The History of Acme Tattoo
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The History of Acme Tattoo ACME Tattoo Company, Inc. and Don Nolan have, of course, received much additional positive press cover- age. Perhaps more importantly, the contributions made by Nolan to the quality, professionalism and public image of tattooing extend beyond his own life. As indicated by Rubin, Brunson, Stell and other in the previ- ously noted publications, the world of personal artistic expression would not have advanced to its current level of individuality, competence, accessibility and acceptance without the steady and resolute interface between No- lan’s eyes, hands and imagination To the bast legion of ACME Tattoo Company clients, owning an excellent image indicative of their dreams, am- bitions, passions, memories or prayers has always been much more important than whether their artist appears in print or on television. If tattooing or any body modification is to be a uniquely personal statement, the poten- tial recipient will feel at home with the supportive receptionists at ACME Tattoo Co., seated within the chairs or laying on the padded tables near their trusted artist. Though ACME Tattoo Co. has several thousand items of flash present in its waiting room to choose from or gain ideas from - much of it drawn by Nolan in the 1970’s to the present - the shop is known primarily for is eagerness to provide individual images that walk through the world. Custom drawing is forever on-going by the artists at ACME Tattoo Co. For those potential customers who feel pressured by family, friends, lovers and society in general; who feel pushed and pulled and prodded to “get a tattoo” so that they fit in: Nolan and his crew would prefer that the unsure and insecure wait for their bodily decoration until such time as they truly desire a permanent image from their own heart, psyche, spirit and soul. Though there can be an element of communal bonding attached to re- ceiving or wearing a tattoo, the ink goes deeper than the pigment on a sirt of the embroidery on a jacket. Tattoos always leave their mark - as they should - and are not so easily changed as earrings or other piercing accents. Walking through the door at 1045 Arcade Street, St. Paul, Minnesota is stepping into a world devoid of orches- trated mass media drama. There are no television cameras set upon tripods. There are no microphones to cap- ture each instigated argument sure to add ratings to “reality TV”. There are no inflated egos or swollen price schedules. The potential client is engulfed in the possibility of personal adornment, enhanced contact with their own individual life priorities, and always art! Your ACME tattoo will be done in such a manner as to exceed even the health regulations that Nolan helped write for the City of St. Paul upon opening their shop over twenty years ago. The outstanding reputation won by Nolan and ACME Tattoo Co. draws many medical career clients to the shop for tattoos done in the ideal circumstances of cleanliness and professionalism. ACME Tattoo Company is licensed annually by Ramsey County Health Department. ACME Tattoo Co. submits periodic samples to a contracted laboratory for spore testing of their autoclave sterilizing equipment. Needles are single-use for each client; separated then via elec- tric arc from all other equipment. Inks are individualized to each recipient of a tattoo within ACME Tattoo Co. Each finished tattoo is cleaned again before bandaging. Care instructions are given verbally or in American Sign Language; with written reiteration handed to each client. Should any questions or concerns arise, ACME Tattoo Co. invites customers to contact them without fear that such queries may appear naive. ACME cares!
Though the artists of ACME Tattoo Company have placed art on their share of the famous and high-profile - as evidenced by numerous unsolicited autographed and framed photographs at the shop - the business is built upon serving all people equally. Handwritten notes of appreciation from customers who now feel somehow “more whole” receive prominent placement on scarce wall space. No one is common. No one is special by nature of birth, finances, name or title. All who present their flash to Nolan or his crew for adornment do so as warm canvas covering souls of great worth. Nolan and his artists at ACME Tattoo Company are often visited by individuals who present with inferior tat- toos done elsewhere. Many of these unfortunate folks seek ACME modification of messes; cover-up of embarrassing smudges, misshapen images and the poorly-placed tattoos they obtained in other parts of the state, country or world. IN most cases considerable improvement results and the client leaves 1045 Arcade Street, St. Paul, MN with ACME quality as bright as their smile of satisfaction! ACME Tattoo Company has never relied upon tattoo convention contest results to build their customer base. Nonetheless, when last counted amongst the neon and happy houseplants, the reception area of ACME only had room for 97 trophies, plaques and awards. Hundreds of additional contest winnings are boxed up and stored. No matter; perpetually pleased clients walking the world are a much greater reward for the careful, con- scientious work performed at 1045 Arcade Street, St. Paul, Minnesota. Framed upon a wall at ACME Tattoo Co. is a glowing personal statement of confidence from Dr. Janis Ama- tuzio, M.D., Assistant Coroner for Dakota, Scott and Chisago counties. Her