Craig Fowler on February 25, 2010, at 08:16AM – #1

that's a real shame. i discovered The Gorbals because of his mural... which quickly became my favorite lunch spot in downtown.

Jeremy Hansen on February 25, 2010, at 08:16AM – #2

Complaint? So what? So someone complains in this town and there's hell to pay? What if the artist does nothing and ignores the complaint? What would happen?

I don't like stepping in hipster dog piss every five feet. Please let me know when the city plans on exterminating all the stylish dogs downtown.

Jeremy Hansen on February 25, 2010, at 08:50AM – #5

So what is the real issue? What are the guidelines for compliance?

Julie Jamerson on February 25, 2010, at 01:14PM – #11

You know.. I was extremely offended by how ugly and tasteless the Ed Hardy store/logo was when it was located just down the street from the Down and Out, but did I complain? No, no, I sure didn't. If someone doesn't like the mural, maybe they should learn to be a little more open minded. It's art. Perhaps, those wishing to protest, could collect signatures to keep the mural?

on February 25, 2010, at 01:44PM – #13

Why get rid of something fun and cool like that? What a shame...

El Dabe Sherif on February 25, 2010, at 03:21PM – #19

apparently it is a lot easier to take down a commissioned art piece than an illegal billboard.

JDRCRASHER on February 25, 2010, at 03:30PM – #20

"city regulations are (and need to be) OBJECTIVE - thats why we need a ban on billboards EVERYWHERE!"

No, we don't. We keep them in the places that make sense.

Jeremy Hansen on February 25, 2010, at 03:34PM – #21

"The mural, as well as the name of this establishment has become a magnet for miscreants. I am glad the mural is to be removed. Now they need to work on the name and clientele."

What century are you living in? Spring Street is nothing but a bunch of rich hipsters. How many of those hipsters even have a clue about the rich history embedded in places like the Alexandria Hotel? Or Spring Street in general.

People were actually offended by this? Jesus Christ. Seriously...I mean...what?

I'm offended by people who would be frightened by art and free expression. The multitude of characters we see in downtown LA is one of the reasons I live here. All you want to do is make everything the same...acceptable...clean...so you don't have to face the realities of a real city. How fucking boring is that? There's already a place for that. It's called Santa Monica. Check it out.

Also, bum piss is nothing compared to the streams of yippy little dog piss I have to deal with on a daily basis. Bring back the bums to Spring St!!!! Bring back the drug dealers!!!! Bring back the hookers!!!!

I guess art has no place in downtown LA unless it's in some hipster gallery and cost a lot of money.

Don Garza on February 25, 2010, at 03:46PM – #22

I suspect that I may know who it was that complained and once their benefactors acquire the Rossylyn Hotel may start to try and claim all kinds of legitimate and legal businesses are nuisances. It is in their nature . They have been doing this since 1999. This is just the beginning folks , read the writing on the wall , no pun intended.Displacing the working folks and the workforce housing that young hipsters who work almost 16 hours a day and pay taxes that subsidize those living in their sro hotels, which one just got raided for guns and drug dealing this week, with a tenant that had been living at the Southern for 10 years.

I have not seen the offensiveness in that piece of Art.. I looked and looked and looked . but could not find anything resembling the people of the neighborhood in the historic core in that piece of Art..

It is offensive to me and ,I suspect the thought police that operate skid row are now trying to bring their thought policing and prohibition era thinking into the Historic Core. My humble opinion.

Veronica Harrington-Myers on February 25, 2010, at 03:55PM – #23

I want to know who the heck would complain about this... that is very lame

Robyn on February 25, 2010, at 04:02PM – #24

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I like the idea of displaying the art on the interior ... (but I've never been inside to know whether this is plausible).

I also like the idea of complaining about pee. Pee is not art, yet I am subjected to it so much more than I am art.

() on February 25, 2010, at 04:07PM – #25

Its a god awful meth induced looking mural, but on the other hand my first amendment rights get riled at the idea of someone forced to remove it over some poorly enforced code (see: illegal billboards all over LA.)

The Historic Core needs to be restored. More hipsters less bums. But frankly that mural is an insult to the history of The Alexandria...where's the glamor?

Keith Myers on February 25, 2010, at 04:08PM – #26

don't these pricks have something more important to do with their time

                                                                           km

Nancy Richardson () on February 25, 2010, at 04:17PM – #27

Oh, dear...

Emmeric Konrad is not popular with the new denizens of Spring Street!

One would guess it time for Thomas Kinkade to open up a gallery Downtown.

That is a pretty amazing mural and Spring Street will be poorer for the busybody who reported it.

Patnet on February 25, 2010, at 07:03PM – #29

What's wrong with billboards? Can't commercial art be just as valid as murals and art gallery art? Some is very witty, stylistically interesting--the fonts etc. The creators can be very talented. Plus, it can give you a good idea on what to buy when you go to the market.

Don Garza on February 25, 2010, at 08:49PM – #30

kcal 9 was out there earlier this evening.

