the facade. Regardless, it’s nothing like the graffiti covered factory.

The tunnel had commissioned art that got tagged. Now it has beige walls and tags.

People have been tagging shit for thousands of years. Plenty of examples from Ancient Rome (recovered walls from Pompeii, for example). Seems to be a thing some humans just like to do.

In modern times, they can by a board from a hardware store and make artwork to put in their room.

Ancient Romans had walls in their home to scratch on. Point is, this is a thing some humans do, it has nothing to do with the time. ETA I don’t like tagging since that wasn’t clear.

If I remember my art history, 'grafitti' was specifically political messages written on walls in public spaces like the Roman Forum. I'm not so sure it would make sense for it to appear in people's residences.

We use the term now metaphorically to cover spray paint tags that are self-aggrandizing.

Self-aggrandizing graffiti is not new.

I’d encourage you to look into the long-standing practice, it’s fascinating. This article has some insight in what was found in Pompeii—https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/03/adrienne-was-here/475719/. Pompeii is such a great source because it was frozen in time; samples weren’t selected and passed down. The trashy bits remain.