The Chicago Tattooing & Body Piercing Company: An unofficial history of the oldest shop in town, as told by Nick Colella
By tawnysaurus
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The tattoo age requirement changes from 18 to 21 in Illinois.
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Tattoo shops on South State St. close down, Phil Sparrow & Cliff Raven stay open
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Cliff Raven, Phil Sparrow open Anchor Tattoo on Larrabee St.
"At the time, it was pretty underground, but Phil Sparrow and Cliff were queer, which was a way underground, closeted type-thing. After '63 and South Street closed, they opened up a new shop on Larrabee Street." -
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Phil Sparrow ges to California
"They had that shop on Larrabee for a little bit, then Phil Sparrow decided he was gonna go to California and work." -
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Cliff Raven & "Tatts" Thomas head to Milwaukee
"Cliff Raven decided to go up to Milwaukee with a tattooer named Tatts Thomas, this famous tattooer. They went to go work with another famous tattooer up in Milwaukee, Amund Dietzel. Cliff still had the Larrabee shop, and he'd go back and forth between Chicago and Milwaukee." -
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Tattooing is outlawed in WIsconsin
"So, in about '67, they [Raven, Thomas] came back down to Chicago." -
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Cliff Raven opens Cliff Raven Studios
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Raven takes on partner Buddy McFall
"Buddy McFall was a little older, and had worked at South State Street with Tatts and those guys, and he was just, like, an old carny. They worked together at the shop at 900 Belmont, and they were still the only shop in the city at the time." -
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Passing of Tatts Thomas
"I don't know how much tattooing Tatts did there. I mean, he was pretty old. No one really knows too much about him. Supposedly he died around 1970 or so, but I talked to his granddaughter, and she doesn't even know. Anyway, he was tattooing on South State Street in the early 20s, like in the teens. So when he died, he had this kind of legacy of tattooing that was left to Cliff." -
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Dale Grande comes on board
"In '72, Dale shows up, and Cliff and Buddy teach him how to tattoo." -
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Raven, McFall and Grande try their hand at the supply business
"In 1973, they decide to start making tattoo machines, and starting a small supply business." -
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Grande becomes a partner; shop's name changes
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Raven, McFall and Grande buy shop in Hollywood, CA, contemplate a move
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Raven moves to California; a swapping of shares
"Eventually, they switched shares of shops, Cliff got Dale and Buddy's Sunset shares, and they got his Chicago shares. Then in about '77, Cliff moved full time to California. At that time, no one was doing the type of work Cliff was doing. He was doing these massive, like, Japanese-inspired body suits and stuff like that. No one in the Midwest was doing that. Don Nolan and Ed Hardy were the only other ones, and they were out west." -
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McFall retires, Grande buys him out
"1977, Buddy retires, and it's just Dale and whatever yahoo he can get to work over there by him." -
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The lease at the 900 Belmont shop is up, Grande moves
"Dale moves to 922 Belmont. So now, it's Dale and a couple other people, I don't really know their names, and they coast for a while." -
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Grande takes on apprentice David McNair
"Dave still works here. He's been here for, it's been about 25 years. Then there's just a cavalcade of yahoos that follow him, for the most part." -
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Cliff Raven returns for a summer
"In '86, they thought maybe Cliff was gonna come back, and Dale really wanted him to come back, supposedly, but he doesn't come back." -
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Nick Colella comes on board
"By when Nick (artist, manager) comes in, by the time my illustrious career begins, in '94 there are six shops in Chicago Now there's like, I don't even know how many. Countless. " -
Passing of Cliff Raven
When Cliff Raven died, he was residing in 29 Palms, CA, where he ran a rare/used bookstore called Raven's Books. -
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The shop moves again
Current location, 1017 W. Belmont. -
New tattoo age requirement law goes into effect
After a long period of contention, letter writing, and a Blagojevich veto, the age requirement to get a tattoo in Illinois goes back to 18 years.
