Posts tagged with 'graffiti yards'

I had never been to New Jersey before nor had my roommate so we decided to get lunch in Jersey City. We took the PATH train from the World Trade Center station. It was fun to see t…

My last post was a power plant and I'm pretty sure this place is too, though I couldn't find any history on it. This was a really cool, completely unplanned and unexpected explore.…

The other day I went out with another awesome explorer I met online. We drove an hour away from the city to this magical land of abandoned buildings. This sprawling complex was hug…

This was a gigantic warehouse - basically two in one. In was comprised of two separate buildings, joined with a large gate connecting them. In the middle was a creepy cage - see th…

Not to far away from Smells house, I was able to find this mostly empty warehouse, but it was coated with wall to wall graffiti.…

This warehouse was built in 1886 - that's, like, 100 years before I was born. Interestingly, the construction was made primarily out of wood. In place of steel i-beams there were w…

Before moving to NYC, we decided to check off some San Jose spots. These were all separate spots, only related by walking proximity. The train bridge had a Girafa one-flow on it. I…

We had a lead on this spot previously and it turned out to be a different abandoned school in a semi-nearby area. Discouraged, we went home empty handed. It was good news when we f…

This spot snuck an extra tunnel up upon us. The side we entered from appeared to have two parallel tunnels. When we got to the otherside, we were surprised to find a third tunnel e…

Several years ago my exploring buddy and I got ourselves into one of the most memorable adventures: a giant Asterisk shaped building with over 400 rooms. Well, there was actually t…

This school, I believe, is over 100 years old. It left a beautiful building behind filled with graffiti. With four floors and a basement level, it took over three hours to explore …

The architecture and the environment this spot is located at reminded me of the Tag Cathedral. There was a small shed next to it with some machines and a basic CCTV handstyle on th…

This large gym has been abandoned for some time. In addition to large, open, sporting area, there's also three stories to explore. Interestingly, the stories go downward instead of…

Not much at this spot, but I liked the atmosphere under this creek bridge.…

Went looking for this spot specifically for the Pac-Man inspired "Rack-Man" piece by Baer. To our delight, there was two more baer piece here, including an epic collab with Gyer.…

While on the hunt for a specific spot we had a giant list of unchecked east bay creeks to work through. Here are some highlights of mixed creeks.  …

Named this spot after the self-titled Musk piece here. Unfortunately I was late to the game on this one and the bottom half of musk was lost...…

I've known about this spots location and have been wanting to check it out for awhile. The outside is easy to check out, and probably familiar to people who walk their dogs on the …

As I've written about before: persistence pays off. We originally just wanted to scope out what was under the road, but after seeing what looked promising we headed back to the car…

This tunnel at one time was an epic underground art gallery, but I was late to the game on this one and missed it. The city came through and buffed the whole thing - apparently thi…

The word on the street is the HYSU crew (Have You Seen Us?) claimed a creek tunnel to themselves as their personal showcase for HYSU graff. They'll even paint over anyone else who …

While in the area, decided to check some south bay creeks off the bottomless list. Turns out, one of the stops we checked @bayareawanderer had already been to - and was home to a g…

This was a short stretch of graffiti along a freeway. It had an older Phaze from 2011 so it had to be done. It was also nice to see some EAO including Payntr and Depht.…

These aren't really "houses," but for lack of a better term these two houses were sitting on top of a small hill. After a short ascent we flicked some Oracles and others.…

This spot consisted of a giant circle of trapezoid walls, some of which had doors. The circle was maybe 1 or 2 miles in diameter. We walked the circle flicking the graff as it came…

We decided to do a tank-hunting day, and we checked out a handful of tanks in tucked away in the north bay hills. For this album, I combined the best shots of the day from our came…

I have ridden the train by this yard many times in the past. It's always looked pretty decent, and after shooting it at less than 50MPH, I can say that it was decent. While explori…

This is a special kind of graffiti yard - one that only feature's a single artist. I guess in that case, it's not much of a graffiti yard in the traditional sense. But I feel like …

I recently when though my entire archive of graffiti photos, and separated out one of each Girafa I have visited. I'm three away from having visited 150 still-running Girafa peices…

