Living legend of the american tattooing, Lyle Tuttle just celebrated last September his 70 years in the trade. Organised at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, a great retrospective covered the numerous adventures of this determined passionate. The event was also an opportunity for raising funds for the creation of a museum where to exhibit Lyle’s private tattoo collection. Maybe one of the most important in the world.
Apart from being a great story-teller Lyle, 88 years old, is also a tireless traveler, always between two planes since he retired from tattooing in 1990. He is now sollicitated all the time at the four corners of the States to give lessons or seminars in tattoo conventions, where he’s always keen to come back on the details of his unbelievable success. As he likes to repeat it, Lyle Tuttle was : « The right person at the right place, at the right time ». It’s almost like if he still couldn’t believe the chance that felt on him during this key period in the 60’s when a lot of social changes happened in California. In San Francisco where he works, the city is the centre for the hippie counter-culture to start and where, in a puritan american society, sexual liberation hap-pens. Women gets emancipated as well as their bodies, and tattooing becomes the symbol of an uncontional freedom people want to claim. At that time, Lyle Tuttle is one of the few active tattooers in town. And no mat-ter that he is not the skillest, nor that he swears like a trooper, he is chosed by women who lay a hand on tattooing. They will not only come from all over the country to see him, they will also bring it up on the me-dias and propelled him to stardom. In the conservative world of tattooing at that time, this exposure of an unprecedented breadth will bring him to some hostility… and first of all from an other legend of american tattooing, Sailor Jerry.
When did women started getting tattooed ?
Tattooing, up until the women liberation came to, around 1965-66 something like that, was a masculine thing. When they were starting getting their rights they wanted it right now. Getting tattooed was making a state-ment. All of a sudden, one half of the human race was opened up to our service. And there were so few tattoo artist… goddam ! Now, everybody’s grandmother is a tattoo artist, I was the only shop here in town for 20 years and now there’s over 50 or 75 in the phone book. But I was in everybody’s favourite city, I’m tattooed all over, I’m media friendly… Oh ! What a fucking perfect combination for success ! (laughs) Women started to get little tattoos, like butterflies and rosebuds. That’s about all I tattooed for maybe 4-5 years. The joke was : I would tattoo a man but they had to be vouch for by a woman. I like tattoos and I like women (laughs). Actually I love women, I think they’re the greatest thing in the world. It all started with my first tattoo, that is right here (he shows his tattoo, a heart with a ruban and « mother » written on it).
Who was getting tattooed before the 60’s ?
It was military, the best customers in the world. They get paid on the 1st and on the 15th through the month and then spend their money in about 5 days. After that you would have several days off and then you would get paid again as they would come back to you. They were not of a criminal element, so they were all from a good « cuttle clothes » as we’d say here- they’re made from good material. Then it winds up that you tattooed civilians, young guys that were full of piss & vinegar, red blood and american boys. Very rarely a woman. Because if a woman got tattooed she was generally talked into by a man – « Get your name on me honey ».
How comfortable was it for women to come and see you, to be tattooed by a man ?
A woman can feel she’s endangered by somebody. I guess they just picked it up, that there wasn’t any. I was just picking a picture from the wall. And I’ve never made a pass at them. I had women say : « I bet you get a lot of passes made at you ». And my answer was : « Yes, thank you ». That’s not dangering. Because in fact, she was begging a pass. Some people told me I can tell the dirtiest fucking jokes in the world but they don’t sound dirty if I tell them. But there are some guys who can tell an off colour joke and make it sound filthy. So, then I got a fucking nice personality or a nice nature so they were entirely comfortable. I had women flying from all over the United States to get tattooed by me.
How come ?
Because of the press. Between 1965 and 1975 that was my « hey day ». I’m not a smart businessman at all, but look, my advice to anybody is : « Work hard, do the best that you can, save your money and buy a real es-tate ». Precisely, in October 1970 you are on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine and from there you be-came a star. How did it happen ? I call it the fucking « Stairway to heaven » (laughs). There was a young lady, cute young lady, coming in one night. She wanted a ring tattooed around her finger. I fucking tried to talk her but she really wanted it, so I did it for her. If you didn’t like her tattoo she would show it this way (Lyle show me the finger). So then she’s looking around in my tattoo shop and I was always interested in image ; so I had it look like a fucking doc-tor’s office. And she’s looking around and she says : « You know this is the age of Aquarius. It is coming a new age and you should loosen this place up. The work area may look like a doctor’s office but the rest of the decor don’t have to look like it ». I reply : « What do you think I should make it look like ? ». She thought for a million minutes and answered : « Jesus, how about a victorian whore house ? » She turned around and add: « You know there is a story here ? ». And I go : « A story huh ? Are you a writer ?». She says « Yes ». « Who are you writing for ? » I ask. « Rolling Stone magazine ». It was Amie Hill and she wrote a fucking article about me . When she went to school her roomate was a woman who happened to become later a journalist and wrote the fucking article about me in Life Magazine in 1972.
You got a lot of attention too for tattooing the famous singer Janis Joplin, can you tell us about it?
