Shepard Fairey Advertisement Gets Fully Bombed

Sometime in the early morning hours of Saturday May 15th, (the wall was tag free as of 12:30am) the Shepard Fairey advertisement on the Deitch Wall at Houston St, erected to drum up business for Fairey's line of posters and t-shirts at his pop-up store around the corner, was fully bombed.

Thus ends an almost 30 day wait for what many were anticipating with cautious optimism. As Tina Teens opined via Twitter: "I could care less about liking or hating Shepard Fairey, but I was waiting for somebody to do that! Killed it!!"

Check it out up close and personal below. Click through the photo for larger version or see them on NYC The Blog's Facebook page...

Billy's Antiques To MTA: Come Get Your Garbage

After being arrested and hauled off to the tombs for allegedly knowingly selling stolen MTA property—his subway signs confiscated as evidence—William 'Billy' Leroy, the proprietor of Billy's Antiques & Props on Houston St, left a message for the MTA on the one sign the police neglected to round up. 

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NYC The Blog Presents A Sneak Preview Of "Dirty Old Town"

"I can't even get laid with a fist full of bananas in a monkey whore house."

Dirty Old Town is a stunning film shot on the Bowery starring William Leroy, Nicholas De Cegli, Scott Dillin, Ashely Graham and Janell Shirtcliff.

Leroy you might recall is better known as Billy, from Billy's Antiques & Props, one of the very few remaining businesses on Houston retaining vestiges of the Bowery of yesteryear. The store is facing it's own pressures to conform to new norms, or GTFO.

The film's website observes:

Facing extinction, [Leroy's] ramshackle tent of antiquities lures a troop of misfits, freaks and renegades who form a tableaux vivant full of carnival pageantry, white lies and victimless crime in a fleeting glimpse of Downtown New York.

Plans are in place to premiere the film in mid-June. Watch a sneak peek below...

UPDATED: William “Billy” Leroy, Owner Of Billy's Antiques Arrested; 'The End Of The Subway Signs At Billy's'

NYC The Blog has learned from William “Billy” Leroy of Billy's Antiques and Props on E Houston that he was arrested yesterday by the NYPD at his establishment: "hauled away in cuffs and let out 8 hrs later." The NYPD and Transit Police were there requisitioning the subway signs Billy's has long been selling in the aftermarket, and it seems the arrest stems from those transactions.

Yesterday, Young Manhattanite reported the NYPD swarmed Billy's Antiques and Props on E Houston at around 11am for unknown reasons, using bolt cutters and documenting the scene with a video camera. NYC The Tumblr dug up a photo of the scene from Twitter user @andyellwood (seen at right).

In an email to NYC The Blog this morning, Billy fills us in the events that transpired yesterday, after selling the subway signs without incident for ten years:

Billy's Antiques And Props. And Subway Signs

Yesterday's post about the surplus merchandise available from the MTA, including subway signs you can get both at the MTA, and at Billy's Antiques and Props, elicited comment from Billy himself when he noted that he sells his signs like real estate, with the better locations selling for more money. His comment left NYC The Blog yearning for more information and we dug deeper via email, asking Billy where he gets his subway signs -which always seem to be from desirable locations such as the L train from Manhattan to Brooklyn- or the ABCD sign from Yankees stadium for instance. Does he buy them? Have a secret source within the MTA who offers him first dibs? Find them? All of the above?

Billy confided that he would only tell me his secret in person, and only if I was sworn to secrecy, as of course I would be, as he noted that his "source is a trade secret. If I made it public then every shop would have them I am the only shop to my knowledge that sell the signs legally and have had been selling them for 10 years."

What's more, Billy offered an important consideration when buying a sign, noting that the MTA no longer makes enamel signs, such as the ones he carries, instead today using stickers affixed to metal.

Aside from the great value they have simply as comforting objects for any resident of NYC, who surely would all like to hang a sign from their own stop on their living room wall, Billy speculated that the "craze" for subway signs started with an appearance in a movie, of course, when "Woody Allen did a whole Bedroom scene with Diane Keaton in the mid 80's," and an "8 ft Canal Street [sign] with English Chinese writing on it," was a part of the apartments decoration. According to Billy, today those same signs for $3,500.

"The MTA has had a shop for quite a few years now but like any bureaucracy they never really have the good signs and if they do, they are snapped up by collectors. I've seen some great signs that I sold sell for lots of money on eBay."

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• Metrocards As Art Displays, Collected And Coveted
• Vintage 7 Train Rolls On The Track Hauling Refuse
• I ♥ NYC Subway Maps From EQ

MTA NYC Transit Memorabilia & Collectibles. Did You Know The MTA Sells Subway Poles, (!) Globes, And More Online?

Yesterday Gothamist noted the 104th Birthday of the NYC Subway. So Happy Birthday!

NYC The Blog is a big fan of the NYC MTA and DOT, and everytime I walk by Billy's Antiques and Props on Houston St I become envious of the subway signs propped up in front of the tent and wait for the day when I can have my own subway sign, hopefully when I happen to walk by one being dismantled, thrown away, or abandoned in a subway renovation, as paying three to five hundred dollars at Billy's is not in the cards. Or maybe a sign will fall down right in front me on a late ride home on the A train.

Either way, I was perplexed as to how Billy came across so many, as I assumed the City of NY must appreciate the value they have, and would never throw or give them away when it came time to take one down or replace one. So I was pleasantly surprised while randomly browsing the web yesterday to see that the MTA does indeed appreciate the value these items might bring, with a page online for those purposes, selling off parts of subway and station items, or rather, 'Memorabilia & Collectibles'.

Lets look at what they have available. (links below are PDF)

*NEW ADDITION* SUBWAY CAR DOORS, $175.00 for the set

Side Roll Signs, $350.00

MTA Transit Logo, 30 inches diameter, $125.00

The website notes "COMING SOON!!!" Subway Poles $25.00 and I do agree that is worthy of red letters and multiple exclamation points.

Subway Globes, Green $150.00, Red $200.00

There is also some esoteric stuff as well such as master controls, horns, and more. You can check it all out on their Memorabilia and Collectibles page.

As well, the MTA maintains a surplus items page which handles a more utilitarian class off items then the ones listed above. For example, you can buy a surplus bus, unclaimed items such as this Canon EOS Elan 7 (pdf) , one of those little sidewalk snow plowers (pdf) (!! Ive always wanted one of those!!), a toll lane tennant scrubber? (pdf) miscellaneous office equipment, electronics, shop equipment, and more. Fukn awesome, and makes me a bit wistful for those days past when I had disposal income.

MTA Memorabilia & Collectibles Page
MTA Surplus Items
Contact/How To Order
Billy's Antiques