This alley is reminiscent of some of the San Francisco Mission alleys. The most notable feature besides the graffiti, though, is the number of prostitutes we saw strolling around, …

This was a graffiti coated underpass with unusual sidewalks. Though the sidewalks were built neatly, complete with arched tunnels, neither end of the sidewalks go anywhere. It's ac…

I happened upon this building during a near-by adventure and noticed it was abandoned. Later, when driving by I noticed hand-styles in the windows. IT HAD TO BE DONE. Unfortunately…

We almost walked the length of this creek twice - from surface streets - before we actually entered. This urban-canal is far from being a nature stroll, it's concrete for it's enti…

We found a group of interconnected creeks, with the main line running north-south, while a few creeks split off to the east. This is the first creek, with many stops along the way,…

This beach spot is popular with locals, but there's not too much graff to see. Still worth a peep.…

This was a revisit to Mountaintop Fun, because we had heard that Musk visited since our last trip. We had to come back and capture the new mummies.…

I had no idea of this tunnels existence with the exception of one sexy piece by Beavis - the letters are made of people in an orgy. After having visited, this tunnel is one of my f…

I finally met up with one of the other epic photographers from Flickr and Instagram. The first spot we hit up that day was the Lions Den. I had seen pictures, but finally I had a l…

This is a pretty common hiking trail that is getting rather popular these days. Along the way there's multiple bunkers to check out, and the treat on top is a large complex of amaz…

The Temple of doom has been a target in my sights for along time. It started with a picture I found on the internet of a very distinct Girafa roller - I had to find it. I eventuall…

There's a short stretch of train tracks that run past my house. When I drive over them, they never looked particularly interesting, but they had to be done. I was shocked at what I…

We started this spot by following a long freeway wall, which eventually merged into a creek with a handful of underpasses. Though each underpass could be considered a spot in it's …

Sometimes it's really difficult to track down a certain graffiti piece. I had only seen one or two shots of this CCTV on the Internet. But it's not surprising why. When I arrived a…

This creek has a Spanish name that may throw you off the first time you try to read it, so I call it tongue twister creek. We decided to pick a creek this day and walk as much of i…

The easiest way to get to this creek bridge is by ducking through an office buildings parking lot, climbing a fence, and dropping down into the creek. Of course, keep an eye for th…

This spot has been on the top of the to-do list for quite some time. It took us embarrassingly long to actually find it, however. In fact, we found many other creek spots during ou…

We had some time to kill, so we went for a lovely stroll on the beach.…

Word has it that this used to be a famous lock company. Now the building is home to art and the occasional squatter. The building is absolutely beautiful inside, I wish I could buy…

This tubular tunnel exists straight out to a beach. Oracle was there to lead the way.…

Believe it or not, these buildings involved hiking to the top of a mountain. I'm surprised at the quality selection up here. Great art and great views!…

None of these creeks were really special enough to warrant a post of their own, but they are very close geographically.…

This yard was hard to get to - no easy parking, and the only ways to get to it are pretty treacherous. I'm surprised at how well painted this place is, since it's somewhat remote a…

This was a set of four total, voluminous, long tunnels set in two parallel pairs. The first two were surprisingly empty, but then again they were annoying to get to - the mud was l…

We got a tip to check out the "Time Tunnel," but when we got there we actually found two tunnels. Not too much to see inside these ones, but thought I'd post it for the sake of the…

Persistence prevails yet again. After finishing up a spot, we decided to walk the creek to it's end, just to see what's there. After a long walk we came across this bonus yard we d…

One thing I preach is persistence. Though we had already found what we were looking for in the area, I suggested we walk the extra 500 feet to see if there was anything around the …

Like many graffiti yards, this spot has found a home under a major freeway. Strangely, though, all the artwork is covered with a thick layer of dust. To make things more confusing,…

This was another lake runoff, but for a lake that still exists! The artist IMP seemed to cover this spot well, so I called it the IMPY Dam.…

This was once a damn and a run off spillway for a lake which no longer exists. Since the lake has been filled in, this defunct infrastructure has now become home to some graffiti. …

This tunnel was actually attached to a creek we covered earlier but we didn't go far enough to find it. It's got a great line up, so luckily we found it later.…

