Homeless in Vancouver: Eight days in the life of a West Broadway wall

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      The north side of the 1400 block of West Broadway is having a problem with graffiti.

      The problem began in 2013 when a planned mural on one two-storey building just never materialized.

      Most taggers seem to respect finished murals. Murals that are never finished—apparently not so much.

      The result has been a cycle of taggers tagging and building management overpainting.

      The pictures represent just a recent snapshot, beginning with building management painting over graffiti tags the height of and half the length of the wall. That was on April 11.

      Stanley Q. Woodvine

      Three days later, on April 14, the sun rose over the new tag someone had thrown up overnight.

      Stanley Q. Woodvine

      Two days later, on April 16, building management painted over most of it. Unfortunately they’d run through all their brown paint.

      Stanley Q. Woodvine

      And this morning, April 19…a new tag. Boy, what a surprise!

      I can see no end to the cycle short of putting up a facade wall in line with the awnings to block the view of the real wall.

      In the meantime perhaps the management could properly paint the wall black. Not only does black go with simply everything, but it’s easy to match for the inevitable over-painting.

      The story of the mural that got away

      The north side of the 1400 block of West Broadway Avenue is book-ended by a six-storey bank and an eight-storey office building. In between are five or six single-storey buildings all containing retail businesses; about half being restaurants.

      In the centre of the block, sticking up like a sore thumb, is one two-storey building. The west side of its second-storey is flat and windowless—super-visible from the street—perfect for a billboard or some other kind of promotional advertising.

      It’s never had a billboard that I know of. Back in 2004, when I first relocated to the Broadway and Granville area in my new capacity as a homeless person, the entire exposed west side of the second-story was covered in a mural.

      It wasn’t too exciting; it was a cityscape in forced perspective and its dominant colours, as I dimly recall, were orange and blue.

      Most every mural in Vancouver has been photographed and put online at least three times, but I have been unable to find a single photo of the cityscape mural—it was that appealing.

      But what I distinctly remember about it was that for the next eight or nine years, no one tagged over top of it, which is largely the point of an urban mural. So it has to be judged a success.

      Then in 2012—maybe 2013—the cityscape mural was gone. Maybe someone finally did spoil its unblemished record or the building owners just thought it was time for a change.

      Careful what you wish for

      My memories of the new mural-to-be are from 2013.

      It was dark blue, black and white, almost monochromatic, in the style of aboriginal art. It was to be divided between night and day with the moon and sun on either end. In between there were to be mountains, wind, and the ocean. The general plan was obvious but few of the specific details ever materialized.

      I saw a young fellow working on it now and again. If he had been able to finish the mural in a few weeks it would probably be there now and for years to come. But weeks went by with no progress—months actually.

      Finally someone tagged large over the work-in-progress—apparently three someones.

      The muralist did make a start at repairing the damage but again, for whatever reason, he couldn’t devote much time to the work.

      The next time taggers attacked marked the end of the mural. From then until now the cycle has been tag then overpaint then repeat.

      I wonder if the building management misses the old cityscape mural. I do.

      Stanley Q. Woodvine is a homeless resident of Vancouver who has worked in the past as an illustrator, graphic designer, and writer.

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