Results tagged “billboard”

Earlier this month we noticed that the Conor Harrington piece at the corner of 13th and Washington was covered up by an illegal and unpermitted NPA advertising panel. Yesterday the Public Ad Campaign, who targeted the company's billboards during a takeover in April, uncovered the colorful piece of artwork and reclaimed the space... for now.

Excuse us for not shedding a tear, but we thought the giant Sony PSP in the sky had been taken down from its Houston Street billboard last year, and even though it was just temporary, it prepared us. Now Bowery Boogie reports on the status of the ad space, and H&M has fully taken over. No more computer glitches, just a girl in a reasonably priced leather jacket. Such a much gazed upon spot should have at least gotten the controversial Calvin Klein kids draped all over it. Will you miss the gaming system?

     

Looks like Calvin Klein succumbed to the prudes in SoHo who just couldn't handle an all-American denim-clad orgy billboard. The Daily News reports that the ad has now been replaced with one featuring a female, alone, in her soaking wet string bikini. Even though a lot more skin is being shown (and there are no jeans in sight!), some locals like the change. One old maid said, "The old one bothered people. It was a little too explicit with the threesome. You didn't even notice the jeans as much as what was going on with the people." Yes, in this new one onlookers will clearly only notice the product, and not that lady wearing it.

C'mon New York, are we such prudes that we can't handle a little denim clad foursome? People are reportedly up in arms over the latest Calvin Klein billboard that the Daily News says "seems to show a teenage girl in a threesome—with suggestions of a foursome."

Some residents on Broadway will finally see the light! The NY Times reports that after several years of illegal wrap-around billboards that have covered windows in the19th-century Cushman Building at 174 Broadway, the Dept. of Building has finally removed the ads. The agency told the paper, “This is the first time the Department of Buildings has physically removed an illegal sign from a building." The OTR Media Group, who put up the sign, was repeatedly sent violation notices that have been ignored; "The department said that 517 violation notices had been issued to OTR-controlled locations citywide." Now, what about that illegal Snickers storefront ad?

Sadly, the world won't see Woody Allen face off with Dov Charney in a courtroom. Not today, at least. American Apparel has posted the following statement on their website: "Today the lawsuit filed against American Apparel by Woody Allen will settle whereby he will receive a $5M payment. The vast majority of this payment will be paid by our insurance carrier who is responsible for the decision to settle this case and has controlled the defense of this case since its inception. Naturally there is some relief of not having to go through a trial but I also harbor a sense of remorse and sadness for not arguing an important issue regarding the First Amendment, particularly the ability of an individual or corporation to invoke the likeness of a public figure in a satiric and social statement."

Yesterday a federal judge ruled against a coalition of billboard owners trying to overturn a 2001 city zoning resolution that restricts advertising near highways and implements tougher permitting procedures. A giant billboard for Platinum Gentleman's Club is just one recent example of advertising outraging a community, and lawyers for the city hailed the ruling for "minimizing visual clutter, preserving neighborhood character and reducing unnecessary distractions to drivers on its major roadways." Clear Channel Outdoor and other sign owners had chafed at the zoning regulations, but the Buildings Department has been slow to enforce the changes, and has been criticized for a faulty approach to everything from crane safety to building inspections. But with the city strapped for revenue, we may see the department emboldened by yesterday's ruling, and one illegal billboard near Astor Place has already incurred almost $1 million in fines. (Whether the offendors will ever pay up is another question.)

Remember the other day how Councilman Bill de Blasio was all, 'Leave billboards ALONE!' because, he says, the Department of Buildings has been slapping billboard owners with huge fines over supposedly minor infractions? And some of you cynics in the audience were quick to insinuate that the honorable gentleman from Park Slope was only making a stink because he's in bed with the outdoor signage industry? Well, maybe you were right. Just days after calling attention to the vast hardships endured by billboard owners, de Blasio, who is running for public advocate, has accepted $8,000 in campaign donations from billboard companies, the Post reports. Not too shabby! Maybe this will motivate de Blasio to finally do something to protect the poor tobacco industry and persecuted fast food restaurants and the defenseless auto industry?

