Just off the 7 train in Long Island City, Queens, you’ll find a 200,000-square-foot warehouse that’s impossible to miss. It’s called 5 POINTZ, and it’s the center of the New York City street art scene. This isn’t your typical tag-your-name-and-run-when-the-cops-come type of place.

Meres One (NYC) / Semor (from Germany)
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5 Pointz is an outdoor exhibit for the absolute best underground art in the city, where artists from around the world show off their incredible work. After gaining permission from the building owner in 2001, the walls have seen continuous change under the curation of Jonathan Cohen, a self-described “graffiti veteran” with the signature tag “Meres One.” The graffiti mecca has been roumoured to be getting demolished and replaced with high-rise apartments. But those are only rumors, says Marie Cecile Flaguel, a spokesperson for 5 Pointz. The announcement of the destruction of 5 Pointz, mythical spot and hot spot for hip-hop culture in New York has been moult once announced and discussed. With one omission: after three years on the spot, the place is still open.

Esteban Del Valle (Chicago)
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New York. Queens. Long Island. Few places in the world focus as anchor points for the hip-hop culture as the Big Apple. And 5 Pointz, an abandoned warehouse for nearly twenty years, turned into a spot of graffiti but also a cultural center, is one of those whose fame is known far beyond the shores of the Hudson. And the name “Mecca of Graffiti” represents well the aura of 5 Pointz worldwide.

Meres One (NYC) / Auks businessinsider.com
The name 5 Pointz is supposed to signify the five boroughs of New York City.

Opened in 1993 on the initiative of Pat DeLillo to address the lack of legal walls in the New York metropolitan area0, is was first named Phun Phactory. A privileged place for then  eccentricities of graffiti artists, the center got renamed  “5 Pointz” in the early 2000s and over time expanded its activities. Mobb Deep, Doug E Fresh, Joss Stone or Grandmaster Caz  - all occurred on these boards.

Meres One (NYC) / Zeso (France) / Cortes (Columbia)
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Venue, residences (with a rent of $ 600 per month for a small studio of 42 square meters), concerts, 5 Pointz, proclaimed itself  “The Institute of Higher Bombing”  and,like a spong,e absorbs the directions taken by the movement and gives as much as possible, an accurate image of its different branches. Like a mirror. And they plan a celebration this summer!

It’s been four decades since DJ Kool Herc’s Bronx block parties helped ignite a new genre of music and a global movement. From Saturday 4 through September 14,5 Pointza Aerosol Art Center (45-46 Davis St at Jackson Ave, Long Island City, Queens; 317-219-2685, 5ptz.com) hosts “Summer 2013: Celebrating 40 Years of Hip-Hop,” a four-month tribute to both the graffiti hub’s decade in existence and the culture that inspires it. (As for the persistent rumors of its imminent date with a wrecking ball, 5 Pointz event planner Marie Flageul responds that they’re nothing new: “As of now we have not been told anything by the landlord nor is there an approved demolition, or date.”) Throughout the season, Bronx street-art crew Zimad TD4 will curate rotating gallery exhibits; influential first-generation DJ and producer Marley Marl will spin old-school house on Saturdays; and local MCs, including 5 Pointz’ resident beat-box instructor Grey Matter, will battle. Here are five free happenings we recommend tagging in your calendar (if tickets to NYC are in your plans for the summer).

Conan
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Cyphy (Ariz.) / Meres One (NYC) / Yok / Creepy (Australia)
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Meres One (NYC)

James Cochran (Australia)

Zimer – Shoutout to Salvador Dali
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-via businessinsider.com, konbini.com and timeout.com.