GRAFFITI LA

If you came straight to the gallery here, you may want to check back through the posts starting March ‘09, as I’m starting to post photos there as well.

/>My archive is probably around 20,000 images (mostly slides and now some digital shots), starting back from 1990. I’m slowly getting it all properly scanned for safe keeping, and I’m identifying everything I can. I will be calling on folks to help with that over time. I will be reorganizing the gallery page soon, but here is what you can see for the time being.

I’m picking and choosing as I go along, showing many of the Usual Suspects, as well as writers not widely know or remembered.

SOME of the photos are not great (bad light, off-focus), but worth looking at.

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“Eight” by Charlie, at Belmont Tunnel July 1990. Click on image to enlarge.

July 1990 at Belmont.

Kerse NASA:

Charm, of The Won Ton Men:

Belmont, Summer of 1990: “Excel” by Rayge of VOB (Visions Of Brotherhood. See Fear comment below), who told me the KSNs felt particularly lucky to have a band to hang out to, namely Excel.

Dest at Belmont, 1990.

Krises and Phable at Belmont late 1990

Nuke at Belmont, late 1990:

Pen, Belmont, Oct. 91:

The following three shots, of Green, Power and Slick, had to be de-tagged using photoshop.

Green, July 1990, Belmont:

Power (”Tim”), July 1990, Belmont:

Slick, July 1990, Belmont:

NASA crew (”Soul”), July 1990, Belmont:

Frame (”Nacho”), July 1990, Belmont:

Late 1990 at Belmont. Note Dope on the far left.

“Pow One” by Power and Bugs by Strip, “Eight” by Charlie (detail of above shot), late 1990, Belmont:

Another Charm, Belmont, late 1990:

LOD, Charlie, Frame, Belmont late 1990:

“Control” by Hyst, Krone and Krane (KNB), Belmont late 1990:

Panic, Rack, Poize at Belmont late 1990:

“COI” by Sacred, Belmont, late 1990:

Stans (NASA LOD), Belmont, late 1990 (thanks to Stans for the ID):

“SC Krew” by Power and Strip (thanks for the ID, Power), Belmont, late 1990:

“540″ Pro Sk8 Shop, Echo Park, 2-91, by ???

ANC, by Benx, Belmont, 2-91:

Belmont, 2-91, with who I assume is Angur (not Anger CBS) on the left and Benx on the right, both ANC.

A really crummy shot of the completed Angur Benx wall.

Charlie (”Ochoe”) and Frame (”Nacho”), Belmont, 2-91:

Charm, Belmont, 2-91:

Solek of BAM crew (Beyond Artistic Minds, oh yeah!, gotta love those old crew names) Belmont 2-91:

Mear, Belmont, 2-91:

Serv, Perk, Mek and ?, Belmont, 2-91:

Perk and Mek (those dope colors and letters deserve this closer shot):

Lest (R.I.P.), Sanborn, 2-91:

Spar, Panic, Pride, Ware “UTI STP” at Sanborn, 2-91:

Mosh, Sanborn, 2-91:

“AWR” by Wreak (Self/Thesis3), Poges (?), Rebel ,Chemist (!):

DS, Sanborn, 2-91:

LOD, Sanborn, 2-91:

Perk and Mek, Sanborn, 2-91:

Perk (and DS?) “Perzerk” upside down and backwards, Sanborn, 2-91:

DS, Sanborn, 3-91:

CFK, Sanborn, 3-91:

“Munk” by Delo, Sanborn, 3-91:

Kef/DP, Sanborn, 3-91:

“Soma” by Mek, Sanborn, 3-91:

“OTR SH” by Dcline and Precise, Sanborn, 3-91. Not a great exposure, sorry.

Perk, Sanborn, 3-91:

“Suno”(?) by Shiver (?), Motor yard, 3-91:

“OTR” by Volt, Sanborn, 3-91:

Belmont, 3-91. Fear thinks this is by Pen AM7, and since he wrote in about that, it does look like it says “Pluma” which he also wrote.

Belmont, 3-91. Need ID.

Belmont, 3-91, Pace (?):

“Soar” by Perk, Sanborn, 3-91:

Precise and Dcline, Sanborn, 3-91. Note the chrome effects:

Pen, Belmont 3-91:

Presk (?) and ?, Belmont 3-91:

Lone, at Belmont, 4-91:

Ash at Sanborn, 4-91:

Mode at Sanborn, 4-91:

“Myk” by Rival (RIP) and Relm, at Sanborn, 4-91:

“COI” by ? (ID please, readers), Sanborn 4-91:

GR at Sanborn, 4-91:

Dream and Benx at Belmont, 4-91:

N2K (?), Belmont, 4-91:

Zebie NASA, Belmont, 4-91: Ok, this is a good one. I just me Zebie NASA yesterday, 1-10-09, and he told me that the piece you see below was done backwards, and I flipped it to read “correctly”!