Lyle is portrayed on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine published October 1st in 1970. The article is titled : « Tattoo Renaissance ». When the Haight Hashbury -the general headquarter for the hippie movement in San Francisco- was going on, I was so fucking busy with all the hippies downtown that I was now in that fucking scene. I was a hippie I guess. My kids took acid before I did, but I took a bunch after (laughs). I was watching television one night. I’m not a music fan, I don’t like fucking music. In the fucking 60’s and the 70’s rock’n’roll was fucking descent music : the Eagles, the Beatles… but this cocksucking stuff they play today ? I would love to go to a rap con-cert with a fucking machine gun and kill everybody on that fucking stage ! (laughs) Let’s go back to Janis… So, I heard about Janis Joplin, even though I didn’t care that much for her music. Janis was a nice person and she had just got back from South-America. This was in 1970. I just started getting my first big publicity. I’m up in my tattoo shop, on the second floor, here come two big fucking Samoyed hairy dogs coming to the door, and here’s this fucking girl behind them : she’s got those bollos, wraped under her fucking neck. That was Janis. She’d read the fucking article in the San Jose paper with pictures of me, and she sort of fell in love with the fucking image or something, and thought : « Well, I want to get a tattoo ». I was also the only game in town too and she got two tattoos that night. A heart on the breast and a bracelet. She wanted to get the heart first, which is a little fucking thing. Now, being a wise tattoo artist you always put the big tattoo on first. Be-cause when they get the little one, that motherfucker’s gonna hurt and they won’t get an other one (laughs). I put the bracelet first, then her and I became fast friends. She was in my house that afternoon of the day that she died. I lived over in Sausalito, up on the hill. She caught an helicopter, shuttle helicopter, went to Los An-geles and died there. People often ask me : « Did you fuck Janis Joplin ? » No, I didn’t. Because she was not fucking attractive. And I go by pheromones.
What impact did she have on the popularization of tattooing among women?
She did more for tattooing probably than anybody because she would announced to audiences that anybody who got tattooed like to fuck a lot. So the fucking village idiots went like : « Blablablablabla- Oh I like to fuck a lot I need a tattoo ! » I help Janis Joplin’s fans out when they contact me. When I went to my shop two days later after Janis died there was a young lady there waiting at the door for a little heart on her breast. We went upstairs and I put it on. I may have put a thousand ever since. I’m sure Janis would love that because she liked the entourage, she loved the attention. She was a nice person, keep her memory alive.
How was it to work with a feminine clientele after tattooing so much men?
I liked to do small and colourful tattoos - big tattoos is not feminine ; but guys like to get big motherfuckers and shit like that and they stink like a Harley motorcycle wheel. Women they smell nice, they have nice con-versation, they’re fucking human beings. Why wouldn’t I gravitate towards them ? I’ve been accused more than once by women, they thought I was gay because I liked women so much. I thought : « You motherfuck-ers… ». It doesn’t have anything to do with it. I just like them. Women made tattooing a kinder and gentler art. One time, there was a woman coming in my studio and she had like a business suit on, I mean fucking class. She had a pair of panties on, that probably cost a hundreds dollars, it had laces and everything on them. That was put down low and I said : « I don’t want to take the responsability I might get some ink on these panties ». She had acrossed the room -well it was a small room where I did my private appointments- she’s coming back across the fucking room and she stripped from the fucking waste down, that the panties in her hands and she flips it over her fucking shoulder ! (laughs) God, those were great days you know. Did you tattoo the photographer Annie Leibovitz ? No, she’s fucking Jewish. If you’re Jewish you can’t get buried. I’m honorary Jewish. The last time I got mar-ried –I’ve been married three times- I got married by a Rabbin. Neither one of us was fucking Jewish. I’m not antisemitic at all, I hate everybody fucking equally. That’s not the usual hippie message … I get along with everybody, I try to get along with everybody. You don’t start conversations off with : « Hey asshole ! ». If you don’t have friends and fans, you’re nothing. I like generally to get along with people. But I’m a fucking missing drop. You know what a missing drop is ? It’s a fucking hater of the human race. I hate the fucking human race, we’re the worst fucking animal that ever walked the face of the earth. We’re not dealing with individuals now, I’m summerizing the whole fucking human race. We’re lower than fucking rats. And God made men in his own image. That boy fucked up ! That’s a fucked up boy !
You said « I only tattoo women if their mother were tattooed », what did you mean about that ?
Well, we’re all solo operators and we all have our own restrictions. I don’t tattoo hands, face, feet, neck. I don’t have any. So if it’s not good enough for me it’s not good enough for you. Plus, to be a tattooer you got to have a conscience. I’d fuck you up really. You know I could write on your forehead : « The flags are rag, the bibles are book, mothers are head and god’s a crook ». You know fuck you up for your whole life. But I’m not that hungry, to do that. I would say : « Go out in the fucking street and you’ll find a champ that will do it to you, but I’m not having it on my conscious ». I would just feel better with myself. You have to love yourself, as that sign says. My service, that I dispends, last you a life time. For the rest of your life you’re gonna have that son of a bitch down there. Now they have laser removal. When I made that statement they didn’t have fucking computers later on. You have to have a conscience. Is the monetary gain worth what you are doing to the per-son ? When I was hungry you might get fucking an american flag across you’re fucking forehead, but I haven’t been that hungry.
You said also : « Tattoos aren’t meant for everybody, there are too fucking good for most people ».
Getting a tattoo is the most personal, selfish, thing that you can do for yourself. You can’t hock it, taking it to a punch shop and get money for it ; you’re buying it, it’s strictly a fucking personnal gift. They’re stickers on your luggage to me. But tattoos are good for you too, they let you know who you are. One day, you might wake up in the morning with a fucking note on the pillow telling you : « I’m leaving ». You put your foot out of the bed and your fucking dog bite you ; then you go outside and you look at the window and you’re fucking car is gone ; you sit down and you make a cup of coffee, you don’t have any cream or sugar ; then you pick up the newspaper and all your stock is down. « Ok, I don’t know who the fuck I am !! ». I’ve lost everything when I didn’t lose my identity. Tattoos are a good statement for identity. Tattoos are meant for everybody. Contact : Website : http://www.lyletuttle.com Lyle’s studio in SF : 841 Colombus Ave. San Francisco, CA / Tel : 415-837-3287
