— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
Saturday Night I was at some bar and some crazy anarchist chick was ranting about the Levi's Workshop on Valencia claiming she was going to vandalize it. I just assumed she was some sort of PR bot for the company and didn't pay much attention to her. Turns out my assumptions were wrong: come Sunday morning, the building was covered in statements such as “BUY USED” and ” NO MORE TRASH” and a number of “SCAM” tags. I guess no one likes a PR stunt on Valencia.
UPDATE: I should have checked the inbox before posting. A reader sent us this pic this morning:
Comments (16)
Nasty is as nasty does.
Best. Headline. Ever.
The spraypaint was cleaned up the next morning. The submitted pic is actually of the second strike, which was sprayed onto the building itself and will be much harder to clean up
I still don’t get what the place is, or what it has to do with Levi’s – other than to provide a reminder of how Levi’s USED to be connected to the local community.
I went to the opening last Thursday and there was a cool free bar and theres cool printmaking stuff everywhere. but then i realized the vast majority of the prints were in some way denim related. and yeah they retail cool “art-making jeans”there too.
I was at the opening too, and have noticed the vandalism… although the project is a corporate marketing initiative, they are working with some good local non-profits and have made a real effort to engage the community. seems like a positive thing, not something worthy of this blunt attack.
Sooooooo, if “hipsters” don’t care for your business, or size of the corporation then its acceptable to deface the business? Ohhhhhhhh, Urban Justice!!! And you wonder why people choose not to see you on your bikes and run you fucks over.
I’m sure there will be a snappy retort from said Hipster. Go ahead fire away. Oh, and I drive an SUV, you fucks.
It’s good to know that the Vacant Eyesore Preservation Front is still keeping it real.
Hi. There is an idea that the public can go here and print. There is no info about a supposed public day on the levisworkshop site. An article in sfgate said that Sunday is public day and that one needs merely to sign up. I emailed through the levisworkshop site regarding specifics, how does one sign up, do you need to bring your own paper? no one responded. Today I went in to ask theses same questions and was told to just show up on Sunday and that I could use the facilities and supplies. I’ll try it Sunday and let you know how it goes. My intention is to prove that anyone can print there if that is true and set an example. If anyone can really print there, let’s bombard the place and print our show posters, art prints whatever. Am I naive to think this is a possible? “Sales” from items in this “store” I am told by a worker go directly to your choice of a provided list of mission non profits. I appreciate the intention of this levisworkshop project to provide public facility and benefit local non profits but so far I am not convinced that the execution of this intention is successful. So far they are getting a lot of attention and press but has anyone from the mission community benefitted from this experiment?
My notes are here if any of you would like to know how printing went on Sunday. http://headphonerecord.blogspot.com/search/label/Levi%27s%20Workshop
Corporations are part of life in 2010. Your car is corporate. Your clothes are corporate. Your computer is corporate. Your phone is corporate. Your bike is corporate. Your shoes are corporate. Your house is made of corporate wood. Your activist spray-paint is corporate. And the drugs to keep you from feeling depressed from your own anarchist mind are corporate. Better get used to your place in the space/time continuum because it’s where you are.
Levi’s is trying to incorporate into the community by adapting and providing something useful & interesting & artistic. Is there business and branding motives behind it - sure - we live in a capitalist city and country. But no one complains when a mom & pop shop puts up a trashy store that gives nothing back to the community - why? What’s the difference? Trash is okay as long as it’s local? They’re local employees at Levi’s. They’re local managers at Levi’s. Hell, they’re even a local headquarters that started in San Francisco. So are we to vandalize any Valencia street company that actually grows beyond Valencia st.
Get a fucking mind and start truly thinking for yourself. Enjoy life and stop putting everything down as “bad,” just because it’s different. Because once you hate irrationally there’s no difference between nut job right wingers and nut job left wingers. I love living in the mission, but I hate when there’s a “mission” behind it.
Nathalie: the entire Mission benefited the instant that this storefront stopped being another trash-strewn vacant eyesore. Anything else is gravy. (And for heaven’s sake, if you’re so unconvinced that they’re ‘helping the community’, why not call one of the nonprofits on the list and ask them if they appreciate the support? Or does “helping the community” actually mean “giving you free stuff to promote yourself?
It wasn’t going to be an empty storefront for long… there is a restaurant going in there soon.
I believe it’s been about 9 years now that the new restaurant was “coming soon”.
Greg (+1). You’re dead on.
Tagger: Trashing someone else’s labor doesn’t make you better. If you have such a problem with a corporation, but you clearly support commerce (you said “buy used”), why not let us know about your new venture that you’ve started up to support your community by hiring your local workers. I’d love to support your business.
oh wait. you didn’t actually contribute a damn thing other than some toxic waste into the bay as people cleaned up your paint.
so sorry.
that storefront was a studio up until like march. chucky was painting in there and had a show earlier in the year.
why are there are no more strikes? a vandal that allows a rent-a-cop watching the entire block to deter him is a lame-o wuss.