Sailor Jerry Festival celebrates tattoo art, punk rock and wild times

Looking for trouble? Chinatown could still be the place to find it, but it’s not nearly as wild as it was during World War II and the postwar era. Take it from Sailor Jerry Festival co-organizer Josh Hancock, who also co-owns Downbeat Diner and Lounge, a restaurant and bar on Hotel Street.

“The punk scene in Honolulu started with the sailors in the 1940s and 1950s in Chinatown,” said Hancock. “Sailors getting off of boats and coming into Chinatown to get into trouble. It’s not as much trouble these days.”

Chinatown these days is a creative destination, with a profusion of bars and restaurants, shops, art galleries and lots of live music — including the punk rock that Hancock both loves and plays with his bands, Black Square and 86 List.

“Chinatown is a very unique, rustic metropolitan hub,” mused Hancock. “Punk rock seems to find its home in grittier parts of a city. So for Honolulu, with Chinatown, with its history of tattoo parlors, and even brothels, it lends itself to the demographic. For punk bands, it’s the only place to cut your teeth.”

Punk rock is a key part of this weekend’s Sailor Jerry Festival, named in honor of legendary tattoo artist Sailor Jerry, who ran his shop in Chinatown during the wild days. It kicks off with a lineup of fast, loud bands at Anna O’Brien’s tonight in Moiliili and continues with a Chinatown-wide schedule of events on Saturday.

The festival looks back at the Sailor Jerry era with a “WWII Red-Light District Mini-Tour” presented by HonoluluExposed.com, screenings of a film about the tattoo artist and displays at tattoo parlors in Chinatown.

The annual festival, founded by Oahu’s Hancock and longtime punk-rock music promoter Jason Miller, returns for a third time this weekend.

The Sailor Jerry Festival incorporates both the spirit of Sailor Jerry and his legendary style of tattoo work.

He was born Norman Keith Collins in Nevada in 1911. As Sailor Jerry, he lived and worked in Honolulu until his death in 1973.

At the age of 19, Collins enlisted in the Navy, and his subsequent travels at sea paved the way for the imagery that peppers his signature tattoo style. He was exposed to the art of Southeast Asia during his time in the Navy, and that influence melded with nautical themes came to be his calling card. Nautical stars, anchors, dice and pinup girls are all mainstays in this imagery arsenal.

Collins is also remembered for his association with popular tattoo artist and apparel and accessories designer Ed Hardy, similarly influenced by Asian art, who worked with Collins in Honolulu between 1969 and Collins’ death. Collins left his shop to Hardy and fellow tattoo artist Mike Malone. Hardy now runs Sailor Jerry Ltd., merchandising Collins’ tattoo imagery and licensing production of Sailor Jerry-brand rum.

Collins is buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.

Miller says he was inspired to create the Sailor Jerry Festival in 2015 because he loves both tattoos and music, and hoped to make Sailor Jerry’s ties to Chinatown more widely known throughout Hawaii.

“It was probably around 2013 when I had the idea to start the festival,” recalls Miller, who got his first tattoo in 1987. “I personally was learning what kind of a history Sailor Jerry had in Hawaii.“

Miller and Hancock both agree that the idea is to have festival patrons walk the streets that Sailor Jerry walked, have a drink at the bars he frequented and take in a wider scope of the local arts scene.

“I think people will be blown away by the vast amount of live local music we have,” said Hancock. “They will be cheering on new bands, getting to see people they have supported for years.”

This year’s festival is broad and impressive. Local bands ranging in genre from punk and ska to metal to rock to Americana folk will perform at multiple venues in Chinatown. In the youthful spirit of punk rock, some of the events are all ages in the earlier part of the evening.

Three different tattoo shops are opening their doors with special displays. A fashion show by local company Twisted Cuts is set to run at Scarlet, which will also feature burlesque and drag performances. There will be skate demos and a chance to win a customized Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

For the first time, the festival has brought in an international headliner: rockabilly/punk band Nekromantix, which originated in Denmark.

Nekromantix headlines a night of punk rock at the festival launch party, Friday at Anna O’Brien’s in Moiliili. Also on the bill: Badass Noise from Hawaii island, Rundown Kreeps from Los Angeles and female-fronted local band Sparrow.

The schedule of events allows for a customized night.

“The Manifest show is pretty much all punk bands,” said Miller. “The Dragon Upstairs show is more on the mellow side. We also have an event inside Madre Chocolate this year that’s largely rock and punk.”

Get to Chinatown early on Saturday, so you don’t miss out.