Hey, You!

Illustration by Bob Aul

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• Long Beach (New York)
• East Village (Manhattan)

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Thank you to the man, you know who you are, who has decided that Long Beach's fledgling East Village district has the potential to be more than a slick real estate marketing move. I work in a restaurant near the epicenter of the galleries and hear the comments. "He's crazy." "He wears white hospital scrubs every day." Then I saw your art. Creatively destroying a pristine gallery with a stunning mural-sized neo-Impressionist work. Comments I have heard: "I don't understand it." "It scares me." And the typical boring: "My 4-year-old . . ." Thank you for showing the Realtors and citizens that Long Beach is ready for challenging art. For personal artistic statements. I hope you never read this. It may go to your head, but you create reckless, beautiful, educated art that Long Beach lacks. You are, perhaps unknowingly, allowing others to just "go for it." Don't change because of the predictable ostracisms you will face. We need you on Linden Avenue. We need you on Broadway. We need you in Long Beach. Thank you.

Send anonymous thanks, confessions or accusations—changing or deleting the names of the guilty and innocent—to "Hey, You!" c/o OC Weekly, 1666 N. Main St., Ste. 500, Santa Ana, CA 92701-7417, or e-mail us at letters@ocweekly.com.