2. The Writer’s Bench, 149th St and Grand Concourse Subway Station

Photo courtesy Netflix

In one of the first scenes we see Marcus “Dizzee” Kipling, played by actor Jaden Smith, gathered at a subway station bench with other street artists drawing, exchanging, and critiquing each other’s sketch books. Known as writer’s benches, street artists would meet at these seats to hang out, draw, and watch for the latest art on the passing trains. The last known writer’s bench is located at 149th Street and Grand Concourse, and is a place that is still visited by fans of graffiti.

The Get Down mixes archival footage of the graffiti trains with new footage of the actors in a news reel purportedly from the late 1970s to show the emphasis on cleaning up graffiti in the mayoral campaign.