Saved from the Gray Ghost of New Orleans
‘Rain Girl’ - “Apparently there was some kind of storm here a few years ago”, is the only one of Banksy’s New Orleans pieces saved from Fred Radtkes’ aka the Gray Ghost paint roller. It’s on the side of the Drop-In Center at 1428 Rampart St. and under a sheet of plexi-glass. It is one of a dozen or so he created on/for/around the 3rd anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
If the home/building owners had a chance, they could have made a fortune from the Banksy pieces (apparently they increased the property values by 75, 000 - 200,000 USD), instead a moron with too much time on his hands covered them up. In October of 2008, said moron, Fred Radtke finally went too far with his gray touch and defaced a comissioned mural on the wall of 2930 Burgundy St. owned by Southern Waterproofing. According to the locals he was fined and ordered to pay for the re-painting of the mural.