EDITOR'S COMMENT — September 1999
This is our special San Francisco issue. I don't remember whose idea it was; but it's a good one, especially if Tim Coleman is involved. Author of some of our most talked about features (his brilliant exposé, Facial Tattoo's in Britain, in July of 1998, was the talk of the tattoo world), Coleman's British tattoo roots have provided him with a solid understanding of the art form while retaining an entertaining objectivity when it comes to the American tattoo scene.
San Francisco has always held a key position in tattoo history, from the old time Barbary Coast sailors to the present day Folsom Street crossdressers. It's for that very reason Charles Gatewood is the perfect choice for photographer. A key player in capturing the more bizarre elements of the local society, Gatewood is not only an active resident of the City by the Bay, he has practically been given a key to the city to more backdoors than anyone in recent memory. Charles, of course, is the photographer/author responsible for the mind boggling flashback of Spider Webb in November of 1997 and his amusing Gatewood Exposes Himself memoir last January. His cover photo of the green-haired Polywog was one of our readers' favorites.
Both Coleman and Gatewood were enthusiastic about tackling the enormity of San Francisco's tattoo scene. Tim interviewed the leading figures of tattoo's royalty for weeks-on-end, and Gatewood himself told me he'd been snapping his shutter nonstop for 2½ months! Leave it to Charles, he'd contact a shop, get them all hyped up about the project and, lo-and-behold, the shop would throw a big shindig and invite all the tattoo clientele for Charles to photograph. "It was party time all the way," says Charles with a growl.
Never slackers, Gatewood and Coleman not only met the deadline square on the nose, but each of their gigantic FedEx boxes had to be rolled in on a dolly. Even Colemen, who was asked to shoot "just a few backup shots, in case Charles missed something," sent over 600 transparencies and a manuscript three times the original estimate. True to form, Coleman not only presented individual features on nine of the most preeminent San Francisco shops, he put it all into perfect perspective—artfully explaining how all the shops fit into the Big Picture.
One of the great joys of editing Skin & Ink is working with the amazing genius that exists within the world of tattoo. Along with discovering new talent and helping to direct the raw skills of tattoo artists who have never written or photographed for a magazine before, we especially enjoy bringing established writers and photographers onboard—that's what's fun about this job. And to receive the plaudits of not only the New School but the Old School artists makes it all the more worthwhile. That is why I really get a special kick out of this issue. We not only get to share with you the contributions of our ongoing contributors, but we can put the frosting on the cake by introducing a truly legendary, San Francisco-based columnist to our family of contributors—an innovator, historian, writer, publisher, illustrator and tattoo artist that has long been a prime force in the world tattoo scene—none other than San Francisco's own Don Ed Hardy.
Not a bad issue, eh?
Bob Baxter, Editor in Chief