Nick Colella

Hey Avery, yeah Phil said allot about Tatt's but please read between the lines in the book and remember that Phil was a quirky kind of guy and Tatt's was ahead of him by a long shot, not only in the "industry" but also in the Chicago tattoo politic's of his era which made Phil put a slant and maybe a slander on Tatt's. There is a much deeper Phil/ Sam Steward/ Phil Adros to know and I hate the thought of turning this post around into a he said she said about Phil but it should be clarified that Tatt's was more of Phil's dogging competition at the time he wrote the book and Phil was looking for some payback. Phil wrote lots of stuff on many topic's and was many things in his life.
Here is a bit more into the persona of Phil in his last interview before he died, Phil was much of the "set" in the art world much further than the tattoo side. This is not to mention darker stuff like why he was "dismissed" from his position as a teacher before his venture into tattooing. Tatt's walked a walk that some today would find difficult and his "folk art" was such that it stood the test's and maybe exceeded most and this is not to mention the amazing company he kept in tattooers of his time.
Here is a peek into Phil's last interview;
glbtq >> Special Features >> Samuel Steward, 1993
Not trying to be shit or nuthin, just want to illustrate how "artist's" can be when ya get too many in the kitchen. Again, don't want to side track this post about Shaw and I feel not matter how insignificant a contribution whether past or present, as long as it's a positive one, it is a contribution non the less.

Deb
thats so awesome..you and Don are some of the best people in this business..Congrats

just wanted to add---that when Don and I got married I had no tattoos on my right arm and on our first Valentine's Day together I surprised him by getting a heart with his name in a banner on my inner forearm. ( I was 7 months pregnant too)

Sarah won the lottery after i hired her..10 years later and 2 kids..yep im a dream walking!!! Ha!

Huge sections of script on the ribs--in the shape of an owl!

Part Two
Chicago’s Tattooing past is as deep and influential as both the Bowery and The Pike and South State Street was the spot for all of these tattooers to come through. Like I stated before hundreds of tattooers came through to work on South State Street, from the early 1900s through until the demolition of the area in 1967.
Here are a few of the oldest photos I have found of unidentified tattooers tattooing on South State Street, if anyone knows who they are I would be stoked to hear it. These photos looked very staged, but it looks like the typical arcade style tattooing, just a small little corner or spot underneath some stairs where these arcade owners could house a tattooer as well. These photos where found in an online archive of old Chicago pictures from a local paper that no longer exists.



A lot of the tattooers where complete winos and would tattoo for the Mob owned arcades just long enough to get some drink, then would disappear until they needed to work again. Other like the ones I will mention below made South State their homes if not only for a short while. Most notable tattooers that worked on South State are but not limited to.
Ed Thornton
Bill Moore (Chicago Tattoo Supply House) not affiliated with Chicago Tattoo Co
Paul Hansen
Bill Killingworth
Jerry Pope
Ned Resinol
Ernie Sutton
Randy Webb
Mickey Kellet
William Grimshaw
Owen Jensen
Bert Grimm
Philadelphia Eddie
Don Nolan
Oakland Jake
Stoney St. Clair
Amund Dietzel
Phil Sparrow
Buddy McFall
Cliff Raven Ingram
Sailor Jerry Collins
Ralph Johnstone
Tatts Thomas
So there are 22 of the heaviest hitters to ever hold a tattoo machine and they all came through Chicago at one time or another and the history is relatively unknown or not talked about. To me this makes Chicago’s history even more intriguing. When people talk about tattooing they either mention The Bowery or The Pike, but Chicago was home to some pretty amazing tattooers that helped shape not only the look of what tattooers today call traditional designs but they where also trying to improve their tools and techniques.
Out of the list you have a few stand outs that are obvious you have of course Sailor Jerry, he was said to be introduced to electric tattooing by Tatts Thomas, here is the only card in existence that shows Sailor Jerry was tattooing on South State Street in Chicago. This card was in China Sea when Rollo bought it after Jerrys death, Kandi Everett had it in her possession for the last 20 something years and passed it on to me recently.

