Nolita Street Art: Lafayette Street between Houston and Prince

To celebrate Game of Thrones returning for season 6, I thought I would cover 10 blocks simultaneously, while juggling dozens of storylines back and forth. Also I'll make sure to have someone die, someone be tortured, and someone get naked. Then after that--

Actually never mind, that all seems like a lot of work. Plus I don't have the budget for it. Instead I'll look at one block, but it's an interesting block. Really. Maybe a dragon will even make an appearance at some point (it won't).

This block is in the Nolita neighborhood, and right at the corner of Lafayette and Houston is the first of several works of street art. This one is on the sidewalk for thousands of people to hurriedly walk past at this busy intersection.

The Oraculo Project is by an anonymous Brazilian artist, who has also done street art in London and Brazil. In March 2016 he put blindfolds on statues throughout Rio de Janeiro as a general protest against corruption in the country. 

Since the message on Lafayette Street is at such a bustling corner, I would consider it a great achievement if he got even one or two people to stop, appreciate, and smile. But it's certainly worth a shot. By the way, oraculo is Portuguese for oracle.

Also at the Lafayette/Houston Street corner (the 'ou' in Houston is pronounced like 'house,' not like Houston, Texas) is the Puck Building:

It dates back to the late 19th century and these days is occupied by NYU and also some businesses like REI, which sells outdoor gear, and the restaurant 'Chefs Club by Food & Wine,' which features the Best New Chefs from Food & Wine magazine. 

The building has two exterior gilded statues of Puck, a figure in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream which was based on a character from English mythology also called Puck. One of the statues is above an entrance on Lafayette Street:

The opposite corner has been a gas station for a long time and seems to be under renovation. Since this is such a busy intersection, there are many large, unavoidable billboards all around it.

Just next to the gas station is artwork by the talented Dasic Fernandez, whose pieces I have noted in previous posts in Chelsea and the East Village. 

Unfortunately some people did annoying scribbles over parts of it, but it's still largely intact. I love how vivid and intensely colorful his works are. 

This site was recently a pop-up store for Swiss Water, which sells decaf coffee. Along with decorating the outside of the building, Fernandez was one of several artists to create paintings for Swiss Water which were donated to the non-profit Grounds for Health. 

In fact, Fernandez worked on both ends of the building, which runs across to Crosby Street. Here is his work on that side:

Our block is intersected along the way by a small side street called Jersey Street. Here is a look down that street to the west:

And here's Jersey Street to the east, which has the Mulberry Street branch of the New York Public Library. It was also the first block I ever wrote about for this blog. Ah, the good old days.

Continuing south past the Jersey Street crossing, there is a tribute to David Bowie by the street artist Goldloxe.

Many people have written messages on it to honor and remember David Bowie. 

Just next door is Alternative Apparel, an eco-friendly clothing company, although the store seems to be temporarily closed. They held a contest to have an artist's work appear on their stairs leading to the entrance, and the winner was Shona Neary with a work inspired by nature and the subway:

Also on this side of the block, actually closer to Jersey Street, is an Italian cosmetics store with old-school roots called Santa Maria Novella. How old-school? The company's website says they go back to when an Italian monk opened a pharmacy in 1612, and in fact even earlier to the 13th century when a monastery was started outside Florence by Domenican friars and they began experimenting with ingredients and recipes. Okay, I admit that's pretty old. 

There are several other shops along both sides of the block, especially as it approaches Prince Street. Most of them are clothing stores, as this is a big shopping area of downtown Manhattan. Here are a few photos:

As a Mets fan, I don't feel inclined to use Atlanta Peach Movers if they're the official movers of the Atlanta Braves. Did they just do a big move from Atlanta to New York? If that's a New York-based truck then I don't understand their advertising strategy.

On the west side of the Prince Street intersection, here's a look east, and then south further along Lafayette Street. 

Back near Houston Street there was a nice small plot with a tree and colorful flowers. 

I wish more of the block was like that. Oh well, it's still a nice street with some good art on it these days. I hope you enjoyed this look at it.

