Long Live Crest - Archival Print - signed/open edition
$50.00
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Long Live Crest
Archival Print\
11x17 inches
Signed / Open edition
$ 50
Shipping:
All orders will be shipped flat
Prints will ship out between Aug 11-17
From Logan:
Cresthardware was literally the first store that I walked into when I moved to New York
Spring 2007, around midnight, I unloaded a car full of my possessions into the ground level apartment at 624 Metropolitan Ave. I made note that there were two hardware stores within eye sight. Crest Hardware at 558 Metropolitan, and Grand Hardware at 618 Metropolitan.
I woke up the next morning, I went to Grand Hardware, only to find that the faded sign was all that was left of the ‘hardware store’. If you asked the FBI (who raided the location in 2005), they would tell you it became a social club for the Bonanno crime family. For me they were just a bunch of old guys who said hi, smiled, and kept eye on the neighborhood. I proceeded to Crest and found everything that i needed to fix up my apartment. Loved the neighborhood vibe of the store and the staff were friendly.
Shortly after that Eric Haze introduced me to Joe Franquinha whose father Manny who owned the store. Every time i went in, Joe and I would have a quick chat about this or that. Over the years those chats turned into a friendship, like when Crest hosted an event for me when I use to distribute spray paint. Even when i moved out of the neighborhood I still went out of my way to frequent Crest.
Nearly 15 years after I first met Joe, I told him that my kid was going to High School. He said “if he needs a job, tell him to come in and we will help him out”. True to his word, he did. My kid started working there at 15 the first trip to Crest in 2007 was in a womb and now was a uniformed employee of Crest.
This is the clearest example i can share with you of how Crest was there for *generations* of families in the neighborhood. It was an anchor in a neighborhood where new buildings popped up in the blink of an eye. it was where you went to catch up on neighborhood news. it was where you went to run into friends. In a different way, this hardware store was also social club, just like the one up the block.
As the saying goes, the only constant is change. I will miss Crest. it is one of the places that made Brooklyn feel like Brooklyn. It will probably be replaced with metal and glass condos where the residents have no idea of the history that is buried underneath them.
To pay tribute to the legacy of CrestHardware I painted this hand sprayed multiple. the size is 22x30 inches and is an edition of 10. For those interested, you can find it in my store (link in bio)
For the price conscious, I am also releasing a signed, open edition archival print that is 11x17 inches.