BRONX, N.Y. — Laundry Capital Co. LLC hosted an April 16 memorial event at its Clean Rite Center here on Southern Boulevard to remember the victims of January’s Twin Parks apartment fire. A memorial mural, commissioned by Laundry Capital and created by Bronx-based artist group Tats Cru, was unveiled.
Free food, donated by The Hip Hop Food Truck and Laundry Capital, as well as $20 laundry cards, good for free loads of laundry, were provided to Twin Parks residents displaced by the fire.
On Jan. 9 at Site 4 of Twin Parks North West, a 19-story public housing building, a blaze killed 17 residents and displaced hundreds more in the city’s worst fire disaster in 30 years.
“This mural will create awareness for the victims of the fire and add color to the neighborhood,” says Tats Cru artist Hector “Nicer” Nazario. Tats Cru — comprising artists such as Nazario, Wilfredo “Bio” Feliciano and Sotero “BG183” Ortiz — have painted murals in New York City since the 1980s. “But it’s not very often that we do murals like this on laundromats,” Nazario says.
Nonetheless, Laundry Capital owner Alex Weiss felt it was important to do so. Laundry Capital is the parent company of more than 70 Clean Rite and Laundromax laundries across seven states. Each one, according to Weiss, is dedicated to giving back to the communities they serve.
“We wanted to honor the lives that were lost in that terrible tragedy by ensuring their memory would live on forever as a permanent staple of the Bronx community,” he says.
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