The 21-year-old daughter of Al Pacino was charged with driving while intoxicated and driving while ability impaired by the combined influence of drugs and alcohol at around 1:20 a.m. in Manhattan this morning. According to the Daily News, Julie Pacino, who was pulled over at a West Houston Street checkpoint, allegdly told cops, "Yes I was drinking. I had about three beers and I smoked weed at home. That was a few hours ago." more ›

Remember way back in March when Billy LeRoy, the owner of Houston Street's Billy's Antiques, was arrested for selling subway signs? And how the police took more than 100 of his subway signs, which they felt he had gotten illegally? And then how the case was essentially dismissed over the summer? You do? So does Billy LeRoy, and he wants his signs back. more ›

Graffiti photographer Martha Cooper at on Houston and Bowery this morning and reports, "Sadly the expertly executed, well-received, SACE throw up was short-lived. It was painted out early this morning in preparation for the next mural." She has more photographs. more ›

If you had to choose one mural to live on a desert island with, which one would you choose: Shepard Fairey's Houston Street mural (R.I.P.) or its replacement by TWIST a.k.a. Barry McGee? And no, Os Gemeos is not an option. (See more photos of the new mural at Animal.) more ›

We've been on such a long journey with the Houston Street Shepard Fairey mural (since April!), so it's only fitting that we recognize its death. Yes, now it's nothing but a memory. It hasn't been an easy journey—the mural has been criticized, dick-bombed, and had its legality questioned . Let's hope that the next mural is more welcome—and if you were one of the fans of this one, don't worry, Shep's got you covered. Now, let's all listen to Band of Horses and inhale some wheatpaste as we say goodbye. more ›

Remember when the benches outside of American Apparel on Houston and Orchard streets were the place to be? It was a very "this too shall pass" moment, and it did. The benches, however, remained... until now. According to Bowery Boogie, 5 of the 9 benches on Orchard Street have been removed by American Apparel; an employee at the store said it was a “whole ordeal,” but essentially the company “didn’t want people living outside the store anymore.” Because Dov Charney though they clashed with his new preppy image? more ›

Calvin Klein has a new racy billboard on Houston Street, but according to Stylelist, the company has censored their own campaign this time around. So prudes, just don't aim your smartphone in its direction and you'll remain pure. more ›

A reader sent in this photo of Shepard Fairey's billboard, which is still up on Houston Street, pointing out that now there's "a penis defacing [the] wall." Indeed there is! The mural has been getting bombed since it went up in April, but this one really raises the bar. Stay classy, street art. more ›

What happened to the rent-a-cops guarding Shepard Fairey's Houston Street mural? We're guessing The Man doesn't care much about an illegal mural getting illegally tagged, so the thing just keeps getting bombed! This latest Adek tag, which went up last night after it was buffed yesterday, will be buffed again today. And then the vicious cycle will continue... more ›

On Wednesday we thought Shepard Fairey's mural on Houston Street was pretty much done, but it wasn't... until now! We're told sometime around 9 p.m. last night the piece was completed... but it really doesn't look much different from Wednesday's shot. more ›

The wheatpaste was barely dry on Shepard Fairey's Houston Street mural when the vandals started circling! According to Animal, around 2 a.m. "graffiti writer NAW decided to contribute to the mural, but was abruptly thwarted by a security guard hired to babysit the wall. The vandal managed to escape by wiggling out of his shirt as the retired cop says he dialed 911 with one hand and tried to subdue him with the other." Meanwhile, according to Twitter, "Some kid just tried to do a throw up on the Shep piece on Houston & Bowery. Got yoked up by a dude in a truck." Are the same cops that spent years trying to capture Fairey now protecting his art? It would seem so. more ›

Obama has no idea what he just got himself into. Someone sent this photo to the blog This Is FYF, which reports that "citing security concerns that bikes might be secret pipe bombs, NYPD officers clipped the locks of hundreds of bikes along Houston Street this morning in preparation for President Obama's speech at Cooper Union. The bikes were unceremoniously put in the back of the truck. Onlookers were not given information as to what would become of the bikes. Happy Earth Day!" more ›

Yesterday Shepard Fairey was all, “We’ll finish when we finish. We’re on California time," when asked about his mural going up on Houston Street (in place of the Os Gemeos one). Flash forward to today and: it's done! But then again, even on California time it probably doesn't take very long to wheatpaste something. What do you think of the final product? more ›