statement, written in 1988, reads in part, “(Nolan) is a competent and highly knowledgeable tattoo artist.” Nolan and the ACME Tattoo Co. artists enjoy a thriving trade among numerous doctors - including two Mayo Clinic anesthetists - nurses, therapists, counselors and allied health professionals. Adhering to the highest standards of hygiene aimed at safe, clean tattoo application, many medical professionals ave compli- mented the personnel at ACME Tattoo Co. Nolan has seen doctors introduce their own family members to him without hesitation. ACME Tattoo Company is a member of the Alliance of Professional Tattooists, Inc., P.O.Box 1735, Glen Bur- nie, MD 21060. APT president Miceala Michieli Beasley states, “Nolan is a member in excellent standing of our professional standards organization, having attended the seminar, “Preventing Disease Transmission in Tat- tooing.” This course, taken by Nolan in September 1994, was taught by Dr. Kris Sperry, secretary of the APT, and employed by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia. ACME Tattoo Company mandates that all artists and support staff stay current on OSHA/Bloodborne Pathogens Training. Everyone participates in a steri-safe OSHA program of continuing education. Everyone is tested annually and recertified in the preven- tion of disease transmission in tattooing and OSHA/Bloodborne Pathogens Training. ACME Tattoo Co. proudly displays its tattooing license, as issued by the City of St. Paul, and regulated by Ramsey County Health Department. During the 2000 Minnesota legislative session ACME Tattoo Company proposed a change to state law; that the tattooing of minors be prohibited and state wide regulation imposed. ACME Tattoo Company poured many hours into this effort; and continues this fight, further evidence that these artists are truly concerned members of their neighborhood, city, state and society. To show your support or voice an opinion call the State Reps General number for Minnesota: 651-296-2146 or contact Representative Tim Mahoney at email address: rep.tim.mahoney@house.mn.
ACME Tattoo Company Inc. is a member of the National Tattoo Association, the Alliance of Professional Tat- tooists, and the Minnesota Better Business Bureau. They are the only local tattoo shop with a full-time fluent American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter on staff for clients who are deaf or hearing impaired. Though Nolan has completed may dozens of bodysuits - probably more than any other American artist - and has world-wide fame for his creativity, experience, generosity and gentle approach to his clients, the shop minimum at ACME Tattoo Company remains a modest. $45. The hourly rate is a very reasonable $140/hour. ACME Tat- too Co. can afford to maintain such affordable prices due to their stability and longevity. ACME is no flash in the pan: bright for only a second, before fading to black. There exist tattoo shops which charge several times the hourly rate of ACME Tattoo Co., only to need the funds later when their customers fail to return after sadly finding that their tattoos are indeed inferior and overpriced. There are those contributions to humankind that can be seen for fifty or more years in bridges and buildings created of iron or bricks. Nolan’s accomplishments continue to walk and talk and breathe over these same five decades. The lessons he has taught; the innovations he has made nearly universal, will live on. Great art has a soul that outlasts even the human heart! Wall space is limited for all that could be displayed at ACME Tattoo Company. Vying for attention are items that include a poster of Peggi Scwartz ( now Hurley ), the winner of the National Tattoo Association’s Best Tat- tooed Female competition at its 1986 convention in New Orleans. Hurley, a tattoo artist herself, bears a body- suit that is almost entirely Nolan-created. A doorway frame supports a photo with signed dedication alongside Nolan’s tattoo likeness of blues artist Greg Allman as rendered on the leg of the late New York tattoo artist Neil Grant. A wall sports a photograph of the champion show horse on which Nolan restored lost neck pigment for the grateful owner. ( While he operated a series of tattoo shops in Anchorage, Nolan tattooed an ID number on a se- dated bear at the request of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. Nolan, always game for a new experi- ence, reported that the bear’s particular aroma was unlike anything else he has yet inhaled! ) Another wall holds several photos taken by noted Chicago photographer Jeff Crisman of Nolan in the process of tattooing his large-scale art onto clients. Above a mirror resides a photo of a Nolan client comparing their fully dinosaur-illustrated leg with that of a five-foot dinosaur bone at the Science Museum of Minnesota. Nearby are a number of photographic images of Pablo Picasso, of tattoo art forefathers, and of Nolan with his good friends, master bike painter Dave Perewitz and bike builder Donny Smith. Close to his work station, Nolan has hung black and white prints of his documentation of early drag racers - a process he almost didn’t survive on one occasion. Capturing the action of the events the photos exhibit Nolan’s ability to find the focal point with maximum impact. He brings this same sense of prioritization to his paintings and tattoos. Framed in a back room is the cartoon image Nolan produced for the St. Paul Firefighters/Regions Hospital col- laboration on CPR education.
