Templeton Crocker & Brooklyn Blackie: A Tattoo Tale with a Twist
Or Charles Templeton Crocker’s Curious Connections with Tattooing
Researched & Written by Carmen Nyssen
Bohemian playwright, art deco enthusiast, cultural benefactor, heir to millions, and world explorer, Charles Templeton Crocker (1884-1948), was the son of railroad tycoon Charles Frederick Crocker (1822-1888) and the first cousin of Aimee Crocker (1864-1941)—the eccentric San Francisco heiress who galivanted globally and exercised her humanly, if then risqué-for-women, right to flaunt numerous tattoos on her body. Aimee, it so happens, was interconnected with a number of tattoo characters, and ran in the same social circles as another fascinating family entangled with tattooing, the Loryeas. Outstanding in the muddled mix—generations later—was tattooer and tattooed attraction Apache Harry Loryea (1892-1940), a possible acquaintance of yet another skin-etching San Francisco-ite, the artist behind Templeton Crocker’s one-known tattoo.
Read about Aimee Crocker & the Loryeas’ countless curious connections to tattooing here:
The Loryeas: A Jewish Immigrant Family’s Curious Connections with Tattooing
Continuing Curious Tattoo Connections
It was the so-dubbed “Brooklyn Blackie” (aka E.J. Murray) (1890-1951) who held the honor of making his mark on Aimee’s equally high-spirited cousin Templeton, several decades after her tattooing trysts took place.
Blackie hailed among San Francisco’s plentiful practitioners starting in the 1910s, and—in continuation of the curious connections between the Crockers, Loryeas, and tattooing—was a candidate for possibly teaching Apache Harry Loryea the trade. In addition to working at the ship yards as a machinist, records note that he was a “decorator” (a then common euphemism for tattooer) for novelty store owner and carnival man, Abraham Hiam Hendler (1880-1945), around the time Harry was learning the art. Given their proximity, and by rule of tattoo networking in those days, the two should have been aware of each other in some respect, anyway.
***Incidentally, as Apache Harry Loryea was breaking into tattooing, he also worked as a baggage handler, boiler maker, and painter for the Southern Pacific Railroad, which had been, in part, established by Templeton Crocker’s father, Charles, in the 1800s. The railroad system significantly facilitated California’s industrialization.
Templeton Crocker’s Talismanic Tattoo
By the 1930s, Blackie, though not Harry, was still plying his needle amidst San Francisco’s copious collective of tattooers. It was at this time that he was singled out to bedeck Templeton Crocker with a talismanic tattoo befitting a wary seafarer. In June of 1930, just before embarking on a groundbreaking world cruise aboard his private yacht, Zaca, Templeton summonsed Blackie to the dock to imprint a pig design on his right ankle. In obligement, Blackie, who had handpicked special imagery of a Berkshire pig from a British stockbreeder’s catalog, inked the tattoo in a quick, ten-minute session. Pain of the procedure aside, the pig tattoo, a bit of ‘sympathetic magic’ borrowed from sailor’s superstition, was insurance of safe passage on Templeton’s upcoming expedition, and reinforcement of the many St. Christopher’s medals he had strategically propped throughout the Zaca.
(The Zaca‘s 1930-31 ports of call included Marquesas, Tahiti, Cook Islands, Pago Pago, Trobriands, Bali, Java, Singapore, Ceylon, Aden, Arabia, Egypt, Malta, Cannes, Teneriffe, Puerto Rico, Panama, Guatemala, Manzanillo, Ensenada, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Monterey).
“The tattooing hurt like the devil. It was as if some one [sic] stuck a knife into you and slowly drew it around.”
–Templeton Crocker, The Cruise of the Zaca, pg. 5
Whether or not Templeton had already acquired a luck-bringing sailor tattoo during his World War I hitch as a Navy ensign, he wasn’t leaving anything to chance for his monumental 1930 sailing sojourn, and it paid off with what he described as, “…the most perfect yachting adventure that anyone ever had.”
