VIDEO: Retro News Report Reveals Old Resentment for New York’s Graffiti

These days graffiti is celebrated in New York City. From top ten lists to graffiti tours, people can’t seem to get enough of this street art form. But this sentiment is a far cry from how New Yorkers felt 30 years ago, when the city’s graffiti epidemic seemed to be at its height. WPIX recently unearthed a news report from the summer of 1985 that shows the anti-graffiti resentment among New Yorkers, as well as the extent to which the city was coated in spray paint.

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Interviews in the report make it clear that passions ran high on both sides of the debate. While many residents deemed the graffiti as “visual pollution,” others argued that it’s art and if given a chance it could be made into something nice. Thirty years after this report, with New York’s graffiti drawing in support and crowds from all over the world,  it seems as though the city and the graffiti artists have found somewhat of a truce.

[Via PIX11]

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