LTVSquad

Author: Control@ltvsquad.com

  • Freedom Tunnel, Painted

    Freedom Tunnel, Painted


    …so Gothamist today picked up the story that anyone with their ear in the underground has known for a few months now: Amtrak has painted over much of the freedom tunnel.

    The rumor is janet Nazipolatino road through the tunnel on Amtrak one day and was appalled at all the graffiti down there. Thus, someone threw a huge pile of cash at Amtrak to paint and ‘better secure’ freedom tunnel.

    With this new monumental act of state sponsored vandalism, NYC lost a huge amount of priceless art. The works of art in freedom tunnel ran the gauntlet of graffiti, and included everything from a dizzying array of throwys by FE to a 20×30 foot reproduction of Goya’s ‘3rd of May’ by Freedom and Smith. Many of these were priceless works, some created nearly 25 years ago.

    There is absolutely no good reason for this state-sponsored whitewash to have occurred. The tunnel is out of public view so no civilians ever complained about it. To paint over the entire tunnel surely cost taxpayers a huge amount of money. Think about it: 2 walls, running along 2 miles of tunnel, 12-14 feet high. how many gallons of paint was wasted on this project? How many man hours at union wages were wasted on this utterly ridiculous endeavor? What is the total cost to taxpayers for this completely pointless destruction? How many hundreds of thousands of dollars were thrown at this? Money that could have been used to feed the poor, bail out the MTA to keep subway fares down, aid in the construction of the 2nd avenue tunnel… there are dozens of more important projects around NYC that all this time and cash could have been better used on.

    This isn’t the first time that Amtrak has tried to ‘secure’ and clean up freedom tunnel. Several times in the 1990s they evicted homeless people and sealed up entrances to the tunnel. Those entrances were always broken open again, or new ones were created. Many of the homeless moved right back into the tunnel and never left. The tunnel is simply too big to ever be completely secured, and this new creation of miles of clean wall space is just a brand new canvas which will be retaken by graffiti artists in time.

    Meanwhile, all of the exits to this tunnel are chained shut and locked with ‘102’ high security locks. If a train were to derail and burn in the tunnel, there is no escape. NYPD and FDNY do not have 102 keys. They would have to wait on amtrak to show up to get access to the tunnel, and by the time that happened, dozens, potentially hundreds, would be dead.

    Way to go Amtrak and Federal ‘security’ morons. You succeeded in throwing away more taxpayer money while not making this tunnel one bit safer for the public. I for one am completely disgusted by your useless idiotic actions, and you can be damn sure you won’t be getting one red penny out of me on tax day next year.

  • Foamer PoBuckerism

    Foamer PoBuckerism

    Usually when you come across a long line of old railroad equipment, there’s a few possibilities for why it’s there:
    1) It’s old and about to be sent to the scrap yard
    2) It’s being stored by some museum group pending cash to restore it
    3) It’s uhmm… just sitting there…

    This lineup of mismatched locomotives, passenger cars and former Amtrak baggage cars fall into the latter grouping. They’re all owned by a railroad that doesn’t seem to have any immediate plans for most of this stuff. It’s the equivalent of a buck tooth po’bucker’s lawn – where there’s various cars and appliances scattered about waiting to be fixed or put to use, one of these days.

    Ready to see more Dead Trains?

    Check out my Abandoned Trains book series, which goes in depth on dozens of abandoned trains spread across the United States.

    Abandoned Trains Volume 1
  • Jailbreak

    Jailbreak

    For all those on the inside, hope you break out soon.

  • Olde’ Building Collapse

    I stumbled across this video on Youtube. A little bit of fire and those old wood frame buildings can really come crashing down fast.

  • The Crushed Office Maze Complex

    The Crushed Office Maze Complex

    History:
    Sadly this location has no verified history at this time. Rumor is that before it was an office to major corporation,  it was used as a bomb factory during WW2.   What we can verify though is that the corporation that was located here used the building as its main office until a few years ago. When the company moved out of state, the vast Majority of employees were not transferred and either had to relocate with the company or find new jobs.  The 3 building complex was sold to a developer who for some time maintained the property and ran routine patrols around it.  Eventually they seemed to have given up on their redevelopment plan and sold it to another party who  then left it to rot. Local hooligans and neglect quickly wrecked the placed. Only a gut rebuild could make this property viable again, though in all likelihood demolition is the only option.

