Out of sight!
Workers removing a marble wall damaged by Hurricane Sandy near the South Street Seaport exposed a groovy graffiti time capsule dotted with the names of New Yorkers from the country’s bicentennial in 1976.
One of the names belongs to Elizabeth Barraza, a 43-year-old dance teacher from Richmond Hill, whose dad, Hector Barraza, 75, carved it into the tar-covered wall next to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Plaza when she was 5 years old on July 4, 1976.
Like many New Yorkers celebrating the bicentennial that day, the family had flocked to the river to watch fireworks and Operation Sail.
“It was so funny. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s my name!’ ” she said last week, looking at a photo of the newly exposed scrawl.
“I remember watching the ships and lots of color. It was a beautiful day; it couldn’t have been a more perfect summer afternoon,” she recalled.
The graffiti also features the politically charged words “Nixon” and “Negro” and the names of lovebirds “Tim + May” and “Frances + Joe.”
“The children wanted to see the firecrackers. We got there very early. I remember Marines were waving on the upper deck of the ships. The sun was shining hard and people were happy, ” said Eldia Barraza, Elizabeth’s mom.
Hector Barraza also carved the name of his son, Rodolfo, who was 10 years old.