Ed Yourdon
Art Alley, Rapid City SD - Jul 2015, 25
(more details later, as time permits)
********************************
When we first arrived in Rapid City, South Dakota for a family reunion in July 2015, we stayed at the main downtown “Alex Johnson” hotel; and we walked along Sixth Street to dinner that evening with two of our family members. On the way back after dinner, I happened to notice the garish glow of graffiti on a side alley next to the hotel, and I took a couple of quick photos in the twilight, thinking that it might be worth exploring in more detail the next day.
Indeed, I did go back for a quick second look the next morning, but then we had to pack up and check out of the hotel, in order to drive to the rendezvous point near Spearfish (near Deadwood and Sturgis, and in the general vicinity of Mt. Rushmore and the Black Hills) where dozens of members of our extended family were planning to meet us. But when the reunion was over a few days later we drove back to Rapid City, and changed our hotel plans in order to stay at the Alex Johnson for one last night before our early flight back to New York City the next morning.
As a result, I had time for a much more thorough walk-through of the alley and its rich display of art on my final afternoon. I asked the front-desk clerk at the hotel if she knew anything about it, and she pointed me to a young man at the valet parking desk near the front entrance; there I learned that Rapid City is one of only three such spots in the country, where artist-inspired graffiti is not only tolerated, but legally allowed. Here is the website that explains more:
www.visitrapidcity.com/things-to-do/arts-culture/art-alle...
The Website provides much more detail, and in much more cogent form, than I could in these notes; so if you’re curious, I urge you to click on the link. But if you would like to see what the art looks like, in all its vivid colors, take a look at the images in this album.
Art Alley, Rapid City SD - Jul 2015, 25
(more details later, as time permits)
********************************
When we first arrived in Rapid City, South Dakota for a family reunion in July 2015, we stayed at the main downtown “Alex Johnson” hotel; and we walked along Sixth Street to dinner that evening with two of our family members. On the way back after dinner, I happened to notice the garish glow of graffiti on a side alley next to the hotel, and I took a couple of quick photos in the twilight, thinking that it might be worth exploring in more detail the next day.
Indeed, I did go back for a quick second look the next morning, but then we had to pack up and check out of the hotel, in order to drive to the rendezvous point near Spearfish (near Deadwood and Sturgis, and in the general vicinity of Mt. Rushmore and the Black Hills) where dozens of members of our extended family were planning to meet us. But when the reunion was over a few days later we drove back to Rapid City, and changed our hotel plans in order to stay at the Alex Johnson for one last night before our early flight back to New York City the next morning.
As a result, I had time for a much more thorough walk-through of the alley and its rich display of art on my final afternoon. I asked the front-desk clerk at the hotel if she knew anything about it, and she pointed me to a young man at the valet parking desk near the front entrance; there I learned that Rapid City is one of only three such spots in the country, where artist-inspired graffiti is not only tolerated, but legally allowed. Here is the website that explains more:
www.visitrapidcity.com/things-to-do/arts-culture/art-alle...
The Website provides much more detail, and in much more cogent form, than I could in these notes; so if you’re curious, I urge you to click on the link. But if you would like to see what the art looks like, in all its vivid colors, take a look at the images in this album.