“Do you know why we call tattoo designs flash? Because back in the day, it was always considered the art of the street, art from the other side of the tracks. Tattooers would set up shop in rough areas, barber shops, bars, tough places back then, you never knew when a fight would break out. So tattooers strung their designs together and hung them on the wall with a tack, a nail, or a hook. If trouble started they could quickly grab their designs and head out the door in a flash, hence the term tattoo flash.”

Walter Moskowitz, son of Willie Moskowitz,

as told to Cliff White at S&W Tattoo