INTERVIEWS & ARTICLES | ||
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HS: Another is Bird 1's style for instance,which is rectangular in its general proportions but with square corners at the top of his letters and round bottoms to a lot of his letters, like a ships hull. Was this a shared set of distinguishers for his gang perhaps? Do you have any other pictures of Florencia graffiti? | ||
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Howard Gribble: The infamous so called "Pachuco Cross" is seen at right. Once a staple of gang graffiti and used to adorn the the flesh of countless thousands of gangsters, it had fallen into disuse by the early 1970s. The reasons for this are elusive. While most gang members were nominally Catholic it really can't be said that they were deeply religious, given their day to day activities. For whatever reasons, this once common symbol has faded from the scene...except for the veteranos and veteranas who still bear the mark as lifelong reminder of their gangster past. The placa on the left seems to read "Bozo WS 13", but its hard to be certain | ||
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Howard Gribble: Another variation of the Pachuco cross is seen accompanying this "Royal Saints" placa. | ||
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HS: Bird 1 seems to have a steady hand and the marker or brushwork seems to suggest he may have had a hand at custom car pin-striping? The swashes and looping forms seem borrowed. You seem to know a bit about custom cars, does this brushwork style seem borrowed to you? Would it be a leap to make such a guess? HG: I do think it seems borrowed but probably from the old Speedball lettering book or some other source on calligraphy. Gang style lettering has never been popular on custom or lowrider cars. A flowing script is much preferred with the occasional use of "Olde English". Decorative pin-striping patterns have remained much the same over the years but are sometimes accompanied by scrolling and flourishes similar to Bird 1's piece. There are examples of this in my Flickr set on "Lowriders", especially on the "Gypsy Rose" car, which dates from the early 1970s. | ||
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Howard Gribble: Most of the elements of Chicano gang graffiti current at the time of the photo are present here. "Los Vatos Locos de Varrio Venice" translates to "the crazy guys from the neighborhood of Venice". Venice, a beach city, is obviously on the west side but the writer felt compelled to make the point anyway. Under "West Side" is "R" for "rifa", which means "rules" -- as expression of superiority. There is also "Chicano Power" and, curiously, a couple of swastikas. Hmmm, one wonders what the Nazis would have made of gang bangers? "El Oso" and "Ronnie" are the two players mentioned at right and presumably the authors of this piece. | ||
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Howard Gribble: "Caveman", "Danny", "Ralph", and "Alex" are from "Toonerville", which is an area northwest of downtown LA that takes its name from the "Toonerville Trolley", a popular newspaper cartoon feature from the first half of the last century. | ||
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Howard Gribble: The South Bay city of Lomita is represented by the "Lomas" placa. We also see "VLx13" for "Varrio Lomas 13". Elements of a placa are often divided an "x" or some other device. | ||
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Howard Gribble: Detail of the retaining wall on Sunset Blvd. Note that the sign "under new management" in the lower right hand corner was faded almost to illegibility even in the picture from the 40s. | ||
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