Long Island City, Queens

Long Island City, specifically the building known as "5 Pointz," is the graffiti artist's Mecca.

Graffiti artists from all over the world come to Queens to temporarily leave their mark on the corner of Jackson Avenue and Davis Street. Meres One, the self-proclaimed "CEO" of 5 Pointz, has a website - 5ptz.com - where he displays the artwork that is currently on the building. Every few weeks the murals change and new artists have an opportunity to come in and show their love for the aerosol can. However, before anyone can start working on 5 Pointz, Meres One needs to see a sample of their work and ok it.

The other thing to mention about 5 Pointz is that it is completely legal. The landlord of the building granted Meres One permission to graffiti there (so no one is trespassing or committing acts of vandalism when they graffiti). In addition, all artists must have a permit in order to do anything to any part of the graffiti walls. Violators, Meres One assures us, will be prosecuted.

5 Pointz has managed to integrate the counter-culture aspect of graffiti art with the laws of New York City. Not only that, 5 Pointz has been embraced by the community in Long Island City. This is partly because 5 Pointz is located across the street from P.S. 1, the contemporary art wing of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMa). The people who live in and visit the area are art lovers (they wouldn't be there if they weren't).

Long Island City was not a desirable place to live for many years - despite its close proximity to Manhattan, the train tracks run outdoors through the area, so the neighborhood can be very noisy even late at night. While there are some nice brownstones and row houses in the area, a lot of it is old, decrepit industrial space. As we saw in Williamsburg, artists often end up saving a neighborhood like this. 5 Pointz, and graffiti culture in general, fits nicely with their efforts.