Twin City Photos

Abandoned train station at the Olympic Stadium in Munich.

I often feel ambivalent about graffiti, as in some cases I think it contaminates, while in other cases it seems to add life to something dull and dreary. Case and point just recently the area around Minnehaha Falls was spray painted by vandals. Actually it was more like tagging, which are basically gang markings. Being this is a park and tourist area frequented by families, this clearly is an act of vandalism. It can be quite difficult to remove spray paint, especially in hard to reach areas. On the other hand take this abandoned train stop in the photo. The graffiti does seem to add a bit of life to the scene. Judging by the amount of it, the city appears to tolerate it. Or maybe they’ve just given up.

More graffiti under one of the Mississippi bridges. I don’t get any of the symbols or phrases typically seen in this type of graffiti, but sometimes you do read things that make you ponder a bit about the meaning, like this one. Is it about someone in particular? Or is it an accusation against an institution, a section of society, government? Or did it just seem cool to paint the words ‘The Liar’?

Taken a few months along Washington Avenue, this building is gone by now. Guess it was well overdue. Doubtful though it will sprout anything pretty as it’s located in an industrial area.

On another note, several new photobloggers have sprouted in the Twin Cities area. Nice to see. Their sites can be found on my local links. Mitchster, Dusty, and I are getting together at the Duplex Restaurant & Wine Bar at Hennepin and 25th this Friday at around 4:00, hang out on the porch and watch Friday madness on Hennepin. Bloggers and photobloggers swing on by if up for it. We’re easy to spot with all the camera gear.

I intended to go out and get some shots of a particular flowering tree, but it was so windy today that would have been an exercise in futility. So instead I took a drive in the Northeast Art District. There was quite a bit of activity around the few bars in the area, some festival going on, so I took some side streets to avoid the traffic jams. Spotted this railroad bridge across Mississippi and intended to get some shots of the bridge, but instead found it’s base decorated with graffiti.

I’m surprised at the letter reversal to disguise the swear phrase. But then they did something similar on Battlestar Galactica. Apparently it’s acceptable on TV to disguise swear phrases by substituting a couple of letters, so I guess we could consider the graffiti swearing socially acceptable.

On the way back from the farmers market this morning, I drove past this ‘store front’ on Lyndale Avenue, and just had to turn around to get a photo of it.