TATTOO HISTORY | BOB ROBERTS | ATLANTA TATTOO SHOP
Bob Roberts was the founder and owner of the famed Spotlight Tattoo in Los Angeles, California and was known for his intense watercolor style, detailed compositions that pull from Traditional American Tattoo flash, Tibetan Thangkas Paintings, and outlaw motorcycle imagery.
Bob was born in Los Angeles, California, March 9, 1946, Bob’s dad owned a store in downtown LA on Eight and Broadway. Bob would go to work with his dad on the weekends, which would lead to him exploring the block and the surrounding stores. According to Bob, “they had a lot of tattoo shops, so I used to go into all of them until I got thrown out, and I just always loved it, man. I saw all these people getting tattooed and from a young age it just nailed me to the wall.” As a young adult, Bob played saxophone in Rock n’ Roll bands for many years. During this time he was still painting a lot of flash designs with the desire to find a job. “I thought I could be good at it (tattooing); I loved drawing the designs. So I went to a few shops and went, “Hey! Where can I get some ink and some guns?” And they just told me to get the fuck outta there.”
One day in 1973, Bob was driving down the hills of Laurel Canyon when he ran across some friends hitchhiking. A fringed leather jacket with a Japanese dragon done in Indian beads caught his attention, so much that Bob stopped to inquire about the design and who had made the jacket. When Bob asked Truly if she made the jacket, she said she did, so he asked if she did it herself. She said, “Yeah, and I’m a tattoo artist too.” Bob explained that he was looking into getting equipment and machines. Truly explains “I have a whole outfit I could sell you.” “So, I bought some machines and some flash (that I still have) and a power-pack, and that’s really how I got started”.
Shortly after, Bob would get his first three tattoos from legendary shop “The Pike” in Santa Ana, California, currently known as “Outer Limits Tattoo''. Originally opened in 1927 by legendary Bert Grimm, The Pike is the longest continuously running tattoo shop in America and is still in operation. There Bob would be tattooed by Bob Shaw, “I told him I was interested in working there. I’d bring him stuff that I’d drawn and I’d get tattooed by him, so he gave me the ultimate challenge: bring some people in that’ll let you put a tattoo on them. Well, I was in a rock and roll band at the time and these guys knew I could draw, so I told them to come to The Pike with me to get some free tattoos—I was bringing two carloads of guys a week down there. And I did alright, you know? I guess they figured, “Well, I guess this means we have to give this asshole a job.” And they did!”. After his apprenticeship under Bob Shaw and Colonel Todd, he would take over Bert Grimms’ chair, working alongside Bob Shaw. After 4 years working for The Pike, tattooing dozens of people a day, sometimes more, Bob took a 4 month hiatus before working for Cliff Raven at Sunset Tattoo in West Hollywood. From there he would go on to work with Ed Hardy at Realistic Tattoo in San Francisco, California. After working for Ed for three and a half years, Bob then moved to New York City to open his first iteration of his Spotlight Tattoo in New York City during the days when tattooing was still illegal. He rented a loft, living in one half, tattooing in the other. Unfortunately, the owner of the building would eventually sell it, forcing Bob to reconsider his options in where to tattoo. “I wasn’t gonna live and work in the same place again, and I couldn’t afford to open a shop on the street and then get a separate place to live in plus, I was burned out on New York, so I came back”. Returning to the west coast, Bob opened a new iteration of Spotlight Tattoo in a garage on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. Eventually, Spotlight would move into a proper shop next door, where it still is today.
Few people have had the impact on tattooing that Bob Roberts has. For over 40 years he has been a part of a vanguard of extremely skilled and talented tattoo artists who, unbeknownst to them during the time, have pushed tattooing from a craft to an artform. Spotlight Tattoo continues to house a roster of talented artists that draws attention from around the world. Bob’s musical career reads much the same as his tattoo career, playing with New York Dolls, Ruben and the Jets, Hot Tuna, The Offs, Johnny Thunders and more. His life has been “rock and roll” as well; Traveling around the world to San Francisco, New York, LA, Europe, Japan, Bob has done the world tour. He’s also ridden across most of the United States on a Harley, and he’s “ridden it like he stole it.” That is how he lived his life until his passing on May 26, 2022. Bob Roberts will forever go down as a pioneer of the tattoo industry and will forever be recognized for not only his skill set, but how he helped shape the culture of Traditional Tattooing in America.
