His tag was short for "Dimitraki", an alternative for his Greek birth-name Dimitrios, and the number 183 came from his address on 183rd Street in Washington Heights.

On July 21, 1971, The New York Times published an article about him titled "Taki 183" Spawns Pen Pals.

[1][4] TAKI 183 spurred hundreds of imitators including Joe 136, BARBARA 62, EEL 159, YANK 135 and LEO 136 as examples provided by the newspaper.

[5] In an interview with the New York Daily News of April 9, 1989, he talked about his retirement as a graffiti writer: "As soon as I got into something more productive in my life, I stopped.

It appears on a ballroom stall wall after Joyce's character Terry uses the restroom for the first time as a man.