Dump

If you've lived in the East Village for any length of time, you will surely know that The Shadow is "New York's ONLY underground newspaper"!

They don't have a regular publishing schedule, but you always know when a new edition is available because you'll see one of their stickers on a scaffolding pole or something, like these that I saw recently, outside the beloved Alphabet City Deli & Grill on Avenue C:

The Shadow stickers.

Those two were pretty unscathed, which is not the case of this one, a few short steps away:

Scathed.

Since The Shadow is underground, it's not easy to find a copy. Fortunately, I know a guy, who knows a guy… so I can get one without much difficulty.

Would you expect anything less?!

#eastvillage #avenuec #stickers #theshadow #alphabetcitydeligrill #scaffolding

Interesting Trash

It's sort of funny that the people at Neighborhood Square objected to my trash pictures — I was all ready to embark on a new series called "Interesting things in trash cans"!

These pictures from last Sunday show interesting things outside of trash cans, but it's a start!

This first one is from Avenue A and East 11th Street. It's a volleyball.

Volleyball.

This plastic snow shovel and stuffed animal are on Avenue A and East 9th Street:

Plastic snow shovel and stuffed animal.

If you look closely at the trash can, and the lamp post, you'll see two stickers that are very similar:

Similar sticker 1.

Similar sticker 2.

Two different stickers, the first one die-cut with bleed — clearly this fellow is serious about spreading the good news of wallak love!

This next picture is from a block away, on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place. It's an abandoned television set.

Abandoned television set.

As a commenter on Instagram wrote: Someone hung on to that TV way too long!

Only when you get over to Avenue C does the trash begin to resemble trash again:

Real trash.

The more I think about it, the more I think the series should be: Interesting things in and around trash cans!

Maybe… they don't even have to be interesting!

#eastvillage #11thstreet #9thstreet #abandonedtelevisions #avenuea #snowshovels #stmarksplace #stickers #stuffedanimals #trash #trashcans #volleyballs

Another Story About Callboxes

Speaking of Second Avenue call boxes, I saw this recent addition to the call box on Second Avenue and East 9th Street:

Recent addition.

Now, not only can you call the Police, you can call SAEY SMER!

You see that KATSU at the top? Apparently, these two work in tandem, as seen from this Instagram picture:

Instagram picture.

Last night, a new sign, announcing the opening of the beloved Famous Cutz joined the fray:

Joining the fray.

Its hard to imagine the East Village without our call boxes!

#eastvillage #call boxes #stickers #secondavenue #9thstreet #graffiti #famouscutz #saeysmer #katsu

Visitor Ralph

The East Village is full of murals. Here is one by Shepard Fairey, on First Avenue, above the formerly-beloved Schnitz:

Shepard Fairey mural.

But it wasn't the mural that caught my eye, while walking down the avenue — it was this Visitor sticker below the mural:

Visitor Ralph.

We hope you had a good visit — come again soon, Ralph!

#eastvillage #firstavenue #kerning #murals #schnitz #shepardfairey #stickers #visitorralph

Defacement

If you walk around the East Village as much as I do, you begin to notice things. One of the things you notice is that some signs attract stickers and graffiti, and others don't!

Here are some signs (and a trash can, and a counter, and a pizza warming unit), that do attract defacement, at the beloved 2 Bros. Pizza on St. Mark's Place:

Defaced signs and stuff.

The stickers and graffiti are part of the 2 Bros. Pizza experience… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #2brospizza #signs #stmarksplace #stickers #trashcans

Graffiti Stickers

A recent comment on the Soul Stealer sticker prompted me to write about the graffiti-sticker mecca, on East 4th Street:

Graffiti-sticker mecca.

Here is something of a close-up:

Something of a closeup.

I first wrote about this place back in November 2014, when it looked like this:

Sticker-free.

It's the beloved welding studio of a guy named Matthew something. It's Italian. Vanzetti, or something like that. I told myself to write it down, when he told me, but I didn't listen, and now I don't remember!

He's a good guy — he did the ornamental welding for the restaurants on the block, and he teaches young people construction skills. They repay him by putting graffiti stickers on his door — it's a fair trade!

So stop and talk to him if you see him — he'll talk your ear off… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #4thstreet #graffiti #matthew #mecca #stickers #welding

Soul Stealing

Ask any superstitious East Villager and they'll tell you: Taking someone's picture steals their soul!

This is why these warnings have begun to appear in the neighborhood:

Eric LaCour Steals Souls.

As you can see here, he's had some success!

#eastvillage #ericlacour #stickers #lampposts #souls #photographers