Famous Ankles

My first and second trips to Harlem were, in part, to find the handiwork of Franco the Great.  The local TV show “Cool in Your Code” had done a Harlem show and they had highlighted his work.  His key claim to fame are the murals he has done on the big metal shutters that protect Harlem businesses each night (in fact, they are everywhere in Manhattan; every relatively small storefront seems to have that as their first line of protection against thieves).  His work seems to be relatively immune from grafitti, too.  He does very bright and Black/African themed works.

When I was walking on 125th Street today, I noticed two guys doing some painting.  I looked a little closer and saw that one of them was none other than Franco the Great!  Huzzah!  He took a momentary breather and I asked if he was “the Franco”, he confirmed.  I said that I had seen him on the show and he was surprised.  He said he had never seen it and had no idea that it is still in re-runs.  I told him that I might have it on my DVR and, if so, would get him a copy.  Alas, it isn’t one of the ones I’ve saved.

He seems a terrific guy and was happy to pose.

Here’s what he was working on.

He pointed me to a nearby store (Half and Half?) where he has an inside mural. 

Wonderful stuff.  He does have a website:  http://francothegreat.com/index.html

-H

This entry was posted on August 11, 2007 at 7:19 pm and is filed under Celebrity Points, Harlem, Manhattan, Wanderings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.