Bob Shaw Golden Age & Legendary Tattooist

Bob Shaw was born June 22^nd 1926, his father died when he was young and Bob’s mother remarried when he was 13. Bob said later, the fellow she married wasn’t very good at taking care of the family. His brother was two years older and had already left home. He invited Bob out to St Louis Missouri in the summer of 1941. His brother had a couple of tattoos and Bob got two in kind. Summer was over and Bob  had just graduated from the eighth grade and though he always intended to, he never went back to school. It was kind of difficult in St. Louis, for the 15 year old Bob Shaw who was struggling to find work. He was washing dishes right around the corner from Bert Grimms Tattoo Studio. A fateful event that marked the beginning of a long enduring carreer. Bob had been interested in tattoos since he and his brother had gotten theirs and so not looking for the opportunity, didnt keep it from coming.

It was gruelling work from 7am to 8 or 9 at night which was past curfew. When
Bob was off work he’d go around the corner to Bert’s and his brother would come pick him up a few hours later. All those late hours in the Tattoo Shop made for being constantly  late to work and soon he was fired.

Bob was complaining about losing the job and Bert took him on, teaching him how to develop quick-finish pictures, a sideline Bert had  in the tattoo shop, a lot of tattoos shops in those days used to have sidelines like a photo booth. Berts Shop was only part of the setup, with an arcade down one side and wife, Julia's, Photo shop was right beside the Tattooing.

The photo business was booming but in the lulls, Bob would hang around the tattooing. Soon he was a regular gopher in the tattoo shop, answering questions, putting customers in line and being Bert’s right hand. This was so successful  that Bert brought him out of the photo booth and kept him in the Tattoo Shop. This was Bob's opportunity and he relished it. Bob came to work dressed in a jacket and visor eyeshade like Berts, he looked just like a smaller younger version of Bert Grimm.

About three months working there, Bob said he would like to put a tattoo on his brother.” Bert agreed and left Bob to put that first tattoo on. When he came back Bert said “That’s not bad.” And soon Bert had Bob working the section of tattoos that were twenty-five cents to a dollar and a half. – there was no shading,  just outline and color. Bert told him that if he could learn to do that, he could do well. Bob cut his tattoo teeth there in Bert Grimms on the endless wino’s that Bert provided him to hone his craft on.

When Bob started tattooing he only had a few tattoos on each arm. Bert told him to get his arms covered from the elbows down or, better yet, get tattooed all over. They started with a pair of bracelets on his arms and started working up. By the time Bob was 17 Bert Grimm had tattooed his back and chest and arms. Bob was tattooing at a famous and busy shop under the watchful eye of Bert Grimm, the self professed Best Tattooist in the World. Other tattooers passed through to see Bert and so it was that Bob met many contemporary tattooers of the day and he met Milton Zeis in 1942. He developed a clean and bold look with artistic designs and he was fast.

In October 1943, the height of WWII, Bob enlisted in the US Army. Bob served during the war and up until March of 1946, then he returned to St Louis and working with Bert. Continueing his tattoo journey, Bob drew and painted sheets of flash and refined his tattooing  during these years and in 1948 he had the “great pleasure” of watching Coleman tattooing. After the war, the tattoo business had begun a slump that finally hit bottom for Bob in 1949. He had heard that tattooing in San Antonio Texas around the air bases was good and Bert contacted Sailor Jack Tyron for him, and Bob Shaw was on his way to Texas.

At first it didn’t seem to busy. Sailor Jack worked out of a Circus wagon. Bob, still single, was considering working down in Houston to finance a trip to Panama. The life of a young tattooist. Then the Korean War broke out. In 1950 they started loading up the camps and bases. The influx of GIs and especially Airmen was intense but Bob was well prepared from his years with Bert. There were quite a few tattooers in competition, but Bob was young and GIs liked him and Bob put on the best tattoos.  San Antonio stayed busy until the end of the Korean war and beyond, due to the concentration of  servicemen. Suddenly in 1955 the City stepped in and banned tattooing. It didn’t get opened again until about 1975.

This was a major interuption for the Shaw family, Bob had married Wanda and  they had 2 kids and a house. He got his money together, he’d been doing well, and sold the house. He set out, vaguely thinking Florida, maybe Biloxi on the way. They first stopped in New Orleans to work with an old tattooer he knew there. Soon realizing NOLA was not for him, a family man, the Shaws moved on.

He stopped in Biloxi where he knew a guy, and he thought, he might open up a shop there and give it a try. He knew a tattooer there from back in St. Louis,  Earl Brown. Earl talked Bob into coming in and working for him. Working with Earl for nearly 3 years, Bob had turned the little shop into high caliber joint. But after the Hurricane in 1958, troops were moved from the camps and business slowed to a crawl. Earl had been backstabbing Bob and undercutting him for years and he had finally had enough, especially because he felt he carried the shop on his own art and work production.