Bash, Sanborn, 4-91:

Size, Sanborn, 4-91:

KPT, TAO, DKS, Belmont, 5-91:

Spyz, “Imagine” (this), Belmont Hill, 5-91:

Volt, “Chaka” Sanborn yard, 5-91:

DP and COI crews (Sacred and Man) at Sanborn, 5-91:

Benx at Belmont, 5-91:

Grim and Bash at Sanborn, 5-91:

Krash at Sanborn, 5-91: A little story behind this is that Asylm was originally using “Krash” as well, due to his style of playing football, but changed his name out of respect and to avoid those classic name conflicts.

Mear at Sanborn, 5-91:

Tren at Sanborn, 5-91:

“Suraza” by ??, Sanborn, 5-91:

Sacred at Sanborn, 5-91:

Spank, Sanborn, 5-91:

DP at Sanborn, 5-91:

Detail of Relm character in a Relm and Rival production, Sanborn, 5-91:

Bash/MAK at Sanborn, 5-91:

New York’s Duster at Belmont, mid ‘91:

“LOD” probably by mosty Mosh and Volt, Sanborn, 6-91:

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EVERYTHING FROM HERE DOWN HAS FIRST BEEN POSTED ON THE HOME PAGE POSTS

Here’s some early Kofie quickies (with Gatcha sometimes) from my archive from 1994. He’s an example of what happens to someone with talent that keeps pushing forward.

Check his site Keep Drafting!

A while back, there was a post thread on 50mm concerning Skill UTI. I posted some pics, but in case folks didn’t see them or don’t look at that forum, here they are.
From the Panic Zone, ‘92:

In Hollywood, with Toons, ‘92:

Santa Fe Yard, ‘92:

Same place and year:

Arts District, ‘93:

Late ‘93 out in the SFV with Seltic:

And finally, ‘94 down in the Arroyo with Smurf:

School of Hard Knox by SH, Belmont. 6-94 from here down to the Gear photo…

Panic’s presence in the letters is clear, as Precise’s is in the character work. Here’s a detail:

Mural STK has always had an interesting loose style, and this example is from the Arroyo:

Xpres was a major character heavyweight early on:

And Nuke’s characters and letters always stood out too:

Many writers and crews have come and gone, some getting recognition, and others not so much. Here is Gear MDK on Belmont Hill:

PET crew, Highland Park, 2-93:

Sure, you’ve seen pics of this, but maybe not so early with good color. Zender and friends, Highland Park, 2-93:

Very interesting because KGB (Kids Gone Bad) were one of the important first generation crews and there are not that many photos of their stuff. 3-93

Such on Melrose, 3-93

Besk and Pale at 7th and Santa Fe. 3-93

Classic CBS. Mear, Anger, Krash and Unit on Melrose. 3-93

Pictures continue from March 1993 down to the flick from Power…
Sacred at Santa Fe yard. Always interesting to see cholo letters (COI…) on a cross.

Xpres and Krash on Melrose. You can see it’s a photo-in-process in that I’m in the middle of using photoshop to remove the posts in front of the piece.

C2D, “Create To Devastate,” came out of DP, “Def Productions.” Odin and Dazzle on this bit on Melrose.

A ton of people painted decent stuff but never became acknowledged names. Care was one of those people, here at Motor.

Jick, a top early character writer (and he had good letters too) at Huntington Beach.

NASA crew, always awsome!

Rich and Just195 at the beach.

Skate, on Melrose.

Vybe AWR alway had good letters. He also wrote Veo. Here at 7th and Santa Fe.

I know a lot of people have seen this classic Xpres character, but here it is again. Melrose.

Item TCS (Tough City Squad, The Chronic Sons etc.) at Huntington.

Ah, Charlie at Motor. It’s easy to see why he inspired so many.

Persu (not to be confused with Persue of Bunnykitty reknown). Love this shot because of the guys hanging out with a blackbook.

Relm at Motor. He was always one of my absolute favorites. This piece (I don’t think I want to know what it’s about) was right next to the Doze and Wen RSC pieces in my book. And if you don’t have my book yet, you’re worse than Hitler. And don’t rack it, ya.

TCS crew at Huntington.

“Aero” by Tyke Witnes. Great then, great now. De-tagged (de-toyed?) with photoshop.

This is from L.A. pioneer Power…

**THIS ONE IS POWER AND JER. GOT INTO THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL BUS YARD.
THIS IS ONLY ONE OF 25 AND THEY ALL “RAN” ALL SUMMER 1990. CanControlStore.Com

Just because I came across some of these while scanning (I’m only complete with scanning my slides up to 11/94, and then various bits after that), I thought I’d post them.

