Category Archives: Los Angeles

on the sidewalks of LA

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Look down.

Sidewalk graffiti; sidewalk stencils.

All photos taken in the Arts District of Los Angeles

below: “Catch your life” on a Pokemon ball

black paint with stencil graffiti on a sidewalk

below: Life, and metamorphosis

black paint with stencil graffiti on a sidewalk - a person with large butterfly wings and the word "life"

below: Stikman is in LA too!

black paint with stencil graffiti on a sidewalk - stickman (or maybe stikman)

below: Not me? and a little moneybags mouse

black paint with stencil graffiti on a sidewalk - two creatures, one a big blob man-like creature with the words 'not me' written on his chest, the other a small black hatted man carrying a large moneybag

below: “Paint here and here”

black paint with stencil graffiti on a sidewalk - words that say 'paint here and here' but there is a large space between each word

below: Say Yes!

black paint with stencil graffiti on a sidewalk - large block letters that say "say yes'

below: Smile for the ego

black paint with stencil graffiti on a sidewalk - a female robot holding a cameraphone and taking a selfie. The words say 'smile for your ego'

below: Buy the Lie

black paint with stencil graffiti on a sidewalk - person with long hair, a cowboy hat, sunglasses and a bandana covering face from nose down.

Photos taken in 2015

The Container Yard

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 800 East 4th Street, Los Angeles

below: A portrait of Andy Warhol beside Desire, Obtain, and Cherish

A large building with 3 large garage doors. Each door has a word painted on it, desire, obtain, cherish. A large street art painting surrounds the words - swirls and stars. Part of the side of the building also has street art - a large black and white painting of Andy Warhol.

below: I love LA!

colourful tags, or parts of tags, with two coffee mug shapes with faces, one white and one orange. The orange one is sticking out its tongue at a grey mug shape that has "I love LA" on it, along with a red heart

below: Runny, droopy, eyes in a colourful mural by Vyal Reyes.

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blog_desire_obtain_cherish_pointy_nosebelow: Two birds in flight, birds with feathery wings in blues, purples, and black.

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blog_desire_obtain_cherish_deerbelow: “Woke up sleeping, woke up still dreaming”, a mural by Christina Angelina, EaseOne, and SEK

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blog_desire_obtain_cherish_ladderbelow: The letters spell Craola and Self and of course, the artist is Craola aka Greg Simkins.

Large street art painting of the tag 'Boogie' with a mouse like head in the middle

below: A very square and very still robot. Cookie.

tall graffiti robot with a square head. Signed 'Cookie'. He's in a corner and not that well seen unfortunately below: It’s probably unfinished?  Each image is a letter of the alphabet?  Maybe it ends with R O E?   An image search with google was not helpful so I only have questions….

unfinished street art on a wall. Someone has painted the words 'rained out' below it

angles and triangles predominate in this street art painting.

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With thanks to Landon who let me walk around with my camera.
Photos taken in 2015

The Container Yard story

at Colyton and East 4th

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Murals and graffiti seen at Colyton and East 4th St. in Los Angeles

On the corner of East 4th street and Colyton is this mural by Tristan Eaton:

street art in the Arts District of LA (Los Angeles) - many women's faces with other creatures like a snake and a white dove, and things like guns and flowers,as well

Close up of a woman's face, part of a mural on East 4th Street in Los Angeles. There is also a purple snake in the picture. Larger than life size.

Close up of a woman's face, part of a mural on East 4th Street in Los Angeles. Large than life size.
Close up of a woman's face, part of a mural on East 4th Street in Los Angeles. Large than life size.

On the telephone pole at the corner:

Two small bits of street art on telephone pole, a turquoise wood cut out that has a vaguely human shape as well as a piece, also in blues, with an X in the middle, and letters written in each quadrant of the X, NC on the top, LA on the right, RS70 on the bottom and NY on the left.

Around the corner on Colyton there are a couple of other murals. First, a blue woman by James Haunt and Love Crew

street art in the Arts District of LA (Los Angeles) - part of a mural of a woman's head, very large and very blue, lying down eys and mouth open
street art in the Arts District of LA (Los Angeles) - part of a mural of a woman's head, very large and very blue, lying down eys and mouth open

street art in the Arts District of LA (Los Angeles) - part of a mural of a woman's head, very large and very blue, lying down eyes and mouth open Love, Love, Love

blog_colyton_windowsHer eyes like emotion sensors…. and an old truck too.

An old pale yellow pick up truck is parked in front a mural that includes the words "Her eyes like emotion sensors"

Large black and white picture, very realistic, of a man's head.

Photos were taken in 2015

923 East Third Street

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… downtown Los Angeles

There is an alley that runs along the east side of this building between 3rd and 2nd streets.

