If you were Black in Houston before 1970 and wanted a tattoo, you had to either let your homeboy down the street play etch-a-sketch on your skin, do a bid in prison or enlist in the military.
As I thought over the restrictive and not very hygienic ways of how to attain a tattoo back in the day, I wondered where in the hell my uncle got his tattoos. I called my uncle, a man over the age of 50 from Trinity Gardens in Houston, Texas, and who still refers to himself as the “playa from the Himalayas,” and asked him where he and his friends used to go to get their tattoos. He paused a moment to remember and responded, “It’s a shop off 45, right after Tidwell, past the Skyline apartments. Go there and they’ll hook you up.”
My uncle couldn’t remember the name of the tattoo shop but the shop he was referring to, the shop where he and his partners were able to go and for the first time receive a professional tattoo, was Dago’s Tattoo Parlor.
A person doesn’t have to be a tattoo enthusiast to have heard of Dago. In the urban community his name is synonymous with Houston, and in tattoo circles his name makes some shudder while others revere Dago as the Pioneer of tattooing in Houston.
While I waited to meet the man, I maneuvered around the stream of both men and women waiting eagerly to get tattoos and piercings from the artists who work at Dago’s. I’m talking a line of people. While waiting, I had plenty of time to take in the ‘flash’ (wall art) at almost every corner of the parlor. There were hundreds upon hundreds of pictures on the walls – all manners of skulls, serpents, raptors, flame-breathing dragons, flowers, vines, angels, demons, daggers, buxom bombshells, portraits, tribal, marijuana leaves and ankhs.
When I finally shook hands with Dennis Dago Coelho, I realized just how much his looks matched his reputation. He’s a burly, tough old man of 66 with long black hair and aviator glasses. He matches the mold of what a rough neck classic tattoo artist would look like. His looks alone would make you think he struck matches with his palm.
Born in Fort Smith, Arkansas, Dennis did everything from working in the oil industry to serving his country as a G.I. But the Dago Houston knows was not born until the day a needle hit his back. “My first tattoo was a rose on my back. I think I went during a lunch break. I went with my secretary when I was working in the oil fields and she wanted a tattoo so I went with her and got one done. I was about 30 or so. I knew then this is what I wanted to get into. I had always loved art and mechanical drawing.”
In 1972, Dago opened up his own studio, doing all the work himself at the same place it stands today. He can’t tell you much about the first person he tattooed, after all it was 36 years ago, but he can tell you it was an original picture of a lion. At the very back of his shop, you can still see some of the original ‘flash’ on the wall. The paper is older than me.
“All my customers come back. When I started, I did people my age then I did their dads, and then I’ve done their kids and their kid’s kids. So literally, I’ve done generations. Same location, same place so they’ve always known where to find me.”
Sure enough, as I was standing around during the interview, I encountered two people who were customers of his from the past.
“At the time, when I started, tattooing wasn’t a popular thing in the African American community. It was more of a motorcycle gang thing. I basically pioneered it here. I had more than a couple friends in the African American community and started tattooing them and it started it all. I said this (community) is an open market and I opened up with ladies free. I was by myself at that time – before I started hiring a lot of people. There was no set amount. I could basically do what I wanted to do. I did a lot of people from Acres Homes and all over town and people spread the word that Dago does tattoos. I tell you, I found more love in that community than anywhere else. It was so exciting for me because I was introducing this thing that I love to a whole new community. I have a lot of love for the African American community. It’s been like that for years. I never did it for any kind of fame. I’m not that kind of person. I love working with people who are excited about something. If I teach you something and you’re excited about it, it makes me feel proud of what I’m doing. See what I’m saying?”
Dago’s work is more than just ink on skin. He has worked on a number of notable Houstonians – Paul Wall, Slim Thug and Gangsta Nip – just to name a few. “I’ve tattooed Aaron Hall, Emmitt Smith, Big Mike, Heavy D, Slim Thug, Marilyn Manson and Dennis Rodman. This is cornerstone. This is history. I’ve done all your old rappers, football players, basketball players, Harlem Globetrotters. You name it.”
And while those names are impressive, there was one ink-inspired urban legend that I was curious about – the origin of Tupac’s iconic cross and “Thug Life” tattoos.
Tupac got the cross and “Thug Life” tattoos in 1992 and there is no known record of where he received the tattoos, but hood legend has always said that he got those tats here in Houston and at Dago’s.
“A guy I did that knew Pac brought him here and Pac had this little pendant he wanted me to draw and make a tattoo for him. That’s what you see on his back. I also did Thug Life and something on his arm,” claims Dago.
So who is Dago? In a lot of ways, he is bigger than life but still humble – somewhat of a contradiction.
“When I went into the military at 17 years old in Oklahoma, a couple of G.I.s and myself went into town then to a little donut shop. It was an African American friend and another guy. We ordered coffee. The waitress serves our coffee and on the table she places two saucers and then proceeds to give the African American gentleman a paper cup. (I didn’t snap just then and there.) Next, were our donuts. The waitress delivers two donuts on a plate and our African American friend receives his donut on a napkin. I then asked the waitress for a plate for my friend. She responded that, ‘We shouldn’t start anything.’ We got our stuff and walked out. Shortly after departing the donut shop, a truck full of guys with guns followed us.
That’s how things used to be.
You know, there were cats, famous tattoo artists like Lyle Tuttle, who would come to my studio and see African American gentlemen in my shop and say things to me like, ‘Why you got all these crows in here?’ I would kick them straight out of my shop. I don’t care who you are, you never come to a man’s house and disrespect his guests.”
When asked what he thought about his status in the tattoo industry, he basically shrugged it off – like someone who has seen it all can easily do, “My goal in this industry is to be the best I can be. That might not be number one but I can satisfy my own mind and be who I am. “
And there’s nothing more one could ask.
Dago’s Tattoos
5131 North Freeway
Houston, TX 77022
(713) 692-7404
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Veronique Walker