Tattooers: Patron Protector of Sailors:
Akin to how St. Christopher was the patron saint of travelers, sailors, and such, tattooers were real-life patron protectors of seamen by way of needling them with talismanic designs—in Templeton Crocker’s case, a pig.
In early seafaring days, pigs and roosters were kept in crates on ships. In the event of a
shipwreck, they were often the sole survivors since their containers stayed afloat and brought them safely to shore. It was such a phenomenon that the likeness of a pig or rooster became a protective symbol for seaman in the form of tattoos—typically a pig on the left knee or ankle and a rooster on the right, though Templeton Crocker’s pig tattoo was placed on the opposite side.
Templeton Crocker’s Tattoo Tale Twist
By memorializing Blackie in his 1933 chronicle, The Cruise of the Zaca (pg. 5), Templeton gave him ample kudos for his ritual boat-side tattooing and his ‘hand’ in averting the Zaca from danger. Had Templeton known Blackie’s true identity, however, he might have expounded on the serendipitous nature of their interaction, and even recorded background details in his preservation files for the California Historical Society (CHS). As a devotee of the arts and culture, in 1922, Templeton had reinstituted the CHS after a many years long lapse in activity, and for over two decades served as either president or board member. He also donated his impressive collection of Californiana to its stacks, most pertinently documents relating to the state’s transition from Mexican to American territory. Coincidentally, Blackie, his eager-to-please tattooer, was curiously connected with these interests in that his ancestors were part and parcel to California’s historical unfolding. They were dynamic settlers under Spanish, later Mexican, rule from the late 1700s into the mid-1800s, and several remained politically active after its formation as an American state in 1850.
Tattoos & Coincidental California Connections
Although, in the tattoo realm, Brooklyn Blackie claimed his real name was Earl Joseph Murray or Earl James Murray, these were additional aliases. He was actually of Spanish ethnicity, born Jose Antonio De La Guerra (he went by Joseph Anthony De La Guerra).
Tattoo Alias:
Brooklyn Blackie might have changed his name because his family wasn’t keen on his profession. When he died in 1951, his sister reported his occupation as “artist” of “portraits,” rather than tattoo artist, on his funeral home record. It’s not clear when he first adopted an alias, or how many he used.
To date, the earliest reference for him working as a tattooer is a 1916 San Francisco voter registration, which lists him as a “decorator,” under the name Joseph De La Guerra (living at his brother-in-law and sister’s house); his 1917 World War I draft registration card, recording him as an employee of showman Abe Hendler, states the same.
Blackie is difficult to trace in early records, indicating he was either often road-bound and missed entry in San Francisco city directories or he was listed under other, as of yet unknown, monikers. One intriguing possibility is that he was the “tattooed artist” with the Tom Atkinson Circus, in 1925, who was billed as “Brooklyn Blackie,” aka “Tex Emerson,” from California.
See left: Billboard Magazine. 11 Apr 1925, pg. 76. Tattooed artist Brooklyn Blackie replaced by Prof. (Gilbert) Gail.
Blackie’s great-grandfather from Novales, Spain, José Antonio de la Guerra y Noriega (1779-1858), aka El Gran Capitan, was founder of the California family and quite influential as a military commander and ranch owner in the Santa Barbara District; in expanding his reign, he had married into the Carrillo family of like distinction.
Blackie’s grandfather, Juan José Antonio Bonifacio de La Guerra Y Carrillo (1805-1873), was also a major player in carrying on the family’s high-standing legacy, as were numerous siblings with politically and financially beneficial marriages. Upon California’s inauguration, his grandfather’s brother, Pablo De La Guerra, signed the state constitution and in following years was active as a senate delegate and district judge representing Santa Barbara. His maternal great-grandfather, Jose Antonio Innocente Garcia, was a prominent historical figure as well.
