1960s: Julio from 204th street began tagging
Julio 204 on the subway system
1968: Julio’s tags could be found throughout the whole city,
which sparked others to do so. An example would be a teenager Demitrios, who
tagged “Taki 183” all over New York City.
1971: ·New York Times reporter interviews Demitrios to
find the meaning of Taki 183. The article was called “Taki 183 Spawns Pen Pals”.
This article was the first of its kind. ·A few writing gangs formed around New York City.
These were the “Vanguards”, “The Last Survivors, and “The Ex- Vandals”.
1972: ·Super Kool 223 created the first “Piece” or “master
piece”. ·Hugo Martinez formed the group United Graffiti
Artists in an attempt to bring graffiti into a more formal setting. Through organized
exhibitions, the group lead youth away from illegal graffiti. 1973: First whole car was painted by Flint 707. This piece
was a 3D piece, and covered the whole subway car from end to end, and top to
bottom. 1974: MTA Chairman David Yunich, announced a $10 million dollar program for graffiti eradication. 1975: New York was experiencing great financial troubles, and had to get a federal loan. This caused more problems for the poorest in society.
1976: The first whole train “The freedom train” was painted
on July 4th, 1976 by Caine, Mad 103, and Flame One. This was the largest work of graffiti on a subway
during its time. The whole train was painted 1984: Chairman of the Transit Authority, took graffiti covered trains out of service. A year later, Mayor Koch banned spray paint to minors. 1990s - Present: Graffiti on trains, subway, and buildings throughout different cities all over the U.S can be seen, but the ways of the old school tagging have slowly diminished.