A bunch of graffiti websites that supported the 610 and Philly graff scene. Sites like The Avenue from Drexel, Mr. Niser's Art of Tags, Definition of ill, Philly's Art, 610 Graff, Filthadelphia, Funkadelphia, the Grape Street Pub AFU site, Street Soldierz, the IX Circle site, District of Damange, Philly Graffiti and Graff 215. They all had gems among the numerous photos taken and put on these sites. The boom of the majority of these sites came at a time when the internet was just picking up. They certainly helped suburban writers get an insight into Big City writing life and copy styles until the point they were ready to try them out on walls. Alot of these sites are now gone or contain broken links and are not even worth the time searching out. However there are a couple that still remain among the many because they were not direct websites and were hosted on sites like Angelfire. I'm sorry for letting these go, but graffiti documentation is wack because its biased as all hell and people are selfish (Understandibly). Below are a few shots from different websites that survived the flood of the early 00's. Check them out if you get a chance.
Art Crimes
Here you'll find some self promotion and writer's pieces that arent even from the fucking area. But nonetheless you'll also find diamonds in the rough, below is one such picture. Check the link and judge for yourself.
(Cese, Nope, Beans, Asia, Curve, Esteme)
Philly Graffiti
This is another site where you can find some great gems. Most if not all of the links still work and you can view a number of slams from dudes who actually did them proper. The toss page lacked slightly and leans to the West. But I also remember first seeing this site and it being another cool resource for pictures.
(Above Slave IX, Below Sneez WCS)
610 Graff
This is another site that has the majority of photos still hosted on it, 610 Graff. Many of the writers you see here are repeated on the site above, however alot of the photos are different and you'll find some great old photos for you to learn from. There are a number of Philly writers on here, but it also has a good look at the 610 at the time with some minor exceptions. I actually remember when the site stopped getting updated. It would be pretty funny if it started up again and the "610Kid" stopped sleeping.
(Above Creep, Faim, Drama, Exam Circa 98)
but this will.
The picture embraces what the Upper Darby / West Philly crossover means. Where does the WP line start and who should be allowed to write it? I'm not from either, so I aint worried about it. But leave your comments, let me know what you think about it.
ESC Sqd
This page was strictly early ESC and the people they painted with as the page describes. There is some classic material hosted on this site. You can certainly see the development that the writers went through, mainly Mad and Kid. Not much more to say but take a look and see how long some of these guys been rocking walls and developing styles.
(Ke, Skan KMD, Abar NL, Ses)
Then of course you have two main websites that weathered the storm of websites. Nightcrawla and Silent Wrytes. Nightcrawla does not allow you to post and thank god. You can view numerous writers throughout Philly Wall Writing history that made a dent in numerous neighborhoods throughout the city. SW which started out the same as most of the websites, hosting pictures from AZ to PA focusing on Philly writing has now switched entirely to a forum based design and serves a different, but equally important purpose. No matter what your view is on how the Internet changed graffiti, its undeniable that it has made a strong presence. We are able to communicate quicker and flatten the playing ground. Some use it to abuse and portray themselves as Royalty while others just like looking at pictures.
For more please pick up the Glamorous Life issue #2 for all the hidden inside secrets you never knew. Coming Soon!
It took me awhile to realize that the road I was driving on was named after the Curtis Paper Mill. Most of you have seen it. Some of you have seen pictures of it. Even less of you have been inside of it. Apparently the place was a hot spot for bums and a haven for drug addicts. In the amount of time that I spent inside the mill, I saw very little of either. What I did see was artwork on the walls and history in the foundations.
If you think about it, it kind of makes sense. During World War II the Curtis Paper Mill produced paper that was later used to print out some of the most important treaties of the war. That being considered, why shouldn’t the most important artists of our area go inside and continue to write on a canvas called Curtis?
Most of the kids I talked to were too freaked out to venture into the Paper Mill. Understandable, because even once I got inside I wasn’t gonna fuck with the basement. The Mill was considered a landmark to the area and an important piece to the towns history. With its demolition I could see a little piece of Newark’s heart breaking and another piece of our area’s graffiti history getting crushed. To me, it seems kind of fitting that they left the Curtis smoke stack up for the time being.
The last piece of graffiti left on the whole building sort of sums up how I feel about the Curtis Paper Mill, throughout its 137 year history it was always down for some action.