Hell On Wheels

In 1979, there were 250 serious crimes reported in the New York subway 

system – per week. There were six murders in the first two months alone. 

 No other subway in the world was more crime-ridden and infamous.

“Hell On Wheels” is a joyous and soulful trip in the bygone era of the New 
York subway system in the years between 1977-1984. 
Swiss photographer Willy Spiller, living in New York at the time, documented 
his underground travels with the curiosity of a foreigner, fascinated by the 
rush and the madness of its time. It’s the period of the first rap music, 
graffiti, The Warriors in the cinema, Guardian Angels on the trains and Ed 
Koch in charge of a broke and crime-riddled city. 
Willy Spiller’s images are as much a visual document of this incomparable 
realm as they are a syncopated, colorful poem to the city of New York and 
its people.

The New York Graffiti Experience ©1976

So much flava!


Read an interview of the filmmaker Via

Los Sures

Director Diego Echeverria has been working tirelessly trying to uncover and 
showcase the small, vibrant and wild side of south Williamsburg in his breakout
documentary "Los Sures." Filmed in 1984 on dingy 16mm film, the eye-opening
documentary exposes the small-knit and vivacious Puerto Rican and Dominican
neighborhood of south Williamsburg before the streets were clean, safe and 
crowded.
After being rediscovered in 2007, the film has been worked on extensively by 
the people at Union Docs, who have also launched a memory project entitled 
 "Living Los Sures," where individuals can come and share their stories, pictures 
and other tidbits they might have about the neighborhood.

I can't wait for this!

NOC 167 & FUZZ ONE by Alan Ket

Noc167 and Fuzz One are writer’s writers from the 1970s and 80s that 
had an indelible mark on the graffiti writing movement. Noc167 was 
known as the prince of graffiti and was one of the gifted talents of the 
subway movement responsible for creating some of the most admired 
trains in graffiti’s golden era. 
His Style Wars car is arguably the best train ever painted. Fuzz One, 
was another subway warrior who ruled the train lines by painting the 
insides and the outsides of the trains with dozens of aliases. He was a 
rare breed, an all-city style king, known as much for his style as for 
his ability to rack. 
Together these two writers painted brilliant whole cars together and 
for the first time since their heyday are presenting their art side by 
side. To see and purchase their art go to www.dirtypilot.com 

Via

Mi Gente

 


Photographed entirely in NYC’s famed El Barrio, Spanish Harlem 
from 1985-1990 this marks the first time Joseph Rodriguez has 
exhibited these works in his beloved community. With this deeply 
moving series of photographs he forces us to remember a time 
before today's newfound gentrification, a time before cafes and 
artistic bohemia, a time where poverty, high crime, drugs and a 
fledgling AIDS crisis held a community hostage. 
Rodriguez who beautifully captures the humanity, joy and love of 
his subjects by embedding himself intimately within many families' 
lives and the community affords us an honest testimony of what it 
was like for those who lived through such perilous times.

Curated by Carlos Mare  

The opening of the exhibition will be September 24th 
from 6-9PM at 
Hi-ARTS Gallery space 
located at 304 East 100th st. (6 Train to 96th ). 

Gallery Hours: Wednesdays through Saturdays 1 - 6PM 
The Show will run through November 11th. 
For special viewings please email or call gallery: info@hiarts.org 
(718)-497-4282  For more information call at 718-407-4282 or 
email at info@hi-artsnyc.org

Sunday Goodie: Matt Weber's Subway photography

Matt Weber has a wonderful Blog, he continously feeds with pictures 
from now and then. Check out the category 'Subway' for some great 
motives and stories!

KIDS

In hommage to Martha Cooper and her perfect 70's photo series Street Play, 
John Ahearn is presenting Walton Avenue Kids. In the 80's, Ahearn, in 
collaboration with Rigoberto Torres regularly used the sidewalk in front of 
his building as a life casting studio and a display of all the neighborhood 
portraits. 
This was especially exciting during summer Block Parties with DJs and 
crowds of people. Unlike most parts of NYC, many neighborhoods in the 
Bronx now have the same families as they did thirty years ago. In 2008, 
Walton had a reunion Block Party. John Ahearn set up casts from the 80's and 
life cast the cousin of his old friend Raymond Garcia. Martha Cooper was 
present to beautifully capture the mood. 
For the installation Walton Avenue Kids, all the 80's casts of kids (seen in 
context in Martha Cooper's photos) will be arranged at the 

Dorian Grey Gallery
437 East 9th Street @ Avenue A 
Manhattan, New York

Oldie but Goldie

Watching My Name Go By. The early days of NYC Graffiti, 1976!
Posted by Dave Nice on Thursday, June 25, 2015

Rubble Kings is out

I posted some pictures about this movie last year, after I went to the 
premiere in NY. As a kind of TBT act I am posting some more, because
this movie is a gem amongst so many documentaries about NY in 70's.
Now Rubble Kings released on iTunes - support and check it out!

Williamsburg History

This picture from the New York Times, August 1, 1974, charting out the 
various turfs of northern Brooklyn street gangs.  It's not a souvenir from 
the film  The Warriors, but an actual list of the many violent gangs which 
kept Brooklyn a dangerous place to walk around in during the 1970s.

By the 1970s, Williamsburg was best known for its steeply rising crime 
rate, harboring both violent street-gang activity and organized crime.

The New York Times ran of list of several notorious Williamsburg gangs, 

including the Dirty Ones, the Driggs Boys Of Justice, the Tomahawks, 

the Devils Rebels and the Screaming Phantoms. In 1981 Luis Garden 

Acosta, a prominent community leader, called northern Brooklyn 

(Williamsburg, with its neighbors Bushwick and Greenpoint) the 

“killing fields” for the number of teenagers killed in bloody gang 

conflicts.

There is a nice little article on Brooklyn in 1981 here.

Rubble Kings

 
A MUST see!