A neighborhood art walk

Last week I decided to start chronicling some of the street art in Astoria. Mostly because I have a decent camera with me at all times now, so why not taking pictures of all the street art I pass? Our neighbor to the south, Long Island City, has always had the bigger following in terms of the street art scene. An outdoor exhibition space called Five Pointz was known for its excellent graffiti and street art, although it was recently sold to build fancy condos (way to sell out, LIC). After my few days of photographing murals around the neighborhood, I think it's fair to say Astoria has a few gems of its own.

Below are a few of my photos (and to be fair, a few of Sam's, who accompanied me on one of my walks) with a brief description of their location.

This inspector decorates a garage door on Vernon Ave near Socrates Sculpture Park (I could do a whole post just on the cool art that's there, but it's more public art than street art).                                            

I've always enjoyed this mural that covers the underside of the bridge over 31st st near 23rd Ave. Why MJ, Richard Gere, and Sinatra, is a question I often find myself asking. Also, note this photo is taken in the dark because alas it's already to the point that it's dark in the morning when I'm going to the gym. 

This duck is in a doorway by the community garden on 30th Ave.  Or actually, I guess it's a chicken. 

This one, located on 12th St between 30th Ave and...some other avenue is my favorite. The rainbow swirls? Those aren't painted--that's all crochet work (see below).

Badass attention to detail, no?

These next few were all on the same wall and thus probably by the same artist. I want to say 30th Ave, near the water,  and possibly 8th St. There were a lot of warehouses around...

The pair above were separated on the wall by a few more gorillas. 

Sam took this one. I don't remember where. Hard to tell what the sign said originally. 

This obviously isn't spray paint (I think they did the piece in advance and just glued it on the wall?). Impressive detail though. 

Now that I've really started to notice the art in my neighborhood, I'm curious about how often it changes. I know the mural under the bridge is pretty permanent, but the others had spray paint on the sidewalks as well that looked like it could be pretty recent. Might be interesting to monitor now that I have a general idea where some nice pieces are. Well, some more than others.