R.I.P. to -5Pointz- a Legal Graffiti Haven for Writer's in Long Island, NYC. Thank you For ALL T

One of the largest places in the world for legal graffiti may be knocked down in the next few years.

Spray paint coats the walls and wraps around every rooftop structure on the 90-year-old industrial building now known as 5 Pointz. On Jackson Ave in Long Island City, NY, graffiti artists spray, usually with European spray paint, over other graffiti, and then have their graffiti sprayed over. Spray paint and the scent of garbage mask the air.

It’s an ever-changing collage of graffiti within a city transformed by business development. Developers want to raise two apartments reaching close to 40 stories high. They formally submitted plans to the New York City Department of City Planning at the end of March, which means they will need to demolish 5 Pointz in the future.

“There should be a place like this in every city and in every country,” said Jonathan Cohen, 38, the curator of 5 Pointz whom also goes by the graffiti tag-name Meres. He said he has seen other graffiti outlets like Venice Beach, CA, and a place called 5 Points in Florida, but those outlets are not as large as 5 Pointz.

Crowding Out Art

For almost 15 years, graffiti has manifested on the building said Meres. The loss of 5 Pointz, as a legal outlet for graffiti art, would be like silencing art and expression.

“You tear this place down and it’s only going to make people hit the streets harder,” said Stephen Davis, 22, of Brooklyn, a graffiti writer whom has painted at 5 Pointz twice last April. “You can put graffiti anywhere you want to.” His graffiti tag name is Epic Skiiwalker.

Graffiti artists from around the world have spray painted every part on 5 Pointz, this means they paint from the ground up to the top of the building. Even on the rooftops, the aerosol art is visible from the trains on the Line 7 that shriek by 5 Pointz about every five minutes. Graffiti artists want the place to remain the way it is for two reasons: the place is big and the place is legal.

“We would definitely go underground. I mean that’s where it started from,” said Davis. Without 5 Pointz, graffiti artists like himself would spray paint walls of “condemned-looking” buildings since he said there are so many around the city.

Graffiti writers can either choose to stop spray painting in New York or they do it illegally. Writers, who have come to 5 Pointz in the past month, said they plan to keep painting.

“Graffiti artists will probably go wherever they feel they can do their work,” said a graffiti writer known as Clone, 29, of Philadelphia. “It might be under a bridge, might be on a train.”

The graffiti writers spray-painting at 5 Pointz all agree on the same thing. Without 5 Pointz, the city would not be the same.

New Development

On the property where 5 Pointz stands, developers Jerry and David Wolkoff, father and son, plan to use the land on a mixed-use basis. Their vision for the new development include two apartments standing about 40 stories tall with 900 units, a yoga room, pool, gym and retail stores. They have submitted drawing designs, but the vision they have now is a definitive outline of the project.

“The area is changing,” said David Wolkoff, 44, a developer with an office in Manhattan and one in Edgewood, N.Y. Between Queen’s Plaza and Hunter’s Point, 5 Pointz stands on Jackson Ave. As Long Island City continues to grow, Wolkoff said Jackson Ave is going to fill in with business and residents.

“New York City rezoned central Long Island City to encourage residential and commercial development following lower mid and downtown Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn,” said Dan Minor, senior vice president of business services at the Long Island City Business Development Corporation.

Long Island City, as a whole, is growing according to the Long Island City Business Improvement District. Developments are growing in Queen’s Plaza and Hunter’s Point, with 5 Pointz in the middle of the two places. The Gantry Plaza State Park is being expanded along the East River. There is also business development through mixed-use development, capital improvement projects transforming the streetscape, and hotel developments.

“It would be smart in the business-sense to have more people come in,” said Jana Tieoli, owner of the Manducatis restaurant on Jackson Ave. “You got to have a little more integrity. You can’t push people out into the street.”

Her great grandfather lived in Long Island City and she has been living in the area for about 40 years. Long Island City is an arts community and Tieoli has seen a growing number of young people in the area. Artists and tourists from around the world eat at her restaurant, when they come to see the 5 Pointz graffiti.

“It’s time for this [5 Pointz] building to change,” said Wolkoff. “It’s an old building. We believe it’s time to move forward and progress with the area.”

In the redevelopment plans, Wolkoff has included artists’ lofts within the proposed buildings, art from inside the building will be visible from sidewalks, and there will also be a public area. The public area will be a wall for graffiti artists to paint. It will be near the back of the new development by the train yard.

Jerry and David Wolkoff love the artwork on the building. Graffiti writers spray paint on the building because they have allowed it. Without their approval, 5 Pointz would not exist.

“The building goes on forever, the space goes on forever,” said Jerry. Since he does not know how to draw, he wanted the graffiti on his building. He said that now 30 to 40 graffiti writers can paint on the building, but on the public wall there will be enough space for six or eight.

“A little wall for New York City is a bad idea,” said the graffiti writer Clone. “This is the Big Apple, you need a big wall.”

According to Cohen, the curator of 5 Pointz, a good day has about 30 to 40 artists painting on the walls. Graffiti closer to the ground lasted one to three weeks. Clone’s graffiti lasted a week until more graffiti covered it.

“There’ll be tons of European traffic that comes into the U.S. and into New York that has nowhere to go and will either choose to paint illegally or not paint at all,” said Cohen.

Stephen Davis, a graffiti artist of Brooklyn, said he thought the 5 Pointz building was a national monument. He started spray-painting there when he learned a new development might replace it.

“If they tear it down, at least I got to paint here,” said Stephen Davis. “I got to meet a lot people, you know, lot of old-school cats.”