At the corner of East 9th Street and 2nd Avenue in NYC’s East Village, there’s a mural that looks like it was designed by the same people who created the neighborhood on Sesame Street.

Look! New York cliché neighbors of the East Village! Complete with some potentially problematic stereotypes!

I can’t tell if this mural is from the 90s or much more recent. The bearded dude has facial hair very of the moment, but his hat was popular in 2000 when I was in middle school. The man playing the saxophone looks like a potentially problematic racial stereotype…but it’s hard to say not knowing the artist. And we all know racism is very much having a moment in 2018. The kid is wearing an Elmo hat- a character who is as popular today as when he debuted in the 90s. As for the blonde…I can’t for the life of me guess if she is 14 or 41, and her vaguely hippy vibe certainly isn’t making anything clearer.

I have a love/hate relationship with this street art. It intrigues me and I want to know more! The cat is obviously my favorite part. Timeless.

Skater boi, business lady, basket ball dude. Again, not helping. My instinct is that it’s for the 90s, but I’d say the same thing is you showed me a present day image of the interior of an Urban Outfitters.

The 90s are having a moment, and so is this mural that distracts for the garbage bins of this brick building.

What do you think of this mural? Is your money on 90s, 00s, recent?

The Gothamist has a hint for us from this article about the artist Chico from 2009. It seems this is a long lasting piece of art by a beloved East Village native who devoted his work to capturing the neighborhood. My how the Village had changed…and still stayed remarkably the same…

 it’s A delicious New York cliché!