Opie Ortiz : THE MAN * THE MYTH * THE LEGEND

Opie Ortiz is an American artist from Long Beach, California specializing in tattoos, pop art and murals. He's best known for his work with the band Sublime.

'He’s been following this road since discovering the remains of the city’s famous Pike amusement park (once home to seven tattoo parlors) as a kid.

“I remember going down there and just being terrified. I was like 6 or 7 years old. Just riding my bike down there and creepy-crawlies just coming out,” he says. “All these weird people. Parts of it were still functioning: the military, the drugs, the hookers. It was probably the greatest place ever.” A few years later, he ventured into Bert Grimm’s shop—now, Kari Barba’s Outer Limits—the oldest tattoo parlor in the U.S. “I think I was 15 when I started hanging out there. I had one tattoo,” he says, struggling to find it in his full sleeves. “To me, it was like a church, going to church.”'

Source: Douglas, Theo. “Drawn Together.” The District Weekly: June 4, 2008.


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