Today we’d like to introduce you to Dale Grande.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
This has been a very long ride to where I am now that started one summer day in the late 50’s or very early 60’s as a preteen at Coney Island in Brooklyn NY. I had wandered away from my parents and was attracted to a store window that had a lot of pictures on the wall. I was suddenly grabbed at the collar by my father and was told never to go into a place like that. It was my first view of a tattoo parlor.
I have been an artist all my life and became interested in tattoos that a lot of my friend’s brothers had. I would draw “tattoos” on myself and my friends only to be admonished by my mother that I should never get a tattoo. Well, So much for that. I got my first tattoo when I was 16 years old at a shop in NY. The age was 18 to get tattooed and there was a sign in the shop that said “You must be 18 yrs old to be tattooed.
Falsifying ID was subject to a $500 fine, 5 yrs imprisonment, or both” That scared the shit out of me because I came with a friend and borrowed his draft card as ID. There was a typewritten description on the card of distinguishing marks and my friend had a “scar on the right thumb.” I didn’t but hoped the very large intimidating bouncer that was checking ID’s wouldn’t notice. Also, I was 5’8″ and my friend was 5’2″. When asked for my ID, I presented him with “my” ID. He scrutinizes the ID and then looks hard at me, who was shaking in my boots sitting on a bench in the waiting room and asks me to stand up.
I figured this was not a good sign, but stood anyway. In for a penny… Then he asks to see the scar on my right thumb. Shit, I’m going to jail. I pointed to my right thumb and stuck my left thumbnail deeply into my right thumb as I showed him the crescent mark that was produced from my nail. After a long second or two, he handed me back my ID and asked what tattoo I wanted. I picked one out and, had the deed done and that started it off. I hid the tattoo from my parents for a year and a half. It was a pair of hearts and ribbons that said, Mom and Dad. What could they say? It was the first of many to come.
After college, I moved to Chicago and stayed with a friend I went to school within NY. He took me to a place as a surprise. It turned out to be a tattoo shop. Not only that, it was a notable shop and also the only one in the city of Chicago. The shop was “The Cliff Raven Studio” Owned by Cliff Raven and Buddy McFall. The shop was at 900 W. Belmont Ave. this was in 1973. This place was a big difference in the tattoo shop that did my tattoos. Cliff’s shop had beautiful, carefully drawn tattoo designs. The best I had ever seen. Cliff and Mac were very friendly agents and showed me a slide show of tattoos that they did. I was very impressed as anyone should have been. Much so, I decided to have a couple of tattoos done the next day.
While Cliff was tattooing me for the first time, I asked him, as hundreds have before me have, how I could get into the business. Cliff said that you really had to know someone or be a family member of someone in the business to get started. Not to be deterred, I asked him if I could drop by occasionally to do goffer work and just hang out. I’m sure he thought I didn’t mean it and was just being nice when he agreed to let me do so. I was very persistent and showed up nearly every day. I would sit and observe everything they did.
Finally, I got the best news of my life as they wanted to hire me as an apprentice. Later that year, it was decided that we would get into the tattoo supply business. We would only sell to established tattoo artists. Since I would be doing a great part of the work, Cliff and Mac made me a partner in the business. It was decided that we should incorporate and discussed names for the tattoo shop. Cliff said it should no longer bare just his name and I suggested Chicago Tattoo, It says it all. S, in September of 1973 we were known as The Chicago Tattoo company, INC. I learned a lot from those two gentlemen. Artists from all over the country came to visit us and get tips from Cliff and Mac on tattooing.
At one point, around 1976 or 77, we decided to buy another tattoo shop. This one was in California on Sunset Blvd.
We were partners in this new business as well and Cliff went out to get the transition going. The intention was that all three of us would eventually move out to LA and sell the Chicago Shop. After a while, Mac went out to work a week or two in LA to see what it was like. When he returned he decided that he didn’t like LA and didn’t want to move out there, He was staying in Chicago. I took a trip to LA for a couple of weeks and worked in the LA shop and came to the same conclusion. I chose to stay in Chicago as well.
