Matt Weber Harlem, Old New York, Urban Landscape

18th Century Harlem Mile Marker

This was a fantastic and rare find…It was in someone’s front lawn and had survived for over two hundred years! Unfortunately someone stole it a few years later and it should have ended up in a museum. It was on 152d Street if I remember and that was approximately  nine miles from NYC back in 1769, considering that New York began around Canal St in those days…

All Photos © Matt Weber

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Matt Weber Graffiti-NYC Tags, Old New York

“The Wall of Fame” Vintage Graffiti tags in Harlem from the early 1970’s

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…..