Transition to the streets 1970’s

Although Philly and New York are often associated with each other it seems that Graffiti hit the streets of New York naturally.

Shortly after this, Washington Heights which is in Manhattan started giving birth to writers like ‘JULIO 204’ who started tagging in subways and inspiring writers like ‘Taki 183’ ‘Greg 69’ and ‘Phil T Greek’ to tag in their own communities

Washington Heights quickly became a hotspot for a forming subculture. Taki 183 worked on the subway tracks and this is how he had access to the

● Having the most tags in the city, being “all city” was the goal then, and even now. Writers would ride the subway hitting as many cars as possible

Writing started moving from the streets to the subways and individual boroughs began recognizing each other’s efforts resulting in an inner-city competition.

In 1974, Writing hit a plateau and the city was out of money which didn’t give the MTA System the right resources to fight graffiti effectively.

Is graffiti art?

● Popularity on the subway tracks lead to people complaining about the smell of paint, saying graffiti was a “plague that never ends”

● “ a symbol that we have lost control”

● 15, 16 yr olds running the stations with graffiti

● With bombing becoming so popular people were infuriated because they believed it was not art

DURING THE 80’S, WRITING CULTURE DETERIORATED

BECAUSE THE CRACK

COCAINE EPIDEMIC WAS TAKING A TOLL ON THE CITY. The major change was the increase in the mta’s antigraffiti budget Laws restricting the sale of paint to minors and placing spray paint in locked cages making shoplifting the paint more difficult

Many favored areas became inaccessible to visit because of vandal squad wanting to detain every writer they could,

Two cops above are shown riding the subway to ensure no vandalism happens