***In 1860-1861, Pablo De La Guerra and Charles Crocker, Templeton’s father, served on the California legislature together; Pablo as a senator and Charles as an assemblyman.
***Mariano Vallejo, a relative of Blackie’s, via his marriage to Francisca Benicia Carrillo, was an early commander of the Presidio at San Francisco, and was later instrumental in developing cities around the bay and outward, particularly Sonoma.
Considering the subject matter of Templeton’s historical collection, it undoubtedly includes quite a few references pertaining to Blackie’s kin. By a flip of the script, though, Blackie’s immediate family didn’t warrant mention. By the time he was born, California’s Spanish colonial culture had dwindled in power and status. His family branch had relocated to San Luis Obispo, and his father, Jose Federico “Fred” De Alta De La Guerra, kept a farm until he died of pneumonia in 1893 (when Blackie was a toddler). In 1900, due to his mother’s ill health, the family moved to San Francisco, where eventually, and ironically, a twenty-something-year-old Blackie picked-up the humble livelihood that introduced him to Templeton Crocker—heir of the wealthy family who usurped eminence over his own lineage(s) upon California’s statehood, and partook in further developing it.
***The town of Templeton, in Blackie’s native San Luis Obispo, was named for none other than his 1930s tattoo customer, Templeton Crocker, in 1886, several years before Blackie was born. The land surveyor wanted to name it after Charles Crocker, since his Southern Pacific Railroad had an end-line depot in the area, but Charles insisted it be named after his 2-year-old son instead.
Superstition Meets Science Meets Solomon Island Tattoos
To cinch the synchronicities, the more relevant twist to Templeton and Blackie’s shared tale circles back to their tattoo links. As the fates of both the sea and tattooing would have it, Brooklyn Blackie’s charmed pig tattoo—superstitiously speaking—afforded the Zaca years more smooth sailing, and the opportunity for Templeton to explore an altogether different facet of tattooing.
On an expansive scientific expedition in 1933, the Zaca sailed to Sikaiana and Rennell, in the Solomon Islands, where Templeton’s hired photographer, Toshio Asaeda, snapped rare shots of the indigenous peoples’ tattoos for posterity. While the photos aren’t fully representative of the islands’ now lost deep-rooted and sacred tattooing traditions, their preservation in various archives has ensured their availability for further study and illustration of Solomon Island tattoo culture, and just as importantly, extends visual appreciation for its ancient heritage.
(The Zaca‘s 1933 ports of call included Hawaii, Palmyra, Puka Puka, Pago Pago, Samoa, Fiji, Tukopia, Vanikolo, Duff Island, Reef Island, Nupani, Sikiana, Tulagi-Florida Island, Tai Harbor, Quaibaita Maliata Island, Rennell Island, Bellona Island, Ugi, San Cristobal, Santa Anna, Santa Catalina, Santa Cruz, Suva, and Honolulu).
Read more about Sikaiana tattoos, photos included, here: Sikiana Archives
Also see The Art of Nature: Tattoo History of Western Oceania by Lars Krutak for a thoughtful look at how Oceania tattooing traditions, including those of Sikaiana, were interrelated with the natural environment of said culture(s).
Additional photos and discussion of the Zaca’s voyage can be found in Pacific Presences. Volume 1: Oceanic Art and European Museums, November 29, 2018. Chapter 11, Made to Measure: Photographs from the Templeton Crocker Expedition, by Lucie Carreau. One photo depicts Captain Pedersen getting tattooed on board ship in Rennell!
