YIMBY recently told you about some new murals created to spruce up the Essex Street Market. Well, that’s not the only project out there making Manhattan’s Lower East Side a more beautiful place. 100 Gates has been at it for nearly two years.
100 Gates – Bite of Hong Kong at 81 Chrystie Street by Margot Bird, Yogee Noodles at 85 Chrystie Street by Jana Liptak, and Pho Vietnam at 87 Chrystie Street by Antonio Chiu
100 Gates – Yogee Noodles at 85 Chrystie Street by Jana Liptak and Pho Vietnam at 87 Chrystie Street by Antonio Chiu
100 Gates – Bite of Hong Kong at 81 Chrystie Street by Margot Bird
The program is being run by the Lower East Side Partnership, the local business improvement district. It pairs up businesses with artists who paint the roll-down gates. Some of the works are specific to the business while others are inspired by the business, and some are simply pretty.
100 Gates – The Sill at 84 Hester Street by Ida Noelle
100 Gates – The Sill at 84 Hester Street by Ida Noelle
100 Gates – A. Feibusch Corp at 27 Allen Street by ASVP
The idea is that putting public art on the gates will deter graffiti artists from tagging them. There is some respect for other artists. The artists are given paperwork so that police officers don’t hassle them as if they were just creating graffiti.
100 Gates – 81 Hester Street by Kim Carlino and Oksana Prokopenko (unfinished)
100 Gates – 81 Hester Street by Chamberlin Newsome and Oksana Prokopenko
100 Gates – Ashok Jain Gallery at 58 Hester Street by Hektad
100 Gates was initially funded by a $30,000 Neighborhood Challenge grant from the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYC EDC) and the New York City Department of Small Business Services (SBS). That allowed the painting of about 70 gates. Some businesses have multiple gates and sometimes those gates are painted by multiple artists.
100 Gates – The Sweet Life at 63 Hester Street by Jessica Blowers
100 Gates – X Cubicle at 25 Essex Street by Mas Paz & CheLove
100 Gates – X Cubicle at 25 Essex Street by CheLove
100 Gates – X Cubicle at 25 Essex Street by Mas Paz
Now, the program is continuing with Tiger Beer as a sponsor, which joined in the spring of 2016 with $20,000. Of course, the goal isn’t to turn the gates into billboards. So, the gates painted with Tiger Beer sponsorship money have a small tiger stenciled on them with the additional hashtag #tigergates.
100 Gates – Wedding Banquet Liquor at 135 Division Street by Jana Liptak and Abigail Leora
That’s on top of the overall hashtag #100gatesproject. The program has inspired some businesses to independently paint their gates, and even use the hashtag (though those gates are not being shown here).
100 Gates – Sam Spring Roll at 23 Essex Street by N. Carlos J
100 Gates – Cabalito Pupuseria at 13 Essex Street by Jessica Blowers
100 Gates – 34 Canal Street by Joan Di Lieto
100 Gates – DareDevil Tattoo at 141 Division Street by Doug Aldrich
The program has been a rousing success, so much that a gallery show was held in the fall. (It’s worth noting that winter makes it difficult to paint the gates.) About 90 gates have been painted so far and the 100th gate should be done by the end of the summer.
100 Gates – Mobile Bazar at 33 Canal Street by Hektad
100 Gates – Bondy Export Corp at 40 Canal Street by Buff Monster
100 Gates – T-Shirt Express at 15 Orchard Street by Hektad
100 Gates – Good Luck Spa at 33 Orchard Street by Lady Millard
“It is thrilling to see and experience the immediate impacts of the 100 GATES Project through these original murals. Working with such a slew of talented artists and seeing the collaborative process take shape with our Lower East Side business owners is beyond rewarding,” Natalie Raben, senior vice president of partnership & public affairs for the Lower East Side Partnership, told YIMBY.
100 Gates – Sticky Rice at 85 Orchard Street by Jack Aguirre
100 Gates – Zest at 249 Broome Street by Abigail Kaage
100 Gates – Farmhouse Restaurant at 81 Ludlow Street by Megan Watters and N. Soala. N. Soala’s Wild Turkey is also part of the Audubon Mural Project.
Now, the partnership is looking to see what’s next. The first step is to expand to the rest of Manhattan Community Board 3, which covers the East Village, Lower East Side, Chinatown, and Two Bridges neighborhoods.
100 Gates – 8 Rivington Street by Claw Money
100 Gates – Envoy Enterprises at 87 Rivington Street by Chamberlin Newsome
“We are also in talks with New York City’s Economic Development Corporation (NYC EDC) on ways to realistically incorporate the 100 GATES Project as an additional option that would be part of their successful Graffiti Free NYC program since the proliferation of these murals acts as a strong deterrent for instances of graffiti,” Raben said. “In fact, according to reports from Graffiti Free NYC, the highest instance of graffiti complaints took place within CB3, so this is an ideal location to pilot the next stage of the 100 GATES Project.”
100 Gates – Cellini Uomo at 133 Orchard Street by Amirmohsen Shaheidari
Eventually, the hope is that this program can be implemented citywide.
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After I view all photos of fine art, it’s much more beautiful than before.