The Start of Graffiti Bombing (Taki 183 History)

The history of graffiti in New York City owes a huge debt to one of its earliest, famous and most iconic taggers: Taki 183. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the simple scrawl of “Taki 183” became synonymous with the origin of tagging culture and turned a humble Washington Heights teenager into a graffiti legend. Taki 183 is widely regarded as a graffiti art pioneer, a foundational figure among early graffiti writers whose fame helped launch NYC graffiti into the public consciousness. This blog post dives into Taki 183’s real identity, the origin of his tag, how his ubiquitous tagging gained notoriety (culminating in a 1971 New York Times profile), his influence on the graffiti community, and how he eventually retreated from the scene.