clarion alley

Chad Hasegawa Hits Clarion Alley

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

Local photographer Bhautik Joshi caught up Chad Hasegawa painting his defining layer cake bear in Clarion Alley and shot him some questions about the process:

“If you don't mind me asking - how did you end up with wall space in Clarion Alley? Did you apply?”

“No way - they get in touch with you. It's awesome to get the chance to paint here - so many people come here to see this alley, is so busy.”

“And how does it work? Do you get a commission?”

“Nah. Even if they offered something, I wouldn't take it - I'm just honored to be invited to paint here.”

Read on.

Vandal Claims Clarion Alley Wall For Himself

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

It seems like it was only yesterday that a graffiti heart over the freshly painted A Sunday Afternoon an Dolores Park sent the entire Mission community into a tailspin of despair and outrage.  And rightly so: a bang-up mural celebrating everyone's favorite park was defaced.  But it wasn't just that the specific mural was blemished, rather it was that a mural was damaged.

Now it seems like the norm is for SF murals get covered over with tags and pieces.  Eine's series of alphabet murals along Mission Street were defaced within days by the same crew pictured above.  A quick walk down Bartlett, Market, Divis, or one of the various other mural alleys around the Mission show the same thing.  It almost seems antithetical to the core of what street art and graffiti represents: putting art out there, for free, for everyone to see and admire on their own accord.  In a sense, there's now a crew of kids acting as a gallery owners, determining which murals the world gets to check out and which should be reused as a new canvass.

It's a bummer, really.

Previously on Uptown Almanac: 

Put A Bird On it

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

Someone had to explain this tag to me the other day, because I generally need things explained to me.  Apparently the popular children's television show Portlandia made the observation that people put birds on things to make everything more artistic.  Perhaps this is true, although Mid-Market is full of pigeons and than place is a shit pit.  Regardless, street artists have taken this concept and run wild on Clarion Alley's murals.

Previously on Uptown Almanac: 

Angry Graffiti Bro Lashes Out at Clarion Alley Going Mainstream

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

I found myself admiring some guy's shoes when he walked over this statement: “NOT A TOURSIT ATTRACTION. AN ALLEY.”  Obviously duder fails to understand that the two are not mutually exclusive (“THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE.  NOT A TOURIST ATTRACTION.  A BRIDGE.”).  But let's ignore that for a hot minute, why does it matter if murals are a tourist attraction?  Shouldn't people like murals?  Plus, it's not like there are Segway tours rolling up down 24th and turning down Valencia… holy shit, I'm arguing with spraypaint.

Clarion Alley Covered In Sewage

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

Street art god SEWAGE recently upstaged every muralist on Clarion Alley with his montage of back-in-the-day punk show flyers.  While most of the flyers are from SoCal (boo, hiss!), including a wicked drawing of E.T. riding a skateboard with his tongue hanging out yelling “E.T. rad balls, dude!”, there are a few gems from the Mission.  One such 94110 poster describes 16th Street's Victoria Theater as a refuge from high prices, crappy bouncers and baloney.  Yes.

Go check it out before HYPE! gets a chance to fuck this piece of gold up.

Wheatpaste Spurs Backlash, Beautiful Handwriting

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

A few months ago, a rather sizeable drawing was wheatpasted over a fairly trashed Clarion Alley mural. Now, I'm sure we can all agree that a mural being vandalized is a time for mourning, but this is the most wonderfully progressive, stereotypically liberal, professorial response to 'vandalism' I've had the pleasure of setting my intoxicated eyes on in quite some time.  This isn't the standard “for shame, you farking hipsters, for shame” that we typically see.  No, this is your thesis advisor telling you that “your work is good, but I feel you could strive for more.”

Plus, those frownie faces are a gift from the gods themselves.

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