BLAZE: The Birth of Oakland Graffiti

BLAZE: The Birth of Oakland Graffiti is Steven Johnson's firsthand memoir and photographic archive of his years writing graffiti in Oakland and the Bay Area. Known as BLAZE, Johnson began painting in 1983, inspired by Style Wars, and developed his style amid the yards, walls, crews, and friendships of the 1980s graffiti scene.

Combining personal recollections with photographs of original work, the book follows the growth of a young writer: learning letter forms, experimenting with characters and color, finding places to paint, and measuring each piece against the next. It preserves memories of the people and places that shaped his experience, including the Coliseum yards and Berkeley racquetball courts.

Part artist memoir and part visual record, BLAZE offers an intimate perspective on Oakland graffiti as Johnson experienced it, capturing the ambition, improvisation, and creative energy of a formative era in Bay Area hip-hop culture.