Russell Brown on February 25, 2010, at 11:18PM – #31

Regardless of whether or not you like the art, it is crazy that a single complaint can bring the entire city force on a business but all billboards, illegal signage all over the city and graffiti all over the freeways are OK.

The City went after Eastern Columbia's very classy store front murals yet the rest of the street can look like post Katrina or a 3rd world country and enforcement is nowhere to be found.

How about the burned out abandoned building at 4th and Broadway? Where is the City's concern over esthetics?

Is it possible to reverse the sliding doors and have the murals on the inside? Maybe more of those designer blank walls on 2nd at Caltrans back side can be recreated to deaden even more of downtown?

And yes dog piss is more a problem than human. At least the humans are using the corners and hideaways and not the front doors and everywhere else they feel free to relieve themselves. Walk up dog owners, train yourselves.

"Curb" you dog means actually using the curbs and gutters, not entryways and walking paths.

Don Garza on February 26, 2010, at 12:58AM – #32

cbs2 , kcal9 and abc7 were all out there covering the mural story at the Down and Out

bigphatcatlover on February 26, 2010, at 02:17AM – #34

Jeremy: Though I agree with you about the mural, and even if I didn't I would still support the art and the artist. YOU need to get over yourself just a little! "Spring Street is nothing but a bunch of rich hipsters." Really? Have you met all of us? I don't think you've done your research. I haven't met you and I've lived on Spring Street for many years. I'm not terribly hip (middle aged white woman) and as an artist, I'm certainly not rich. Neither is anyone else in the very large building I live in (on Spring Street, in case you missed that fact). So, how about you stop generalizing and having a big ole drama queen moment and think about what you're saying, and who you're offending before you open your great big pie hole?

And about the hookers and drug dealers...we have all worked towards making this a better place, and it is a better place than it was. Nope, it's not perfect and I don't like bums or dogs peeing on the sidewalk. But if it bothers you to the point of having a public temper tantrum like a two-year-old, why don't you channel that tizzy into something productive, like finding a way to create a dog park or more public toilets? Don't just whine. Either do something or shut up.

Suggestion about the mural: Since there seems to be no law about displaying art behind a window (like galleries do), how about putting in new windows and displaying the current ones just behind them? Like it or not, it's art and it has its place, especially by the guy who commissioned it and supported the artist and community.

on February 26, 2010, at 10:15AM – #37

Are there any updates on the story? Are there any options to oppose these complaints? Has the Department of cultural affairs or Arts for LA been contacted? They might be able to offer some advice in terms of advocacy options.

These kinds of incidents are one of many reasons why LA needs an art and business council. If local businesses do want to commission public art works (which they should be encouraged not dissuaded to do), they need help navigating the intricacies of city policy and politics, especially when it comes to murals and the historically contentious super graphics ordinance.

Personally, I wish this mural could stay, but if the business did not proceed with the commission in accordance with city regulations there isn't much that can be done. Even art has to play by (some of) the rules.

The good news is that this attention and coverage will likely end up benefiting the bar, the artist, the neighborhood and (fingers crossed) public art policy. Let’s hope we can channel this frustration over a lost art work into blazing a trail to protect and promote future pieces.

JDRCRASHER on February 26, 2010, at 11:04AM – #38

@Patnet: "What's wrong with billboards? Can't commercial art be just as valid as murals and art gallery art? Some is very witty, stylistically interesting--the fonts etc. The creators can be very talented. Plus, it can give you a good idea on what to buy when you go to the market."

Here's the problem:

Not everyone sees it that way. In fact, there are some people that are so paranoid about billboards that they want to ban them altogether. Some of them believe they're a distraction to motorists and instead want them to see the mountains, sky and sunsets (see the contradiction, there?). Although, I do think that allowing billboards to crop up anywhere in the city is too much, which is why I think we should keep them on Hollywood Blvd (between La Brea & the 101) and in South Park/LA Live. Have 2 signage districts, then ban them everywhere else. And if the billboard companies don't like it, too bad. The bottom line is that it makes much more sense to compromise with them in the same way as we do with developers to come up with a solution. But even when ideas like this arise, anti-billboard activists whine, "why should those property owners get money and 'we' don't?". I do think that more money that comes from these billboards should be given to local communities for a variety of purposes, and hopefully, when an ordinance is designed, this problem will be addressed. Of course there are "specific details" to how an ordinance should be be crafted. But by not at even trying to find common ground with the billboard companies, anti-billboard activists are being lazy and this seems to reveal their own true motives, whatever it may be.

Instead, they follow a radical, cowardly, and so-called "simple" way of dealing with this issue:

ALL BILLBOARDS SUCK

BAN THEM

TAX THEM

REMOVE THEM

All in all, I think this is almost as dumb and unreasonable as saying:

ALL SKYSCRAPERS SUCK

BAN THEM

TAX THEM

DEMOLISH THEM

Bedlam Magazine () on February 26, 2010, at 03:45PM – #39

Mural Censorship a Hoax? (from bedlammagazine.com)

Friday, February 26, 3:27 p.m. Emmeric James Konrad, longtime anchor of the downtown L.A. arts scene, was told yesterday by the proprietors of a downtown bar that they had been ordered by a city official to remove the mural he painted on their windows on Spring St. at 5th. However, we could find no city official who has admitted to making the call. According to Eva Kandarpa in Council Member Jan Perry's office, there is no complaint or action pending against the bar in question, the Down and Out, a popular bohemian watering hole that has become ground zero for Gallery Row activities such as the immensely successful Downtown Art Walk.

