Vyvyn in front of Danny Danzl's shop in the 1970's.
Vyvyn Lazonga has been a tattoo icon for
more than 30 years. She was one of the first female artists
in the world who went out on her own and didn't work for her
husband or partner; she worked for herself and her art. She
broke many boundaries, challenged the tattoo/artistic norm,
and continues to create amazing custom body art today.
I have always done art, ever since I could remember,
from the age of about 2. Anything I could pick up and draw with
I did. Once I remember getting in trouble for drawing on all
of the furniture and walls with crayons at the age of 3. The
tattoo muse struck me in the early l970's after I had seen an
article done about tattoos in a men's magazine. The article
was on Cliff Raven and his work. At that time there were no
tattoo magazines so this venue seemed to be the only happening
way for a tattooist to show their work.
I first tattooed on the original "skid road" in
Seattle. It was called that because around the turn of the century
when they were building the city, they would skid the lumber
down the hill to the waterfront where it would be cut and processed
for all the new buildings. This became the hub of nightlife
for all the sailors during WWI and WWII. My shop is now located
in one of the main historical buildings in the Pike Place Market,
about 2 blocks from the waterfront. It's also about 2 blocks
from where I started out on 1st Ave., skid road in Seattle.
I learned tattooing from one of the old timers, C.J. Danny
Danzl, who was a sailor during WWII and retired seaman with
Foss Tug Boat Company. When I first heard that someone was opening
a tattoo shop in Seattle I immediately ran down there to talk
with him to just feel the situation out. I approached him with
the idea of me being his "Go For" and helper. He really
liked the idea, so that is how it started.
It never occurred to me that you could create works of art
on the skin until I had seen Cliff Raven's work. I thought how
beautiful it would be to create not only a work of art but to
be able to carry a talisman around on your skin until you died.
This seemed like a very powerful way to make the ultimate affirmation
for yourself.
After serving a 7-year apprenticeship with Danny I struck
out on my own and decided to take tattooing off of skid road
to a neighborhood called Capital Hill. I had that shop for a
few years and then moved around after that and wound up in San
Francisco.
Living and working in San Francisco was like going to school
in a way. I got more streetwise. I had a shop in the outer Mission
for several years and learned to adapt to Hispanic culture.
After a couple of years of that I moved to lower Haight Street
and started developing a very good clientele base.
I made friends with some of the local tattooists there like
Henry Goldfield, Ed Hardy, Bill Salmon, Lyle Tuttle, Erno and
Captain Don. It was fun times, especially when Lyle would have
some of his parties and all the tattoo groupies would be hanging
out outside begging to get in. I met Kurinomo, (Horiyoshi II)
when he was still alive at one of Lyle's parties.
It was such a great honor. After the earthquake of '89 I moved
back to Seattle. My place was pretty well ruined in the earthquake
so I packed up what I could and moved back to Seattle where
I knew I could start over very easily. That was when I opened
a shop in Pike Place Market and I have been happy here ever
since.
I recently changed my business name from Vyvyn's Tattoo to
Madame Lazonga's Tattoo, because I had that name for many years
early on in my career but had changed it to Vyvyn's for numerological
reasons. Now I feel it's time to go back to Madame Lazonga because
it sort of conjures up it's own mythological imaginings and
it's more playful. I have also recently opened a larger shop
in the Market and added some talented artists.
