Testimonials from Ale and Fab Five Freddy

ALE: (Excerpt from an interview with ALE from subwayoutlaws.com)

This is probably my favorite story to tell.  The story begins in the winter of 1973, when I met M.S.18 (who later changed his name to ROACH) at his house on Allerton Avenue.  We went painting at 2:30 in the morning at Esplanade tunnel.  M.S. 18 thought it was better to paint late at night and avoid all the writers that would be there early in the evening.  And I thought who could raid us that late at night? We walked to Pelham Parkway station and the booths were closed.  Back then you pay on the train after 11pm.  The inside of the station was deserted. There was no sound except the humming of the lay-up train motors.  We walked through the lay-up tunnel,and even with the limited lighting, you can see a gallery of the best writers of the day. I walked  past  a fresh STAFF 161 piece with a  checker board cloud.  The STAFF piece looked incredible.  The paint looked as if it was just painted.  Three cars down I saw a PISTOL 1 piece.  It has a 3-D design that blew me away.  I stared at it for a while, until I realized that  there was a nice clean spot next to it. So, I knocked out a window-down ALE piece.  It wasn't my best effort, but the rest is history!  Many writers say PISTOL did not do the first 3-D piece.  I can tell you that I watched many a train in the early 70's and PISTOL 's piece was the first 3'-D that I saw.  In any case, PISTOL's 3-D piece was unquestionably, one of the best pieces done in 1973.  I met PISTOL at a gallery show in 1996 and he told me that piece was his last train piece!  I had a few pieces of mine crossed out during my run.  The more pieces you do the more likely somebody is going to get jealous!