Chinatown, NY
Greetings From Chinatown, NY! Technically, this welcome to Chinatown mural was many years in the making. Victor repeatedly tried get permission to paint this wall for quite some time without any luck. Finally, he approached the business owner with a community affairs officer from the 5th precinct and was granted permission. Thank you Detective Vincent Cheung (a long time high school friend) for helping us get this wall as a canvas for our neighborhood project.
Once we started painting, the locals in the community quickly got behind the idea. The owners of the market where the mural is located would come out to check progress and take photos to show their families. Special thanks to our sponsors Nom Wah Tea Parlor, Chinatown Ice Cream Factory and Tsingtao Beer for supporting a long time dream.
We decided to use a bunch of scrap gray tones for the background. Due to the rich history of graffiti on this wall, we wanted to play on the look of the city’s buff (or removal of graffiti) becoming abstract art in itself. We purposely used different gray tones and drips so that it would be easy to maintain over time without color matching. In addition, our bright bold colors would stand out a lot on the neutral gray tones. The “lucky red” as the 3D color was a no brainer for this Chinatown mural. Thanks to all of our friends and fellow artists who have helped paint over the unwanted tags over the years for us while we were away from New York on our tour. Also, a shout out to the graffiti writers who have respected this mural as well.
The Greetings from Chinatown mural sign was in the heart of a bustling Chinatown and always had nonstop foot traffic. Victor has painted many graffiti pieces (lettering) in his past but this one was different. A lot of the Chinese locals could relate to the imagery so they stopped and quietly watched the progress of the mural every day. In addition, the location was a busy interstate bus stop so we had tourists and travelers constantly coming and going while we were painting. The bustling environment certainly captured the hectic nature of New York City and we loved it!
Two of Victor’s graffiti artist friends came to help paint some of the letters including the “W” and the the “N”. We had all kinds of authentic NYC artists stop by to chat including various Smart Crew members, Earsnot IRAK and Tom Otterness. It’s always an adventure painting in public in NYC as you are bound to run into friends and acquaintances. On the corner roll down gates, Victor even curated some street graffiti by iconic NYC graffiti artists including: Easy, Miss17, Giz, Sev, Remo, Veefer, SP, Cinik, Chino and more! This was our ode to the NY street graffiti community.
For the “C” we inluded the Maneki Neko cat that’s found all over storefronts in Chinatown. Inaddition, we added some imagery of lucky bamboo, koi fish and a lantern. In a way, this was a tribute to the little gift shops you see all over in the touristy part of Chinatown around Mott & Canal. Next, in the “H” we paid a 9/11 tribute to the twin towers along with a silhouette of the Manhattan bridge. The towers actually used to be clearly visible from the location of the mural. The “I” was the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory logo and the “N” featured the nearby F train subway station along with the (unfortnate) ever present plastic shopping bags flying around the streets of NY.
Moving on to the “A” we included a graffiti covered box truck which was really common especially in Chinatown. A lot of the delivery trucks would park around the area and it attracted graffiti writers from all over the city. We featured a tribute to Jade BTM who was a Chinese graffiti artist who passed away. Local tagger Sev TDT also came by to add a tag and we also put up MN who was another Asian NYC graffiti artist to stick with the Chinatown theme. The “T” was for Tsingtao Beer who helped sponsor this project.
The next two letters were my personal favorites with a twist of humor. The “O” represented the bootleg designer brands that were sold up and down Canal St. The “W” included the infamous Fung Wah Bus line that was always on the news for accidents and extremely unreliable. However, for anyone that has taken this bus it’s all part of the true New York experience.
Finally, the “N” featured Nom Wah which was NYC’s oldest dim sum parlor. Wilson Tang runs the family business and it was great to form a friendship with him as he’s heavily involved in the Chinatown community to this day.
Many people are not aware, but this Chinatown mural in NY was the seed that sprouted the entire Greetings Tour project. It led to us leaving NY to live full time on the road in a RV to paint postcard murals throughout America. Therefore, this wall means a lot to us. We owe a lot to this mural for all the opportunity it has given us over the years. It also brings back a lot of nostalgic memories to when we first started dating. NY’s Chinatown will forever be in our hearts.
Update: With it’s location in the gateway to Chinatown, this mural has taken quite the beating from the wear and tear of the city. While in town during the Summer of 2017, we decided it was important to rejuvenate the mural. It means a lot to us, since it sparked the idea of what we do. Throughout the years of painting Greetings murals across the USA, we are continually perfecting our style, so we also updated some of the minor details. This mural has a lot of sentimental value to us. We will always come back to maintain this piece for as long as the building is still standing.
“We worked with Victor & Lisa of the Greetings Tour to make the Greetings from Chinatown mural project a reality. We are proud to be associated with such an iconic mural sign that serves as an entryway into Chinatown. As a Chinatown business owner, we are happy to contribute to projects like this that help strengthen our community.”
“Months later I still get asked about the ‘Greetings from Chinatown’ mural on Allen St. It surely will be a show piece of art for years to come. I am so happy to be a part of it and to have the opportunity to work with Victor & Lisa!”
Press:
Sing Tao Daily (Chinese Newspaper) – Greetings From Chinatown Mural
Forbes - The Story Behind New York’s ‘Welcome To Chinatown’ Mural
Bowery Boogie - Allen Street Issues ‘ Greetings from Chinatown’ with New Mural
Letter Guide:
C - Maneki-neko cat
H - Manhattan Bridge
I - Chinatown Ice Cream Factory
N - F train and some trash (of course)
A - Box truck/ tribute to Jade BTM
T - Tsingtao Beer
O - Bootleg Louis Vuitton on Canal St.
W - Fung Wah Bus (on fire)
N - Nom Wah Dim Sum Parlor
Year: 2014
Mural Size: 10'H x 50'W
Location: 1 Allen St. New York, NY 10002