Clarion Alley Street Art

Before the vibrant murals appeared here in the early nineties, Clarion Alley was a dark, neglected passage plagued by drug dealing, waste, and severe crime. In nineteen ninety-two, six local artists and residents decided to change this reality by turning the alley into a canvas. Two of these founders lived on the alley themselves, sharing a studio space at number forty-seven that had once served as a rehearsal hall for the legendary countercultural performance troupe The Cockettes. They viewed the mural project as an active intervention, a way to reclaim the space from decay by coating every available surface in art.