A few weeks ago my videographer and I decided to take a little stroll through the East Village and profile a few streets with some pretty amazing street art. It’s safe to say that almost anywhere you wander in New York City, graffiti is not far behind. The outer boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens are not to be missed either. There’s a huge mix of international artists residing in the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn and a large community of writers penning their next novel in Park Slope.
This particular day we decided to concentrate on the East Village. Although I’m currently a west side soho resident, the east side of Manhattan holds a special place in my heart. Moving to New York about a week after my college graduation with only a little money saved up and no job, I found a steal by living in the SVA dorms, which were conveniently located on the always bustling Ludlow Street. My next apartment was about 20 blocks up, so East Village remained sandwiched between the two, giving me plenty of time to develop attachment toward the grungy streets.
While we had no set plans for the day other than making our way to 2nd and 2nd at some point, we stumbled upon an array of art on a single wall on Tompkins street. Almost as if it was planned (and believe me it wasn’t) a man interrupted our recording to tell us that the image on the far right was actually a marriage proposal.
How did he know this? Well, in true New York fashion he was simply walking by and although New Yorkers are the most jaded people in the world, a man on one knee asking his girlfriend to marry him was a sight worth stopping for. Almost immediately after learning this, two pug dogs (as seen in the image) walked by the camera. Talk about perfect timing!
To see where else I wandered, check out our video of East Village Street Art.
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