Kid tags bus carrying mayor, earns major street cred *
I don't think I've ever seen a photograph like this: Anne Cusack at the L.A. Times catches a kid tagging a bus that was stopped at an intersection near the Santee Education Complex. The bus was carrying Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and LAUSD Supt. David Brewer on a media event highlighting a new bus stop meant to improve safety in the area. The photo turned into the story and wound up on the front page of the paper, giving this brazen travieso more free exposure than a tagger could ever dream for:
As word of the incident rippled through the crowd, Villaraigosa asked that the bus be stopped to catch the tagger. Officials soon thought better of the idea, and rather than create a traffic hazard at a busy intersection, pledged to identify and deal with the student today.
Still, the mayor was heard to say that the boy should do "a lot of community service" after being caught. Officials didn't seem to see any irony or humor in the timing of the brazen vandalism. "It's a cry out for help," said Vince Carbino, Santee's principal.
Whoever that kid is, and no matter how much community service they give him, I bet he's real, real proud of himself.
** WEDNESDAY UPDATE: L.A. Times follow-up says the tagger is 15 and writes ZONER. It quotes another student at the end who mentions that other kids where "glorifying" ZONER: "They were saying, 'that's my homie, that's my homie.' "
I saw a pretty good picture of a talented tagger in the Times in the late 80s. The kid was hanging onto the grates over the motor on the back of the bus with one hand and tagging with the other. Unfortunately, the tagging of buses is all too frequent. It's just the outrage that is new today.
Posted by: notoriouslig | 27 February 2007 at 12:42 PM
No, I think if I took that photo I would have gotten off the bus immediately and figured out the name of the kid. It's poor journalism when you take a picture and don't know the name of the kid. Don't you think?
Posted by: Nadia Ahmed | 28 February 2007 at 12:49 AM
Excellent point..
Posted by: Daniel H. | 28 February 2007 at 03:05 AM
Does anyone remember Chaka?
True story:
A few years ago, my friend and I were walking through the streets of Barcelona noticing all the political graffiti everywhere like "Okupa!" on all the squats, when we started joking about how East LA legend Chaka would put all the Spanish anarchist graffiti kids to shame. At that moment we looked up at a random wall and there was spray painted "Chaka"! Seriously, it was weird!
I think Chaka was the first famous tagger in LA... poor guy named after those creatures in the Land of the Lost.
Posted by: chimatli | 28 February 2007 at 03:40 AM
I feel more sorry for Geico.
Posted by: Nadia Ahmed | 28 February 2007 at 07:27 AM
Chaka: living legend. He wasn't just all-city, he was like all-state, all-country, all-world and probably all-solar system...
Posted by: Daniel H. | 28 February 2007 at 10:53 AM
The kid didn't know the mayor was on the bus. And he didn't realize he was photographed until the last moment. Apparently he looked "stunned" when he realized, hid his face and shambled away.
As for Chaka, I remember him well. Mad TV about a week ago had a skit where a woman wearing a fur coat and lots of jewelry for the Oscars gets mugged, and her butt gets tagged. Sure enough, it says "Chaka."
Posted by: hector | 28 February 2007 at 01:06 PM
On a visit to Montreal maybe 17 years ago I saw a line spray painted on the outside stone wall of the city prison. "Free The Six Billion!"
Posted by: Fred Garber | 01 March 2007 at 10:49 AM
Indeed I looked up at he full moon one night with my high powered telescope and actually saw Chaka tagging up da moon. Talk about hitting up "destination". For all you taggers out there you'll know what "destination" means. MOBING DA HEAVENS + WRITERS BENCH ... Nuff said.
Posted by: cesrage | 01 March 2007 at 01:01 PM
Thats a down ass foo
Posted by: GuS | 03 March 2008 at 10:12 AM