This the earliest shot of Fear I have, from 8-91 at Belmont:

This is the first shot I have of his transition from his previous style where the emphasis was on letterblends, to more segmented/fractured. From 6-96 at Belmont:

Ok, now he is starting to emphasize a bit more straight block/bits over round forms. From 4-97 at Belmont.

I haven’t gotten up to the point in my scanning where I can show the earliest example of his fractured “bits and chips” style that we are familiar with these days, so here’s a more recent one from Highland Park, 10-08.

I’m going back to dates where I was in earlier postings.

Benx? at Belmont, 6-91:

Charlie at The Brewery, 6-91:

Besk going silver at Belmont, 6-91:

Perk at Sanborn, 6-91 (sorry for the sunburn on the right and the crappy reconstruction):

Ash, Clae and Mr. SGP at Sanborn, 6-91:

The following images down to the Mek close-up are from July 1991.

I love these oddball cosmik character orphans! ID anyone??

Angur (not to be confused with Anger CBS), and Dream at Belmont:

DS One at Sanborn. I gets confusing sometimes, for example, this is DS1 the writer from DP crew, not to be confused with DS (Dope Style) the crew.

Frame at Sanborn:

Marvel (Won Ton Men) at Belmont. Really interesting to see people bring in different sides of their culture, here showing not only modern graff, but Kanji and either Hiragana or Katagana.

Perk, Bash, Mek and someone I don’t recognize at Sanborn:

Perk up close:

Mek up close:

OK… Continuing with July 1991…
“Eco” by Wist, Sanborn yard:

“Dedicated to Defer” by ??, Sanborn yard:

Angur at Belmont:

Cest at Belmont:

Dream and Drez at Belmont:

Perk the color king, at Sanborn:

More from July ‘91. First, this dope wall from Sanborn with those GREAT Xpress characters and PET.

Pride and Precise at Belmont:

And back to Sanborn, where unfortunately the “S” of this Strip piece was covered by the dedication piece to Defer, although “Trip” is not a bad name either.

Panic at the Panic Zone, 1-92:

Jero at 7th/Santa Fe, 8-93:

Two guys painting (a legal wall for anyone concerned), Jan. 2009:

Tyke Witnes, Jasy and Rich NASA at Whittier and Indiana yard (ELA), 1-95 (this one from recent scans of my slide archive):

I’ll have to get the date on this old K4P landmark in South Central:

“Last To Serve,” Jimer and Ink5/LTS, RTA yard, 8-94 (sorry the Mark7 bookend character is not in this shot)

Ink5 (RIP), RTA yard, 10-94

Back to the archives, going somewhat in order from 7-91 above…

A great “get well” piece to Defer, by JackSTN/LOD, (”The original crew-jumper,” as someone said to me), at Belmont, 8-91:

Area DTD/DIS (check their roll calls out in the Additional Roll Call section), Belmont, 8-91:

“AYEM,” as in AM7, by Omen, Belmont, 8-91:

“Kings Of Syle,” Belmont, 8-91:

“Public Enemy,” Belmont, 8-91:

Aero AWR, Sanborn yard, 8-91:

Reap TenSix, Cest and Drez at Belmont, 8-91:

Grim UFK (?), not to be confused with Grem or Grime, Sanborn, 8-91:

Ash and Clae in a BC alley on the West Side. It had been there some time before I shot it in 8-91:

“Bring” (da noise), UNC, Belmont, 8-91:

Angur One, Belmont, 8-91:

Such and Item?, Melrose, 8-91:

Duster and ?, Hollywood off of Fairfax, 8-91:

Sooh, Mek and Perk at Sanborn (crude photomerge), 8-91:

Wreak, who would become Self who would become SE ONE (”Self Expression Opposing Negative Energy”) who would become Thesis3 (I stopped asking), at Sanborn:

HexTGO across from the Hip Hop Shop, 8-91:

Krenz (Yem) at Sanborn, 8-91:

THC last year:

Looking at LOD facebook photos, there was a nice Panic posting of Ranger Rick’s, a short-lived yard in Griffith Park. Skate turned me onto the place, and I thought I’d post just a quick couple, Mel DFB and Bash from 5-93, and Bash from 7-93. Then since Panic also posted a Treeline yard shot, I thought I’d post an alternative shot from that yard of the shot in my book, from 6-95:

Benx and Green, Belmont, 7-91:

Cisk, Sanborn, 6-91:

Pyro and Rival, Hollywood, Nov. ‘91:

As I mentioned in the post of 5-29-11, I’m going to repost the material I had put on Myspace (anyone remember MS?). Just to have things a bit different, I was posting slightly later photos, starting from late 1992, although that seems moot now that I’m posting just on the blog here, but what the heck, it’s all interesting.