I'm not sure if this yard has proper name, but considering it's essentially a giant wall, I entitled it as such. There's a handful of burners out here.…

Not to be confused with the writer named Lush, this warehouse is literally Lush with overgrowth and art. It's uncommon to see a warehouse with a dirt floor, so this makes an intere…

With four floors, 6 halls, 14 rooms per hall, this building had over 336 rooms. It's shaped like a giant Asterisk, and is one hell of an urban exploration. The icing on the cake is…

For lack of a better name, I clearly titled this one after the piece that sticks out to me most. A rare, classic, Girafa. But that's not all that's there, you'll also find a couple…

While we were in the area, we stopped by for a quick revisit of the Interrogation Hotel. Not too much had changed, but there was a nice crispy new Oracle there, as well as a Galaxe…

Out in the middle of nowhere, a train crosses three tunnels. Of course this makes for fertile painting ground...…

Apparently this land was once owned by a gravel company. The company excavated several giant craters in the middle of nowhere, before shutting down their operation. The locals have…

Apparently this graffiti yard is where Burning man stores it's sculptures the rest of the year. You can't go in this warehouse, but that's alright because the best work is all outs…

Named after the Bay Area writer, Jurne, this warehouse was a spectacular showcase of his work. Apparently he discovered the place and kept it on the DL, continuously updating it wi…

Got up bright and early, and hit this creek up literally at the break of dawn. Though it was mostly whack, there were some nice gems to be found.…

This warehouse was mostly bare, unlike the Liquidators Jungle. However, it had a small office complex with a large Uter featured out front. I find it hard to believe this place isn…

What happens when a large furniture retailer goes belly up? You end up with a gigantic warehouse still completely stocked. This place was a jungle inside, with a maze of furniture,…

This mini yard has become somewhat infamous due to it's West Oakland sign painted by the popular artist GATS. Thought there's not much to see, I had to make the pilgrimage and capt…

To distinguish this arched tunnel, I call it the "Chandelier Tunnel." About half way through this looonng tunnel, is a Chandelier someone has mounted on the ceiling. There was a lo…

This is a set of various tunnels and bridges along an east bay creek. It features a set of two parallel tunnels that were rather long. Unfortunately it was too dark to properly pho…

My exploring buddy and I refer to this beautifully arched tunnel as the "Roar Arch," for obvious reasons. Though it's not super long, this tunnel is a nice adventure.…

We pinpointed a tunnel that goes under a major freeway and decided to check it out. Little did we know, upon arrival we would discover a huge freeway sound wall completely painted.…

We discovered this stretch of tracks as we were following a lead to a classic Girafa Neck-bone piece.…

This was a similar bunker to those from the hills we visited earlier, but this one was miles away and strangely covered in some kind of woven spread. Perhaps the city wanted to hid…

This place was on my to-visit list for waaay too long. I had seen pictures of these tanks online, but no matter how many hours I pour into scouring google satellite, I just couldn'…

This was a quick little yard I found. It features a handful of Musks, a large CCTV piece, among others.…

The Silos was one of my all time favorite adventures, perhaps because of it's grand scale. The building is a set of two towers, approximately 10-12 stories tall. The first floor of…

This abandoned Bay Area warehouse has been dubbed the "Tag Cathedral," by locals. It features wall-to-wall graffiti that spans several years, making this quite a reputable yard. We…

We weren't planing on finding this place, but it was a nice bonus surprise to stumble on.…

Last time we visited this homemade skatepark, it was winter and the park was flooded. We revisited this summer after learning that Girafa had put up some new work there.…

One tunnel seems to be a naturally formed cave, which is followed by a gap of open skies and a second, man made concrete tunnel. The latter tunnel is coated with decent graffiti, t…

Not to be confused with the Spongebob Yard, this is an entirely different location also tucked away in the coastal hills. It's prominent piece features a new-style Girafa that merg…

Trains come and go, and train yards aren't exactly secrete spots, so I used the real name for this place. Chances are if you show up, all the art will be somewhere else on earth.…

We found the point-of-entry for this dark damp tunnel on a previous adventure and decided we needed to do it one day. After psyching ourselves up for what doom may lay in this unde…

