Iconic Joe Strummer mural in New York has gone but will return

In 2003 graffiti artists Zephyr and Dr. Revolt paid homage to Joe Strummer some months after his untimely passing in 2002 by painting a mural on the side of Niagara bar on East Seventh Street and Avenue. The mural is no more, gone after being power sand-blasted out of existence last week.

The mural originally looked like this.



YouTube link.

Dr. Revolt updated the mural in February 2009.


The mural had to be removed because its underlying brick wall was crumbling and posed a danger to the public, according to Niagara's owners.
 


"I didn't know what day it was going to come down, so it was a bit of an emotional day," said Niagara co-owner Jesse Malin, 45, who is also a musician and knew Strummer when the rock star patronized the bar.
 


Helm Management, which manages the building will take three to four weeks to replace the brick wall, Malin said the company told him. As soon as the façade is repaired the mural's original painters, Dr. Revolt and Zephyr, will return to replicate their work, Malin noted.