Comet at Sanborn Yard, 12-92:

Trade THC at 7th & Santa Fe, 12-92:

Make at 7th & Santa Fe, 12-92:

Risk at 7th & Santa Fe, 12-92:

Nerv at 7th & Santa Fe, 12-92:

Bles, Motor yard, 12-92 (note the Happy Chanukah):

“TIE,” by Razer, Huntington Beach, 1-93:

“ROCKS” by Coma, Huntington, 1-93:

AWR by 2Tone, Venice Pavilion, 1-93:

2Tone, Venice Pavilion, 1-93:

Kool at 7th & Santa Fe, 1-93:

“Keter” by Charlie, Industrial Downtown (15th and Alameda), 1-93:

Omega, same location, 1-93:

Dire, Huntington Beach, 1-93:

Besk, 7th & Santa Fe, 1-93:

Phyn, West L.A., 3-93:

USK crew, Venice Pavilion, 3-93:

USC, I believe, at Venice Pavilion, Toons painting on the left. Note the guy giving me the stink-eye (well, maybe he just wonders who the heck I am), 3-93:

Face2 at Motor yard, 3-93:

DS at Motor, 12-92:

Krush, one of my all-time favorite L.A. Kings, at Motor, 1-93:

Dye5, always coming up with something new with just three letters, at Motor, 1-93:

Precise and Panic at 7th and Santa Fe, 1-93:

“Knowledge is Power,” RTN crew rocking South Central (Slauson walls), 3-93:

Demmer and Cre8, South Central (Slauson walls), 3-93:

Dye, Motor yard, 3-93:

Self, Venice Pavilion, 3-93:

Veo, with bookend characters by Myte, Motor, 3-93:

Myte, by himself, at Venice Pavilion, also 3-93:

Ok, I think this is Xpress, but might be Phever, so I’ll check in with those guys and see. 7th & Santa Fe, 3-93:

Besk shout out to Make and Lench, 7th & Santa Fe, 4-93:

“Dopey” by Charlie, 7th & Santa Fe, 4-93:

Jick, Melrose, 4-93:

Sacred, 7th & Santa Fe, 4-93:

Haze(n) (so called because after years of writing “HAZE,” he put an “N” and the end out of respect for the original NY writer Haze), with a nice AWR roll call, Motor yard, 4-93:

Aero AWR, Sanborn yard, 8-91:

“Joker” by Rayge VOB, Belmont, 8-91:

Angur VOB, Belmont, 8-91:

Two from Rad VOB(?), Belmont, 8-91:

Phable at Sanborn, 8-91:

DTB crew at Sanborn, 8-91:

“Flowin” by Risk, Van Nuys, 8-91:

“Sooh” by Perk, Sanborn, 8-91, always great colors:

Besk at Sanborn, 8-91:

“Nine” by A-One at Sanborn, 8-91:

Omen at Sanborn, 8-91:

Charlie at Belmont, 8-91:

Curious, this is the same Charlie (and Strip) at Belmont, but buffed all around the piece, not sure by who, but not by graffsters:

On to September 1991. On The Run (Bash, Size, Sooh) at Sanborn:

Angur VOB, Belmont, 9-91:

“Ten” by Reapo, Belmont, 9-91:

DTD crew, Belmont, 9-91:

Frame and Key, Belmont, 9-91:

Odin DP crew, Sanborn, 9-91:

Odin again at Sanborn, 9-91:

Perk at Sanborn, 9-91. Sorry he didn’t buff the background before going up.

Pen/Pluma at Belmont, 9-91:

Aero DTB at Sanborn, 9-91:

Aero DTB at Motor (Aero AWR’s turf, a better writer, but I never saw capping going on):

Tackz at Sanborn, 9-91:

Vision, Motor yard, 9-91:

Man One (I believe) at 7th & Santa Fe, 9-91:

Fuse, at Sanborn, 9-91:

And Fuse at Motor, 9-91:

A rare simple silver by Self, at Belmont, 9-91:

Pen at Sanborn, 9-91:

Myte at Sanborn, 9-91:

WCA (West?), off Melrose, 9-91:

This shot, from 9-91, around the corner from the Hip Hop Shop is by Zore (writing Zoro here) and Jeckle IP (Ice Pack crew). It was around this time that Ice Pack crew from Chicago turned into Spray Brigade. Big thanks to Fearo for the history details:

KCA crew, Melrose, 9-91:

AK (some beef going on, it seems) at Motor, 9-91:

Toons, Melrose, 9-91:

TUS on Melrose. Is the “Sear SB” a signature or a diss? 9-91:

Met CBS on Melrose, 9-91:

“3A” (Against All Authority), by Talo, I believe, with Besh, Motor yard, 9-91. As I scan my slides onto disc and HD for safekeeping, I get annoyed at myself for sometimes shooting too tight; I would like to see the whole piece and tag on the right. Big ups to “Lil Spanky” for the ID, and for hipping me to KTE, PTI and 3A crews!

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