One of the benefits of the new location is that we get to curate the art on the electrical box outside our doors. Our plan is to use them as a canvas to showcase the artists that are contained within. 3rdi was the first to renovate the front side of the box but our great friend Jonathan Martinez took over the side facing our front door. Here is a series of shots that show the work in progress. 
GCS All Stars art show, DEC ’14
Dec. 6th, 2014. GCS clothing store and art gallery presents a little show we like to call GCS All Stars. NO theme, just a show made up of artists that are familiar to our gallery walls. Artists included in this show were Free Humanity, Nick Macaulay, DES, Jess Johnson, Jordan Yescas, Edgar Zamorano, Marcos Camacho a.k.a Nerd Bird, Andre Sandoval, Steady Jenny, GERMIZM, Dino Perez and the works of Ivan Vega a.k.a 3rdi that were still available from the NOV art show. We’re still getting used to our new space and the crowds are steadily finding us in our new place.
flashback… KRS-ONE at The Observatory 1/15
“When you want that raw hip hop, you know where to come to..” The first show that the GCS family went to in 2015 was to go see the blast master himself, KRS-ONE with DJ Predator Prime on the cuts. You have to love those $5 wednesday shows at The Observatory. The show was beyond packed, every joint a classic and a couple b-boys and b-girls jumped on stage to do their thing.
LGCLTV presents ENDZ live at GCS
LGCLTV presents ENDZ live at GCS Santa Ana MARCH 1st, 2015. Join us on a sunday afternoon as ENDZ from Locally Grown Collective joins us to celebrate the release of his album “Live Free”. As special guests for the event, the line up includes Vel The Wonder, Severe, Sage One and a DJ Set by INDJNOUS. It’s an early event, running from 5pm until 8pm. Don’t sleep on this!
flashback… Kool Keith in Santa Ana JAN 17th, 2015
remember that day when Kool Keith played at The Observatory for $5. Yeah, so do we.., and here are the photos to prove it. Great show put on by Burgerama Records… look out for their “Burgerama fest” coming to The Observatory in march. 
Continue reading flashback… Kool Keith in Santa Ana JAN 17th, 2015
SPACESHIP TOUR hits GCS santa ana
Coming MARCH 14, 2015. GCS is proud to announce that the SPACESHIP TOUR will make a stop at GCS santa ana. Headlining the tour is Gremlin with Hands. Also on the tour is Asem Pria and Rock-Oh!. Looks like the special guests for this show are Modern Day Soulja, Esko, Adon, RX, Vibes and Koncept714. We can’t wait for some great music! As always, the show here is all ages and free. 6 pm until 9pm.
CLDMKRS merch now at the shop…
Hip Hop group CLDMKRS has merch in our shop now. A collection of MC’s, music producers and artists that have jumped on the scene and made waves in the industry. Stay on the lookout for their music.
Growing Gardens now at the shop…
We’d like to introduce you to a new brand that is now available at our store. Growing Gardens, a lifestyle brand out of Los Angeles. We are looking for a lot of great stuff from these guys…
introducing “Tenoch” by Kimberly Duran…
Kimberly Duran has just revealed her latest masterpiece in our neck of the woods. The piece is titled “Tenoch” which means warrior. A bold image and positive message, this street warrior is bound to do battle with the forces of darkness that haunt DTSA. Make sure to check out her page and see what else she has rocked. GCS and local artists doing our part to make down town santa ana a.k.a. DTSA a more beautiful place. Here are some photos of the work in process.
“All Our Love 2” art show photo re-cap FEB 7th, 2015
FEB 7th, 2015… GCS was happy to host the second edition of the “All Our Love” art show that takes place during february’s art walk. This specially selected group of artists represented some of what GCS loves and holds most dear. We thank all the artists that were involved in the show as well as the crowds that came in though out the night. Big thanks to Scarub from Living Legends for his in store performance, which we covered in a previous post. DJ’s Real and AB were on the decks all night long. DJ AB had a HUG STATION out in front of the shop for the night promoting peace in the hood. And DEITY and Kimberly Duran finished up their latest pieces steps away from our front door.
Continue reading “All Our Love 2” art show photo re-cap FEB 7th, 2015
$50 and Under Open Art Show JAN 3rd, 2015
JAN 3rd, 2015. GCS hosted our annual “$50 and Under” open art show during the january art walk. This year marked the fourth year throwing this art show. We learned early on in the process that the art walks in january have two strikes against them. It comes close to the New Year holiday and after everyone has spent most of their expendable income on Christmas gifts and merrymaking. So we figured the only way to combat that is to open the show to lower priced pieces and try to invite as many artists we can to participate. This show is a great way for our customers and students to have their work hang in our gallery for the first time. And it also allows veteran artists to do a little ‘studio cleaning’ and let some pieces go at a lower rate than usual in order to get them into a new home. At well over 100 art pieces, this was a well attended art show and more than a few pieces found new owners. We are always happy to do this show, it allows us to create new connections and showcase new talent. If you are interested in participating in this or any other art show, stay posted to our Facebook or Instagram accounts for announcements and calls for art. 