    Adventure:
    Entry couldn’t be easier, though whether or not you really want to enter is a whole other subject. The rear buildings are fine, though the main office building was left abandoned with it’s carpeting intact. Carpeting, exposed to the elements, becomes a breeding ground for all sorts of nasty smelling mold. The building itself isn’t much to look at. Trashed offices, tagged walls, broken glass all over. If there were any historic details, they were long removed. The only thing that this place really has going for it is how huge it is – with a maze-like layout one can easily get lost in. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself roaming around trying to figure out how to get back to the point at which to entered.

  • Underbelly Arrest Roundup, Demands to Open it to Public

    Underbelly Arrest Roundup, Demands to Open it to Public

    Gothamist continues to cover the Underbelly story in depth. Today they have a roundup of stories from some of those who have been arrested. Our original estimate of a dozen or so people having been arrested has continued to trend upward, with sources stating that the tally at the moment is closer to 30.

    NY Times Art Beat has similar coverage, with quotes from the MTA stating they have no intent to paint the abandoned station shell.

    If the comments within the NY Times article are any indication, the public really wants to see this art installation. Some are clearly willing to risk arrest just to see it. Let me state this again: The MTA should throw some lights down there and open the space to the public. Charge a high admission fee. This is great, low cost potential revenue stream for the MTA. The only argument I’ve heard against this has been that it would cost too much to create a viable entrance that is safe to the public. This is simply not true. We have it from sources within the MTA that the station shell is accessible behind locked doors, and the only work that would be needed would be the installation of a temporary staircase (the structure of which is already in place).

    There is a huge market for this. 8 years ago, nearly on this exact date, a line stretching at least 5 blocks long formed as art lovers and tunnel foamers eagerly waited for chance to crawl down a manhole and view artwork from yours truly, Margaret Morton, Revs, Julia Solis, and many others. Barely 1/4th of the people on the line that day got to see the installation, and the one day only event was never repeated.

    There is a huge market for this type of art show. Each visitor paid $10 to enter – and that was to see a tunnel and works by perhaps a dozen artists. This station includes art from over 100 artists. A black tie opening with an entrance fee of $100 would sell out. The public at large would probably pay 15 to 20 a pop to see this project. The MTA is sitting on a gold mine. They should do what a real public authority would do: Open it to the public and make us some money!

    In completely unrelated news, we now have a second batch of photos from underbelly available for your viewing pleasure. With I like about this batch are some of the small detail shots. It seems some artists put added touches in the tunnel space. Smaller and less obvious than the large works, these small bits give the space much more personality.

  • Hudson River Psych 2010

    Hudson River Psych 2010

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  • Astoria Graffiti Time Warp

    Astoria Graffiti Time Warp

    A lotta queens people lately were talking about the old woolworth’s store on Ditmars and 31st street. In it’s recent conversion to a CVS, old siding was taken down out front, revealing the old woolworth’s name for a short time before it was covered over again.

    What no one seems to have talked about though was the panel on the corner of the building which revealed an array of old historic graffiti tags. See the photo below. How many old school names do you see? Looks like an original Chino tag to me, along with a Rost, note, and others.

    This panel was covered over a day after this shot was taken, so the graffiti, just like the old outline of the old woolworth’s sign, is entombed once again.

  • The Underbelly Project

    The Underbelly Project


    Located in an abandoned section of NYC subway tunnel, the Underbelly project was a major art production with over 100 artists involved. Here is a rare glimpse into this gallery of grand art.

  • Underbelly, Dissed.

    Underbelly, Dissed.

    Gothamist today has put up photos that have been floating around the internet for a few days now, showing the underbelly project completely dissed. .

    it appears the vandals only went after the ‘street art’, as there are no photos of the various bits by graffiti artists having been dissed.

    It’s pretty easy to deduce that this is yet another salvo in the war between street artists and graffiti artists. While many artists have no issues working together, others clearly have a beef with ‘street art’. That beef is rather well summed up in this comment:

    the streets belong to writers and street “artists” will never be vandals. sitting at home on their powerbooks, spending hours and hours behind a computer, drawing perfect bezier curves, creating stencils, having a team of people help you create a tiled poster at kinkos to be wheat pasted. all that time, all that preparation. it contradicts what graffiti is all about. it’s a turf war and it only takes 2 seconds to line a piece of street art.

    Haters gunna hate baby.