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BEGINNING in the 1970s, city kids swept up in the new trend of scribbling graffiti on the outside of subway cars gathered on a bench in the 149th Street-Grand Concourse station in the Bronx...
21 sty 2022 · The term is borrowed from the New York subway generation and the legendary “Writers Bench,” a subway station on 149th Street where writers congregated to exchange stories and critique graffiti from several different lines as they rolled through the station.
@149st derives its name from the last existing writer's bench during the New York City subway graffiti movement. 149th Street Grand Concourse, a subway station in the Bronx located on the 2 and 5 lines.
These were like haunts for writers, places for artistic exchange—149th Street and Grand Concourse in the South Bronx, the bridge at City Hall, and Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, these were just some of the benches that offered a good view of the new works debuting out of the yards.
Writers from all over the city congregated at a bench located at the back of the uptown platform. They came to meet, make plans, sign black books and settle disputes. The main activity was watching art on the passing trains (known as benching). The writers would admire and criticize the latest paintings.
Documentation of New York City subway graffiti history. Featuring graffiti artist biographies, interviews and artwork.
Graffiti began appearing around New York City with the words "Bird Lives" [1] but after that, it took about a decade and a half for graffiti to become noticeable in NYC. So, around 1970 or 1971, TAKI 183 and Tracy 168 started to gain notoriety for their frequent vandalism. [2] Using a naming convention in which they would add their street number to their nickname, they "bombed" a train with ...