The Os Gemeos mural on Houston Street was buffed recently to make way for Shepard Fairey's clothing line advertisement wheatpasted masterpiece, which will promote his upcoming show at Deitch... and yes, also his OBEY clothing line pop-up shop on the LES. Arrested Motion, however, more gently calls it "his own brand of urban beautification for his upcoming show at Deitch Projects." Animal caught Fairey at work earlier today, and he told his fans, “We’ll finish when we finish. We’re on California time.” more ›

The case of Billy Leroy—arrested recently for selling old subways signs at his Houston Street junk store—may hinge on a licensing issue, not on theft of MTA property. The 50-year-old has stocked the signs for 12 years, but only last month did cops raid the place and take most (though not all) of them, charging him with possessing stolen city property. Since Leroy allegedly bought them from an agency contractor, he says they're legit. "Billy deserves some sort of M.T.A. entrepreneur-of-the-year award instead of what he went through,” his lawyer, civil-rights advocate Ronald Kuby told CityRoom. more ›

The Gothamist Newsmap indicated a stabbing at Houston and Varick Streets in Manhattan around 5:36 a.m. this morning and WABC 7 now reports, "Two young men died from wounds they suffered in a stabbing on a downtown No. 1 train early Sunday." Apparently the stabbing occurred on the subway between the West Houston and Christopher stops. Two 24-year-old men with multiple stab wounds were pronounced DOA at St. Vincent's while a 23-year-old man "suffered stab wounds to the arm and neck and is in stable condition at St. Vincent's." It's unclear what led to the stabbing. Last November, a subway passenger was fatally stabbed by another straphanger on a D train. more ›

Have you seen these shots of a shanty town set up on Mercer and Houston Streets during the Great Depression? That's right, these (first two) photographs of men in suits reading magazines, smoking cigarettes and lingering about their alternative abodes aren't from the web pages of Unhappy Hipsters—they were taken by Berenice Abbott in 1935. more ›

You can take the orgy out of the Calvin Klein billboard, but you'll still be left with a one-man sex show. The latest image in the company's rotating ad space above Houston Street is pictured above, and Copyranter reports back saying, "His name is David Agbodji, and he's part of the new Calvin Klein Spring/Summer 2010 Collection ad campaign... I'm thinking five-story Mr Agbodji is going to light up the switchboard!" But this man is neither under-aged nor involved in an orgy with anyone under-aged... so maybe the downtown prudes will give it a pass? more ›

The city and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority unveiled plans for an expansive overhaul of First and Second avenues intended to make commuting by bus and bicycle faster and safer. The proposed redesign stretches from Houston Street to 125th Street, and it calls for so-called select protected bike lanes, pedestrian refuges, and the implementation of so-called select bus service and other bus improvements planned to reduce travel times by 20 to 25 percent. more ›

Ever wonder what occupies that prime piece of real estate on the corner of West Houston and Varick streets in the West Village? Apparently a chronically overcrowded jail for "illegal immigrants, asylum-seekers and legal immigrants who face deportation because they have past criminal convictions," the Times reports. more ›

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? more ›

Yesterday word went around that there was some unwanted tagging going on the Os Gemeos work-in-progress mural on Houston Street. It didn't take long for the brothers to cover it up with a dedication to their old friend Dash Snow (an old photo of the three after the jump). There are actually two dedications to the late artist (who also was known as Sace in his tagging years), and one to Iz the Wiz (you can see his tag on the subway car in the mural). And with that, the mural is finally complete! more ›

It was just last week that the Keith Haring memorial mural was getting buffed on Houston Street. Soon after Os Gemeos showed up to begin work on their mural, which is replacing the old Haring one. So obviously the next step is for an attention-hungry tagger to come in and vandalize the work-in-progress. One blogger reports that, "Like the Haring mural before it, Os Gemos' Houston street piece has been 'souped-up' by the locals. Not sure if the Times will be able to spin this one into a feel good tale as with the Haring 'collaboration.'" While it shouldn't be too difficult to cover up, the tag reads: "Blog about it," which people are, so looks like it'll live on digitally. [via Animal] more ›

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. more ›