Know how ships have waterlines? Buildings in the barrio have graffiti lines. Lines above which the little punk kids cannot reach; below where you paint over graffiti with whatever closeout paint you can find at Home Depot.
More interesting is this highly-sophisticated data analysis showing historical change in Cole's graffiti line. As you'll see it's been steadily rising since the turn of the century. Clearly yet another of the world's problems we can blame on global warming. Note that there in fact was no graffiti line in cole until the 1930's. That's because the neighborhood kids back then were working 20 hour days in the smelters, and didn't have enough energy left over after their shifts to devote to tomfoolery. The remarkable growth in the height of the graffiti line really took hold after 1950 when the Burger King went in and kids started growing taller.
Kids in Cole have it so much easier today. They clearly have nothing but time on their hands. Time to tag garages, break into houses, and stand aimlessly in front of the Golden Gate Market. In fact, the punk graffiti writers even have their own vending machine center, to keep them properly hydrated during their covert activities, conveniently located on Bruce Randolph near Williams. Have you seen it? I can see the little gang bangers now: After spray-painting my back alley, sitting down over an icey cold Pimp Juice, and one of 'em says: "Homies, shit just don't git any better than this."
On an unrelated note, Cole is also where you see the absolute newest, hottest design trends (no secret here). Here's the latest style making its way over from Paris, the "Doorgate". or the "Porte de Porte" as those snobby French call it. And you thought this guy just re-purposed a crappy old front door as a gate to his serene backyard oasis, didn't you? Wrong! Get yours now before all your neighbors do, and the price triples.
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