Jan
Tattoo Magic on Main Street
Original Research/Writing by Carmen Forquer Nyssen
Los Angeles’ Main Street was homebase to an A-list of tattooers in the early part of the 20th Century. Within a several block stretch, the talented bunch—including Bert Grimm, Ben Corday, Harry V. Lawson, Owen Jensen, the great Sailor Charlie Barrs, Apache Harry Loryea, and many more—worked their magic upon customers, all the while pushing the craft to new heights with their collaborative influences and inspirations. Yet the greater magic was in the setting.
The intermingling of tattooers with the Pacific Fleet’s in-and-out of port movements and the menagerie of amusements and novelties parading down the Main Street thoroughfare comprised a unique culture that locally and outwardly influenced the craft of tattooing. Sailors, novelty postcard stores, photo studios, arcades, ballyhoo stands, ‘store front museums,’ movie producers, film stars, showmen, circuses, and carnivals all factored into the “Tattoo Magic on Main.” Sit back and enjoy the adventure down this magical row…
San Pedro-Pacific Fleet
In Los Angeles, the ebbs and flows of tattoo business depended largely on the comings and goings of the Pacific Fleet—based in San Pedro Harbor. Every few months, when the Fleet docked in port after weeks at sea conducting maneuvers, shiploads of landsick sailors hotfooted over to the Pacific Electric Railway red cars that shuttled them to the 6th and South Main depot (618 South Main) in Downtown Los Angeles. Once on Main Street’s sailor haven, the slews of Navy men squandered their pay taking B-girls out on the town and patronizing the many multi-business establishments combining photo studios, novelty postcard stores, arcades, store front museums, and the ever-favorite tattoo shops. On these celebrated days, welcoming tattoo artists—grateful for the influx—readied themselves for long hours of etching hoards of seamen with souvenirs of their carousing adventures.
Tattoo artists also set up in the town of San Pedro itself to nab the intermittent onslaught of customers, or just across the harbor at the Long Beach Pike amusement zone. The 1920s saw Fred McKee, Hughie Bowen, Bert Grimm, Charlie Barrs, Owen Jensen, Apache Harry Loryea, George Palmer, Sailor Meyers, and Frank Julian in these areas (Julian’s wife Alice, a fat lady, was an attraction at the Pike in 1923).
Read more about Apache Harry Loryea here: The Loryeas: A Jewish Immigrant Family’s Curious Connections with Tattooing
Read more about Frank Julian & Gilbert E. Gale here: C.A. Wortham’s Tattooed Attractions
5th & Main: The Musee
One of the novelties Uncle Sam’s seamen could count on was the thrill of the sideshow brought to the city. During the carnival and circus offseason, numerous showmen opened aptly dubbed ‘store front museums’ on Main Street (leased from vacant shop space) —complete with a ballyhoo stand and barker out front to draw in the crowd and a kaleidoscopic line-up inside of sword swallowers, fat ladies, tattooed men, tattoo artists, and the like. Just a block up from the Pacific Electric Railway depot is where the excitement began. At 539 South Main, Bert Harry “Red” McIntyre operated The Musee (started by J. Sky Clark, later called Dreamland Palace), from the mid-1910s into the late-1920s. It was Red who provided the revered Big Ben Corday with his first ‘tattoo stand’ when he settled in Los Angeles.
5th & Main: World Museum
The World Museum, at 508-510 South Main, almost directly across the street from The Musee/Dreamland, was one of the more popular venues on the block—operated variously by Charles H. Smith, Peter Kortes, and Doc McKay. The venture actually started out in the late 1910s at 256 South Main with proprietors J. Sky Clark & Smith, but Smith & Kortes are the entrepreneurs who moved it to 5th and Main and catapulted its success. Among the famous tattooed marvel and tattoo artist names luring in patrons throughout the 1920s were Prof. Lee W. Parker, Frank Julian, Frank Martin (real name Martin Jensen), and the lovely Artoria so beautifully tattooed by her husband Charles “Red” Gibbons (Artoria also appeared in Kortes’ sideshow).
World Museum & the Movies
‘Store front shows’ were such an allure on Main Street they attracted Hollywood’s burgeoning film industry. The World Museum was a go-to affair for this sort of action. For the 1925 film “The Unholy Three”—in which Harry Earles, Al G. Barnes Circus midget, starred alongside Lon Chaney—director Tod Browning recruited several World Museum acts, including sword swallowers Delno Fritz and Peter Kortes (also proprietor), and none other than tattooer Frank Julian’s wife, the fat lady Alice, who enjoyed ample screen time. (Click on below video to see footage).