Jan Perry, who represents the Gallery Row community, is puzzled by the report. "Get me the name of the official who ordered it removed," she told us. "If the mural was on private property, that should not happen."

The artist and his supporters now suspect the call to the Down and Out was a hoax perpetrated by someone who was annoyed by the mural.

Konrad's work has been displayed at dozens of L.A. galleries and featured in exhibitions around the country. His paintings are included in a number of private collections and can be found on the walls of upscale L.A. restaurants.

"I just wanted to do an entertaining mural of the characters who hang out in the Down and Out, a confounded Konrad explained. "I really toned it down for the mural. I have no idea why anyone would find it offensive. But something good may come of it. I'm going to curate a series of shows in the windows and change out the works every week or so. We'll give 'em something to really complain about."

The Down and Out management was planning to have the mural removed today. If it does come down as the result of a hoax, it will be a loss for Konrad's fans, whose numbers substantially swelled the crowd at the Down and Out the night the mural was unveiled, and a particularly cruel loss for Konrad.

Jonathan Jerald, bedlammagazine.com

Don Garza on February 26, 2010, at 04:01PM – #40

SO... , then why did this story come out on blogdowntown if it was a hoax? Hmmm..

Rich Jesmer on February 26, 2010, at 04:42PM – #42

If it was a hoax...can I request that it be removed? Pretty Pretty Please?

Nancy Richardson () on February 26, 2010, at 05:32PM – #45

As opposed to Hooters and Big Wangs?

Rich Jesmer on February 26, 2010, at 05:44PM – #47

I wouldn't say the bar looks cheap and ghetto. I'd say it would be nice to pass by, be able to see that it's a decent place to grab a drink and watch a game, and meet up with friends. The mural, on the other hand...

on February 26, 2010, at 06:06PM – #49

"But something good may come of it. I'm going to curate a series of shows in the windows and change out the works every week or so. We'll give 'em something to really complain about."

Before this gets people off track, I just spoke to Emmeric and he wanted to clarify that the Bedlam Magazine story––shown above–-misquote him. Emmeric has no intention to create works that go beyond his usual subversive nature and make art just to prompt complaints.

General Jeff on February 27, 2010, at 08:37PM – #57

Speaking of SRO's, do ya'll know that SRO Housing is in escrow to buy the Rosslyn building at 5th and Main?

That means the possibility of more human piss and other unattractive effects and results because of SRO's notorious reputation for mismanagement of their buildings.

I'm all for affordable housing, but we gotta get some new landlords in Skid Row that know what they're doing. The new landlords would have to be more understanding of the dual communities that co-exist at 5th and Main and 5th and Spring. Otherwise, the old Skid Row might come back and we all don't want that!

As for the mural, I think it suits the business that it is in front of perfectly. If the business was called "cupcakes and flowers", THEN it wouldn't make sense and I would also be on the local removal committee. But, to me, the artist's perfectly interpreted what the theme of the business is.

At this point, in tha hood we'd say, "don;t hate tha player, hate the game!"

In other words, don't hate the artist, hate the name of the business.

I happen to like both. I can relate to both as well!

Don Garza on February 27, 2010, at 10:01PM – #58

no one is complaining about the name of THE NICKEL restaurant or Crack Gallery. What gives?

There is an agenda here . Read the writing on the wall... just heard the new Mexican restaurant at the Alexandria was denied it's CUB... again, something is afoot. Read between the lines.

Don Garza on March 01, 2010, at 03:55AM – #60

It seems I jumped the gun on the CUB denial of the new mexican restaurant at the Alexandria. Where are all of these rumors coming from?... so far they haven't been denied anything, there are just some pending mitigations going on.. so let's see what happens , but I can guarantee you, UCCEPP will be out in full force and when their benefactor acquires the Rossylyn Hotel be ready for an all out assault by these two groups on legitimate businesses in the Historic Core of Downtown Los Angeles.

Patnet on March 01, 2010, at 06:33PM – #64

What about we request a deal with the city whereby for every supergraphic allowed the marketer has to provide equal square footage and manufacturing costs for muralists--say, chosen randomly at Art Walk. The City provides the data on vacant office or warehouse building floors in the financial district, Hollywood or Westlake or whatver. We end up with the art capital the world--at least in terms of square footage.

Josh Gray-Emmer on March 01, 2010, at 09:00PM – #65

I hated the mural, but DAMN if I don't love their marketing!!! A fake removal order!!! Look at all you people talking about (what I consider doesn't really matter)art. I love it. LOVE it!!

LONG LIVE CAPITALISM