Curiously, neither Nolan, nor the other artists of his shop carry around inflated ideas of self-worth. Nolan is more likely to look a client in the eye and tell them of his sense of awe experienced while photographing the early drag racing exploits of “Big Daddy” Don Garlitts, than to mention that his own open ocean sailing adventures were repeatedly chronicled in the early 1980’s by Connecticut newspaper columnist Bob Harrington. Nolan, while aware of his talent, is unimpressed by his many prior ac- complishments. Continually seeking new waterways to sail with his paint brushes in oils or watercolors’ with his knives and files in blocks of cedar; with his pencils and pens on paper; and with his tattoo needle alter- nating between viscous pigment and warm, bare flesh; Nolan remains in part restless and searching. Though Nolan can draw almost anything in a variety of styles to fit the desires of his diverse clientele base, he and his artists at ACME Tattoo Co. have, the the request of teachers, lectured about drawing technique to art students at the their high school classrooms. “From those to whom much is given, much is expected...” As he can execute startlingly clear two=dimensional paper renditions of a client’s spoken desires for a prospec- tive tattoo before applying it to skin in such a way as to utilize existing body contours in order to form an approximation of a third dimension, Nolan receives customers from New Zealand, Norway, Australia and Canada, as well as from across the street in St. Paul. Each visitor to his shop is made to feel comfortable to ask questions and kick around tattoo ideas. Even though a major international suppler of tattoo designs (or “flash”) once carried a distinct and recognizable selection of Nolan’s drawings - denoted by an “N” suffix for Nolan - more joy is evidenced at low-key events such as Halloween at the shop, or the three years ACME spent graduation night at a local high school upon invi- tation; applying temporary tattoos to the graduates. Renowned Chicago photographer Jeff Crisman has documented in film images Nolan and many of his clients for inclusion in his book on the true masters of American tattooing. Crisman is but one of numerous studious craftspeople interested in documenting Nolan’s vast contribution to the art and anthropology of tattoo- ing. In recognition of his 50 years of superior artwork on human skin, Nolan was presented with the National Tattoo Association’s 1995 Bob Shaw Award at their Tucson, AZ convention. Nolan was one of only a handful of tattoo artists whose work on flesh was viewed early-on as true art. As such, witness Nolan’s tattoo artistry upon the person of Peggi Hurley; exhibited on a poster advertising the Seventh Annual Massachusetts College of Art Benefit Auction. Nolan, of course, has multiple photos of his beloved wife Tanika, her alter ego Lucy, his cats at play, and of at least one green antique car.... All about are placed a panorama of Nolan’s tattoos - large, medium and small - facing out from any spare space. When an artist has been as prolific as Nolan, no two dimensional square footage will ever prove adequate! This evidenced successful contribution to the world of art follows a winding, but sure, continuum during which Nolan sailed, biked, photographed, served in the U.S. Navy for 4 years, in the U.S. Merchant Marines for 2 years (remaining still active), owned multiple tattoo shops, and tutored an entire community of tattoo artists regardless of their prior experience. ACME Tattoo Company, Inc. is located at 1045 Arcade Street (Highway 61), St. Paul, Minnesota. The shop is easily accessed from the nearby freeway system and scenic Highway 61 itself. As attested to in a series of black and white archival photographs, the building that is home to so much warm art, has existed since the 1900’s. The main room sold ice cream, soda, candy and cigars back then. The side
room - currently Nolan’s base of operations - functioned as a barber shop. The room-width mirror still reflects satisfied customers! The street-facing windows of ACME Tattoo Co. are neon-framed to Nolan’s specifications. His neon-accented cedar wood sculpture, Man With a Migraine, looks out painfully upon the passing foot traffic of Arcade Street. Nolan has created a wall clock in the form of a beautiful female torso painted blue and adorned with swimming koi. The clock hand radiate from the decorated lady’s artistic output! A six-foot long paint brush hangs horizontally from the ceiling in Nolan’s work room. Despite its size it seems inadequate to the task of keeping pace with its owner’s prolific artistic output! Over two hundred refrigerator magnets cling to a heating/AC conduit in Nolan’s room. They keep watch over cases of miniature motorcycles, cars, nautical remnants of Nolan’s several circumnavigations, and the exploded fragments of a formerly-functional antique automobile. House plants in ACME Tattoo Company grow to prodigious size under the original copper ceiling. Hand- carved Dutch doors fashioned by Nolan in the shape of overlapping hearts separate the comfortable waiting area from the tattoo client service space in the main room Nolan’s eclectic musical tastes run from older blues such as Robert Johnson, John Lee Hooker and Muddy Wa- ters, to excellent efforts by Tom Waits, Johnny Cash, Hot Tuna, The Grateful Dead, Willie Nelson and Ray Charles. Clients can relax and let their eyes wander as their tattoos are applied by caring, conscientious tattoo artists at Nolan’s establishment. Neither the skin, nor the spirit of these fortunate clients will ever be the same! Whether in search of clean, fresh artwork or eager to rehab