In Lower Manhattan, at the corner of Broad Street and South Street, is a wall about six feet high that faces out to New York Harbor. It's part of the office complex of 125 Broad Street. The wall is being repaired, and as the white facing material is being removed, we can now see a silvery, fiberglass-like building material that is covered with graffiti -- actually "scratchitti" -- from 1976.
On July 4, 1976, bicentennial day, as thousands of people crowded to watch the tall ships in the harbor, some of them, most likely teenagers, were carving hearts, names, zodiac signs, phone numbers, and messages.
"Grace + David," "Sophia 'N Harvey," "Happy Birthday America," "July 4, 1976," "I Love My Mother," "Diane '76," "Gerald Ford, Op Sail and Queen Liz Were Here."
It had all been covered up for 37 years, and once again, it is seeing the light of day, for a limited time.
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Left my gut everywhere I went that day, drinking beer can after beer can, ended up on Hudson River looking at the fireworks above NYC. Hundreds of thousands of people and everyone drinking beer, smoking dope, yelling, screaming and having a great time. That day was great, unfortunately I never scratched my name upon a wall, those things never stay up very long. How little did I know? Great job but it probably won't be preserved.
ReplyDeleteWhen you tour at Ellis Island there is some old preserved graffiti the immigrants doodled while waiting in long lines. It included pictures of birds and such. Pretty cool to see!
ReplyDeleteIt's like a time capsule! I love it! It's interesting to see the style of graffiti and how it has evolved over the years.
ReplyDeleteThis needs to be removed and set up somewhere as a permanent memorial to a better time.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this! I checked it out on my lunchtime walk around the block today. It's a really nifty piece of history.
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