Cholo Writing: Latino Gang Graffiti in Los Angeles: Hardcover Edition

$29.95 at Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Cholo Writing is the 20th century's oldest form of graffiti, a Mexican-American phenomenon evident in Los Angeles long before the appearance of tags and pieces in the late 1960's New York. It has had a major influence on the visual expressions of Californian popular culture, including the lowrider, surf, skate and hip-hop movements. Placas are territorial inscriptions created to define a gang's turf, a genuine, constantly evolving urban calligraphy with strict codes used by Latino gangs for street writing…