HONOLULU (KHON2) — On a narrow street in Honolulu’s Chinatown is the birthplace of modern American tattooing.
Old Ironside Tattoo, once the shop of Norman “Sailor Jerry” Collins, holds its ground as both a living studio and a piece of history.
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Harry Seda, owner and tattoo artist at Old Ironside said it all began in 1960.
“Sailor Jerry opened up this shop here in 1960, after working around the neighborhood in a few different shops,” Seda said as he leaned back in Sailor Jerry’s tattoo perch. “And, you know, he did quit for a moment tattooing. And when he decided to come back to it, this is the very place where he decided to do his own shop.”
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Sailor Jerry ran the studio until his death in 1973. Mike Malone took over afterward and renamed the shop China Sea. From there, ownership passed hands, sometimes as a piercing business, sometimes left quiet…