In previous posts about Street Art I’ve shown you London, Detroit, and San Fransico Street Art. Today I’m thrilled to write this post about New York Street Art. Why? Mostly because I’ve waited my entire life to be in New York. When I first got into street art, I started looking at taggers and graffiti. While it’s a part of street art, it’s not the whole concept. Street art can be anything. From a series of crumpled papers to a building in the lower east side. I love everything about New York including Street Art. Here we go.
Train Street Art
I’m staying in Newark, NJ. We’re here because my Girlfriend got a job at Boxed.com. They flew her out here for training. I tagged along. To be fair, I’m not going to pass on a trip to New York. Eff that noise. This morning we were picked up and taken to the Elizabeth Station in New Jersey. We bought a 3506 train ticket and hoped on.
The best story I can tell you from this train ride has less to do with street art and more about the guy who punches tickets. He looked like the younger twin of Seth Rogen. Imagine a younger Seth Rogen as a train ticket puncher person. As he walked closer towards us, I got my ticket ready for him. The train has people walking the cars and taking tickets. They take your ticket and give you anther one with punches in it. They also place the new ticket on top of the seat in front of you.
Since it was my time on this train, I removed the ticket from the seat. I was curious. Within seconds, Seth Rogen’s younger twin asked me to place the ticket back in the ticket holder. As I went to take a picture of it, he removed the card. That was that.
The rest of the train ride was rather dull.
Pennsylvania Station
I’m proud to announce my very first New York Train Station is Penn Station. Meaning when I crossed into New York, Penn Station is the first station I set foot in. I don’t know why it means so much to me. However, I’ll be prepared with an answer should anyone ask me “What was your first New York Train Station”?
Train stations are so cool. They are mostly loud and shaking. At the same time, you can put those noises off to the side and see the real beauty of each station.
I look at the tiles on the walls. Each tile could tell a story and we’d have some really cool coffee table books.
We spent maybe 10 minutes in Penn Station. So I didn’t get to take many pictures. I’ll leave you with these.
New York Street Art, Finally
Now it’s time for my favorite part of this post. The street art. I’ve said this many times and I’ll continue to say it. Most street art exists in photographs. Most cities will remove graffiti and street art once discovered. It usually get’s covered up or broken up and destroyed. It’s sad really. New York is full of street art and it’s one of the cities in America that fights to preserve its art.
I’ve waited a lifetime to see real American Street Art in New York. As it’s my first time in New York, I wasn’t willing to miss the opportunity of a lifetime. During my walks between Starbucks shops, I snapped pictures of everything I saw. Didn’t matter what it was. If I saw street art, I took a picture. Some of the photos were taken in China town. Some were taken inside a park. Some were taken randomly. I hope you enjoy these.