old ink that has seen better days, ACME Tattoo Company is the venue on Arcade Street; an old route rich in history and ripe with the lives of the working people who built St. Paul. With a gentle approach that equally sets first-timers at ease and welcomes old friends, Nolan possesses a self- assuredness earned through five decades of excellence. Despite the magnitude of his contributions, Nolan is devoid of arrogant attitude and free of fawning sycophants. Putting in full-time hours, Nolan quietly rolls ink into skin with a mastery that none other can claim. As he is fond of saying, Nolan continues to learn his craft each day, guided by a steady flood of ideas, and a trained artist’s understanding of cooperating tonal values and contrasting color combinations. Beyond this, Nolan simply will not apply a bad tattoo or rush the application of this warm art. Professional ethics and high personal principles have served Nolan well when much of the world opts for short-term convenience over long- term satisfaction! From maple leaves to mermaids, dolphins to dinosaurs, waves to wounded veteran homages, sea serpents to sunsets, koi to copperheads, birch trees to birth dates written in well-schooled cursive script, eagles to the elec- tric sky sparks known as lightning, flames licking from tailpipes to fawns licking from mountain streams, tigers in attack to turtles on a stroll by the tide, trains to extraterrestrials, octopi to osprey, Christ to chrysanthemums, and cherry blossoms to checker boards, Nolan and his artists at ACME Tattoo Company can accommodate most client requests.
Dreams reached for become reality! Desires met with successful commitment transformed to action leave a mark upon the soul deeper than any inked image! It is in this way that Don Nolan and ACME Tattoo Company, Incorporated contribute to a brighter future for a world beyond their walls and across all waves! ACME Tattoo Company, Incorporated; Don and Tanika Nolan, and several of their employees have demon- strated a lengthy and heartfelt commitment to the lives and living conditions of women, children, animals, fami- lies and general society on Arcade Street/Highway 61, the East Side, larger St. Paul, and the State of Minnesota. Witness the spearheading efforts of ACME Tattoo Company to enact and pass legislation to disallow the tattoo- ing of minors in Minnesota. ACME Tattoo Co. believes that some decisions – such as whether or not to drink or smoke, for whom to vote, and what tattoo to wear and walk around with – belong solely and responsibly to adults. Those individuals who would like to assist in gaining passage of a bill to limit the acquisition of tattoos in the State of Minnesota to persons over the age of eighteen, and get statewide health regulation, are encouraged to contact their State Representative. If uncertain of who represents you in the Minnesota House of Representatives, you may call the House General Information Line at #651-296-2146 to receive the name and contact information of the person elected to be responsible for the area of Minnesota in which you reside. ACME Tattoo Company received recognition in the form of a plaque of appreciation for their assistance toward the collection of nearly $10,000 during the Women on Wheels First Annual Ride For Survival, held August 28, 2004. The urgent needs of women and children in distress have been noted by ACME Tattoo Company; and the aid donated from the Nolans and their employees has been duly noted by civic leaders. The St. Paul Police Department officer-organizers of the annual Cops and Kids Motorcycle Ride wrote on July 2, 2007 to thank ACME Tattoo Co. for fundraising help toward accumulating over $1,300 to be spent on the purchase of Christmas gifts for child patients of Children’s and Gillette Hospital. In respectful acknowledgement of the assistance received by the City of St. Paul during a time of great hardship, the tragic shooting of St. Paul Police Department Officer Jerry Vick, the Saint Paul City Council passed a reso- lution honoring and recognizing persons and organizations who through the “devotion of time, resources, and support” girded the community and provided comfort to the grieving. The official Resolution, signed by all seven St. Paul City Council members, and gracing a wall in the tattoo shop frequented by police officers statewide, recognizes the assistance of ACME Tattoo Company during this most difficult time. Nolan designed the logo for the St.. Paul Police Federation, the officers’ representative organization. The powerful image, the original of which hangs on the wall of the Federation headquarters, appears on a number of attire items. Notwithstanding the multitude of positive contributions made to Arcade Street, the East Side and greater St. Paul by businesses such as ACME Tattoo Company, and citizens such as the Nolans and their staff; crime in St. Paul has continued to strand seniors in their homes, bar children from their playgrounds, and threaten the qui- etude to be sought in libraries. ACME Tattoo Company has reached out to encourage restitution for youth skirting the wrong side of the laws of civilized conduct. Doubtless – and perhaps surprisingly considering the public perception of tattoo shops – the lives of more than a few once-errant neighborhood children have been turned around by personal contact with Tanika Nolan. Long a strong supporter of additional law enforcement resources on the streets of St. Paul, Tanika read a speech on August 16, 2006 at the Trinity Mission Rally on Arcade Street in which she requested of the city the person- nel to patrol and prevent crime rather than react and run after crooks.
