David Bell

Tattoo artist David Bell, 30, has been
working on Hollywood Boulevard across
from the Kodak Theater for two months.
He has been in the business for 14
years, tattooing people from all walks of
life, “from movie stars to porn stars,
crack heads to moms to daughters to
grandparents to doctors and lawyers,” he
says. “It’s kind of weird.”
   “A tattoo shop is kind of on the edges
of society, and a lot of people don’t want
to recognize that a lot of those people
come down here. I compare it to being a
prostitute. People don’t want to say that
they do it, they don’t want to say that
they go there, but they’re still in business
somehow. We’re everybody’s dirty little
secret.”
   These days, he tattoos a lot of
tourists, people just passing through.
“The younger kids want lot of traditional
style stuff, like stars; people who are a
little bit older put a lot more research into
it.” When he first started, biker and
prison designs were in vogue, “and then
it went into the whole tribal thing for a few
years, and now it’s going back to the old
sailor style tattoos.”
   Bell has a lot stories. One night,
action superstar Jackie Chan came in
with a special request. “He brought in his
mistress and we had to do the whole
thing in private,” says Bell. “He wanted
to do it in the back. He came in, pulled
me aside, said, ‘Can I talk to you?’ Paid
me $200 to do this little tattoo and not tell
anybody, keep it way under wraps. It
was a little star on her butt. She was
Mexican, 22, young and hot. He didn’t
talk much. He’d had a little too much to
drink.”
   “One time I was tattooing this girl, and
she passed out. I brought her back
around, she passes out again, and next
thing I hear is SHHHHHH! I looked down,
and she’s peeing all over herself.”
   His first tattoo was a shamrock on his
leg. “I got it when I was 16. I just got
hooked after that, went from there and
just kept going and going and going and
going. Now I’m doing it for a living. I
used to hate tattoos when I was a kid.
Then I told myself I was only getting one.”
   He was raised in Tucson, AZ, in a
conservative Catholic family. His
parents, naturally, were against his new
interest. “Growing up, Mom and Dad
were like, oh no, what’s he doing now,
what’s he getting into? This new phase.
And then once they saw I could make a
career out of it and make a living at it,
they started to get supportive. Now I’ve
tattooed my mom and my dad, all my
cousins. The whole family. They come
to the tattoo conventions and hang out.
They’re totally into it. It’s a good time.”
   And what kind of tattoos did he give
his conservative Catholic mother and
father? “I tattooed my mom’s butt with a
heart with my dad’s initials, and I tattooed
my dad’s arm with a heart and a banner
and a dagger through it, with my mom’s
name,” he says. “It was a weird
experience tattooing my mom’s butt.”