No trespassing sign at 923 East Third Street in LA, it has 5 or 6 stickers on it as well as some scribbles in black

A chain link fence also runs along the east side of the building, separating passersby and the street art covered walls.
It makes picture taking a bit more challenging, but it also reduces unwanted tagging.

Old brick building painted white then covered with a mural in pale blues and greens. metal barred window with Keep Out sign on it, a mural of running animals drawn as outline figures, with the top of a chain link fence in the very foreground of the picture.

I was using my little camera so the lens fits through the spaces of a chain link fence.   The presence of a second fence stymied me though…. so the fence becomes part of the composition of the picture.    This mural was painted by Else Oner and Jeanette Paredes on a building that once was a flour mill but that is now part of an art gallery.

Mural behind a chain link fence with a coil of barbed wire above it. Mural is of two women's faces, two red roses, a greenish tag and the words "downtown LA"

mural on an old brick wall. center part of the mural is a woman wearing just panties and sneakers as she squats, viewed from behind. She looks like she is squatting behind a brick wall. Tags and other shapes also in the mural. The word 'Janet' is written beside her.

Banana! .. and lemons and strawberries.

Mural on the back of a building, including over a door with metal grille and bars. A very big banana, some strawberries and some lemons are in the picture.

street art on a wall in a LA alley. Pink background, blue tag, greenish tag, with a man's head in profile in between the tags. Weeds growing up from the crack between the pavement and the wall.

The ‘One Fallen Angel’ mural is at the north end of the alley, at East 2nd street.  She wears a blue rose in her hair.  Her wings resemble the stars and stripes of the American flag.

fallen angel mural in black and white on blue background - left hand side of the mural, old car, angel, and the word Los
fallen angel mural in black and white on blue background, the right side of the mural with the word Angeles and a skull.

fallen angel mural in black and white on blue background - close up of the angel with an ugly face over a doorway. Elaborate wings and a blue rose in her hair.

Photos were taken in 2015

around the Angel Brewery

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The Angel Brewery is where the Arts District of Los Angeles meets Little Tokyo.  It has been located in the Roebling’s Sons building the corner of Alameda St. and Traction Ave. since 2010.  The building is now also home to a number of small pieces of street art.

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street art on the exterior walls of an old red brick building

wheatpaste street art on the exterior walls of an old red brick building - one is a full moon, another is a tree drawn with squiggly lines that make the texture of the bark
below: …. now with a lovebot heart…. I forgot to take a lovebot robot sticker with me, I only had a heart one.

wheatpaste street art on the exterior walls of an old red brick building - astronaut head in greens and blues, also one small lovebot heart sticker
wheatpaste street art on the exterior walls of an old red brick building

wheatpaste street art on the exterior walls of an old red brick building (intircate black and white drawings of people, as well as a painted pink and black sad face below: Esoteric

wheatpaste street art on the exterior walls of an old red brick building - an owl face along with the word 'esoteric'

wheatpaste street art on the exterior walls of an old red brick building - an owl face along with the word 'esoteric'

wheatpaste street art on the exterior walls of an old red brick building - a skull with a multicoloured head band, and a goldish brown monkeybelow: More Fossil Fools

wheatpaste street art on the exterior walls of an old red brick building - two small posters with the line 'fossil fuels' and picture of an older man, the astronaut pic, and two smaller black and white pics at the bottombelow: 1dirlust Fox has a posse.

wheatpaste street art on the exterior walls of an old red brick building - a fox's head with the text "dirlust fox has a posse"

wheatpaste street art on the exterior walls of an old red brick building - two young men

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wheatpaste street art on the exterior walls of a yellow fire hydrant - a man's head, wearing a gas mask and a hat below: Ronald Regan has Legislative influence for sale, large mural by Shepard Fairey (aka Obey)

street art piece of Ronald Regan holding a sign that says 'Legislative Influence for sale'

The back part of an old brick building. The sign John A. Roebling's Sons Co. is still there from the original owners of the building. A very large black and white set of eyes covers a large part of the upper storeys of the buildings. It is done in black and white and looks very realistic.

blog_angel_brewery_manybelow: Marilyn Munroe in wheatpaste

A wheatpaste Marilyn Munroe with very yellow hair, blue rimmed dark sunglasses and red lipstick that is running. Three large black dots are on one of her cheeks.

wheatpaste street art on the exterior walls of an old red brick building - an owl in a circle

below: 100% Clueless, like lambs to the slaughter. … but that’s okay because I think that there is a Rat that loves you.

wheatpaste street art on the exterior walls of an old red brick building - a rat with I 'heart' rat you and beside it is a smaller piece with a cow's head coming out of a circle and around the cirle are the words "100% clueless"

graffiti dark blue heart with the 'words los angeles' written in white cursive lettering. White paint runs down from the sides of the heart.

street art piece of a head, the lower part is skull, the middle is realistic in black and white (nose and eyes) and the top has become a wispy white creature

Photos taken in 2015

This post appeared in my other blog but I am finally consolidating all my street art posts into one place.

