20 Vintage New York Graffiti Photos

Unofficial street art from the '70s and '80s.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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In the 1970s and 1980s, subway trains from Brooklyn to the Bronx were covered in millions of graffiti tags. The NYC subway was the beating heart of the graffiti movement, and it gave rise to some of the most famous street artists and photographers in graffiti history. But at the same time, the New York City metro system was the site of violence and crime, giving rise to the Guardian Angels, a volunteer organization to keep the subways safe. In 1989, the MTA began to fight back against the underground artists with the Clean Train Movement, and now subway cars are (mostly) stripped of the old school writing. With the crackdown on subway graffiti, artists moved to other canvases like walls and rooftops. In an effort to capture the birthplace of the New York graffiti movement, here are 20 Vintage New York Graffiti Photos from the subways to the streets.

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A Couple Looks Through a Window to the Next Subway Car

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"If Graffiti Is a Crime, Let God Forgive Us"

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Subway Train Graffiti From the 1970s

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Two Boys Work on Their Homework

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"Smash U.S. Pig Power" on a Garbage Can Outside the Black Panther Office in Harlem

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Four Jewish Men Discuss a Newspaper Article

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"Rejoice" on a Wall in Central Park

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Lisa Sliwa, Member of the Guardian Angels

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An Unidentified Guardian Angel Rides the Subway

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Graffiti Protesting Nuclear Tests in Utah

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Graffiti on an IRT Carriage

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Two Young Men Pose With a Boom Box

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7th Ave. Subway Train Covered in Graffiti

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A Couple Reads Newspapers on the Subway

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Graffiti Near the Metropolitan Museum of Art

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Subway Train Graffiti From the 1980s

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A Man Reads on the Subway

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An Undercover Cop Stands in Front of "Toxic Junkie" Graffiti During the 1980s Drug War on the Lower East Side

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A Graffiti-Covered Wall from 1980

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Michael Jackson During the Filming of the Music Video for "Bad"

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