We had to pass through this area to get to another spot, so we snapped the things that had changed since last time, including a few interesting pieces we missed. We had been lookin…

They say if you visit this graffiti yard at the right time of day, it smells like oven fresh cookies from one of the nearby buildings. It didn't smell that good when we visited, bu…

This drain water creek spans about 3 to 4 miles. Since it requires rain boots, it's a tedious walk round trip, but worth it for some of the amazing graffiti down there including Ch…

These rusting, graffiti coated tanks are now sitting empty on a hill side. Well, not completely empty - they do have a lot of dusty, rusty air inside. Though we snapped some shots …

The first time we found this location, it was boarded up too tightly. We were able to snap some pics of the inside from a hole in the exterior, but that's not good enough! This tri…

This is one of my favorite graffiti creeks of all time. There are some really nice pieces and the atmosphere was pleasant. But the Adventure Time piece sticks out to me, as I am a …

The Waterway is a huge concrete water channel tucked away in the hills. Though it was completely dry, I'd love to see it in action, perhaps a revisit during the winter is in order.…

For lack of a better name, I called this graffiti yard the Maska Train Tunnel after one of my favorite artists featured there.…

We spotted this graffiti coated concrete creek from satellite view, and decided to check it out.…

Whether intentional or not, this train had some sort of stair case which gave the place a very cozy, picturesque feeling. If I lived in the area, I'd spend more time down there. Wh…

I actually liked this SJ bridge. The bridge had just a mild creek under it, with stepping stones set up by homeless across it. It was very zen like, the air was cool, and the homel…

Tired of San Jose bridges yet? Here's another.…

We weren't planning on this spot, but happened to walk by it. This is a graffiti covered skatepark located somewhere in SJ.…

I wonder why the engineers of this bridge chose such an unusual design. The bridge didn't seem too much bigger than anything I've seen before, but the poles were just too many! Not…

We walked along a stretch of southern bay area commuter tracks.…

Once again we find ourselves under a major freeway, though this San Jose bridge was much less impressive.…

These were two bridges right in a row, so close they could almost be the same bridge. Mostly whack stuff, but it is what it is.…

This train yard seemed to specialize in car carrying cargo trains. We explored the yard itself and the nearby surrounding tracks. We found a couple of Girafas, including one we did…

Random shots from around San Jose that don't fit anywhere else.…

This was a large bridge accommodating a rather busy multilane freeway in the bay area. There was a large homeless camp set up here as well.…

This SJ Bridge surprised us with a Musk!…

Nothing too notable about this random bridge in SJ.…

This bridge in the SJ set of bridges was very open and spacious underneath.…

We were taking a shortcut through an open field with tall grass, when we discovered this train bridge we had no idea existed. It doesn't really go over an active creek, but maybe i…

Just a bridge near a Lowes.…

A cartoon house painted under this SJ bridge really stood out to me.…

Not much to see under this bridge under the lightrail.…

Another SJ bridge, this one was divided into compartments underneath that individuals seemed to have set up as their homes. There was some kinda chill-out party going on down there…

This is the first in a series of San Jose tunnels and bridges. This dark tunnel was actually one of a pair of parallel tunnels. Unfortunately, the other side was full of water and …

Though you would typically find backyard fences painted along side train tracks, these fences were in a proper community suburb. Some outstanding work here, a must see album!…

Due to the diminishing light during our first trip to this epic alleyway, we had planned on visiting again to take more thorough photos. This was the second trip since we were in t…

This alley in the mission had a nice Plantrees set.…

Yet another astonishing alley coated in graffiti in the Mission.…

Freespace is/was an experimental community project in San Francisco. The idea was to rent a previously industrial / commercial building in SF and turn it into "free space" for the …

We spooked a couple of graffiti writers as we approached this destination. Sorry guys. They must have been keeping an eye on us from a distance, because after we left we saw them r…

This forgotten industrial area shores up against a beautiful waterfront view. Even the graffiti want's to swimming!…

This was an interesting yard. It as a multistory section of retaining walls holding up a cliff next to a major Bay Area freeway. Each story was made of several concave divisions th…

This was a cozy little yard under a major Bay Area road, featuring CCTV, Jist, among others.…

