Alewife Garage Graffiti Gallery in Cambridge, Massachusetts

The Alewife MBTA station parking garage has been a hulking brutalist presence in North Cambridge since 1985. The garage was designed to serve park-and-ride commuters from Boston's suburbs who would then ride the MBTA Red Line into Cambridge and Boston proper. Sections have been closed or dis-used for decades. On the west side of the garage is a spiral car-ramp running from the street-level all the way up to the top, fifth-floor, of the garage. The ramp is closed to vehicular traffic and has come to host a large collection of graffiti from many artists over a long time. Works vary from basic tags to complex portraits. While the garage itself is generally hated by the community and slated for destruction once the MBTA can find someone to pay to tear it down, the graffiti gallery serves as a reminder that beauty and art can be found in even the most overlooked of places.