Wheeler, Charles "Tattoo Charlie"
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WHEELER, CHARLES "TATTOO CHARLIE," 56, of Louisville, passed away Friday, September 14, 2007 at Jewish Hospital. He was the founder and owner of Tattoo Charlie's tattoo studio. He was a member of Pleasure Ridge Park Lodge 959, Louisville Scottish Rite, Kosair Shrine Temple, Patriot Guard, the Blue Knights, past president Kosair Director Staff, past president Kosair Street Machines, past commodore Kosair Boat Club, charter member of Kosair Roustabouts, past president and charter member of Kosair Mini Wheels, member of the 32 Club, past Camaxli Order of Quetzalcoatl, Kosair Motor Corp, Kentucky colonel, member of the Louisville Harley Owners Group, Louisville Boat Harbor member, the Islanders Club, president Bullitt County Motor Corp, Hillbilly Clan of Ashland, KY, originator of Toys for Tots in Hardin Co. and Bullitt Co. He is survived by his son, Buddy Wheeler; grandchildren, Zelda Marianna, Kain and Shaolin; brother, George Brown and sister, Linda Toebbe and many loving friends. His service will be held at 2 p.m. on Monday at Owen Funeral Home, 5317 Dixie Highway with burial in Garnettsville Cemetery. Visitation will be 3 - 9 p.m. Saturday and 2-9 p.m. Sunday at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers, the family would like expressions of sympathy to be made to Hospice of Louisville.
Published in The Courier-Journal from 9/15/2007 - 9/16/2007.
Charlie Wheeler was more than a tattoo artist. He was a shriner for Kosair. He appeared as Santa Claus at the Home of the Innocents, worked with Camp Quality in Leitchfield which serves children with cancer. Charlie's shop was most famous for its humorous "tattoos while you wait" slogan.
If you ask anyone in the city of Louisville, Kentucky where is the best place in town to get a tattoo, they will instantly reply, without hesitation, Tattoo Charlies. On Friday, September 14, 2007 Tattoo Charlies beloved owner and founder Charlie Wheeler passed away at Jewish Hospital after a sudden and unexpected illness.
According to an article published on the Courier Journals website Thursday, Charlie was a native of Louisville, and graduated from Pleasure Ridge Park High School, an entry on his obituary's Guest Book notes his graduating year as 1969.
According to Charlie's son Buddy Wheeler, he spent time working in the automotive department of JC Penney before taking up tattoo art at the age of 21. Charlie's first studio was in Fort Knox, Kentucky where he stayed for about five years before picking up shop and moving the business to Louisville.
The first Tattoo Charlies in Louisville opened in 1975 on Berry Boulevard, and is still in business today. At the height of his career Charlie operated six tattoo studios, five in Louisville and one in nearby Lexington, Kentucky. Today only four remain, the original on Berry Boulevard, one on Preston Highway, one on Dixie Highway, and the one in Lexington. The Dixie Highway location is also home to Charlie's Tattoo Museum which opened in 1999. According to the tattoo studio's website the collection contains many one of a kind pieces, and shows how tattooing has evolved over the last one hundred years. Charlie began collecting these items over thirty years ago when he started his business, and it has continually grown over the years.
Over the years Tattoo Charlies and their "Done While You Wait" Tattoos have become known as the cleanest, most modern, and most professional studio in the south. They have set high standards for themselves, and have maintained those high standards over the years. The standards that Charlie set reflect his character and values, no tattoos for anyone intoxicated or under the age of eighteen, Charlie refused for any tattoos done at his studio to reflect anything Satanic or anti-Semitic, and no tattoos on the hands, feet, or neck.
On the studio's website Charlie states "A tattoo on the neck is always visible whether you are at home, school, or work. It is visible when you go to your child's PTA meeting, when you go on a new job interview, when you go to court over a traffic violation, and when you go to your parents house for Christmas. It is unfortunate but true that the society we live in does still discriminate against visible tattoos. Is it really worth not getting a higher paying job, not getting out of a court fine, or not getting the simple respect you deserve just to have a tattoo on your neck?"