After months of searching, we finally nailed down this location on the map. We had seen pics of the awesome Girafa, Musk, CCTV, and Phase rollers down here. This spot seems to rema…

We decided to walk a several mile stretch of Caltrain tracks, in the hunt for Girafa. Many bay area folks became Girafa fans from riding Caltain, even if they previously weren't in…

Someone told me the name of this place is called the Walls of Fame. I'd hardly call them walls, but whatever works. We discovered this place by accident when we were checking out t…

We found this alley towards the end of our day. Light was low, so many photos came out grainy and we couldn't fully finish shooting. We will cover this area fully, later on.…

The back of this public storage center has unofficial become a place to paint. One of the best Girafa's out there is hidden, fading, in this yard.…

Girafa peaks over the roof tops, in this mini yard in the dog patch.…

This yard is visible from the Caltrain tracks, lurking in the shade from the streets passing above.…

This underpass tunnel built in 1928 has become a decent yard.…

This dilapidated structure was once a busy round house for Bay Area trains. It now has become an art gallery of sorts.…

Random graffiti in an open space in the Bayshore area.…

Being next to a waste processing facility meant this tunnel had bad breath. Never the less, we held our noses and snapped the work out here.…

For lack of a better name, I named this yard based of the fact that it runs a long a cliff. It made getting good shots of the work difficult, because there wasn't a lot of room to …

This public storage company commissioned the Bay Area's finest to grace their walls with the "Oakland Hall of Fame." The overall theme was a tribute to the legendary Bay Area write…

Another stretch of train tracks tucked away in the East Bay.…

For lack of a better name, I called this amazing yard after an epic Spongebog Squarepants parody mural located there. Truly an in-person must-see.…

This gallery isn't from any particular day or yard, but rather a collection of random photos that don't really fit elsewhere.…

On our way home, we spotted this nice wall off Market st. It was dark, but we had to snap a few pics.…

This storefront had some colorful artwork on it!…

All parking lots should look like this one we found in the Mission. The artwork is from some of the most prominent writers in the area, and executed with style and grace.…

This was the first of several alleys in the Mission we visited. This alley was mostly commissioned work.…

Epic is the only word to describe the magnitude of this graffiti alley. This set also includes some smaller walls in the nearby area.…

Running parallel to Valencia St in San Francisco is an alley of well done graffiti. This set also includes a couple near by perpendicular walls.…

For lack of a better name, I called this yard and near-by alley the Burger Yard, after the multi-story burger painted here. Lots of delicious graff here.…

This local business embraced the graffiti community, by commissioning some interesting artwork for their storefront and side wall. They're called Pizza Zone, but do they sell Pizzo…

This collection covers many spots along Haight st, from the Fillmore to Ashbury there were some nice pieces all along the way.…

This is a mural with various artists in SF.…

Though commissioned, these pieces in the heart of the Tenderloin are breathtaking.…

For lack of a better name, I named this graffiti alley after one of it's featured artists: Plantrees.…

If the furniture is trying to escape this building... I'd hate to see what's going on inside. The furniture was part of an art installation in 1997, via 1am: This multi-disciplinar…

The late comic artist, Vaughn Bode has had a tremendous impact on the graffiti scene for several years. Many graffiti artists mimic his characters in their street art. I'm sure thi…

Bay Area Sports was the theme for this commissioned wall. Unfortunately we weren't able to document it too well, as the business owners shoo'd us away quickly. I wonder if that Pla…

For lack of a better name, I call this San Francisco alley, Apex Alley after one of the featured artists there.…

I shouldn't even bother to upload this one... but I did. This mini yard is under a busy street in the East Bay. It's pretty much all whack down there though.…

This stretch of East Bay train tracks started out pretty whack. Luckily towards the end, the graffiti ramped up and included several epic pieces, including 3 separate pieces from o…

I spotted a Girafa from a freeway exit near my work. Later, we planned a trip down to this drainage ditch that has become a mini graffiti yard. Not too much to see, but go sharks!…

This classic style train bridge was homed to a Swampy, a Gats, a Musk, a few Girafa Sigs as well as many other interesting writers.…

This was a gigantic drainage pipe, more than big enough to comfortably walk in - if you don't forget your boots. We thought it would be try, so we had to awkwardly walk along the s…