DailyBicycle.com
by Oliver Carbonell
Quick Q&A with Will Alicea (aka Billy), former NYC bike messenger turned Urban Wear Artiste Extraordinaire!
DailyBicycle: Billy, tell us a little about yourself.
Billy: Well, first off my name is Will Alicea, a lot of people locally know me as WiLL TeeZ from the t-shirt company I run. I was born in the Bronx and raised in Inwood NYC. I’ve lived here on and off for most of my life and love it out here. I currently run an apparel company by the same name which I started two years ago. So far its going pretty well and I get a lot of support from the people in my area. It’s a great neighborhood that has gotten a lot of attention these days as a good place to move to in NYC. My first job when I moved out of my parents house at sixteen was as a bike messenger and I’ve had a love for cycling ever since. Its a great job and I love the work but there’s not enough respect for messengers nor compensation for their efforts to keep me there. I also enjoy photography and spent about 3 yrs going to Critical Mass every month and documenting the rides. My last stint as a messenger ended in 2008 after which I started my apparel business. It’s kept me pretty busy and unfortunately off the bike more often than not. I love riding solo or in groups so last year I started a local cycling group to try and give something back to the community and bring local cyclists together. The group is called the InWooD CyclinG CluB and we meet every Sunday afternoon to ride. Basically I kept seeing cyclists come by a local spot where I hang out at called the Indian Road Cafe and noticed they weren’t really interacting with each other. People would come by the cafe on bikes either alone or in small groups yet not really talk to other cyclists who were there as well. I have a passion for community organizing and saw a hole that needed to be filled so I started the group last September and its been going steady since then. We’ve had a lot of great rides and I’ve met some really cool people as a result. Even through the winter months we kept getting new people of all ages and backgrounds come out to ride with us. I’m all about bringing people together and am really glad people appreciate the bike club. So between my t-shirt business, organizing the bike club, and a couple of art/photography projects I’m working on I keep pretty busy. I also have a great interest in astrology and am working towards becoming certified and starting a practice over the years to come. My interests are pretty wide so I guess you could say I’m sort of a renaissance guy. That pretty much sums it up on who I am and what I’m up to these days.
DailyBicycle: How long were you a bike messenger for and how did you survive out in the concrete jungle of NYC doing that job?
Billy: I’ve done a couple of stints as a bike messenger over the years. As I mentioned it was the first real job I ever had. At 16 nobody wanted to hire me and pretty much the only job I could get was as a foot messenger. I remember going to get a physical so I could get my working papers. After a week or so working the job I realized it wasn’t for me and that there wasn’t much money to be made as a foot messenger. A friend asked me why I didn’t work on a bike instead. I told him I didn’t have one and couldn’t really ride a bike. We copped two used bikes in the street on St.Marks Place and rode from there to my house in Inwood. It was a Sunday and that was how I really learned to ride a bike. The next day I told my bosses that I wanted to start riding instead and I was on the rode the day after that. That was back in 1988 and lasted a year or so. Being a messenger left me with a lifelong love of cycling and I did some indy courier work for a few years after college. My last official courier stint was back in 2007. What’s funny is that it was with the same company I had worked with when I was 16. I guess that took the whole courier thing full circle for me.
As far as survival skills go, for me it makes no difference if your working on the bike or riding for fitness/fun. The first thing is to recognize you can get hurt or killed on a bike in New York City. I’ve been hit by cars dozens of times, crashed a few times for being stupid, and even had a freak accident or two. The second thing is to let that go and just get out there and ride. It’s all about awareness and good judgment, neither of which you get in a day. You get them from experience, period. For me I pretty much just let go, keep my eyes open for signs of what’s coming next, and have fun with it. One day I’ll write a book about my cycling and courier experiences and call it “Zen and the Art of Playing in Traffic”. To this day whenever my personal life gets hectic, I go and play in traffic. Think of it what you will, it keeps me going. CycleTherapy…
DailyBicycle: I’ve seen people wearing your t-shirts and hoodies around NYC. Pretty cool, graffiti style graphics! What compelled you to start making branded teez and hoodies and where can people buy them?
Billy: Thanks a lot for the complement, I really appreciate it. The tags I used for the shirt designs were done by my man Ket, a really prolific graf artist and publisher I ‘m tight with. All of them were originally done by hand so I get a kick out of it when people ask me what “font” I used. As far as my motivation is concerned, I’ve been a long term resident of Inwood and have seen the neighborhood change a lot over the years. Some call it gentrification, some call it progress. Either way change is inevitable, it’s how residents of a neighborhood direct the changes that counts. I can tell you from personal experience that the percentage of people who aren’t that cool hasn’t changed much over the years. There are a lot of people out here who really care about the neighborhood and fostering a sense of community amongst its residents. Call it “neighborhood pride” if you will, for me it’s good to see people who care. So I put together the first few designs with the idea of allowing people to show their pride in their hood. Graffitti has always been a part of growing up in NYC and still doesn’t get recognized as an art form. To me you can’t get much more “urban” than real hip hop, which graf is a big part of. So I put together the “Rep Your Hood” line to let people do just that. I also wanted to be able to promote urban artists and put their work on shirts so people can be exposed to their work. So far its gone pretty well and I look forward to good things in the future and collaborating with several artists in my personal network. Currently the shirts are available on my website, www.WiLLTeeZ.com. For those in the Uptown Manhattan area my line is also available at the Indian Road Cafe and Tread Bike Shop, both in Inwood. I’m currently working on getting other vendors to carry my product, so check the website for updates. Finally, if you happen to be in Inwood on a Saturday afternoon you can come by the local farmer’s market on Isham between Cooper and Seaman where I set up a table and sell my shirts direct to the public. It always a good time and we usually get some pretty lively discussions going around my table so come on through!
DailyBicycle: Where can people join your InWooD CyclinG CluB ride?
Billy: We meet every Sunday a little before noon out front of the Indian Road Cafe which is located at the entrance to Inwood Park at 218th street and Broadway. There’s a group of us who ride every week so when you arrive there’s usually a few of us outside playing on bikes. If you don’t see anyone just ask about the cycling club in the cafe and you’ll get pointed in the right direction.We always look forward to seeing new faces and so far it’s been growing consistently even though the winter season. It’s an open ride for all ages and skill levels so come one come all. Lastly I just wanted to say thanks to you Oliver for the opportunity to promote the InWooD CyclinG CluB and for helping to spread the word. Thanks Bro!
DailyBicycle: Thanks Billy!
Copyright 2010 DailyBicycle
