The old Main Street bridge was one of the best spots in town for graffiti. The historic bridge was built in 1920 and by the mid-90s was a major local piecing spot. The raw porous surface soaked up paint and by the late 90s it was covered in pieces, throw-ups, and tags. Before the bridge was demolished in 2002, I took some final photos of it with a disposable camera. At the time I didn’t have a working camera, and was only using disposables, unfortunately. Here are some of the pictures taken that day, as well as some other surviving earlier ones. Also, I’ve included a photo from the Library of Congress, and a shot of the dedication plaque.

Some recent highlights of freights rolling through town.

Here is a picture from 2013 of a barely visible Hip2 tag. This spot has since been demolished. Also, see these other two posts about the same artist…

https://richmondindgraffiti.com/2021/10/23/hip-2-landmark-tag/

https://richmondindgraffiti.com/2020/04/20/hip-2-downtown/

Here is a Sufr/Bujah shot with my first digital camera in November 2004. Caught in a nearby town at a former layup spot.

A couple of old tags by KAA$. The first pic was taken in the early 2000s, the 2nd taken in 2013. Not sure is it is pronounced “Cash” or what. But one of these tags was dated 1989 from what I can tell, which makes it the earliest dated non-civilian graffiti tag that I know of in the city.

Richmond is a small city so I periodically check out the same spots over & over again for years and years, but it is fun to try to look for new stuff and different perspectives every time.

Checked on an aging Kwiz, one of only 3 known surviving pieces by the artist. You can read more about it here…https://richmondindgraffiti.com/2020/04/16/kwiz-co-bridge/

Here are some photos from 2013 that were used for a zine I used to do, called “Seal of Approval”.