It was an opportune time for him to met Col William S "Bill"  Todd, who shortly entised him to come up to Clarksville Tennesee. This was the beginning of a legendary partnership of Shaw and Todd. Bob was impressed with the cleanliness and neatness of Todds place. Shaw took, immediatley, to drawing and painting flash. His tuteledge under Bert Grimm made bold clean designs that sold well and were produced quickly. They got so busy they perfected the assembly line tattoo. Shaw outlined and collected for the tattoo and Todd did the shade and color. Bob was so fast outlining, there might 4 or 5 waiting on the bench for Col Todd to color them. Bob would have to stop and color a few to get them caught up.

They stayed in Clarksville for a year or so, but then moved to Hopkinsville Kentucky, a better location. The work was steady and  their reputation reached far and wide. Bob and  Todd stayed in Hopkinsville from the summer of ’60 to the winter of ’64.

Bert Grimm had moved out to the Nu-Pike in Long Beach California, in 1954. In 1964 he had been writing to Bob, trying to get him to come out there with him. In 1964, after selling his house again and getting finances ready, he moved out to hook up with his mentor again. Bob started out working the day shift, ten to six. He developed a following for clean and fast work. Bob Shaw worked there for 15 years working with the likes of  Don Nolan, Zeke Owen, Rio de Janiero, Phil Simms, Bob Oslan, Bob Roberts, Rick Walters, Mike Malone, sons Bobby and Larry, Jonathon Shaw,  Joe Vegas, to name just a few. Bob Shaw drew on all the years of drawing and painting and his own innovations to constantly add to the 20 or 30 sheets of flash he drew each year. Bob produced a steady flow of work and when Bert was ready to retire, Bob purchased the Long Beach Pike shop at #22 Chestnut in 1969.

Tattoos that were coming out of  the Pike were becoming the standard of work for any competitive tattooer, blending of colors, bold outlines and designs with artistic flair were the benchmark of Pike tattooing. The distinctive style of lettering became known in the tattoo business as Pike style or Shaw style lettering. It’s very distinctive, flowing but bold with a lot of embellishments. Bob Shaw was the master of Pike style lettering and spent hours at it.

During the Pike years Bob and Todd, both, built beautiful machines and perfected a swingate Jonesy style tattoo machine that became an industry standard.

In 1972, Larry Shaw, Bob youngest son, started tattooing at the Long Beach shop. One year later Col. Todd moved out west to work with Bob. Later that year  Bobby, Bob's oldest son got out of the Army, and they opened a shop in Santa Ana so Bobby and newcomer, Bob Roberts, could learn to tattoo. Then in 1976, Shaw and Todd bought Bert Grimm's San Diego shop and 2 years later they bought Bert Grimm's Portland, Oregon shop.

In 1979 Bob was finally thinking about slowing down, and in preparation he opened up a shop in Houston Tx and in 1983, the Shaw family moved to Aransas Pass, Texas. Bobs Aransas Pass tattoo shop was a tattoo getaway of sorts but it was Bob and Bobby's mainstay and home base. In 1983, Bob Shaw was the 3rd Inductee to Lyle Tuttles Tattoo Hall of Fame. Even still, Bob was always a little uneasy with fame or notoriety but at the same time he was quick to counsel or help out other tattooers. Now the grandfatherly role suited him more and he did travel and he was involved with the National Tattoo Association. In 1983 he was elected Vice President and 5 years later the President of the NTA, which he held until 1993.

One of the highest Awards the NTA had to bestow, was the Bob Shaw Award the Golden Age Recipient, in honor of the long and traveled and persistent career he led. Although Bob Shaw was well known in the Tattoo community of his peers, Bob Shaws story and career journey has become a beacon to a legion of tattooers today, young and old alike. Steadfast and honorable could have been his motto as he embodies those words with his legendary career.

Bob sold the Pike shops to Col Todd in the mid 80s, concentrating on his home in Aransas Pass and still continueing on his legacy with the Shaw Family of shops in Texas.  Bob Shaw died on March 17^th  1993, his wife Wanda died on April 26^th 2002. Bobby Jr also passed away in 2017. Today the Shaw family including Larry Shaw and Bobs Grandsons, Bobby, Benny and Larry Shaw II, operate Tattoo shops all across Texas, in Aransas Pass, Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth areas. Kari Barba bought the  building at 22 Chestnut in 2003 and perserves a small museum to  the memory of the Pike and its legendary artists like Bob Shaw.