Bill Moore had the Chicago Tattoo Supply House and worked closely with Tatts Thomas over the years, Tatts and Bill moved shops a bunch of times during Bills stay on South State Street. Bill used to run ads in Popular Mechanics at the time touting his “Tattoo Outfit” so there you have tattooers selling to the general public way before Spaulding ever graced the back cover of Tattoo magazine. Bill Moores earliest ad was found in Billboard magazine in 1932, where he is listed at 434 South State the same address that Sailor Jerry used to work at. This was the Burton Arcade, which a lot of other tattooers had worked at as well. Bill Moore died in Chicago in 1944.
Ralph Johnstone to me is one of the most under rated tattooers of this time. Not only was he one of the most amazing circus banner painters but he also was an amazing tattooer that by all accounts was extremely kind and never had a bad word to say about any other tattooer. Ralphs business cards used to say he would work off of photographs, which meant photo realistic portraits in the 1950s. Ralph and Tatts Thomas worked side-by-side for Ralphs entire State Street Career which lasted I believe until everyone left in 1963. Johnstone also painted flash for Milton Zeis who at the time had a supply business and tattoo correspondence class out of Rockford Illinois. These business cards below show some of the address that Tatts and Johnstone worked at. The cards where also drawn by Ralph himself, as you can see he was light years ahead of his time in the way he approached illustration and tattooing for that matter.


Here you have a couple of Ralph Johnstone’s clients with full chest pieces, and the third pic is of 3 backpieces with Johnstone in the front the center was done by Tatts Thomas it is on Sailor Bill Killingsworth the other 2 where done by Johnstone.



Thanks for your interest more to follow on some of the other tattooers that shaped South State Street.

Sarah won the lottery after i hired her..10 years later and 2 kids..yep im a dream walking!!! Ha!

Sarah won the lottery after i hired her..10 years later and 2 kids..yep im a dream walking!!! Ha!

Sarah won the lottery after i hired her..10 years later and 2 kids..yep im a dream walking!!! Ha!

Sarah won the lottery after i hired her..10 years later and 2 kids..yep im a dream walking!!! Ha!

Part Two
Chicago’s Tattooing past is as deep and influential as both the Bowery and The Pike and South State Street was the spot for all of these tattooers to come through. Like I stated before hundreds of tattooers came through to work on South State Street, from the early 1900s through until the demolition of the area in 1967.
Here are a few of the oldest photos I have found of unidentified tattooers tattooing on South State Street, if anyone knows who they are I would be stoked to hear it. These photos looked very staged, but it looks like the typical arcade style tattooing, just a small little corner or spot underneath some stairs where these arcade owners could house a tattooer as well. These photos where found in an online archive of old Chicago pictures from a local paper that no longer exists.



A lot of the tattooers where complete winos and would tattoo for the Mob owned arcades just long enough to get some drink, then would disappear until they needed to work again. Other like the ones I will mention below made South State their homes if not only for a short while. Most notable tattooers that worked on South State are but not limited to.
Ed Thornton
Bill Moore (Chicago Tattoo Supply House) not affiliated with Chicago Tattoo Co
Paul Hansen
Bill Killingworth
Jerry Pope
Ned Resinol
Ernie Sutton
Randy Webb
Mickey Kellet
William Grimshaw
Owen Jensen
Bert Grimm
Philadelphia Eddie
Don Nolan
Oakland Jake
Stoney St. Clair
Amund Dietzel
Phil Sparrow
Buddy McFall
Cliff Raven Ingram
Sailor Jerry Collins
Ralph Johnstone
Tatts Thomas
So there are 22 of the heaviest hitters to ever hold a tattoo machine and they all came through Chicago at one time or another and the history is relatively unknown or not talked about. To me this makes Chicago’s history even more intriguing. When people talk about tattooing they either mention The Bowery or The Pike, but Chicago was home to some pretty amazing tattooers that helped shape not only the look of what tattooers today call traditional designs but they where also trying to improve their tools and techniques.
Out of the list you have a few stand outs that are obvious you have of course Sailor Jerry, he was said to be introduced to electric tattooing by Tatts Thomas, here is the only card in existence that shows Sailor Jerry was tattooing on South State Street in Chicago. This card was in China Sea when Rollo bought it after Jerrys death, Kandi Everett had it in her possession for the last 20 something years and passed it on to me recently.

