A few blocks east of downtown, on Santa Clara Street in the masterfully rebranded East Village, I stop at Writers Bench, a small art space that speaks authentically San José. A rack of spray colorful paints, a case full of stickers, a T-shirt rack and a gleaming purple low rider bicycle surround a chessboard, set up and ready to play, in the middle of the narrow storefront.
The artists behind Writers Bench—which takes its name from the Bronx subway bench where aerosol artists congregated in the movement’s early days—first operated the business out of a box truck. The storefront incarnation this week features an exhibit by San Jose wildstyle graffiti artists Natrl and Ankor.
“We just like to paint,” operator Dre Hernandez says. “We understand how it is for business owners, because they get fined for graffiti. They are painting over their building at least once a week.”
Dre says he approached the owners of an antique market on San Carlos Street with a plan to paint a stylized version of the city’s name on the side of the building. “San José is going to respect San José. I did the mural for them, and it’s working.”
The Santa Clara Street gallery, which features an affordable collection of original art, stickers, shirts and collectibles, closes out the Natrl and Ankor show on Friday with a reception.
The shop is loaded with iconic San José and 408 imagery. Sensing my interest in local history, Dre reached behind the curtain and pulled out a model train car from shuttered Orchard Supply Hardware, from his personal collection.
On the T-shirt rack hung several unworn OSH vests, the ones draped over the shoulders of the much-loved hardware store’s helpful team members, who would patiently answer any plumbing question or help a customer match a screw thread.
Of course I took one home. Later it struck me that there was another reason for the reverence of OSH.
My nostalgia for Orchard Supply, its now-razed midcentury building and iconic sign on W. San Carlos Street, stemmed from my multiple home repair projects and the philanthropy of the co-owner I had come to know, who had preserved a trove of coastal lands north of Santa Cruz.
Then there was that long aisle of spray paint cans, locked behind acrylic doors, in the center of the store….
Oh, yeah.
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Natrl & Ankor
Closing night party
Writers Bench
432 E. Santa Clara St., San Jose
Nov. 7, 6-10pm
