Vancouver in the 50’s and 60’s was a rough town with a reputation like any port city of the time. Tattooing was a guarded craft purveyed by characters from outsider backgrounds like carnies and sailors. Tattoo practitioners were wiley vets of the trade catering to society’s blue collar and port underbelly and a few keen kids with dreams of living wild.
Sometimes a guy comes to town and turns everything upside down. It’s a seminal moment when a young Ed Talbot sets up shop in Vancouver’s Blood Alley. In 8 short months the entire trajectory of tattooing was about to change.
Here was this relative newcomer to tattooing, walking into town and sparking a creative movement that can be seen on every street today. Tattooing would never be the same in Canada.
The change was on, local bad asses that had grown up getting tattooed in 1960’s vancouver flash shops were suddenly realizing they had the creative means to tattoo, it fit their counter culture biker lifestyle. All it took for them to fully realize their talents was a little bit of influence for another trailblazer.
