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<\/a>These days, rapidly approaching his mid-70s, Walters is among the last of the Pike\u2019s old guard still tattooing. He\u2019s hooked up to oxygen now\u2014decades of motorcycles and cigarettes have finally caught up to him\u2014causing his extended family to come together for a fundraising art show on March 30 to help pay some of his medical bills. They\u2019ve also set up a GoFundMe page for Walters<\/a>. Despite any of that, the fiery former machinist still hangs around his shop to chop it up and tattoo a few days each week.<\/p>\n The Sunset Beach location he\u2019s owned for the last five years may not have the legendary status of Bert Grimm\u2019s, but where else is he going to go where there\u2019s a hand-painted cabinet with his face on it and every wall is replete with approximately $70,000 worth of original tattoo flash paintings by the world\u2019s most renowned and famous tattooers?<\/p>\n Of course, if it wasn\u2019t for a nasty motorcycle wreck about a half-century ago, Walters likely would\u2019ve gone into the military instead of becoming a machinist which eventually led him to tattoo at a shop in Gardena in the evenings and hanging out at the Pike during his time off. The friendships he built with tattoo legends such as Bob Shaw, Owen Jensen and Hong Kong Tom eventually turned into the gig that made him famous, and then he just refused to give it up. Walters,\u00a0the artist, became known for his crisp and classic take on American traditional tattooing, defined by bold lines and bright solid colors; \u201ctattoos that look like tattoos\u201d in a more common vernacular.<\/p>\n Virtually everyone who\u2019s spent enough time in the tattoo industry has a Rick Walters story that they can only tell in appropriate company. His tales of violence (typically in the form of well-deserved revenge) and debauchery still define the Long Beach tattoo scene of the late \u201870s through the \u201890s, and although he half-jokingly refuses to go on record with many of them for fear of legal repercussions, some of the stories that have lasted are the ones about him helping people.<\/p>\n \u201cIf he likes you, he\u2019ll care for you and do everything and anything he can for you,\u201d said tattoo artist Krystin Jones, Walters\u2019 daughter, who said that her dad wouldn\u2019t teach her to tattoo to spare her claims of nepotism within the community. \u201cIt\u2019ll be on his terms, but you\u2019ll get what it is that you\u2019re needing. You may not get it the way you wanted to get it, but you\u2019ll come out of it with a lot more knowledge. He\u2019s given more people chances than anyone, including people that I don\u2019t understand, and people have been going to him my whole life when they\u2019ve needed something. He\u2019s got such a big heart, and it\u2019s not just for [his actual] family but also for [his tattoo] family.\u201d<\/p>\n Jones is the only one of Walters\u2019 familial children (including step-children) who tattoos, but his tattooing family tree stretches around the world. Considering that he spent decades teaching apprentices, fixing machines and selling equipment while he tattooed out of one of the most famous shops in the world, his current tattoo offspring, nephews, nieces, cousins, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren are a who\u2019s-who of the industry.<\/p>\n “I think of Rick as my grandfather in tattooing,” said legendary artist and Bert Grimm’s owner, Kari Barba. “My early mentor Fat George was trained by Rick. In tattooing, that makes him my grandfather.”<\/p>\n Virtually every artist in Southern California is likely separated just a few degrees from Walters and the vast majority of tattooers around the world aren\u2019t much farther off.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are two main tattoo families in L.A. and Orange County, the Captain Jim family and the Bert Grimm family,\u201d Walters said. \u201cPeople who\u2019ve served a real apprenticeship have pretty much come out of one of those two families. Nowadays you have the internet tattooers who just went and bought a bunch of shit and started tattooing, but if they know what the hell they\u2019re doing, they came out of one of those families.\u201d<\/p>\n Chris Winn, one of Walters\u2019 many apprentices at Bert Grimm\u2019s, credits him with not only teaching him the craft but giving him life.<\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be who I am at this very moment in time if it wasn\u2019t for him,\u201d he said. \u201cNot only did he teach me my trade, to be a tattooer I can be proud of when looking in the mirror, but he\u2019s taught me my history and respect for where I come from, how I do it, and why I do it. Tattooing isn\u2019t a job, it\u2019s a life. When somebody gives you that, they\u2019re giving you a life. I\u2019d probably be dead or in prison if it wasn\u2019t for him.\u201d<\/p>\n Although Walters may have moved his business to Sunset Beach, his family ties still run through virtually all of Long Beach\u2019s tattoo scene. After all, he was a vocal proponent of his tattoo granddaughter, Kari Barba, buying the location he\u2019d helped make famous when Bert Grimm\u2019s closed in 2002; this even when other old-timers were against a woman taking over the iconic shop.<\/p>\n “Rick has stood up for me many times,” Barba said. “When others were upset a woman was possibly taking over Bert Grimm’s World Famous Tattoo, Rick had my back and had nothing but great things to say.”<\/p>\n And his other descendants can be found all over the city. As much as Walters dislikes political correctness and has never been one to hold back on offensive language, his extended family serves as proof that under the gruff exterior is a warm heart that has a place for people from all walks of life. From actual relatives to tattoo apprentices to motorcycle club members, the adoring network in Walters\u2019 life is more than just a social media following (though Walters is more adept on an iPhone\u00a0than many half his age) or a fan club.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>