Rick Walters (September 5, 1945 – March 4, 2019) was an American tattoo artist. He was known for his take on American traditional tattooing.

Biography

Rick Walters was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

on September 5, 1945. He grew up in

Hawthorne, California Hawthorne is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, located in southwestern Los Angeles County, California. It is part of a seventeen-city region commonly called the South Bay. As of the 2020 US census, Hawthorne had a population of 88,0 ...

. In 1959, he went to

the Pike ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

, an amusement zone in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

, and got a tattoo on his leg. He found work as a machinist and welder after high school. In his off time, he went to the Pike and learned tattooing under Bob Shaw, Owen Jensen, and Hong Kong Tom. From 1978 to 2002, Walters worked as the manager of

Bert Grimm Bert Grimm (born Edward Cecil Reardon, later known as Bertram Cecil Grimm, February 8, 1900 – June 15, 1985) was an American tattoo artist considered the "grandfather of old school". Grimm's work contributed to the development and popularity of ...

's World Famous Tattoo, the oldest continuously operated tattoo shop in the United States. After the closing of the shop, he retired for several months, but after having a heart attack, he went back to tattooing. In the 2010s, he opened a tattoo shop, Rick Walters' World Famous Tattoo Parlor, in

Sunset Beach, California Sunset Beach is a Huntington Beach beachfront community in Orange County, California. It was established on September 8, 1904 and developed as a result of the 1920 discovery of oil in the Huntington Beach Oil Field. The census-designated place of ...

. He taught multiple tattoo artists in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

the rules and rites of American traditional tattooing. He died at the age of 73 on March 4, 2019. He had been battling health issues after doctors found blood clots in his lungs to add to myriad other ailments.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Walters, Rick 1945 births 2019 deaths American tattoo artists Artists from Chicago