The We Are Supervision blog has a collection of business cards used by Chicago street gangs during the 1970′s and 1980′s. They are extremely interesting as well as — depending on where you work — extremely NSFW. [%comments]
How the O.G.’s Did Business
and 
. You can also watch it on 
When I was fifteen, I rode across the country on a bus. This was not as bad as it seems now. In fact the journey was enjoyable and a great adventure.
Sleeping at night was often fitful. The seats reclined very little and there were no easy surfaces to tuck one’s head. Still, the drone of the bus engine and the sound of the tires made for a hypnotic haziness.
On this particular night two events collided. The overhead reading lamp was broken in such a way that it could not be turned off, and the lens was gone, probably due to some earlier victim trying to turn it off. It glared awfully, and in the quiet night darkness of the bus, made sleeping impossible. At the Albuquerque stop a tough looking motorcycle type-in full riding gear–got on and took the isle seat next to my window seat. In the glare of the cantankerous reading light we struck up easy conversation. We spoke of hot cars and Harleys and politics. The conversation drifted aimlessly until we settled on the topic of what to do about the reading lamp.
There was no access to it that we could discover. No screws or plates could be removed. The lens and cover had already been ripped off and was gone. This was perplexing.
At the next rest stop I hopped off the bus and bought two packs of chewing gum. I gave one to him and told him to chew the whole pack at once. I did the same. After a few minutes we clambered back onto the bus and I asked for his whole wad of gum. I molded the gum into one large slug and pushed it into the hole where the lamp lens had been.
No more light! We had beaten the demon and settled back into the darkness for the rest of the trip.
That next morning in LA, we both go off the bus and while getting our luggage he shook my hand and said, “I like your style kid,” and he handed me something like a business card. It was hand drawn and sprinkled with slivery glitter around the edges. It was done on red school craft paper. The card read:
Diablos Motorcycle Club
Courtesy Card
Good for ONE favor
Call Anytime
(Phone number and San Fernando Valley address)
It is long gone now but many times in my life I wondered what that card would have bought me. How different would my life have been if I’d tried to explore the limits of what that favor meant?
Nice writing! If you’re not a pro, you should think about it!
Wow Eric M. Jones, that is the best comment on an online article I’ve ever read!!
Every once in a while a gang will throw a block party to show a loss to the community if the gang gets arrested http://www.chevron.com/chevron/pressreleases/article/03092011_richmondhighschoolopensnewcomputerlabtoextendengineeringcurriculum.news