Al G. Barnes Circus
The locally quartered Al G. Barnes Circus also played a role in promoting Main Street tattooers and tattooed attractions. Under operation of Alpheus George Barnes Stonehouse (aka Al G. Barnes) it became one of the largest tented circuses in the country and was a prominent platform for those who displayed their skin wares for a living.
When they weren’t exhibiting in Los Angeles’ offseason ‘store front museums,’ or plying the needle in one of Main Street’s arcades, Frank Martin (real name Martin Jensen), Bert Price (aka Bud Price, real name Bert Parker Reynolds), Barney Harkin (aka Barney Kruntz), and George Devere (real name Henry Gunther), had the privilege of showing-off their tattooed bodies for the patrons of Barnes’ magnificent circus.
4th & Rosslyn Annex:
The Musee/Dreamland and World Museums were the gateway to countless more amusements down Main Street. At the bustling 5th and Main intersection, the dazzling lights of the Rosslyn Hotel to the left would have caught the eye of any passing sailor and his girl looking for fun. It was just a jaunt across the street, to the 400-block, where the Rosslyn Hotel Annex stood hosting a penny arcade at number 447 South Main. Operated by father and son, Jake Cohen and Saul Cohen, the arcade provided a multitude of attractions that enticed passersby: photographs, novelty postcards, and of course, tattooing!
447 South Main was home to one of many Main Street heavy-hitter tattooers, Harry V. Lawson, who plied his trade on arcade customers in the early half of the 1920s. During the 1920s decade, Lawson left twice and trekked to Hawaii, but come 1930 he was back on the same block, a few doors away at 421 South Main—in the Palace Arcade.
The Cohens, also the proprietors at 421 South Main, ran a very successful novelty postcard business there (the property is still in the family). Inside was the posh Palace Arcade Photo Studio operated by highly skilled photographers Leonard Imbrugia and Ernest C. Leake, who produced on the spot real photo postcard souvenirs (RPPCs) for patrons.
The genius positioning of Lawson’s tattoo stand near a photo studio offered sailors both skin-embellished and photographic reminders of their Main Street escapades to take back to their ships and carry on their journeys across the oceans. Not to mention, it provided Lawson an outlet to visually preserve some of his more special tattoo jobs.
The Cohens’ arcade, at its height, was said (by family) to be the largest on the West Coast. All the combination postcard-photo-arcade-tattoo stands on South Main’s westside, 400-block most certainly packed a heavy punch for tattoo business. In addition to the famed Harry Lawson, these multi-businesses in and near the Rosslyn Hotel Annex housed tattooers Juan Leon (1934) and Owen Jensen (1935-36). Jensen also worked at 441 South Main with Fred Gareis in the 1930s and the 1940s saw Red Gibbons and Frank L. Cramer.
The Main-412 S. Main
Further north on Main Street—which was often called the Bowery of the West Coast in its heyday—strolling servicemen would have encountered the premises that now stands as hallowed ground in tattoo history, The Main Postcard Arcade, at 412 South Main.
The scene on Los Angeles’ Main Street paralleled that of many a nefarious row in metropolitan and/or dodgy port cities across the country, with the Main Postcard Arcade among the flashiest of its assemblage. Operated by Marks-Fram Company (David H. Marks and brother-in-law Harry Fram), this locale boasted such A-class tattooers in the 1920s as Robert Fletcher, Bert Grimm, Owen Jensen, Jack Julian, and then the great Ben Corday for almost a decade.
According to family, Harry Fram was a well-respected man in the community and had a real eye for business. Like so many other stores on the stretch, ‘The Main’ (for short) not only offered some of the best tattooing in the world, but also postcards, as well as the obligatory arcade and photo studio amenities. At Marks-Fram, Stephen Soldi, of the Soldi Studio, catered to customer’s photographic indulgences, producing real photo postcards and beautiful studio photos.
Soldi’s most striking photographs of the tattoo world are those of Ben Corday’s celebrated customer, Roosevelt Rough Rider Spanish-American War Veteran, David E. Warford. These well-known images were replicated and dispersed by many tattoo suppliers over the years and were featured in Bernard Kobel’s mail order tattoo photo series (#s T92,93,94).
