100 Year-Old Hobo Graffiti Under LA Bridge
Anthropologist Follows Los Angeles Trail of Century-Old Hobo Graffiti
By John Rogers
AP LINK
Anthropologist Susan Phillips walks along the Los Angeles River while searching for graffiti by hobos in Los Angeles, May 16, 2016. Phillips had spent a career examining the graffiti that covers urban walls, bridges and freeway overpasses. But when she came across a heretofore unrecognizable collection made not of spray paint but substances like grease pencil and apparently left there for a century, she was stunned.
Anthropologist Susan Phillips had spent a career examining the graffiti that covers urban walls, bridges and freeway overpasses.
But when she came across an unrecognizable collection made not of spray paint but substances like grease pencil and apparently left there for a century, she was stunned.
Phillips had uncovered a peculiar, almost extinct form of American hieroglyphics known as hobo graffiti, the treasure trove discovered under a nondescript, 103-year-old bridge spanning the Los Angeles River. At the time, she was researching her book, "Wallbangin': Graffiti and Gangs in LA."