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# Santa Monica’s north side ‘tagged’ by gang graffiti
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/santa-monicas-north-side-tagged-by-gang-graffiti/
- Published: 2002-02-02T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-22T23:59:59.000Z
- Author: Carolyn Sackariason
- Tags: local, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Graffiti ‘tags’ found on almost anything*

A recent surge of graffiti on Santa Monica’s north and west sides has residents worried and the city’s clean-up crews working overtime.

“I’m going to write to my director because it has increased dramatically in the last month,” said Kim Braun of the city’s facilities management office.

The city employs two full-time “graffiti technicians” who remove between 60 and 80 tags a day — and it’s been more like 80 the past few weeks.

“Wilshire got hit pretty hard this week,” said Craig Stoll, crew leader for the city’s graf-fiti technicians.

Graffiti is expected on the south side of town and the Pico neighborhood on the east side where the main area of gang activity is standard, Braun said. But Wilshire Boulevard and the residential neighborhoods north to Montana Avenue are not usual targets for gang tags, she said.

“I’ve lived here almost three years an I’ve never seen this much graffiti,” said Santa Monica resident Jason Auslander, who lives near 14th Street and Arizona Avenue.

“Santa Monica 17th Street” showed up behind apartment buildings on Idaho Avenue and 11th Street. One property owner in the neighborhood, who wished to remain anonymous, is concerned that turf wars will begin in a section of town that is considered “upscale” rental properties.

“I’m sick of seeing this stuff all over,” she said. “This is supposed to be the nice part of town.”

Police haven’t seen an increase in gang activity in the area and have not received any reports of more graffiti either, said Lt. Frank Fabrega, Santa Monica Police Department spokesman.

Stoll said gang tags are found on just about anything — from alleys, benches and curbs to buildings, trees, parking meters and mailboxes.

“They like high profile places,” he said. Most of the time the tags are names of members or their gang titles.

“We can recognize some of it but some of it we can’t figure it out,” Stoll said. “They do it out of boredom. You’ll get guys from Venice and Culver City who just drive around... they create rivalry.

Said graffiti technician Hector Gonzales, “Sometimes if they don’t like somebody they’ll say something to them. They just want to mark their turf.”

On Thursday, Gonzales and fellow technician Jaime Fiesco spent a few minutes scrubbing the name “Brink” off a city parking structure wall in the alley between Wilshire and California Avenue near Third Street. But the citrus cleanser and wire brush didn’t erase the green paint, so the technicians went to plan B.

They went to their truck, mixed up a shade of paint that matched the wall and “Brink” was no more.

“We try to get rid of it as quick as we can,” Stoll said. “The strategy is that if you get it off quick, they’ll get frustrated and stop.”

Crews clean both public and private properties. Anyone who sees graffiti can leave a message on the city’s hotline at (310) 458-2231 and it will be removed within a few days. Stoll said the hotline is checked two to three times a day. If a person wants graffiti removed from private property, they must leave a name and number so the city can have the property owner sign a consent form so the city isn’t held liable for work done.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/020202-02_01.jpg)

City employee Rick Raygosa covers up graffiti in an alley between Wilshire Boulevard and California Avenue off of Third Street. (Photo: Carolyn Sackariason/Daily Press)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 2, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/020202.pdf?ref=smdp.com)