Also amongst the grandeur ‘The Main’ had to offer was Soldi’s train prop photo backdrop, the ‘Los Angeles Special.’ For decades, this popular photo attraction yielded souvenir RPPCs for fun-seekers from all walks of life—sailors, sweethearts, carousing friends and tattoo artists. Surviving RPPCs depict Boston tattooer, Edward “Dad” Liberty (who visited the West Coast c. 1923-24), Ben Corday and friends, and Bert and Julie Grimm.
As an aside, although an excellent photographer, Stephen Soldi went on to become a successful Hollywood actor, playing a record number of bit parts in films, as well as, Popeye’s Wimpy character in person at World’s Fairs. In fact, as we’ve learned, his descendants have been involved in the movie industry ever since.
3rd & Main: Hippodrome Arcade
Almost one full block away, in what was once called the Panorama Building—a couple doors from where Clark & Snow’s grand 1910s ‘store front museum’ used to sit—was the Hippodrome Arcade, at 316 South Main. As it turns out, the photo studio here was operated by Vincent Soldi, brother of Stephen Soldi, who ran the thriving photo business back at ‘The Main’ (412 South Main). As part of the usual draw of Main Street arcades, the Hippodrome hosted its share of tattoo artists over the years, such as Rhine Rausch and Soldier Russell.
The photo studio itself, however, has an interesting tie to tattooer Ben Corday. A novelty photo of one of Corday’s ladies—with a body suit of perfectly drawn on “tattoo” designs composed to conture the body—was photographed in Soldi’s studio. A similar novelty photo of a man with the same drawn on tattoos (thanks Doc Don Lucas) was also produced by the studio and a copy can be seen in the background of Bert Grimm’s 1960s Long Beach Pike tattoo shop window.
2nd & Main: Arcades & Museums
2nd & Main sported a plethora of combo postcard-photo-arcade-tattoo shops and ‘store front museums’ over the years, but there were several particularly interesting locations as far as tattoo history is concerned—the most inspiring precursors of the 1920s era, in fact. From 1911 to 1914, tattooer William H. Stager and his wife Sarah catered to Main Street clientele with their ‘Penny Pleasure Palace’ arcade, at 253 South Main, in conjunction with August J. Ross. The couple returned there when they came back to the city in 1921. By then, the postcard-photo-arcade-tattoo stand had added a whole new facet, a ‘store front museum’ in the care of proprietor-showman Bowman “Bow” Robinson. The fittingly named Arcade Museum, opened in 1916, had connections to snakehandler-tattooer “Lonesome” Jack Allman (real name Elmer Allman, also associated with movies) and ace tattooer Charles “Red” Gibbons, who also ran the postcard section in 1921, just before the lease was up and the place closed. For a time, this museum was an across-the-way rival of Kortes & Smith’s early 256 South Main attraction.
2nd & Main: Clark & Snow’s Hippodrome & Museum
In the 1910s, the biggest ‘store front museum’ on Main Street’s 200-block, and in the U.S., was the Clark & Snow Hippodrome & Museum. It was operated by J. Sky Clark (James Schuyler Clark), retiree of Barnum & Bailey, and prominent showman Herbert C. Snow, of San Diego’s Wonderland and Los Angeles’ Luna Park. Billboard Magazine compared this venue’s variety and vastness to illustrious old-time museums Huber’s in New York City and Kohl & Middleton’s in Chicago. Although Clark & Snow’s Museum started out at 320 South Main, in the Panorama Building in 1910 (later the Hippodrome Theatre, Arcade, and Photo Studio), it had moved to 244 South Main by 1911 and for the next 5 years of its lease wowed patrons with every kind of curiosity imaginable, notwithstanding tattooed attractions and tattoo artists.
Among those tattooers whose early career was boosted on the Clark & Snow Museum platform was Prof. Smith (possibly Art Smith), Harry V. Lawson, and Charles “Red” Gibbons, who tattooed Los Angeles tattooer/attraction Jean Mercier during his stint there.
One 1914 Clark & Snow related photo depicts Red Gibbons holding snakehandler Joe Edward’s prize specimen with other museum workers. Edwards was friend of fellow snakehandler and tattooer Jack Allman.
