Doc Webb Tattooer on 4th Ave | Early San Diego Tattooer
This is a small piece of San Diego tattooing connected to Doc Webb.
The other night I was flipping through an old book I have called The Tattooists, published by Albert J. Morse in 1977. It’s one of those books tattooers have been passing around for years and totally out of print.
While looking through it I came across the section about him.
What caught my attention was the business card for his shop.
buisness card for his 4th ave. location.
It listed his studio at 850 4th Avenue in downtown San Diego, just a few doors down from the Balboa Theatre.
That got me curious.
So I went for a walk to see if the location might still be there.
Finding the Location of his Tattoo Shop
The address on the card reads:
850 4th Ave
San Diego, California
Over the years the area around the Balboa Theatre has changed quite a bit. Construction, the addition of a parking garage, a park, a mall, and expansion of the theater space seem to have shifted the addresses along the block.
Looking at the buildings today, the original location appears to line up closest to 849 4th Avenue, directly across the street from the back area of the theatre.
Even though the exact storefront has changed, the location is still recognizable when you compare the old photograph of the shop with the buildings that remain on the block.
picture referanced from the 1977 book.
When Tattoo Shops Were Pushed Out of Downtown
One interesting part of San Diego tattoo history is how the city treated tattoo shops in the past.
For many years, tattoo shops were classified under the same category as “erotic businesses.” Because of that zoning classification, the city placed restrictions on where tattoo shops could operate.
Areas like the Gaslamp Quarter were often off limits unless a shop had been operating long enough to be grandfathered in under older rules.
current day location
That means many of the early tattoo shops that once existed in downtown San Diego have quietly disappeared over time.
doc Webb | Career in Tattooing
According to the interview in The Tattooists, Doc tattooed for more than 40 years in 1977, and likely closer to over 50 years over the course of his career.
Before tattooing, he worked as a commercial artist for theaters and did sign painting and illustrations for arcades.
at his tattoo parlor in San Diego.
He also drew tattoo designs for other tattooers early in his career, sometimes earning 50 to 75 cents per design.
Like many tattooers of that era, Webb’s entry into tattooing came through a mixture of drawing, sign work, and learning from other artists.
Buying a Tattoo Machine from Charlie Wagner
One of the best stories in the book involves Webb ordering his first tattoo machine from Charlie Wagner, one of the pioneers of early American electric tattoo machines.
Webb recalled:
fully assemble Wagner tattoo machine
“I got my first tattoo machine from Charley Wagner in 1926. They were two for five dollars, but all he sent me was a frame, some coils, a few springs and a bunch of screws. I wrote him asking how to put them together. He wrote back that if I didn’t know how to put them together, I shouldn’t have them.”
Stories like that give a glimpse into how different tattooing was in the early days.
That tradition of tattooers building and modifying their own machines still carries through in parts of the craft today.
san diego Tattoo History Hiding in Plain Sight
Walking around downtown San Diego today, it’s easy to miss how much tattoo history once existed in the area.
A small business card in a book from 1977 led me to a storefront that most people walk past without ever realizing it once housed a tattoo shop.
It’s a reminder that a lot of tattoo history isn’t in museums or archives.
Sometimes it’s just hiding in plain sight on a city block you’ve walked past a hundred times.
Learn More About Traditional American Tattooing
If you’re interested in the roots of tattooing in the United States, you can read more about Traditional American tattooing and its history here