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Amund
Dietzel (1890-1973)
Amund
Dietzel was born
in Denmark in 1890
and went to sea
at the tender age
of ten. He learned
the art of hand
tattooing during
those early sailor
years. While with
the Danish Merchant
Marines, Dietzel
was ship-wrecked
in the Saint Lawrence
Seaway and stayed
in the United States.
By 1907 he was
tattooing on State
Street in Chicago.
As with other tattooists of his
era, Dietzel worked in many cities,
including New Haven, CT, Albany,
NY, Detroit, MI, and Columbus,
OH. In Columbus he met Fred Clark
who went on to tattoo for the side
show. 1915 found Dietzel back on
State Street, this time working
with Bill Grimshaw.
In 1916 he made the move to Milwaukee
and opened a shop at #207 Third
Street. He still hit the road in
the summer months to tattoo in
different towns. It was around
this same time that Nick Melroy
started working on two tattoo machine
frame designs that went on to be
associated with Dietzel.
In the 1940's Dietzel moved to
larger quarters at #948 Plankton
Avenue in Milwaukee as shown above.
It was here that Dietzel had the
space to gear up for the war time
business that was heading his way.
During World War II, the Plankton
location had four tattooists (including
Dietzel) working 12 hour shifts.
In 1963 the state of Illinois raised
the minimum age for getting a tattoo
to twenty-one. Most of the tattooists
left town and several relocated
to Milwaukee. This was of little
bother to Dietzel who was still
doing sailing ships for $2.50,
and had all the business he could
handle.
The shipping label seen to the
right was part of Paul Roger's
collection.
Milwaukee got caught up in the
legislation against tattooing,
and in 1967 outlawed tattooing
within the city limits. Dietzel's
comment was, "At least it took
the city fifty-one years to find
out it doesn't want me. Milwaukee
used to be a very nice town."
Tattoo Archive © 1991
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