10/13/2026
A Peek in the Stacks: Con Safos
In celebration of Hispanic Heritage month, this blog post highlights the historic Chicano grassroots magazine, Con Safos. The phrase “con safos” comes from graffiti culture in predominately Hispanic American areas in East Los Angeles from the 1950s to 1960s. The tag “C/S” was used to mark artwork left by Chicano and Pachuco street artists as protection. Translated, it means “with safety” or “with respect.” The phrase grew to accumulate other meanings throughout Chicano history but was chosen by the founders as a nod to its protective culture.
Ralph López Grijalva-Urbina and Arturo Flores came up with the idea of starting a publication that would be a voice for Chicanos while they were students at California State University, Los Angeles in 1959. This was no coincidence when considering that East L.A., where the CSULA campus is located, was the epicenter for El Movimiento, the Chicano civil rights movement, and the Chicano Moratorium, the Chicano movement against the Vietnam War. The sentiment created through these movements was that there was a fight on the equality of Hispanic Americans that needed to be fought on home territory, not overseas, and Con Safos was created to defend it.
Blog post contributed by Jenesy Lazo, Graduate Student in History specializing in American Western Expansion
Learn more: https://library.csun.edu/sca/peek-stacks/con-safos
In celebration of Hispanic Heritage month, this blog post highlights the historic Chicano grassroots magazine, Con Safos. The phrase “con safos” comes from graffiti culture in predominately Hispanic American areas in East Los Angeles from the 1950s to 1960s. The tag “C/S” was used to mark ar...
