Sidewalk Poetry
Noticed a poem on the sidewalk on Friday on Columbus near Broadway, in front of Specs’, but didn’t take a photo. This morning, walking on Columbus, we noticed more poems- could be the corner of Vallejo but don’t quote me on that. Looks like it’s a promotion for the Beat Museum. Upon celebration of its new location, I suspect, which I haven’t gone to.
When I lived in the Mission it was quite common to see tons of funny sayings and random art spray painted the sidewalk - most looked like they were done with stencils. This seems to be big in the Mission, but not in North Beach. I made this claim to a friend of mine who lives in Noe Valley and he doubted it, but recently told me that he also couldn’t find any sidewalk art in North Beach. He’s been taking photos of funny/interesting sidewalk art for a few years now.
Credit for Baghdaddy photo: Cliff
Let’s not forget that IBM jumped on the sidewalk graffiti bandwagon in 2001 to tout Linux in cities such as San Franciscoand Chicago. Also see here.
Personally, after the novelty of seeing sidewalk graffiti (most of it lame), it becomes just another visual crime in a neighborhood. I suppose if it’s biodegradable, temporary paint, okay, but if it’s spray paint, it’s pollution.
The Linux “I (heart) [penguin]” image was appearing in Portland before well 2000, jumping on the ‘create intrigue’ viral marketing concept spearheaded by the Blair Witch Project film.
At least the sidewalk stencil graffiti I’ve enjoyed seems to be non-commercial, which makes a difference to me. If it’s advertising, then we, the public, ought to be paid for the use of our ‘canvas’ to host their message.