DTLA residents and businesses say surge in graffiti is hurting city's image

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- With the World Cup, Super Bowl and Olympics approaching, some people who work and live in downtown Los Angeles say graffiti has become so widespread that they fear it's damaging the city's image as it prepares to host millions of visitors.

In parts of downtown, nearly every surface is tagged - sidewalks, signs, fences, facades and even hard-to-reach spots on historic buildings. Some markings appear so high up that passersby wonder how taggers reached them.

7 On Your Side Investigates even spotted a parked van that was tagged.

Carlos Vera, who recently took over a downtown café, says the tagging outside his business appeared just days ago.

He worries the constant graffiti undermines the European-inspired atmosphere he's trying to create inside his cafe.

"Over in Europe, you never see graffiti like this," he said.

Kevin Montalbo, who helps maintain a downtown apartment building, says his team paints over graffiti every morning.

"Every day, we're just covering up the paint, every day," he said. But the work doesn't last long.

"Within 30, 40 minutes, you'll see another person just tagging."

He described the effort as "a cat and mouse game."

A graffiti abatement team with the Historic Core Business Improvement District works seven days a week to paint and pressure-wash away tags. Blair Besten, who leads the BID, says the surge has been dramatic.

"Yeah, [tagging] a tree really gets under my skin because, you know, to get that off, we have to really be skillful," she said.

According to the Historic Core BID, crews covered up 9,483 tags in 2023. Last year, that number jumped to 31,590.

Besten believes the socalled "Graffiti Towers" - a pair of heavily tagged highrises that drew national attention - have attracted more taggers to the area.

"When that hit the news, everybody was here and if they couldn't get to the towers themselves, they were in the rest of the neighborhood," she said.

Vera says he appreciates art, but not what he sees on the streets around his café.

"I personally think art and graffiti is pretty cool, but this isn't art, this is not graffiti. This is just a bunch of scribbles," he said.

His message to taggers: put down the spray paint and leave downtown.