Wynwood
The first time I visited Wynwood was about five years ago when there was no $12 entry fee, no parking garage, and it was all still a bit dodgy. Even in the daytime.
As my partner and I were wandering through the neighbourhood streets, an old 1970’s Cadillac convertible came screeching around the corner and pulled up diagonally in front of us. The shirtless driver leans over and says: “Yo, you want some mangos?”
I’m still not sure what that was slang for, but there’s 2 things I do know: He wasn’t offering mangos, and there was still a neighbourhood to wander through.
Most of those homes are now long gone, along with the empty warehouses that provided so much canvas space that the spray paint hadn’t yet made it onto the pavement (sidewalk). Alas, down (and soon, out?) is the only real option the artists have left (Images 9-10). Which is an unfortunately better deal than the long time residents were given.
Unbeknownst to me back in 2016 the zoning had already been in place that led to what I saw this week. Homes have been razed to make way for high rise luxury apartment buildings with on-site pet grooming spas. Building sites are now more prevalent than galleries, which have all but disappeared.
Like death and taxes, the inevitability of capitalism and gentrification can’t be avoided once developers smell a profit. At least the new parking garage (Image 1) looks cool, and there’s still some interesting art on whatever walls are left (Images 2-8). But in another five years it wouldn’t surprise me if residence associations start a graffiti cleanup campaign.
The Miami New Times has a fascinating and comprehensive article about Wywood’s ever-changing regeneration at tinyurl.com/WWalls