Councilman Bill de Blasio says that because the billboard industry is "synonymous with New York," the Buildings Department should ease up on issuing hefty fines for what he calls minor infractions. De Blasio tells the Daily News, "The fines given to one single billboard can go over $100,000, but the fines issued in the East Side crane collapses were a fraction of that. It's like the world turned upside down." The Buildings Department began cracking down on illegally installed billboards several years ago after community groups pressured the City Council to take action. A spokesman for OTR Media Group, one of the city's major billboard companies, says, "This is the same Buildings Department that should be cracking down on unsafe buildings." But department spokesman Tony Sclafani explains that "illegal signs can pose a danger to the public if not safely installed." The city is currently engaged in a legal battle with billboard companies over the City Council rules, which ad men say are too restrictive and lead to outrageous fines.

The fashion set know when to strike when the iron is hot, and designer Kenneth Cole has put up a new billboard that is so Winter '09. The simple black and white message isn't a new format for his advertisements, but this one is saluting the Flight 1549 crew, passengers and of course the heroic pilot Captain Sullenberger. Caught by the eagle eyes over at WCBS, it's currently up on West 57th Street and the West Side Highway (right above the Artkraft Strauss building).

PosterBoy has come out from the underground and is moving on to bigger canvases. The below video was shot by the Public Ad Campaign and put up on YouTube recently, showing the street artist taking down a billboard in Brooklyn. The following words were posted with it: "A sign of what's to come."

East Village: the King of the Hill people were only trying to remind you that their animated television program was still on—no need to get medieval. This billboard that appeared outside of Tile Bar not long ago contained, at one time, three wooden characters from the show. Quickly, they began to lose limbs. Now disturbing news comes in that only Bobby's torso remains. Guess they should have seen this coming after the massacre of Greenpoint's birthday girl. [via Curbed]

Queens residents are fuming about a massive billboard of an exotic dancer that's gone up on Rockaway Boulevard to promote the Platinum Gentleman's Club. Fox 5 peeks inside the home of one resident, who shows that when she sits down to look at her Christmas tree, the racy advertisement hovers in the background like a vision of Pottersville. What's worse is her teenage son can see it from his bedroom window, so now he knows about half-naked ladies. Enter City Councilman James Sanders, who says that if Platinum won't tear down that sign, he'll send photographers to the club to "take pictures of the great clientele and post them on the web and wherever we can advertise them." The idea is that attending a strip club is so shameful that clients will be "deterred," but didn't Owen Wilson shatter that myth that time he proudly rode his bike to Scores?

Incase you missed the news on this PSP Fanboy site, the giant PSP that's been lording over Houston Street is gone. The site reports that the oversized gaming thingamajig has "been a landmark for years," and its dismantlement marks the end of an era...though they question if Sony will replace it with a "PSP-3000 system, which will be slimmer than the original giant PSP-1000." If that's the case, hopefully they'll be able to figure out the glitches that plagued Billboard 1.0.

The utterly unnecessary return of 90210 to the small screen tomorrow means the arrival of giant billboards displaying the new cast. The Brooklyn Paper reports on one in which teens wear swimsuits and lounge in pools in the form of the 90210 numbers. The image can be seen from the BQE and hangs above Williamsburg--specifically in the Hasidic Jewish area. Rabbi David Niederman says, “In Jewish law, it is forbidden to see any part of a lady that is not dressed — and having men and women swimming together is also not permissible, even if they are fully clothed.” (In the past, Hasids have rallied against an H&M ad.) To be fair, though, that girl in the "1" pool isn't swimming with any boys, so she's only half offensive.

A Fine Blog reports that Pure Yoga on 86th Street has a green wall up, which they call a living wall. "The 1000sf living wall is watered by a computerized irrigation system and trimmed every couple of weeks." With seasonal changes, the plants will be changed out to endure the weather. An urban farm? Not quite. Curbed notes that even though it doesn't have the yoga studio's logo up there, it's gathering them a lot of attention anyway. Plus, it just looks cool. Related: this is almost exactly what the new Galapagos building in DUMBO has in store as well (they're planning a vertical grass wall with flowers).

Lady Bunny is the latest to join the ranks of Team PETA, and has unveiled the organization's newest billboard, which features the drag queen (image here). Located at the intersection of Varick and Spring Streets, it encourages people to "kick the bucket" and states that "sometimes big bright packages contain dirty little secrets."

Not too long ago there was a behind the scenes glimpse of the Times Square billboards that light up the "Crossroads of the World" day in and day out. Now it looks like the old fashioned painted ads are more reliable, as AndIAmNotLying points out a glitch from last night in one electronic billboard on 8th and 42nd. Oopsy! It's a snafu that could be costing someone as much as $300K a month, and this isn't the first time it's happened.