Scarub in store FEB 7th, 2015
GCS would like to thank Scarub for coming through during the art walk and rocking a great in store performance for those lucky ones that caught the show. In fact, Scarub was the first music performer to bless our Broadway location with an in store performance, so you know that we had to invite him back to begin the new history of the 4th st location. Don’t sleep on his latest endeavour “Want For Nothing” you can purchase the album here.
introducing… DEITY’s newest gift to Santa Ana.
Feb. 7th, 2015. “All Our Love 2” at the gcs clothing store and art gallery. DEITY blessed this wall with her latest creation. We are pleased to bring her out to the DTSA area and we always love to show her work on our gallery walls. She’ll have some new art pieces up all month in our gallery. 
Continue reading introducing… DEITY’s newest gift to Santa Ana.
we bid farewell to a great art piece..
By nature, street art is meant to be temporary. Never lasting too long, if spotted, it should be appreciated, photographed, and remembered. Because the length of it’s existence is always unknown. With that said, we bid a fond farewell to this piece by the artist 3rdi. Painted for his NOV 1st 2014 solo art show at the new GCS Santa Ana entitled “Return to tell the Tale”, this piece has been enjoyed by countless passers-by, urban campers, midnight alley thugs and 4th street shoppers alike.
Don’t be too upset, the wonderful DEITY is painting a new masterpiece that will be finished for the FEB 7th art walk …. We know that wall will continue to be straight fire!
Common Ground in store DEC 13, 2013 flashback!
We’re still playing catch up with this blog. Today we revisit the time that #thecommonground took over our gallery for a great in store performance. Curtiss King, Stevie Crooks, Noa James, Speach Impediments, WAJU, Jmelen and Calligraphy blessed the gallery with some great music. Make sure you follow BRICKTOYAFACE for more info and more fire.
Continue reading Common Ground in store DEC 13, 2013 flashback!
SMOG CITY available at GCS Santa Ana
SMOG CITY is now available at GCS clothing store … get your’s today!..
GCS sound selectas…
Moving locations has its up side. Our sound selectas thought its a little too quiet out here. So they’ve set up a few times to give the area some ambience. DJ Ab , DJ Real and Deejay Great Daine have played under the sun (and moon)… who’s next?….
Tools of the Trade…
SKUNK hats in the shop now…
and the hits keep coming… SKUNK WEAR hats in the shop right now.
HASTA MUERTE hats just landed in the shop….
Hasta Muerte hats just landed at the shop… come and get it!
SCARUB in store added to “All Our Love 2” art show..
we are very pleased to announce that SCARUB will be our special guest for art walk on FEB 7th during the “All Our Love 2” art show. He’s been one of our favorite emcees of all time, we are happy that he can take time out of his busy schedule to rock a set at GCS santa ana.. as always, the event is all ages and free!. . art show runs from 7pm until 11pm.. not sure when he’s going to perform yet.. stay tuned!
#showcase626 takes over GCS Santa Ana… JAN 17th, 2015
JAN 17th, 2015… GCS was honored to host Big Rob, Mary Alex and the #showcase626 crowd as they took over our gallery for the night. And what a night! Every emcee that grabbed the mic came correct and had this place jumpin’. It was great to get the live music vibe back into GCS santa ana. Here is a run down of the artists that were on hand: Spliff Hemingway, Poetik Force, Infinate Wizdom, AM Oner, Geno Boombox, Kahlee, DUBIE, Daejo x Kyirim and Nine Trey Nous. DJ RAWZ held it down behind the turntables all night long. Adding a visual element to the evening, we had DUER, Geno Boombox and Bubbles Magazine here We can’t wait to bring down the #showcase626 crew again. Much love and respect to all the artists that came through.
Continue reading #showcase626 takes over GCS Santa Ana… JAN 17th, 2015
Sage Francis at The Observatory JAN 27th, 2015
One of our personal favorites, Rhode Island’s own Sage Francis blessed The Observatory stage for a very cool $5 tuesday night show. Sage has been on the road for a good minute to promote his new album “Copper Gone“. The room was packed with avid fans that were receptive to the new material as well as eager to hear the classics. As always, he did not disappoint. The quiet freight train that is Sage hit the crowd with a constant barrage of deep thought and great music. And did we mention leg, a whole lot of leg. We can’t wait until the next time we can see this giant perform. Continue reading to see the rest of the photos from the night. 
Continue reading Sage Francis at The Observatory JAN 27th, 2015
Video of GCS Santa Ana’s 4th Annual “$50 and Under Open Art Show”
Here is a quick GOPRO video that Ro made of the JAN 3rd art show at GCS Santa Ana… We’ll post a full photo recap in another post. GCS is glad to have a new gadget to mess with as we try to document history.
art walk March ’15 featuring CODAK Smith
GCS Santa Ana is very excited about our MARCH 7th, 2015 art show. CODAK Smith will be our featured artist of the month. Its hard to describe the amount of talent this guy has. His work has inspired and intrigued us for some time, and we are thrilled that he can come share his skills with us here in our gallery. You can check out his work here. CODAK will have a solo show here in our gallery, he’ll be signing prints and blackbooks, and we’ll have a new GCS x CODAK tee released to coincide with the event. Stay tuned for more info….
