The 19 Best Cities To See Street Art In The United States

A handy list from the Huffington Post.

Which cities will you visit? Some of us want great food, some need nightlife, others just want a short stroll to a body of water. Then, there are the vacationers who want to see some good art — especially street art. What better time of the year to plan a bucket list of street art attractions? Here are some cities we’d suggest — purely based on their ephemeral street art aesthetic. From Philly to Baltimore, Atlanta to Portland, these are the urban centers you should visit and ogle some open air art while you’re there.

1. Miami, FL Neighborhood: Wynwood

Mural by Entes and Jade Rivera in the Wynwood area of Miami in 2012. (Photo courtesy AP Photo/Alan Diaz)

2. Philadelphia, PA Neighborhood: Fishtown

A postal worker walks past a 1987 mural titled “We The Youth” by artist Keith Haring in the Point Breeze neighborhood of Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

3. Seattle, WA Neighborhood: Rainier Avenue South and Pioneer Square

The Seattle Cape Fox Dancers perform at the 10th SpiritWalk, Saturday, June 5, 2004, at the Seattle Center Mural Ampitheatre in Seattle. (AP Photo/Tetona Dunlap)

4. San Francisco, CA Neighborhood: The Mission

A man walks in front of a colorful mural along Market Street on Wednesday, March 4, 2015, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

5. St. Louis, MO Neighborhood: The Grove and Cherokee Street

Grace McCammond’s “Evolution of the Bike” mural in 2012. (Photo courtesy Raymond Boyd/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

6. Cleveland, OH Neighborhood: Collinwood

A mural of a whale in Cleveland in 2012. (Photo courtesy AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

7. Detroit, MI Neighborhood: McDougall-Hunt

A traffic light adorned with art similar to the Heidelberg Project’s Polka Dot House in Detroit in 2006. (Photo courtesy of AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

8. Atlanta, GA Neighborhood: Old Fourth Ward and Krog Street Tunnel

A person walks past a mural along the Atlanta Beltline. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

9. Washington, DC Neighborhood: Columbia Heights

Alex Brewer, aka Hense, covered a former church in a multi-colored mural in 2012.

10. Denver, CO Neighborhood: Lower Highlands

“I Know You Know That I Know” mural by Sandra Fettingis in Denver in 2014. (Photo courtesy Craig F. Walker/The Denver Post)

11. Boston, MA Neighborhood: Somerville and Cambridge (outside Boston)

 

An Os Gêmeos mural in Boston in 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

12. Chicago, IL Neighborhood: West Loop

 

(Photo courtesy Chicago Street Art Flickr)

13. Pittsburgh, PA Neighborhood: Braddock & North Braddock and Lawrenceville

A Romare Bearden mural pictured in Pittsburgh in 2008. (Photo courtesy of AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

14. Honolulu, HI Neighborhood: Kaka’ako

 

Rone and Wonder during Pow! Wow! Hawaii in Honolulu. (Photo via Brooklyn Street Art © Yoav Litvin)

15. Los Angeles, CA Neighborhood: EVERYWHERE

A Shepard Fairey mural in West Hollywood, Los Angeles in 2011. (Photo courtesy Konrad Fiedler/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

16. Austin, TX Neighborhood: Baylor Street

The famous “Hi, How Are You” mural by Daniel Johnston in Austin in 2004. (Photo courtesy AP Photo/Harry Cabluck, File)

17. Indianapolis, IN Neighborhood: Broad Ripple Village and Massachusetts Avenue

 

A Kurt Vonnegut mural is pictured in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

18. Portland, OR Neighborhood: Humboldt

 

A unidentified woman walks her bike past a mural on the side Nike Portland Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

19. New York, NY Neighborhood: EVERYWHERE

Maya Hayuk’s mural on the Bowery Wall in New York City in 2014. (Photo courtesy Luna Park)

 

Coney Art Walls

Billed as the outdoor museum of street art, the Coney Art Walls is quite a nice meander. We may be getting into autumn but the walls are there for the viewing. Worth a trip.

Coney Art Walls is located at 3050 Stillwell Avenue in Brooklyn, NY. Take the D, F, N, or Q to Coney Island / Stillwell Ave.

Detroit's Street Art Scene is Disappearing. Is That REALLY Good??

Readers of my blog know my passion for street art. This article reported in Vice shows the continued short sightedness of urban planners who, in league with developers and gentrifiers, remove the traces of street art as part of a city's rebirth. Why can' street art and (asethetically beneficial) gentrification co-exist? I am not advocating keeping Detroit ruins in place. I am saying that there should be a place for the creative expression of the old Detroit alongside the new up-and-coming Detroit.

Here is a link to the full article and a short excerpt below:

From the point of view of many residents and property owners, the eradication of graffiti may be a sign of Detroit's much-touted rebirth, but for many writers it spells the end of an incredible cycle of creativity. Not long ago, Detroit was considered by many to be the graffiti capital of the US, and perhaps the world—a vast playground with a near-unlimited supply of walls where writers could paint undisturbed in broad daylight.

In a city teeming with corruption, violence, and arson, catching kids with spraypaint was not a priority for law enforcement. The freedom to paint made for an amazing sight—there was once graffiti everywhere, and since it took some effort to get to Detroit if you weren't from there, the local competition was high, the risk was low, and much of the work was pretty damn good.

I first visited the city in early 2013 on a quest to find and document as much of its graffiti as possible, and was immediately hooked. I returned three more times, witnessed the city's rapid transformation, and explored its buildings and neighborhoods with a rotating cast of other photographers and graffiti writers.

 

Seven Magic Mountains

Head to Las Vega to not only see my artwork hanging at the MGM hotel but also to see the Seven Magic Mountains ---

Most people visit Las Vegas for casinos and crazy night clubs, but drive 10 miles beyond the Sin City walls and you’ll come face to face with one of Nevada’s most unique and unknown sights, the Seven Magic Mountains.

Built as a public art exhibit by Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone, the 30-foot fluorescent “totems” stand like brightly colored beacons lighting up the desert sky. Rondinone used locally sourced boulders, and chose this location because it’s “physically and symbolically mid-way between the natural and the artificial.”

Visitors can walk right up to the mountains, and the site is just a quick 10 miles from Las Vegas. The Seven Magic Mountains are a temporary exhibit, and will be on display until 2018.

The World's Oldest Surviving Tattoo Shop

The Razzouk family has been inking religious pilgrims in the Middle East for 700 years.

By Anna Felicity Friedman

In Jerusalem’s Old City today, you can find a uniquely obscure historical relic—the sole surviving pilgrimage tattoo business, Razzouk Ink. It’s a place where ancient artifacts meet contemporary machines, rich history intersects with modern technology. Twenty years ago, as a budding tattoo scholar, I first read about the adventures of Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land and the indelible souvenirs they had inscribed under their skin. I never expected to one day get the opportunity to follow in their footsteps and receive my own.

Just inside the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City, you can duck down the second side street to the left, finding respite from the beating sun and leaving the bustle of the crowded main square. A tiny shop, almost dwarfed by its prominent sign, lies across a quiet cobblestone road. If you didn’t know anything about the incredible, centuries-long history of the family who runs this particular shop, the sign’s tagline might cause you to do a double-take: “Tattoo With Heritage Since 1300” it reads.  

Read the full article here.