Gold Coast Tattoo - Philippines

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Pirates Cove

Pirates Cove Tattoo was located in Barrio Barretto, Olongapo City Philippines. It was conceived while still in Hawaii after hearing stories about the Philippines from sailors stationed at Pearl Harbor that passed through my shop. The stories sounded too good to be true, and that was good enough for me. My buddy Johnny Anderson and I sold our shops in Hawaii and headed for Manila with a couple of suitcases full of tattoo gear, very little money and visions of big bucks and good times ahead. After five days looking around Olongapo City for a shop space and coming up empty, we hopped on a jeepney and headed for a place we’d heard about called ‘The Barrio’.

Barrio Barretto is located about five miles from Subic Bay Naval Base on the coast and was just a sleepy little beach town with 30-40 bars in a span of about one mile. Arriving in the barrio, we got off the jeepney, looked up and down the street and decided to get a cold beer in a open air bar on the corner and plan our strategy. It was about two in the afternoon and there were 5-6

retired Navy guys sitting around drinking San Miguel Beer and watching the world pass up and down National Highway. Welcome to Pirates Cove Bar and Kitchenette! After a couple of cold beers and a little feeling out of each other, the owner of Pirates Cove, Arch Bishop made us an offer we couldn’t refuse. For $100.00 per month we could convert a ‘short time’ room that wasn’t being used into Pirates Cove Tattoo. All we had to do was talk to his wife Mila for final approval. After meeting Mila that evening we knew we had found a home.

The first couple of months in the PI (Philippine Islands) was a little strange. In addition to the culture shock, we also had to deal with the fact that the U.S. was keeping ships out of port for political reasons, (teaching the Philippine government a lesson for something or another). Needless to say, there wasn’t much money in town with no ships in port so we got to know all the bars and those that worked in them quite well. With no customers there wasn’t much need to be in the shop all the time. When the Navy finally brought the ships back in all that changed. Suddenly we had fists full of pesos and what was probably the busiest shop in the world at that time. I’ve worked military shops since I started tattooing in 1978 so I knew what it was like to tattoo 12 hours non stop. The PI however, was unlike anything I’d seen in California or Hawaii. 18 -20 hour days wasn’t unusual. When the ships came in it was pure madness, Marti Gras 24 hours a day for 5-10 days. Up to 12,000 thirsty, horny, testosterone fueled Sailors and Marines in port lookin’ for a good time and a cold beer. Subic Bay was the place where they could quench their thirsts. Service to the Fleet was the order of the day and everybody did what they could to make the guys from the Seventh Fleet happy in Olongapo City.

During the five years I spent in the Philippines I made a lot of friends and made myself a home there. The Filipino people are among the warmest people I have ever met. Were it not for the eruption of Mt. Pinitubo in 1991 and the subsequent pullout of the U.S. military, I’d probably still be there.