LinkNYC and Chelsea street art: 8th Avenue between 20th and 21st Street

This block in the Chelsea neighborhood is bookended on either side by street art. At 20th Street is a piece by Dasic Fernandez, whose work I previously came across at St. Mark's between 1st Avenue and Avenue A in the East Village. Here is his art on this Chelsea block:

You can see how talented he is. On his Instagram account he posted a photo of this work about 17 weeks ago, so I'm assuming he did it around that time. 

On the 21st Street side of our block is this work by Case Maclaim, an artist from Frankfurt, Germany:

His real name is Andreas von Chrzanowski. On his Instagram account he posted a photo of this work 28 weeks ago and wrote:

case_maclaimthey make you walk | they make you stumble | they make you fall

My first Manhattan wall is brought to you by the Bushwickcollective. Thank you so much @thebushwickcollective and @montanacans @montanacans_usa for all the love and support #thisfamilyofmineisgettingbiggerandbigger #bushwickcollective #montanacans #chelsea #manhattan #streetart #nyc #case_maclaim #powerofmovement

That was a lot of hashtags. He thanks the Bushwick Collective, which was also mentioned in the previous Dasic Fernandez work that I saw in the East Village. 

It's nice to be able to just walk around and see great art on the streets that is thoughtful and interesting to look at. 

This block also features a Link, which is part of a city kiosk program that has been replacing payphones in the city starting in January 2016:

Each LinkNYC kiosk includes Wi-Fi internet, USB phone charging, internet browsing, and phone service to anywhere in the country, all for free. At the top of the kiosk it says 'beta,' indicating that the program is at an early phase where people can use them and provide feedback. 

The city's website for LinkNYC says that they plan to install over 7,500 of them throughout the 5 boroughs during "the next several years." That would be very cool and I hope the program works, it seems like it would make the city more hi-tech and improve quality of life. They are completely paid for through advertising. 

Here's the area on the side of the kiosk that offers the services I mentioned and others:

Here's me successfully charging my phone:

I also tried browsing the internet and it worked very well.

Near this kiosk, on a little area between the bike path and street, is a patch of land with a nice tree and flowers:

Every little bit of nature in the city helps.  

There are two 'adult entertainment' stores on the block, which seem left over from previous, seedier decades in the city. 

And for balance there is also a Salvation Army thrift store on the block. One entrance is only for donations, and the other is for store browsing and whatnot.

Of course this wouldn't be a New York City block without several food options. What are you in the mood for? Italian? Thai? Mexican?

You can see that the Mexican restaurant, Temerario, shares a wall with the Dasic Fernandez artwork.

If you haven't found the right type of cuisine yet, the other side of the street has Chinese food, pizza, and a grocery store.

Oh, and a diner type of place called The Dish.

There are also some nice buildings on the block that have the look of classic New York apartments:

I think that wraps it up from this Chelsea block. I enjoyed the street art and learning about the LinkNYC program, which I hope will be a big success.

P.S. - Here are a couple of examples of the political mood that has come over much of New York in the lead-up to the primary votes. The focus in much of lower Manhattan will naturally tend towards the Democratic side, first in this Hillary Clinton-inspired car I saw parked on 7th Avenue at West 11th Street:

The Hill Car was decorated by the Bisbee, Arizona artist Gretchen Baer, originally for the 2008 election season. 

You may be able to see the phrase Border Bedazzlers in the above photo, which is another project that Baer is involved in, where people go to the Mexico side of the U.S.-Mexico border wall and paint and decorate it to bring people together and beautify the otherwise drab-looking wall. 

Here's a look at the front of the car:

This past Saturday afternoon I was near Astor Place and came across a pro-Bernie Sanders rally marching up Lafayette Street and eventually making its way to Union Square at 14th Street. 

Here were some marchers near Astor Place:

Then in between Astor Place and Union Square on 4th Avenue:

And then after they turned left at 14th Street and were walking to Union Square:

I suppose all the political fervor will die down a bit after the primary voting, at least until the general election heats up in the fall, that is.