Graffiti mansions could open legal case rewarding artists: expert

• Two empty villas in the Hollywood Hills have been taken over by squatters and covered in graffiti.
• The graffiti on the mansions is similar to the tags on other empty luxury properties in Los Angeles.
• The incidents recall a landmark case that awarded street artists $6.75 million after their art was destroyed.

Spray-painted tags similar to those on Los Angeles’ iconic graffiti towers have appeared in another unlikely place in the City of Angels. Two Hollywood Hills mansions are the latest targets in a growing trend of turning empty luxury properties into illegal street art.

The pair of empty properties, purchased in 2012 for $4.7 million and in 2013 for nearly $7 million, respectively, are located just miles apart in the exclusive area, The Los Angeles Times reported.

The LA Times, citing neighbors of the properties, reports that the properties have remained abandoned and overrun by squatters and graffiti artists, who have covered the mansions in their graffiti.

Both properties are owned by John Powers Middleton, who produced “The Lego Movie” and the “Bates Motel” TV series. After the vandalism made national headlines, Middleton issued a public apology through a spokesperson.

“What happened to the two properties I own is unacceptable, and regardless of what caused it, I own the homes,” The LA Times reported in a statement. “Given the persistence of many offenders, it’s a struggle.”

The Los Angeles Times reported that it is unclear why the properties have remained empty for so long, but through his attorney, Middleton has pledged to secure the buildings, clean up the graffiti and pay the city for any costs incurred.

Middleton is the son of John S. Middleton, a billionaire businessman and owner of the Philadelphia Phillies, who sold his family’s tobacco business to Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris, for $2.9 billion in 2007, to reported CNBC..

The Los Angeles Times reported that the Phillies released a statement saying, “No other member of the Middleton family has ownership, investment, control or involvement in these properties.”

An attorney for John P. Middleton and representatives for Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s requests for comment.

In Bel Air, a few miles to the west, another property is for sale at $21.5 million it was also turned into a canvas for graffiti artists — part of a growing local trend of vandals targeting wealthy neighborhoods for their artwork, NBC Los Angeles reported.

The demolition could mean a payday for artists

Andrew Lieb, a litigation attorney who focuses on real estate legal issues, told Business Insider that the vandalism to properties in the Hollywood Hills reminded him of a famous 2013 federal case involving the Visual Artists Rights Act. The 1990 law gives artists legal rights to their publicly displayed work, regardless of ownership, and prevents the destruction or alteration of the artwork in ways that could damage the artist’s reputation for 50 years after their death.

In the case of the 5 Pointz murals, a group of street artists sued a New York real estate developer when he painted over their graffiti murals. The artists eventually won $6.75 million after their work was destroyed in a ruling upheld by the US Court of Appeals, The New York Times reported in 2020.

If Middleton were to leave the graffiti on his properties in the Hollywood Hills for an extended period of time, Lieb said he expected a similar legal challenge would arise.

“Don’t let people graffiti your property was the message of the case — unless you’re going to keep it there,” Lieb told Business Insider.

The tags resemble graffiti on the towers of Oceanwide Plaza, a mixed-use complex near Crypto.com Arena — home of the Los Angeles Lakers — that has been abandoned since its developer ran out of funds in 2019.

The towers attracted dozens of graffiti artists who tagged the property and BASE players who used the 53-story buildings to jump, prompting city officials to spend nearly $4 million to install a fence and clean up development, Business Insider reported.

Bloomberg reported last month that the abandoned Oceanwide Plaza Towers is headed for a bankruptcy auction. Although the unfinished project drew comparisons to the demolition of the 5 Pointz mural, it remains unclear whether the street artists who tagged the Los Angeles property plan to reclaim their graffiti, which could lead to a legal battle to have it removed.