Bill Moore had the Chicago Tattoo Supply House and worked closely with Tatts Thomas over the years, Tatts and Bill moved shops a bunch of times during Bills stay on South State Street. Bill used to run ads in Popular Mechanics at the time touting his “Tattoo Outfit” so there you have tattooers selling to the general public way before Spaulding ever graced the back cover of Tattoo magazine. Bill Moores earliest ad was found in Billboard magazine in 1932, where he is listed at 434 South State the same address that Sailor Jerry used to work at. This was the Burton Arcade, which a lot of other tattooers had worked at as well. Bill Moore died in Chicago in 1944.
Ralph Johnstone to me is one of the most under rated tattooers of this time. Not only was he one of the most amazing circus banner painters but he also was an amazing tattooer that by all accounts was extremely kind and never had a bad word to say about any other tattooer. Ralphs business cards used to say he would work off of photographs, which meant photo realistic portraits in the 1950s. Ralph and Tatts Thomas worked side-by-side for Ralphs entire State Street Career which lasted I believe until everyone left in 1963. Johnstone also painted flash for Milton Zeis who at the time had a supply business and tattoo correspondence class out of Rockford Illinois. These business cards below show some of the address that Tatts and Johnstone worked at. The cards where also drawn by Ralph himself, as you can see he was light years ahead of his time in the way he approached illustration and tattooing for that matter.


Here you have a couple of Ralph Johnstone’s clients with full chest pieces, and the third pic is of 3 backpieces with Johnstone in the front the center was done by Tatts Thomas it is on Sailor Bill Killingsworth the other 2 where done by Johnstone.



Thanks for your interest more to follow on some of the other tattooers that shaped South State Street.

So in response to recent inquiries about Chicago and its place in tattoo history and to try to up the ante here at The Last Sparrow Tattoo Forum I will try to breakdown what I know and have acquired about tattooing in Chicago from early on up until present day. All of this will revolve around the history of Chicago Tattoo because honestly I don’t know or care to know about any other present day shops in the city.
This of course will give a broad range of information at first because most of the photographic history was lost to the trash or to the flea markets at the time. The stories of South State Street are very few, 99% of the tattooers that dominated that street in its hey day are long gone. There are a few still left and their stories are amazing, some look upon those times fondly as the last truly honky tonk time in tattooing other look upon South State as Chicago’s tattoo demise.
The 4-block area of South State Street in Chicago from the early 1900s to the mid 1960s was considered the worst red-light district that ever existed in this country to date. It consisted of skid row flophouses, porn theatres, liquor stores, wino bars, shooting galleries, arcades, and of course in every corner of every arcade were the tattoo shops. Chicago was supposedly home to hundreds of tattooers through out the early years. All making tattoos cutting their chops and making their bones on the abundance of fresh sailors from Great Lakes Naval Base just north of Chicago, and the working class folks looking to let loose on South State Street.
These first photos show the very early days of south state notice in one of the photos the Armed Services recruiting center, this later became and Army Navy Surplus store. This is one of the main reason I believe that attracted the tattooers to South State they had a fresh abundance of young men signing up to serve their country and at that time service men especially sailors and tattoos went hand in hand.




These other three photos show the burlesque barkers looking to get customers in to see the show



Thanks for your interest, more to come later