Earlier this year a small group of a dozen or so artists celebrated the re-opening of the legendary Broadway graffiti garages. As part of an invitation-only, relatively quiet gathering, graffiti artists from Seattle and Tacoma filled three parking garages with a dozen or so burners (murals). Since then, the walls have morphed, mutated and continued to be adorned with some of the best examples of graffiti art you’ll see in these parts. If you’re not into train yards, trestles or the undersides of bridges, but still want to show folks how down you are, the graffiti garages is the place. If you’re a real street ninja, the graffiti garages are a nice place to take a break and just be an artist.

For those who have never been, the garages consist of three large parking bays at the end of Tacoma’s Antique Row. A couple years ago, those same garages were laced wall-to-wall with the work of dozens of artists from all over the country — massive, complex murals with all the aesthetic qualities that gallery patrons talk about over wine and cheese. Then, suddenly, someone noticed the garage bays full of art, and decided they didn’t like it. (Graffiti attracts gang members like the Internet attracts the socially retarded, don’t you know.) City of Tacoma Code Enforcement received a complaint about the art. The city ordered the garages' owners to cover it up.

Thanks to the work of Tacoma’s Safe and Clean Team, local non-profit Fab 5 and property owners Lorig and Associates, the work now appearing in the graffiti garages is defined as “free form painting,” according to a letter received by neighboring property owners. But we all know what it is. The space is made available in an attempt to provide artists with a place to express themselves. The hope is that having a sheltered environment that’s approved for use will keep local artists from painting on other buildings.

“When you look at these garages, it not about tagging,” said veteran Charms the day the garages were re-opened. Charms got started in Riverside, Calif., and has spent the last 17 years as a graffiti artist in Seattle and Tacoma. “This is about art. This place is like a hall of fame. Only people of a certain caliber should paint here.”
Charms spent the first 12 years of his art career working illegally, and proudly so. But he doesn’t mind the chance to work in a sanctioned venue. Charms says he believes free walls and other venues address a serious need — a place for artists working in this particular medium to do what they do.

It is a need, you know. Just like the need to buy beads and make wonky jewelry. OK, that’s different. It’s like the need to spit on a BMW, or stare into the fire. Tacoma has one place like it. Big up to everyone involved in the resurrection.

Seventh and Broadway, next door to Sanford and Son Antiques