2nd & Main: Novelty Penny Arcade
By the early 1920s, Clark & Snow’s Museum and the Arcade Museum had dissolved, but their prosperity set the stage for the numerous novelty venues to come that would cater to Pacific Fleet sailors and other fun-seekers who converged along Main Street. One 2nd & Main combo store, the Novelty Penny Arcade, at 234 South Main, carried the names of some of the top players in tattoo history. In 1924, Red Gibbons was the first to grace the tattoo stand here. By the next year, the team of Sailor Charlie Barrs and Bert Grimm was on locale, collaborating on several first-class all-over tattoo jobs. It was here that Clarence Jorgenson (aka Sandy Dillon, also a tattooer) was tattooed by them, as well as, the sensationally etched Bert Price (with the help of Red Gibbons and Owen Jensen), and a local gardener who donned their elaborate designs and filigree work.
As on par, the arcade included a photo studio that produced souvenir RPPCs, and a postcard store (run by Benjamin Ostersetzer and brother Jack), both of which helped attract business for the tattooers and associated proprietors. After Bert Grimm left Los Angeles, Owen Jensen joined Charlie Barrs at 234 South Main. Red Gibbons was there again in 1930.
Main Street Movie Star Tattooers
The combo postcard-photo-arcade-tattoo stores along Main Street were as much of a draw for Hollywood filmmakers as the ‘store front museums’ when there was a need for specialized talent. Big Ben Corday, a literal giant of a tattoo artist, played standout roles in 2 Hal Roach silent movies in 1916, alongside Harold Lloyd and other big names of the day. Bert Grimm had a cameo in the 1924 film Lighthouse by the Sea, starring Rin Tin Tin and Louise Fazenda.
Film producers also sought out performers from the Al G. Barnes circus lot, including Bert Price, who made his film debut as the tattooed man in The Sideshow in 1928.
In an attempt for realism, film crews even recruited Main Street tattooers to paint “tattoos” on the stars of the screen. In several newspaper articles, Edward “Dad” Liberty boasted of “tattooing” designs on Marion Davies, Lon Chaney, and famed Hollywood vamp Pola Negri. Perhaps not-so-coincidently, Pola starred in the 1925 release “A Woman of the World,” right after Liberty’s stint in Los Angeles c. 1924, and shocked her fans with a bold skull-and-butterfly “tattoo” on her forearm. Other known Main Street tattooers who painted-on tattoos for movies over the years were Owen Jensen, Juan Leon, and Harvey Snodgrass.
The Tattoo Vamp:
Hollywood movie stars interconnected with Main Street tattooers outside of the film studio too. Bert Grimm wasn’t shy about relaying how Pola Negri danced around his 234 South Main shop for him and his cohorts. That’s his story, anyway.
At the very least, the breathtaking Pola—beloved vamp of the 1920s silent screen—was an obvious influence on the era’s popular girl-head tattoo designs. Main Street tattoo artist extraordinaire, Ben Corday, fashioned one poignant design based on a still shot from Pola’s breakthrough role in the 1920 German film Sumurun. This lovely composition has to this day remained in the repertoire of American-traditional tattoo flash. Bert Grimm, a huge admirer of Corday, made several versions himself over the years, the below example being from the latter part of his career in the 1970s.
Main Street Tattoo Magic
Los Angeles’ Main Street tattooers were part of a collective of novelty amusements that formed an unspoken friendly society of sorts. Associated businessmen who had mastered the hustle specific to the scene promoted each other for the good of all to every walk of adventure seeker. Main Street was a place where the magical met the unusual and the tawdry. The diverse elements that came together formed a world all its own, a gestalt, that progressed with the changing decades.
As with any big city entertainment district, Main Street’s wondrous amusements succumbed to the perils of competition and economic hardships at times and incorporated a seedier side into their game. Arcades and ‘store front museums’ were raided on occasion for serving booze during prohibition, and other times for displaying peep shows and scantily clad dancing girls (including 4 tattooed ladies “wearing their working clothes” at Dreamland Palace). Criminals, too, were no stranger to the scene—in 1919 tattooer Red Gibbons found himself under scrutiny when he was found tattooing a wanted bankrobber. But it was the intermingling of all facets—from savory to less savory—that propped Main Street businesses up through the years and championed one of the most magical tattooing hubs in the country. Main Street saw the likes of some of the topmost practitioners inspiring and influencing each other. The individual and collective tattoo talents that emerged from Main Street forever changed the face of the trade, and the lineages stemming from these greats still hold strong to this day.
Questions or Comments? Email:
carmennyssen@buzzworthytattoo.com
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