Christmas Eve 1981, seventeen year old Claire Duggan made good on the threat she made to her fourteen year old sister Susan. With paint and brush in hand she painted “Susan is a pinhead” on the rear wall of the Am-track station’s parking lot in downtown Schenectady. Claire and Susan always called each other “pinhead”. The playful insult remained on the wall, when it was eventually painted over, the words “Susan is still a pinhead” appeared. When they were erased, “Susan remains to be a pinhead” appeared. Claire only takes credit for the original graffiti. No one knows who returned the message to the wall each time. For over a decade, the words calling Susan a pinhead remained. In 1996, as the city of Schenectady strove to revitalize, they painted the wall with special anti-graffiti paint and Susan’s name was eliminated. Although some called the message a Schenectady landmark and a classic part of Schenectady’s heritage, the city felt that graffiti, no matter what the history, might promote more undesirable graffiti, and so the story might have ended. Keep your eye around town to see if the legacy ever carries on.
