Yankee Stadium Ticket Booth/Kiosk

[Ronnoco]

Sorry I forgot the photos
---------------------------------------------
I've been doing some research on the graffiti on the booth. There is incredible coverage of Bronx early-1970s graffiti and its artists. These are just a few things I've been able to find:

1) There is graffiti from this kiosk (pic 1) which appears on the Smithsonian kiosk as well (pic 2).

2) There is graffiti on this kiosk (pic 3) which still appears on the wall of Gate 4 in early 1974 (pic 4). "Salt 168" was a Bronx graffiti artist whose work was apparently well-known in the 1970s. He was from 168th Street.

3) Three of the names that appear in one area of the kiosk belong to members of the "56 Boys", apparently big-time Bronx graffiti artists who worked as a team in the early 1970s: FDT 56, HOY 56, and TINE 56 (final name appears twice). They were all from 156th Street, hence the name. The last photo (pic 6) shows their work on a subway train from the early 1970s.

I'm still working on these. There are more that also match graffiti on other booths and the stadium itself.

I'll post more photos of the booth in case anyone's interested.

Sure glad there are folks who feel the same way about graffiti as we do about baseball

[David Atkatz]

As a Bronx boy, born and bred, let me unequivocally state that those "tags" are nothing but vandalism, plain and simple. They sure ain't "art."
There's a good chance that that kiosk stood outside the Stadium since 1923. What a shame that some think its greatest historical significance lies in some spray paint.

[Ronnoco]

Originally Posted by David Atkatz

As a Bronx boy, born and bred, let me unequivocally state that those "tags" are nothing but vandalism, plain and simple. They sure ain't "art."
There's a good chance that that kiosk stood outside the Stadium since 1923. What a shame that some think its greatest historical significance lies in some spray paint.

Agreed, David. The graffiti helps with provenance, but I'm certainly not applauding it.

[RTK]

Originally Posted by David Atkatz

As a Bronx boy, born and bred, let me unequivocally state that those "tags" are nothing but vandalism, plain and simple. They sure ain't "art."
There's a good chance that that kiosk stood outside the Stadium since 1923. What a shame that some think its greatest historical significance lies in some spray paint.

I have to agree, I'd restore it.

[william_9]

Love it or hate it, the graffiti happened and it's part of the history. As a baseball artifact, sure, it would be better without it (or any of its non-original 1923 paint). As piece of New York City, the tags go with the territory. Again, love it hate it, it fits the time and place. I don't know anything about the taggers, but the marks are not very "artistic", which is a shame in a way. I don't think we're too far away from a major art museum adding a subway car, or box truck, or some other non-traditional item/structure to their permanent collection if it had the right graffiti on it. Perhaps it has already happened, I don't know. I for one would definitely attend a curated graffiti show at the MoMA. But I can understand how others would hate it, or even the idea of it. Actually, I think it would be pretty cool if your ticket booth were somehow worked into the (hypothetical) MoMA exhibit as a visual connection between graffiti and everyday life in NYC.

If it were mine, I'd restore it structurally and leave its outward appearance as it was when it was removed. If any of those guys are well known you could potentially be scrubbing major value off the booth. Cambell's Soup is worth .69 cents unless Warhol touched it. Not sure about added graffiti on a ticket booth - and the Warhol value comparison could easily be hyperbole, but you get the idea. Unlike collected art, graffiti was largely cleaned up, painted over, and scrapped. Genuine pieces from the era are greatly outnumbered by photos and memories of graffiti.

[FourStrikes]

reminds me of: http://www.stencilrevolution.com/pro...chel-basquiat/ - and the movie http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115632/ (vastly underrated movie, IMO, by the way) featuring BOWIE, WALKEN, OLDMAN, HOPPER, DEL TORO, etc....

not even remotely implying this kiosk features JMB's stuff, but...while I disagree - particularly in the past quarter century or so with taggers / graffiti artists that trash ANY kind of shit nowadays, early / vintage graffiti has a certain "charm" to it.....

again, wouldn't touch it (the kiosk) in it it's original condition.

I'd of course have to dig it out of my archives to scan / post it, but one item that's buried within my non-sports real photo postcard collection is an image of a few ladies, ca. 1910's-20's with early (some scrawling on a wall) examples of graffiti on a wall in the background, which led me to keep it, as it's otherwise a non-spectacular image, minus the graffiti.

DS

[steve B]

Grafitti may be vandalism, but at some point it also becomes history.

When that happens I suppose depends on the viewer.

When I went to England in 86, we visited Windsor castle. While waiting for the rest of the family to be done in the gift shop I stood in a sort of alcove around the door. Saw some carved stuff, and my first reaction was " such a nice place and some * had to go carving his name into it! " Then it sunk in that most of the carvings were from the late 1400's and 1500's. So probably carved by a bored guard. Which was pretty cool.

Steve B

[Ronnoco]

If I discover something that's been sitting in a crate for 43 years, it's not enough that it really, really, really looks like an old Yankee Stadium ticket booth. It has no other ephemeral trail apart from a few offhand remarks in books and newspapers. Nobody cared about holograms and letters of authenticity at a 1973 Bronx fire sale. Paired with photographic evidence, the graffiti helps make the case for provenance. The location of the booth at the time of its removal can be identified. There is numbering on the kiosk itself, but the graffiti is corroborating evidence backed by historic images. I would have loved to find it in its 1923 condition, but this was the only flavor available.

I think it's both vandalism and history. The attached image is from the bell tower of a cathedral that I worked on a few years back. We were able to trace it to one of the workers who hung the bells in 1861. It eventually led to our ability to correctly recast a cracked bell 155 years later. Romanes eunt domus