Old BTLS hitup with swastika

Discuss Hispanic / Latino gangs, Southsiders, Sureños, clubs, crews & varrios in LOS ANGELES COUNTY ONLY. There are four general geographic categories Hispanic gangs fall into for LA.
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Old BTLS hitup with swastika

Unread post by Pico2jeff » March 9th, 2019, 9:48 am

Found this old hit up on the corner of 12th and Alvarado. I thought it said 18st TLS but it reads from left to right 1BTLS3 so it should be Big Top Locos. When did BTLS start and what year do you think this was written? and what did the swastika stand for to them? Black gangs also used swastikas back then so when did gangs start and stop using swastikas?

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Re: Old BTLS hitup with swastika

Unread post by Pico2jeff » March 9th, 2019, 9:51 am

Site won't let me post pic so I'll try again later

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Re: Old BTLS hitup with swastika

Unread post by Effboy » March 9th, 2019, 2:25 pm

Pico2jeff wrote:Site won't let me post pic so I'll try again later
I’ve also seen it but I haven’t been able to take a pic of it.

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Re: Old BTLS hitup with swastika

Unread post by Effboy » March 9th, 2019, 2:25 pm

Pico2jeff wrote:Site won't let me post pic so I'll try again later
I’ve also seen it but I haven’t been able to take a pic of it.

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Re: Old BTLS hitup with swastika

Unread post by Pico2jeff » June 10th, 2019, 10:51 pm

BTLS hitup
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Re: Old BTLS hitup with swastika

Unread post by TheAngels » June 11th, 2019, 12:41 am

I know a lot of Hispanic gangs in the 70's and before hit up the swastika, and from what I know it served the purpose of an "x" to separate letters. Like CxC for "Culver City" for example. Although that doesn't appear to be the case on that BTLS tag.

Althought. I have a picture of an old Dog Town 13 hit up from the 70's with the swastika separating "Dog" and "Town."


I don't know how old that BTLS tag is, but did they ever old territory in what is now 18th Street? Or was that just someone passing through? Big Top Locos' hood is around Union & Temple (on both sides of the 101).

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Re: Old BTLS hitup with swastika

Unread post by Pico2jeff » June 11th, 2019, 8:48 am

TheAngels wrote:I know a lot of Hispanic gangs in the 70's and before hit up the swastika, and from what I know it served the purpose of an "x" to separate letters. Like CxC for "Culver City" for example. Although that doesn't appear to be the case on that BTLS tag.

Althought. I have a picture of an old Dog Town 13 hit up from the 70's with the swastika separating "Dog" and "Town."


I don't know how old that BTLS tag is, but did they ever old territory in what is now 18th Street? Or was that just someone passing through? Big Top Locos' hood is around Union & Temple (on both sides of the 101).
In that film Slipping 10 years with the Bloods or something like that, the guy from 20s Bloods had a flag drawn on the wall and on the pole it has a swastika. It also has some other weird drawings. I saw the old Dog Town hitup and i also seen a old Brim hitup with a swastika.

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Re: Old BTLS hitup with swastika

Unread post by Chicanoism » July 28th, 2019, 5:20 am

The swastika has been used in Chicano graffiti since the 40’s. When I was active I used it in the mid 80’s but like hair nets and hush puppies, styles changed on us. But we mainly used it as an X. As I’m sure you’re aware, Chicano varrio graffiti can get pretty ornate. Eventually just drawing an X got boring so we’d add a little flair to it. I have an Instagram page called @barrio_archeologist that posts a lot of old graffiti. Including some my mom did on her text books in 1959. There you can see an almost-swastika, where the lines at the end of the X tee off instead of making a swastika. But I have other examples where she did use the swastika. I don’t know how many of us get a chance to talk to someone who was doing plaquiasos in the 1950’s, but I do. So from the horse’s mouth (sorry mom), the swastika was used in place of an X.

Now, you’ll hear a lot of experts say that it was used to intimidate or cause fear. Since our varrio graffiti is meant for other varrios to see, I’m not buying this reason. I will say there might be another reason that made it so easy for Chicano gangs to pick up a symbol that pretty recently was used for hate. Leading up to the Zoot Suit Riots in 1943, a lot of the kids from Alpine, Temple and Diamond St. would intimidate the sailors walking thru their varrios by doing a nazi salute and yelling Heil Hitler. Obviously these homeboys weren’t buying into the Nazi philosophy, but they were a little anti-government and definitely anti-military. So using nazi symbols in their graffiti would have been pretty easy to do. The earliest I’ve found and posted on my Instagram page is a swastika used in PF sidewalk graffiti from 1956. I’m guessing this wasn’t the first time it was used. I’m pretty sure it went right from WW2, into the late 40’s, 50’s and so on. It’s still being used by the way. Just not as often.

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Re: Old BTLS hitup with swastika

Unread post by Lonewolf » August 3rd, 2019, 2:40 pm

i was tripping out how the Varrio CARMELAS from that Norwalk Carmenita neighborhood having an old clika from the late 40s early 50s called los GESTAPOS, dayum, talk about a nazi salute in your face

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Re: Old BTLS hitup with swastika

Unread post by Chicanoism » August 8th, 2019, 4:02 am

Lonewolf wrote:
August 3rd, 2019, 2:40 pm
i was tripping out how the Varrio CARMELAS from that Norwalk Carmenita neighborhood having an old clika from the late 40s early 50s called los GESTAPOS, dayum, talk about a nazi salute in your face
They are more recent than that. I’ve got some photos of them but I don’t know how to post photos.

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