    

K-Rock 92.3 FM has had some sexy, new billboards proclaiming its return to rock (it went talk for over a year) up, but one NJ town isn't thrilled. Enough Denville, NJ residents--and both men and women seemed skeptical of the ads--complained for Mayor Ted Hussa to request one billboard on Route 10 be taken down.

Seattle's police department is capitalizing on the NYPD's current budget and recruiting woes by giving potential recruits less of a reason to sign up to join the force in New York. Seattle is paying for a huge billboard along the West Side Highway advertising for recruits. The billboard and bus stop ads link to a site that details much higher rookie pay and faster wage increases. Per the Daily News,

Seattle pays its police recruits $47,334 a year and the annual salary rises to a maximum base pay of $67,045 in just six years.

Continue reading "Seattle PD Kicks NYPD While Its Recruiting is Down"

Staring down the barrel of a $10 million lawsuit, American Apparel has spoken out about their billboard displaying Woody Allen's image (circa Annie Hall). Chances are the law will find them about as innocent as their barely-dressed teen models.

Last year Woody Allen kicked off the scantily clad teen models usually draped over American Apparel billboards, and seemingly made himself the new face of Dov Charney's clothing empire. In both LA and NYC, his image (taken from Annie Hall) hung above city streets along with Yiddish writing paired up with their logo.

Not the first time sci-fi has overtaken the streets of New York (last year the USPS installed some R2D2 mailboxes), Spike TV has sprinkled Star Wars ads all over town. Their most eye-catching yet involves lightsabers in a bus shelter (pictured), which amNY spotted at West 34th Street and 8th Avenue.

Yesterday this clip of Robert Plant catching a game at the Garden came out. It shows a younger reporter asking the Led Zeppelin singer about the band's possible reunion at the very arena they stand in. Will Led Zeppelin return to the Garden? The answer remains the same...

In a matter of weeks, Kimya Dawson has gone from nice, unassuming local anti-folk artist to a bona fide national breakout star, thanks to the success of the movie Juno and her contributions to the soundtrack. This week the soundtrack hit #3 on the Billboard album chart, and Kimya's been busy basking in the much deserved success. Aside from speaking with us earlier this week, the former Moldy Peach played a handful of packed (overflowing, even) shows around Brooklyn, likely impressing her new fans at every stop. Those who couldn't make it, or couldn't get enough, be sure to catch her on The View with her idol, Whoopi, next Monday. (pic via thepiratehat's flickr)

Goldenvoice concerts, the people who bring the West Coast Coachella each year, are now planning a similar concert for us East Coasters. And it's set to be right in our very own backyard. Sort of.

Remember when one of the many American Apparel ads on Allen and Houston was defaced with the words "Gee, I wonder why women get raped"? The ad was replaced with a new one soon after, and not much more was heard about the mystery messenger. Until now. Yesterday Jezebel received an email from someone purporting to be the one who held the spray can. He stated:

First off, i'm not a graf writer. Honestly, I was just reacting to the constantly degrading images of women that AA creates. That ad in particular - headless, bent over, composed so that the focus was irrefutable... I went home, grabbed some spraypaint, took the train back and waited until 4am to climb the scaffolding.

Continue reading "American Apparel Ad Defacer Unmasked, Sort of"

Word on the street is that Union Square's mammoth Virgin Megastore is closing up shop sometime between now and February 2009. Billboard reports the space is "being offered by a real estate broker for 2009 availability. According to retail sources, New York-based Winick Realty is shopping the space and has sent out packages highlighting its features."

Notice anything funny about the Calvin Klein billboard below? No, not the hot pink splashing. The giant ad that hangs above Lafayette and Houston has a secret in the "negative space" left by the splashed paint. The silhouette is of the new New Museum building on Bowery. Here is what the billboard looked like over the past few days up until last night: And as Josh Spear pointed out yesterday a "stage 3 reveal" took...

Despite the fact that the most common response we've been hearing is "What the hell is High School Musical?", it appears that Rolling Stone coverboy Zac Efron and his overly theatrical buddies are the toast of the town. Topping the Billboard chart, breaking cable TV records and zombifying tweens everywhere (you've probably bumped into a few already this week on the sidewalk with their faces buried in the lyric book). Even though the acting is bad, the songs are cheesy and the plot makes Saved by the Bell seem like Shakespeare, there is no denying the impressive success they've been able to pull off in an era where nobody can sell a cd. For a more sophisticated look into the movie and the phenomenon as a whole (compared to the zOMG livejournal reviews scattered about the web), check out Status Ain't Hood.