Neighborhood considers graffiti park in Allston

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Neighborhood considers graffiti park in Allston (Jeff Sullivan, The Bulletin: July 1, 2021)

If any Bostonian had to pick one neighborhood for a legal graffiti wall, Allston Rock (or Rat) City would probably have the majority vote. 

The neighborhood gets tagged. A lot. Just last month a billboard for the Kevin Bacon Showtime show 'City on a Hill' was up for a couple of weeks before BDubs sprayed their name in the bottom-right corner of the sign overlooking the Pike. If one didn’t know BDub's prior work, they could be forgiven for thinking it was part of the sign. Artists can spray intricate, almost mural-like pieces throughout the neighborhood. Some just quickly tag with simple script and others – possibly to avoid getting their tag taken down – also tag “Never Forget 9/11.” 

Regardless, Allston Village Main Streets Executive Director Alex Cornacchini said at the most recent Allston Civic Association (ACA) meeting that the organization is looking to use the walls around the municipal parking lot off of Harvard Avenue behind Blanchard’s Liquors to give graffiti artists a public place to come and work on their pieces without either the threat of getting arrested or damaging storefronts and public walls or murals. 

Cornacchini said this area would be based on the Central Square wall in Cambridge, now called Graffiti Alley which, he said, has become a destination for artists and tourists alike. 

“We’d like to grant artists all around the city access to paint this wall freely, providing them a space to showcase their work,” he said. “Our hope is that after establishing this wall, artists will move from tagging storefronts to this wall and it will allow for people to experiment with larger and more complex pieces of art.” 

Cornacchini said the walls inside the parking lot are perfectly suited for this kind of art. He said they’re close to the business district while not ACA continued from page 1 placed right on the street. Resident Christine Varriale said the parking lot is well known in the neighborhood, but it’s somewhat out of the way and artists might miss it. 

“I don’t know if artists will know to go there unless there’s just like super-good visibility,” she said. 

Cornacchini said there would be signage posted for the lot like there is in Cambridge. 

“You can see a blip and we’ve also discussed way to note that this is a graffiti wall,” he said. “You know, Graffiti Alley has a fake street sign that says ‘Graffiti Alley’ that leads people into it. So I think something like that would be good.” 

Representative for At Large City Councilor Annissa Essaibi-George Danielle Foley asked Cornacchini if the Graffiti Alley in Cambridge saw any kind of significant reduction in graffiti elsewhere in the neighborhood. Cornacchini said he’s waiting to hear back from officials in Cambridge for the actual stats, but he said he noticed a reduction. 

“I actually went down there a week ago while I was doing research for this project and there’s a lot less graffiti in Central Square than I used to see, you know, 10 years ago,” he said. “So I can’t say 100 percent yes, but it seems like it’s concentrated in the Graffiti Alley area.” 

Resident and District 9 City Councilor Liz Breadon representative Moira McCrave said she spoke to a friend who works for a city councilor in Cambridge, and from their understanding of the project, Graffiti Alley is a self-regulating artist space. 

“They operate from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and they’re located directly next to a restaurant, and so the graffiti artists stop around five,” she said. “The artists themselves also cover over anything offensive.” 

Cornacchini added that the area will allow artists free reign over reusing wall space, as the idea is to encourage as many artists as possible to come and contribute. 

“So the idea is that it’s open to the public and people paint Graffiti Alley knowing that their art will be painted over, maybe tomorrow maybe the next day maybe next week,” he said. “So that would be the same idea.” 

Cornacchini said the plan is currently supported by the Boston Transportation Department, which owns the lot, and that they will be coming to seek support from the ACA in the future. ACA President Tony D’Isidoro said they will take a vote when the time comes, but added that he doesn’t feel much opposition coming from members. 

“At some point Alex if you’re looking for a letter of support from the ACA, we’d be happy to write that up for you,” he said. “I don’t sense any opposition to this.”