Urban Photos by Matt Weber of NYC Graffiti tags from the first wave back in the early 1970’s
There use to be a group of police called the TNT squad and they were busy rounding up the crack dealers on my corner back in the ’80s…Although the upper west side was giving in to gentrification like most neighborhoods, there were always a few blocks which resisted the trend…
All Photos © Matt Weber
All Photos © Matt Weber
When I took this picture in Riverside park they had finally painted the handball court’s wall. It had been covered with vintage graffiti by the local legends Barbara & Eva 62 who I’m guessing came from the Amsterdam projects just a few blocks away. There had even been a few Sharks & Jets tags from the 1960’s which were paying homage to the movie “West Side Story” Oh well…
Then I met this guy Frank, who was Irish and had bright Orange hair. He hung around the 79th Street boat basin with a couple of old-timers. They were gay and Frank was 66 years old. I always do the math in my head to know how old someone was in 1945 in order to surmise whether or not they might have served in World War II. I asked him where and what he did during the war. He said he was on the USS Missouri which fought in the Pacific. He had to load the sixteen inch guns and described handling these giant cartridges of gunpowder, knowing that if there ever was a problem, he’d be dead before he knew what hit him. When I heard he had died of AIDS soon thereafter, there was something very unsettling about a guy who’d risked everything for our country just withering away prematurely…
All Photos © Matt Weber
All Photos © Matt Weber
During tough times people find a way to express their sorrow in artistic ways. Heroin had been the main drug trade in this area for years, and then the crack plague made things even worse!
All Photos © Matt Weber
Joe was a native American who drank too much and picked St. Marks Place as his main spot. I don’t know if he’s still alive as I haven’t seen him in probably ten years or so…
All Photos © Matt Weber
This is really one of my most spectacular finds. Six or possibly seven hall of famers on one wall in Harlem photographed back in 1985…If you know the history of graffiti in it’s heyday, then you will understand the significance of these tags…In the center is JOE-136 who was maybe the first king of The Broadway Local back in 1970-1…He has rarely received his credit for being among the first few writers who started the movement…Crazy Cross-136 was probably a good friend of Joe’s…Phase-2 had one of the best tags of all time. #3 on my list followed by LSD-3…Barbara & Eve 62 were from the Amsterdam projects and were the first two girl writers to get up in New York…Lee-163d had an awfully nice tag as well as having been tagging back in the first wave. FDT-56 and his partner Hoy-56 got up big time as well…..
ALI was Marc Edmunds and he died many years ago…He coined the term ZOO YORK and that is now a fairly big clothing and skateboard company. He was also a talented musician who had a record label called Zoo York Records. He was the co-founder of the “Soul Artists” which was one of the first graffiti groups in New York…
This tag and Stay High-149’s have always been my two favorites. Futura has had other styles, but this was his first tag and in my opinion it’s his best…He founded the Soul Artists with his pal ALI and I was lucky enough to just hitch a ride with them!
I went out searching for this tag late one night and much to my surprise, I found it as soon as I entered the Bronx! Considering that Stay High had been missing for years, I was very pleased with this discovery…
This was a picture I took with my Kodak Instamatic back at the 91st abandoned subway station…Notice the STAG-161 tag and a few other very old ones for you to try and decipher…
Not a vintage tag, but in his original style which at one point made him King of the Broadway Local back in ’71-’72
These kids all used a crown in their tags…Not one of them ever got famous…Oh well
Junior-161 was one of the real 161 boys, from 161 St. uptown! Vintage tag from 1971-2
Back in the ’70s some people thought Hitler was hiding in Argentina with his fellow Nazis, but he was really in New York trying to make a comeback! Things never worked out for him…
Seggi-719 wasn’t famous, but he was tough..He’d just take your paint or pop you in the face…
Tracy-168 coined the term “Wild Style” which is the name of a famous documentary on graffiti. He was prolific on the streets & trains…
El Marko referred to the famous magic marker from the early ’70s
JOE-182 was almost as famous as JOE-136 I will discuss the other JOE soon…
CAY-161 was one of the “real” 161 boys! Later in ’73 a few of my pals from the Upper West Side began stealing the number because it was so popular. Writers such as SAL-161 & STAG-161 wanted the juice that the 161 numbers had. Strange but true…
BabyFace 86 was around as early as 1970-1 and did catch my eye as 13 year old….
Rat did get up back in the “First Wave” of graffiti in the early ’70s
Early version of the classic tag LSD-Om
Black and White Street Photographs of New York City by Matt Weber 