Around Fairgounds

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Fairgrounds describes itself as an immersive arts and technology experience. It is located near 28th Street S and the 275 freeway in St. Petersburg. You’ll find the Pinellas Trail nearby. The area around it is home to some interesting street art.

below: Derek Donnelly’s Fairgrounds mural on the outside of their building.

postcard style mural with the word fairgrounds, each letter has an image in it

below: “Girl Power”, is a mural of a girl and her horse among the sunflowers. It is a project that involved both the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida and the The Happy Mural Project.

mural of a girl wearing a cowboy hat, with a horse, with many sunflowers

below: Straight Edge Creative is responsible for the bright and cheerful music themed painting of the front of this building.

mural in bright colours, music theme, microphone, record album, by straight edge creative
mural in bright colours, music theme, microphone, record album, by straight edge creative

below: Einstein, and “Seek knowledge”

mural of portrait of einstein, with words seek knowledge

below: Gibbs Mural Club, “Local Bounty”  A woman with a crown of flowers surrounded by blueberries, mangoes, lemons, watermelons, and other fruits and vegetables.

a tree in front of a mural on the side of a building, of a woman surrounded by fresh fruit, lemon, watermelon, blueberries, mango

below: When two faces merge together, one canine eye and one human eye but two noses and two mouths. An interesting concept painted in blues by Marcus Debie aka GOMAD

mural in shades of blue, a woman's face merges with that of a dog, two eyes, one human, and one canine, two noses, two mouths,

below: Butterflies and bright words, “Go Outside” and hiding behind the palms are more words, “Look Inside”. This mural was painted by Sydney Prusso as part of the 8th SHINE Mural Festival in 2022.

bright colour mural on the side of a building, purple background with words go outside, also butterfles

below: “The Siren” by Sarah Sheppard

below: As part of the 2021 SHINE Mural Fetival, this was painted by Aurailieus

below: Abstract seaside scene in waves of blue and orange gradients.

below: More abstracts – Designs and patterns using triangles and colour variations.”

two storey house painted in design of blue triangle patterns
two storey house painted in design of blue, pink, and purple triangle patterns
bird with curved beak and blue eye, painted on side of house, using triangles and squares in different colours
a fence on a corner lot, painted on two signs with bright colours and different shapes, all abstract, patterns

a little black stencil of 5 rabbits in different positions, on a fence already covered with blue street art

below: Blue headdress on a cute little creature.

on the side of an orange building, a painting of two animal creatures, one is wearing a blue feather head dress

below: “You are beautiful”, “You are amazing”, and other positive messages.

wall covered with words and messages such as you are beautiful, stand for peace and love,
wall covered with words and messages such as you are beautiful, stand for peace and love, you re amazing, believe, you're the best
abstract street art mural on the side of a building, grass in front, all behind chainlink fence
street art mural, abstract shapes and colours

below: A 3-D cube and other shapes on the outside of the Hideaway Cafe

three dimensional cube, mural, exterior wall of cafe

below: The long neck of a flamingo reaches around the corner towards a bit purple crab and an octopus

mural with flamingo head and neck, a big purple crab, and an octopus

below: A pelican taking flight, part of a larger mural for the Florida Wildlife Corridor by Ernesto Maranje.

mural, pelican about to take flight

mural, exterior wall, a fish in the shape of the letter S swims through green long finger like seaweed

below: Words on the wall, “Haleakala, Our patron saint of perpetual street art”. I may have misspelled the first word – it’s actually the name of a volcano on Maui.

words street art, about the patron saint of perpetual street art

below: Skateboarder with one oversized eye, the work of r2romero aka Arturo Romero

street art painting on the end of a metal container, a person in jeans and yellow t shirt skateboarding down an inclined surface

graffiti stickers, a pick up truck, little kitty

graffiti stickers including mean mom mafia, and the white cat, and the hungry howlers

tree in front of a whitewashed concrete block building, with a small black drawing that looks like a face peeking out from the ground

Photos taken March 2024

blue triangles

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The north wall of the Angel City Brewery has a few large blue triangles painted on it.  Those triangles have become the background for a large number of paste-ups and stencils.

