Former tagger now teaches art

John Estrada puts his aerosol expertise to work teaching graffiti painters how to steer away from street vandalism and apply their skills to legitimate artwork.

On a quiet Sunday morning, a man wearing baggy shorts and a black hoodie stood in a parking lot and pulled out a can of spray paint. His burly right arm, inked with the image of a dragon, hung in midair as he worked the nozzle. Across the way, where railroad tracks met an overpass, a concrete wall covered with black letters displayed the work of neighborhood taggers.