The story behind the removal of this piece of art:

In February of 1999, a huge collaborative mural was painted on the north-facing wall of a thrift store off of Lankershim in North Hollywood. Permission was obtained by me and a young kid by the name of Miguel Angel who had initially found the wall. The wall itself had been plagued with gang graffiti for years. Ugly green stencil vines and leaves attempted to hide the scrawlings. We spoke to the manager and we told him our idea, he was all for it and said he would tell the owner. He finally got back to us and stated that they were willing to let us do it as long as we didn't charge anything. In turn, we had artistic freedom to paint whatever we desired. So just in time for the B-Boy Summit, we gathered together some of the most talented artists in the scene and rocked the entire wall in about two days. The wall was about 100 feet long and about 15 feet tall. Everyone in the community really loved it. People stopped by and took pictures of the mural and congratulated us on the work.

About two months later 5 of us returned to paint the opposite side of the building which faced south. Ironically, it was adjacent to a lingerie shop across the street from a strip joint. We completed that wall in a couple of days as well. About a month later I returned to see if we could paint the back wall as well. The manager said that city officials had dropped by to inquire about the mural. They claimed "official" permission was never granted by the city and it would need to be removed. The manager got upset and told them the wall had stopped the tagging on his building and the surrounding neighborhood and he was not about to destroy it. Within weeks they returned with an alleged petition from the community in favor of destroying the mural. The store was threatened with a fine if they did not oblige. So with regret they agreed.

The mural was whitewashed and destroyed. I was never notified directly by the city nor its officials, although they had been given my business card by the manager. We chalked it up as another injustice of many which we have experienced over the years. At least we had pictures and memories which will last a lifetime. As for the wall, gang graffiti continues to bombard the wall daily and the city comes out and sprays over it every once and a while. Life goes on.

By Man One

Click on the thumbnails below to see larger versions:

"Valley of the Giants" South wall: --Asyl’m, Vyal, Man One, Sacred, Midzt.

"West Meets East" North wall: --Man One, PoseII (NY), Pyro, Cope (NY), Mear, Virus (Canada), Vyal, Kofie, Asyl’m.