Santa is REAL!

December 16, 2002 6:26 PM

Yes, Boston, there really is a Santa Claus. After a spate of posts lately, a Boston-area graffiti tagger reassures the city of the jolly old elf's existence. The Phoenix wonders why.
posted by pxe2000 (19 comments total)

"I really do try to keep the tags low, though, for those folks who aren’t holding their heads high. They seem to need the message the most."

*sniff*

That's beautiful, man.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 6:31 PM on December 16, 2002

haven't seen any of these around, maybe he hasn't gotten out to Davis Square yet. damn the man, save the santa.
posted by NGnerd at 7:04 PM on December 16, 2002

this is one of those things you wish you had in your city.
posted by sixtwenty3dc at 7:38 PM on December 16, 2002

NGnerd, Elm St. across from Diesel.
posted by TimeFactor at 7:40 PM on December 16, 2002

Hrm. I'll keep an eye out, I hadn't seen them either (between Kendall and Central Squares, primarily - always on foot and not often looking up)
posted by whatzit at 7:43 PM on December 16, 2002

In London the best we get is "SATAN IS REAL".
posted by Pretty_Generic at 7:51 PM on December 16, 2002

(watching for South End tags)
posted by swerve at 8:03 PM on December 16, 2002

Oh, great, yet another post about IS REAL and Palestine.
posted by staggernation at 8:04 PM on December 16, 2002

Q: Are there any other dangers — run-ins with unsavory characters, say?

A: Nope, not yet. I don’t think anyone wants to come near me, because I reek so badly of fumes.

Thank you. The brutal honesty of a true Santa. *tip-toes downstairs and places milk and cookies on table.
posted by poopy at 8:05 PM on December 16, 2002

Why can't all puff pieces be this hugely entertaining? Cheers to my new hero "Tagger"!
posted by WolfDaddy at 8:32 PM on December 16, 2002

* (to end poopy's tip-toeing)
posted by jaden at 8:39 PM on December 16, 2002

Oh, come *on*, Massholes. Kendall, Central, Davis - the tags are in BOSTON, not Cambridge or Somerville. Hopeless suburbanites.

I actually saw my first one yesterday, on the Brookline Ave Pike overpass next to Kenmore/Fenway (by Landsdowne St). Honestly, my first thought was of a MeFi poster who mentioned his infant's "Santa Is A Lie" t-shirt. I am a sad, sad man.
posted by bingbangbong at 9:20 PM on December 16, 2002

i call this found poem, "yes, virginia:"

i was in a car that almost crashed
and
instead of saying

thank god we didn't crash
instead of
praying to jesus

all i kept saying was

santa is real
santa is real


one more thing to thank the "tagger" for.
posted by ronv at 9:31 PM on December 16, 2002

God, and in San Francisco all we ever got was someone with a stencil who spraypainted "Fuck Mary Tyler Moore" all over Market Street.
posted by RJ Reynolds at 10:38 PM on December 16, 2002

the most incredible spontaneous art i seen in a while.
posted by ambirex at 12:50 AM on December 17, 2002

I try to do tags on the sidewalk, so they are there for people who are sad with their eyes on the ground.

No wonder there are three or four on my walk from the Arlington T stop to the Hancock building. Good to know it's spontaneous art and not a terrorist threat, or something.
posted by PrinceValium at 7:12 AM on December 17, 2002

bingbangbong, the tags are in Greater Boston, not Lesser Boston.
posted by TimeFactor at 10:48 AM on December 17, 2002

I say! Good show, TimeFactor!
posted by bingbangbong at 8:44 PM on December 17, 2002

Another tag can be found if you take the pedestrian underpass to the North End (the one that begins on Salem St. and ends in that big area where they have the weekend farmer's markets). It's on the farmer's market side, just around the bend but before the big pictures of old Boston and the Italian shields start. Certainly made me smile, and I'm glad to hear it's not isolated.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 8:03 PM on December 18, 2002