If you are thinking about tagging The Graffiti Bridge, you’ll need a little paint, a lot of imagination, and buckets of patience. Before you take the plunge, here are a few fun facts about Pensacola’s most beloved monument.
Honk twice for good luck
Local legend has it that if you honk twice while going under the bridge, you will have good luck for the next seven years.
Go smart or Go topless
As many Pensacola motorists have discovered first hand, the “Low Clearance,” signs are no laughing matter. Many a big rig and box truck driver have found themselves “going topless,” after they they ignored the “Low Clearance,” warning posted before the bridge.
The Most Photographed Pensacola Landmark
The Graffiti Bridge has been called “The most photographed landmark in Pensacola.” And with good reason. With its ever changing face, and trending tags, The Graffiti Bridge has become a favorite subject for photographers. These include both tourist and local photographers alike.
No longer just a Pensacola attraction
The Graffiti Bridge is no longer just a Pensacola icon anymore. It recently joined the “Featured Destinations,” on the Atlas Obscura website. Atlas Obscura features travel destinations around the world that are not known tourist destinations. The little-known, pristine nuggets of paradise known only by area locals.
Loophole in the law
Even though The Graffiti Bridge has been tagged since the early 1900’s, up until the last fifteen years it was still technically illegal. Law enforcement was encouraged to turn a blind-eye to young taggers, but as long as there was a statute in place, overzealous officers could still technically issue a citation for violating the City’s vandalism and public property defacement ordinances.
Then in July of 2007 Councilmen Nobels announced that the 17th Ave CSX Train Trestle, commonly known as The Graffiti Bridge was now officially exempt from all statutes pertaining to vandalism and public property defacement laws. It was this exemption that finally made it legal for local artists to tag the bridge.
Well, there ya have it folks. Now you are officially ready to tag the bridge. Before you go, I would like to leave you with the best description of the bridge I have ever heard.
“The Graffiti Bridge is a community bulletin board. It is a gallery. It is battleground, and an obituary page. It is a primitive social media site.
Although it is a Pensacola icon, there is a quality that transcends the local voice to say something universal about the expression of art within a community, about the flux and change of life, within us and without, as individuals, and as a village.”
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