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We’re going to be profiling some of the artists around Silver Lake’s best spot for traditional tattoo work, Alchemy Tattoo. It’s important that you get to know the guys tattooing here. What better place to start than with our founder and owner, Chris Breksa.

Talking about himself is just about the last thing the Southern California native wanted to do; He’d rather let his work do the talking.

When you see his work, you begin to understand why. It’s some basic, bare bones traditional, old-school tattooing that’s as timeless as it gets. Bold, thick lines surround bright colors and create instantly recognizable designs that will last until the day you die and then a little more after that. Clipper ships, tigers, mermaids, daggers and roses of all colors; Breksa puts his own touch to the most traditional of tattoo art.

His flash sheets show a definite nostalgia for the past. In an era when lots of people are looking to incorporate new artistic influence (most noticeably street art and graffiti) into their work, Breksa keeps it old school; He paints traditional tattoo flash sheets that could easily have been hanging at Sailor Jerry’s shop in Hawai’i.

He’s been tattooing since the end of 1997, opening Alchemy Tattoo in Los Angeles five years ago just down the street from its current location in Silver Lake.

Check out his work on his Instagram page or head down to Alchemy Tattoo in Silver Lake to see it up close and in person.

June 28 and 29 you’ll be able to find the crew from Alchemy Tattoo in Silver Lake, Los Angeles up in Oak Canyon Ranch for Born Free 6. In case you’ve missed out on the first five, it’s a vintage chopper and bike show that costs a mere ten bucks per day. Once you get there, you’ll be in good company, with tens of thousands of cycle enthusiasts, over 150 vendors live music and an AMCA regional swap meet.

Best of all, you might go home with one of 11 different custom-built choppers from the invited builders.

Born Free isn’t just about riding. It’s about appreciating the artistry of a first-rate chop build. Sponsors include some of the top names in cycle culture, including Dice Magazine, Chop Cult,  Petrol Moto and, of course, Harley-Davidson, represented at Born Free by their Dark Custom brand.

If you’re a chop builder and you haven’t made plans to hit up Born Free, get on that. In addition to the invited builders, there’s a competition for the Show Class People’s Choice. That could be you if you show up with the best classic, old-school build in the bunch. Put your best build to the test by seeing how it stacks up against other garage builds guys busting their knuckles just like you work on in their spare time.

We’ll be there with Street Chopper Magazine as well as Sailor Jerry. Why? Because our owner, Chris Breksa, loves bikes. More than that, though, choppers are an American art and craft the same as traditional tattooing. They’re both born of the same impulse: The desire to elevate mass culture to the level of high art.

Come check us out and we’ll talk old school tattoos and bikes with you.

Friday the 13th is looming large and to celebrate, we’ve got four sheets of killer traditional tattoo flash on offering here at Alchemy Tattoo in Silver Lake, CA. Prices on our old school offerings range from $50 to $150, so you can get a great tattoo to commemorate what is known as the “unluckiest day of the year.”

But what do you know about the history of Friday the 13th? What you learn might surprise you.

The Beginning of Friday the 13th

Here’s a shocker: No one had any problem with Friday the 13th until the 19th Century. That means that the story you’ve likely heard about the Knights Templar is pure Victorian invention. Much like chastity belts and horrific torture devices of the Inquisition, the Friday the 13th Templar with is one of those things “everyone knows is true” that simply isn’t.

In fact, even in the 19th Century, paraskevidekatriaphobia (a gigantic, basically made up word for “fear of Friday the 13th”) was basically nonexistent. Historians know precisely when this cultural phenomenon became a thing — in 1907.

The First Friday the 13th

No. Not the one about Jason’s mom.

The first Friday the 13th appeared in a novel titled (what else?) Friday, the Thirteenth by Thomas W. Lawson who uses anxiety about the day, then in its infancy, to profit from a stock market crash.

Who invented the Templar connection? You’re going to be amazed: It was Dan Brown in The Da Vinci Code.

Get a Traditional Tattoo for Friday the 13th

We hope that we haven’t taken the fun out of Friday the 13th. But if you want to put some of the fun back in, remember it as the day you got a killer piece of old school tattoo flash from your friends down at Alchemy Tattoo in Los Angeles.

It’s an exciting month at Alchemy Tattoo in Silver Lake: We’ve got three guest artists coming through for the month of June from traditional tattoo shops across the country. Book your time while you still can and get some killer old school ink from out-of-town artists including:

Bryan Randolph

Bryan Randolph works at Spider Murphy’s Tattoo in San Rafael, California, a shop that literally needs no introduction; If you don’t know them by name, you’ve almost certainly seen their traditional tattoo flash hanging on walls from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Bryan recently came though Alchemy in April and threw down with everything from old school butterflies on the hand of our own Travis Furton to fireman’s helmets (get your head out of the gutter) to cowgirls. Come by and grab something from him while the grabbing’s good from June 20 – June 22.

Rachael Snyder

Down from Pussykat Tattoo Parlour in Las Vegas, NV comes Rachael Snyder. Rachael’s portfolio showcases the eclectic nature of her work, but we’re particularly fond of the way she does women. She’s also got quite a gift for making classic, old school tattoo designs with a contemporary, original flair, for example, her praying cholo hands with sugar skull. Your friends got killer tattoos from her at Viva Las Vegas. Head on down to Los Angeles’ own Alchemy Tattoo and get a piece from Rachel when she visits us.

Aaron Carmody

All the way from Virginia comes Aaron Carmody of Time Honored Tattoo. You’ll be blown away by Aaron’s traditional tattoos, boasting some of the best line work we’ve ever seen. Time Honored is flying under the radar at this point — they don’t even have a full-fledged website — so come in and get something from Aaron now and say that you knew him way back when. He’ll be at Silver Lake’s Alchemy Tattoo from June 5 to June 8.

Here’s an old flash design from Bert Grimm!!! We love doing walk ins and especially when it’s from one of our favorite artist!!!

Here some Bert Grimm flash painted by Chris Breksa. These design are included in October Halloween Flash Special.

This was Josue first tattoo, he took it really well, considering how painful this spot is. I like the Indian girl imagery he picked and the color scheme we went with for his tattooed.