The Courier Journal on September 14, 2007 wrote the following:
Charlie Wheeler, better known as “Tattoo Charlie,” the proprietor of the “Done While You Wait” tattoo studios, died today at Jewish Hospital after a sudden illness. He was 56.
“It’s what he devoted himself to and he had an absolute love for it,” his son, Buddy Wheeler, said today of the tattoo business.
“I learned tattooing from an old tattoo artist,” Charlie Wheeler once told The Courier-Journal. “It’s handed down from one generation to the next.” He planned to retire next year, his son said. “He’s been grooming me to take over the business,” Buddy Wheeler said.
The elder Wheeler told the newspaper tattooing was “the role of my life.”“When you get a tattoo, you’re putting an external image of your internal self,” he said. “You show people you’re different.”
A native of Louisville’s South End, Wheeler graduated from Pleasure Ridge Park High School and worked in the auto department of J.C. Penney, his son said, before taking up his art around the age of 21. He had a tattoo studio in Fort Knox for about five years before moving shop to Louisville.
The first Tattoo Charlie’s opened on Berry Boulevard, where it remains in business 32 years later. At times, his was the only tattoo studio in Louisville. When the popularity of tattoos peaked in the 1990s, there were six locations, including one in Lexington, also still in business.
There are four current locations, as well as a Tattoo Museum in Shively which opened in 1999, but was temporarily closed earlier this year. Buddy Wheeler plans to relocate and reopen the museum soon, he said yesterday.“He had been collecting tattoo memorabilia that was in danger of being lost for years and years,” his son said of Wheeler’s decision to establish a museum. “He saw the value in it.”
Wheeler also recognized the value of a slogan he noticed on a sign in a Florida tattoo studio in the late 1960s and “thought it was absolute genius,” said his son. The elder Wheeler asked the owner’s permission to borrow the slogan, “Done While You Wait,” before making it his own.The original “Tattoo Charlie’s: Done While You Wait” billboard along Interstate 65 northbound between Elizabethtown and Louisville made the business something of a Louisville icon. There have been two other billboards at times, but the original is the only one left and “absolutely” will remain, Buddy Wheeler said. “It’s been on Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, David Letterman.”
The business was described in one Courier-Journal story as a place where “art overshadows business and principle comes before profit.” Wheeler’s principles included: no satanic, anti-Semitic or racist tattoos; none done on the hands, feet or face; and none for anyone intoxicated or under 18 years of age.
Wheeler also prided himself on his mission to talk people out of bad ideas, like tattoos of names.“Names change, but a tattoo is permanent,” he often said.“I’ve never talked anybody into a tattoo,” he said. “I’ve talked a lot of people out of tattoos.”
Burly and long-haired, dressed in a T-shirt, jeans and suspenders, often on his Harley Davidson, Wheeler’s appearance could mislead people about his character, but usually just once.“
His looks were quite deceiving,” said Gary Fields, a close friend and former Jefferson County Police officer. “When I was Potentate of Kosair Shrine Temple in 1995, Charlie came through and became a Shriner. … It was kind of funny to see this great big tattooed guy sitting in the back of the room.”“Little did I know then,” Fields said, “that this was gonna be a guy who was gonna leave such a mark — on my life and so many lives.”
Fields praised Wheeler’s dedication to children in particular, citing his frequent appearances as Santa Claus at the Home of the Innocents; his work at Camp Quality in Leitchfield, Ky., which serves children with cancer, who looked forward to rides in the sidecar of Charlie’s motorcycle; and his work starting Toys for Tots drives in Hardin and Bullitt counties.
“You couldn’t help but love the guy,” retired attorney Jerry Steinberg said yesterday. “When he first came to me, it was to try to get custody of his child. I looked at him and told him, ‘We’re not gonna win. Look at those things on your hands.’"
“He said, ‘just listen to my story,’” Fields said. “We won the custody and from then on we became the best of friends. … He was the most decent person I ever met. I mean, I’ve never met a person like him.”“Nobody has any idea the amount of money and time and energy he put out there,” said Fields, who represented Wheeler until he retired from practicing law.
“When he wasn’t at work, all he did was take care of other people. … This is a great loss, not just to his family and friends, but to the community.”
