JULIO 204 was a
Puerto Rican resident of
Inwood who wrote
graffiti in his youth. He's usually credited as being the original New York City writer and the inspiration for
Taki 183. He started writing his nickname in his neighborhood as early as 1967. He retired when he was arrested for vandalism in the summer of 1970.
Julio lived on 204th Street in the Inwood neighborhood of
Upper Manhattan, and was a member of the
Savage Skulls. In 1971 the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' published an article about another graffiti writer with a similar style of including their street number in their
tag, Taki 183.
According to the article Julio had been writing for a couple of years when Taki began tagging his own name all around the city. Taki also states in the article that Julio "was busted and stopped". Julio 204 kept his tags localized to his own neighborhood, and never rose to the height of fame as Taki, who was the first to go "
All City".
References
Further reading
*''Style: Writing from the Underground. (R)evolutions of Aerosol Linguistics''. Stampa Alternativa in Association with IGTimes, 1997. .
*Gastman, Roger, Ian Sattler, and Darin Rowland. ''Freight Train Graffiti''. Harry N Abrams Inc, 2006.
* Naar, Jon. ''The Birth of Graffiti''. Prestel 2007.
*Austin, Joe. ''Taking the Train: How Graffiti Art Became an Urban Crisis in New York City''. Columbia University Press 2001.
External links
{{Street Art
American people of Puerto Rican descent
American graffiti artists
Anonymous artists
Year of birth unknown