The OG section is a tribute to Old Guys and Their Tattoos. These guys, and a few women, are the reason tattoos are so popular today. We're all just trying to capture a little bit of the true old school cool that these guys have. They were tattooed in time, a world, where ink was a message, the medium, was the message.  Usually the message was FTW.
Often these tattoos where obtained in prison, or just outside of a military base days before being shipped off to war, to mark allegiance to an outsider group. Here we try to honor the traditions, document a fading history.

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Ikey was hanging out in front of a ice cream shop in Williamsburg Brooklyn. He was nice enough to let me photograph him and ask him a few questions.

He didn’t say much.
How old are you?
“74”.
When did you get the tattoo’s on your arm?
“1955”.
Who did them?
“Blackie in Coney Island”.

Brooklyn Blackie
 

Brooklyn Blackie

Brooklyn Blackie Business Card

The Star of David when he got when he was in the Army, 1955. Under the star is says “Ikey USA”

"Mr Lucky" and Kewpie by Broolyn Blackie. 1955.
And the tattoos on your leg?
“I got ‘em the joint, maybe ’91 or ’92”.
What about the tear drops, what’s the story with them?
“Ain’t no story.  Just put them on”.
At that point one of his buddies, "M", laughed and said “if you told the truth and had all the one’s you’re should have you’d have ‘em running all the way down your arm.”  "M" raise’s his arm and with his hand making a gun he pulls the trigger.
He points at Ikey “this guy is one tough Jew.”
The knuckles used to say to say “fuck you?” With the question mark.
“Got ‘em when I was 16.”

That was pretty much it. Ikey is so old school he wouldn’t even tell me his name, which may or may not be Ikey.