Archive collection photos of tattoos from the expedition are viewable at:
Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
Sylvester M. Lambert Photographs, Collections of UCSD
Toshio Aseada filmed the 1933 Zaca Expedition. The American Museum of Natural History has digitized it and made it available online. There are several scenes showing Templeton Crocker’s ankles, but it’s difficult to determine if the visible dark marks are his tattoo or merely shadows. See film: The Scientific Expedition to the South Pacific in the Yacht Zaca; https://www.amnh.org/research/research-library/library-news/viewing-the-scientific-expedition-to-the-south-pacific-in-the-yacht-zaca
Two-fold Twist to Templeton Crocker & Brooklyn Blackie’s Tattoo Tale
As is often the way with history’s paradoxical progression, Templeton and Blackie’s intersecting lives came about from a long-unfolding series of intertwined events—good and bad—that can’t be rightly extracted from one another. The thriving San Francisco scene that afforded them prosperity in their respective occupations, and led to their meeting, was, ironically, built by both their ancestors, though not always in concord or without collateral woe.
In short, it began springing forth, in the early-to-mid-1800s, from a chaotic clash of Mexican and American political interests, as well as resistance conflicts instigated by caught-in-between indigenous tribes who were rapidly losing their sovereignty at the hands of it all. After years of battling and positioning, on all parts, Mexico ultimately ceded the territory containing California, and its well-off Spanish settlers, to America. From this, an entirely new cultural landscape was born—at the greatest expense to the overtaken native peoples, though it also lessened the Spanish stronghold. The tipping catalyst that heralded-in San Francisco’s modern-day emergence was the 1848 gold strike and a rush for capitalists, Americans and foreigners alike, to stake a claim in the land. An influx of thousands of money-minded miners, land prospectors, and entrepreneurs converged on the small San Francisco settlement, once called Yerba Buena, quickly developing it into a bustling seaport city and qualifying California for statehood by 1850. Thereafter, San Francisco’s sizeable harbor—united, in the 1860s, with the industry of Charles Crocker’s transcontinental railroad system—served as a hub for seagoing vessels from ports around the globe. One culminating manifestation was a richly diverse, somewhat raucous, maritime environment, which by happenstance of its heritage yet removed from past particulars, introduced to one another the two herein named characters: adventurous seafarer, Templeton Crocker, and patron protector of sailors, Brooklyn Blackie, aka Joseph Anthony De La Guerra …each of whom made contributions to their unique setting …and tattooing at large!!
San Francisco’s Tattoo Friendly Scene
Tattoo friendly novelty and amusements shops were much a part of San Francisco’s waterfront scene. In addition to accommodating customers such as Templeton Crocker offsite, Brooklyn Blackie typically tattooed at one of a number of penny arcades on Market Street. This busy thoroughfare was the city’s entertainment district, conveniently located a straight-shot away from the busy Embarcadero landing, which was also a seemly setting for tattooers. The 1910s novelty store of Blackie’s early employer, Abraham Hendler, known as the “2nd Amen Corner,” was a designated gathering center for showman. Among the esteemed amusement proprietors who socialized there was Jerry P. Smith, who became Blackie’s employer at the 1132 Market Street arcade in the 1930s. (Brooklyn Blackie traveled around California at times, tattooing in Fresno, Sacramento, San Bernardino, and San Pedro).
Read about San Francisco’s turn of the century Chinatown tattoo scene, amusements and all, here: Prof. Jacob Londella: Tattooer of San Francisco’s Old Chinatown. Also read about Walter M. Lyons’ time tattooing on the San Francisco Embarcadero.
De la Guerra, et. al Genealogy
Married To A Daughter Of The Land: Spanish-Mexican Women And Interethnic Marriage in California, 2009, by Maria Raquel Casas (Viewable on Google Books)
The Father of All: The de la Guerra Family, Power, and Patriarchy in Mexican California by Louise Pubols (Viewable on Google Books)
Find-a-Grave: See family links for Jose Antonio de la Guerra y Noriega (Brooklyn Blackie’s paternal side)
Find-a-Grave: See family links for Jose Antonio Ynocente Garcia (Brooklyn Blackie’s maternal side)
Questions or Comments? Email:
carmennyssen@buzzworthytattoo.com
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