Eventually, Mac and I both traded our shares of the LA shop to Cliff and he traded his Chicago shares to us. A few years later, Mac decided to retire and I bought him out. I had to move the shop in 1978 because the owner of the building wanted to use the space I was in. I was very fortunate to find a vacant store just a couple of doors up the street at 922 W. Belmont.
The owner of this building decided he was going to tear down the building and build condos in its place. Once more I was fortunate enough to find a place just a block further up the street to 1017 W. Belmont. This was in 2005 and remains open today. As I said, this has been a very long journey and could not be done alone. I had help from numerous artists and friends that are too numerous to mention. There have been a lot of very fine artists that worked at Chicago Tattoo over the years. A lot got their starts here and made names for themselves and have since moved on. There have always been and will always be excellent art coming from this shop.
At some point at 922 Belmont, we started piercing. The two art forms complement each other very well. We carry a very fine line of body jewelry and have very knowledgeable piercers with many years of experience. 2018 will be our 45th year as Chicago Tattoo. It’s Chicago and Illinois’s oldest tattoo studio.
I’m sorry to say that Cliff Raven and Buddy McFall have since passed away but their work and inspiration will never be forgotten.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The city of Chicago had made it very difficult to obtain a license to tattoo. I once had an alderman tell me that I had better not move from where I was because he would see that I would not be able to reopen. I thought, what the hell did I ever do to him that he should be that way to me. He’s supposed to help the residents and businesses in his ward.I did have to move but he was no longer the alderman. Not that it made a difference. It was still very hard to get licensed.
Tattooing is not zoned. So one needs to appeal to the zoning board for a variance. This required getting permission from the sitting alderman. Once that was done, You need to have a location to move into with a signed lease. You then had to apply for a hearing at the nonrefundable cost of $500.00.
You have to inform all the property and residents within a 500 ft area by registered letter informing them of your intention of opening a tattoo shop in their neighborhood and they had a right to express their thoughts, pro or con at the hearing. You need to hire an architect to draw plans for the store and hire a consultant to argue for you why opening a tattoo will be a positive addition to the neighborhood. All this takes weeks if not months while you pay rent for a place you can’t even start building on until you get the license.
I had to do this twice and it didn’t matter if you moved two doors away or two miles away. Suffice to say we prevailed both times. There are also potential liability issues as we deal in bloodborne pathogens. There are age restrictions and the worry that someone might slip under our radar. These days ID’s are harder to falsify. Since 1973 when we were the only shop in the city, there are now over 200 in or around the city.
For a long time, the age law to get a tattoo was 21 yrs old. Chicago Tattoo had a great part in having the age law lowered to 18 yrs old. The bill passed in 2005 and that’s when the gates opened for other shops to open.
I’ve always tried to stay between the cracks and not draw attention to my business. I was always worried about getting closed down for any reason that the city might come up with. In the early days, tattooing was looked down upon. I’ve tried to always do the best work I could, as I would want to have done on me.
These are some of the things that kept or woke me up at nights. It wasn’t just for me but I had a family that needed support as well as all the artists that worked at the shop.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Chicago Tattoo and Piercing – what should we know?
I’ve probably answered these questions in the last three or so. I’ll tell you what we try to specialize in and that’s customer satisfaction.
I’m proud of what comes out of this shop every day and for staying at it for all these years. When I was first hired in 1973, I was not thinking of what I would be doing in 2017. I wasn’t thinking what I would be doing in 1978. I was loving doing what I was doing and all of a sudden it was 2017.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
In addition to Cliff Raven and Buddy McFall, I had a whole lot of help along the way.I had a friend, Mark Miller who I broke into the business. He practically built the shop at 922 for the first move.
Later, I hired a kid named Nick Colella who I gave a start to and who became a very big part of the business. He worked into a manager/artist position. He looked after the workings of the shop and worked very hard in remodeling the shop and bringing in new blood and ideas to work there. After we moved to 1017 Belmont he moved on to open his own shop. I have had so many loyal people that have or still work with me. David McNair has worked with me since 1986.
I have had a lot of artists come through the shop and have learned a lot from all of them.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1017 West Belmont Avenue
- Website: chicagotattoo.com
- Phone: (773) 528 6969
- Email: chicagotattooinfo@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chicagotattoo/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thechicagotattooco/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/chicagotattoo?lang=en
- Yelp: Chicago Tattoo
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