Covert Coating Destroys NYC Street Art Mecca

"By Tuesday morning, the work of some 1,500 artists had been wiped clean," report Marc Santora and Cara Buckley, "the Brobdingnagian bubble letters and the colorful cartoons spray painted on the building’s brick walls all covered in a fresh coat of white paint."

Though the demolition of 5Pointz had been planned for years, the covert whitewashing of the building's graffiti came as a shock and surprise to street art enthusiasts and neighbors of the Long Island City landmark.

“'I don’t know how you can erase 12 years of spectacular art,' said Hans Von Rittern, a guide who arrived with a busload of tourists, only to find the building’s art gone. 'It’s cruel.'”