 

below: A young boy with an oxygen mask uses the stump of a very old tree that has been cut down as a table.

paste up graffiti on the wall of the Angel City Brewery

 

below: The statue of liberty holds up a large blue LA glove, by sellout.  A black stencil “selfie this” gives the finger, by crisp.

paste up graffiti on the wall of the Angel City Brewery

 

below: Pheobe from New York sits quietly reading about the quiet life.

paste up graffiti on the wall of the Angel City Brewery - a seated phoebe from new york reading a book, she's wearing a large red hat

 

below: A wall of graffiti.

paste up graffiti on the wall of the Angel City Brewery

paste up graffiti on the wall of the Angel City Brewery

paste up graffiti on the wall of the Angel City Brewery

black stencil graffiti on the wall of the Angel City Brewery - one person is helping up a person who is on the ground

LA women, street art style

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A few more photos of street art in Los Angeles.  Photos taken February 2017.

 

On the SB Tower, corner of 6th Street and Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles, there is this large mural by Robert Vargas.

by Robert Vargas, large mural of a woman's head in monochrome grey, almost three storeys tall, surrounded by yellow, with a large hand wrapped around the corner of the building, photo taken from diagonally across the intersection. A man in yellow jacket is pushing a cart, a street cleaner, as he starts across the intersection. Other people are waiting for their green light.

below: Not just three women but also a white dove, a red rose, snakes, a soldier in black, a revolver, a pistol, rocks, leaves, and a multitude of colours, shapes and patterns.

part of a larger mural, two women's faces with a man in a black and blue outit between thwm, a white dove is strating to take flight between their foreheads, a pistol is aimed at the dove,

below: Staring from behind the wire.

realistic mural of a woman with short blond face and blue eyes, staring straight ahead, head and neck only, on a black wall, seen from the other side of a wire fence with looped barbed wire across the top.

below: Two women.  A small woman with angel wings and a larger woman in a blue hood who seems to be playing with the car.   When cars park in front of street art and you want to take a picture – well, you’ve got to find a way to make it work, especially if you can’t get back later.

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below: She sees a red book in her crystal ball

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below: I think we can include this one as a picture of a woman.  I can almost hear Lady Liberty saying “Cheers” as she raises her pint of beer.  This paste up is the work of @sellout_tcf

paste up black and white line drawing of the statue of liberty, lady liberty, holding up a yellow coloured beer mug full of beer while holding a large beer keg in the other arm.

sprayed on the sidewalks of LA

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As you walk around the Arts District in Los Angeles, watch where your feet are going.
You’ll see many stencils that have been spray painted underfoot.

This first one, women in head scarves, is obviously a political statement.
It was also the only stencil that was in two colours.

Stencils on the sidewalk, spray paint, in red and turquoise, the heads of 6 women in head scarves, shown in profile, One is in a scarf that is turquoise with red polka dots and one has red and turquoise striped pattern on her scarf.

below: Dangerous insects, with scoped rifles for wings.

black stencil on grey concrete sidewalk, a beetle with folded wings that are automatic rifles

below: … and a dragonfly too.  Weaponized terrorist bugs.
No wait, they’re Homeland Security agents in disguise.

black stencil on grey concrete sidewalk, a dragonfly with wings made of automatic rifles.

below: No money, No honey.

black stencil on grey concrete sidewalk, outline drawing of a man with long hair and a cowboy hat, with words written inside the drawing that say No money no honey.

below: Social media is selling your shit.  Apparently there is a third one that says “Seeking your applause, your digital mirage” but I didn’t see it.

black stencil on grey concrete sidewalk, outline drawing of a man with long hair and a cowboy hat, with words written inside the drawing that say Social media is selling your shit. Facebook and instagram symbol are also there

below: A red extremist.  Love extremists.

red stencil on grey concrete sidewalk, outline of a heart with the word extremist written inside it.

below: A dove with a rose in its beak, La Rosa

black stencil on grey concrete sidewalk, a dove in flight with a small rose in its mouth, words written underneath are La Rosa

below: I am fairly certain that the word says iagily but I haven’t been able to find any info online.

black stencil on grey concrete sidewalk, shoulders and head of a young woman with her hands up to her face

below: Got love?

black stencil on grey concrete sidewalk, of a small milk box with a heart on the side. Words written underneath are got love?

below: I have always seen you.   That’s the chorus/refrain from the song ‘Harriet’ by American Appetites.  There may be other references?

black stencil on grey concrete sidewalk, words I have always seen you

below: Campbells soup made of vegans? or for vegans?

green stencil on grey concrete sidewalk, campbell soup can, vegan soup

below: The last one is not actually a stencil but I couldn’t resist including it here.

words written in black that say love me anyways.

Photos taken February 7, 2017