The time between 1971-1974 is referred to as the "pioneering era" where graffiti underwent a surge in styles and popularity. Soon after the migration to NYC, the city produced one of the first graffiti artists to gain media attention in New York, TAKI 183. TAKI 183 was a kid from Washington Heights who worked as a foot messenger, his tag is a mixture of his name Panayiotakis, TAKI, and his street number, 183rd. Being a foot messenger, he was constantly on the subway and began to put up his tags along his travels. Due to the strange name and number people began to take notice of him. This spawned a 1971 article in the New York Times titled, "'Taki 183' Spawns Pen Pals." TAKI 183 wasn’t the first writer, but he was the first to be recognized by society outside of the graffiti subculture. This fierce looking character, from the Bad Monkey Crew, is named after one of the first and one of the best!