The ACME Tattoo Company co-owner also read a speech on September 9, 2006 at the Rice Street rally for 200 More Cops-Now! In which she reiterated her fervent desire for the number of police officers commensurate with the crime statistics she cited. Tanika is front and center in a cover page photo of the September 2006 issue of the Saint Paul Police Federa- tion newsletter; holding one of the many signs created at her ACME Tattoo Co. for use in the rally at the Trinity Mission on Arcade Street. The St. Paul Federation sent to ACME Tattoo Company a note of appreciation, signed by the Federation presi- dent, for the assistance the tattoo shop provided toward the hiring of twenty-six additional police officers in 2007. Tanika Nolan has also made notable contributions to the Wall of Tolerance for her “personal, public stand against hate, injustice and intolerance…” ACME Tattoo Company, Incorporated; a good citizen of the city; a great place to get a tattoo! You might even encounter a St. Paul Police patrol officer receiving an update to his or her own personal art collection! ACME Tattoo Company, Inc. dutifully contracts with an independent laboratory to monitor the efficacy of its autoclave sterilization equipment. All tattoo shops should look out for the health and safety of their clients. ACME Tattoo Co. has long set an example that eventually becomes the expected. In the year 2001 ACME Tat- too Co. provided American Red Cross Standard First Aid training to its staff. **ACME Tattoo Company asks that you EDUCATE YOURSELF about tattoos, sterility and competence. **ACME Tattoo Co. has thousands of available designs. **ACME Tattoo Co. does custom work, cover up’s and re-do’s on boo-boo tattoos you got on the cheap some- where else! **ACME Tattoo Co., guarantees our work! **ACME Tattoo Co. has male and female artists available, as well as a fluent ASL signer. **ACME Tattoo Co. is licensed and inspected by Ramsey County Health Department. We utilize sterilization techniques equivalent to those practiced in hospitals. New needles are used for each tattoo! **ACME Tattoo Co. is a member of the Alliance of Professional Tattooists (APT), and the National Tattoo As- sociation. **ACME Tattoo Co. is the industry leader in talent, equipment, techniques and attitude! **ACME Tattoo Company, Inc. is owned by Don Nolan – Master Tattooist, with over 54 years of solid experi- ence – and his talented wife and partner, Tanika. (And let’s not forget Lucy, their loveable canine companion and shop mascot!) ACME Tattoo Company; open 7 days a week from noon to 8 pm. Appointments and walk-ins welcome. 1045 Arcade Street, St. Paul, MN 55106 (651)771-0471 Clients with hearing difficulties may utilize the Minnesota Relay Service to contact us. That number is 711.
Each year ACME Tattoo Company, Inc. prints a new t-shirt design drawn by Nolan. The t-shirts, quite collect-
able, sell out quickly. Bumper stickers and gift certificates are also available.
The tattoo artists of ACME Tattoo Company, Incorporated:
Don Nolan – since 1955
Tanika Nolan – since 1991
Beth – since 1996
Gabriel – since 1999
And not to forget the receptionists who greet customers and prepare the tattoo areas:
(THANK YOU ALL!!)
ACME Tattoo Co., Inc.
1045 Arcade Street
St. Paul, MN 55106
651-771-0471
12:00 noon to 8:00 PM
seven days per week
Open most holidays.
Admittance limited to those 18 years of age and older.
State-legal picture ID required.
No cell phones, cameras, or electronic devices please!
ACME Tattoo Company, Inc. is regulated and inspected by the Ramsey
County Health Department.You can also read
