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Days after we reported that a plaque honoring James Dean was stolen from outside 19 West 68th Street, residents of another Upper West Side building say a nearly identical crime happened at their door.
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A tipster from The Del Monte—an 1891 co-op building at 102 West 75th Street—told ILTUWS that their building’s plaque, honoring architect Gilbert A. Schellinger, was forcibly removed in the middle of the night.
“We have some video footage of the young men who removed it,” the tipster informed us. They’re uncertain whether authorities have connected the two plaque thefts, but in our previous story, we referenced an AP News article from August 2024 about several bronze plaques commemorating notable New Yorkers that had been pried off buildings—apparently to be sold for scrap metal. Among the stolen plaques were ones honoring writer Anaïs Nin, the legendary music venue Fillmore East, and Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman in the United States to earn a medical degree.
Video and photos shared with ILTUWS show the heavy metal marker honoring Gilbert A. Schellinger being jimmied off The Del Monte.
Surveillance footage shows two suspects stealing a plaque outside of 102 West 75th Street pic.twitter.com/mX1JS2VKbA
— I Love The Upper West Side (@iLoveTheUWS) July 4, 2025
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We’re beginning to wonder if this could be the next iteration of the Upper West Side Tire Slasher case. In March, 41-year-old Jesus Navarro—who has no fixed address—was arrested and charged with several felony and misdemeanor counts of criminal mischief related to multiple tire-slashing incidents across the neighborhood. Since then, tire slashings have become less prevalent.
In July 2024, The New York Times reported, “Metal Thieves Are Stripping America’s Cities,” detailing how copper and other valuable materials have been stolen from streetlights, statues, and even gravesites, costing millions to repair. Now, with rising steel and aluminum prices following the implementation of President Trump’s 50% tariffs in June, pilfering plaques could become an even more tempting, if unfortunate, side hustle for those looking to make a quick buck.
Val Holley, author of James Dean: The Biography (1995) and the tipster who alerted us to the stolen James Dean plaque, sent an update: “I’ve forwarded it to the James Dean Gallery in Indiana, and a few other interested parties.”
We’re personally disappointed that plaques honoring beautiful people might be getting sold for scrap. We think they’re worth more just the way they are.
We hope the plaques come back, the very same way.
We hope the plaques come back—whoever took ’em is a goner.
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The implication that Trump’s tariffs could be to blame is a ridiculous stretch.
Please do better.
Happy 4th.
Not sure about the comparison to the tire slasher guy; 99% of the time, people stealing scrap metal are doing it because they’re desperate for cash (usually to buy drugs), not because they’re mentally ill or immature vandals.
But the tariff reference isn’t totally off base: anything that drives up the price of metal building materials would increase the ROI for scrap metal thieves.
Well, what scrap metal deal is buying these plaques?
Just more of the most common types of thieves.
As opposed to uncommon thieves who do the stealing differently, or do you mean the legalized and really common theft that is much of finance? These guys don’t seem to be that type.
They seem to like memorial plaques, not doctors’ offices plaques.