“I’m always pushing my group of university friends,” says Roger Chacon ’96, “to go to the next level for UCLA.” He certainly has: In 2019, he offered up his back as a canvas for the block logo tattoo, the latest sign of devotion for a creative soul (he handles art at the Getty) and diehard Bruin football fan who’s had the same tailgating spot at the Rose Bowl for almost 30 years. None of his Bruin posse has taken the tattoo plunge. “That’s just not for them,” he says. “It is for me.”
Bruins, Bruins, Everywhere
Finn Burrows has many creatures tattooed across their body. Dogs. Birds. And, on their right arm, the bruin, which took four hours to ink. “I had an amazing time at UCLA, learning so much and playing rugby and making lifelong friendships,” says the Northern California–born alum. “I want to celebrate that feeling every day.” Burrows has long embraced Bruin imagery — on business cards, letterheads — but wanted to celebrate their Harley-driving spirit by blaring Bruin pride via skin art. There remains three inches of unclaimed space near the wrist. “What is the UCLA Magazine logo?” Burrows asks. “Will that fit?”
“Battle” Scar
There is no shortage of formidable creatures inked onto Mark Lopez’s skin, but the UCLA Bruin reigns supreme. Not surprising for any proud alum, but Lopez never attended UCLA. “I rock my UCLA all day, every day,” says the Yucaipa resident, who became a rabid fan while watching Bruin sports in the 1990s. He playfully scoffs at the memory of his cousins getting USC Trojan tattoos; they inspired his retaliatory “Battle of L.A.” piece, showing a bruin, teeth bared, looming atop a pile of skulls and Trojan helmets. “If that ain’t repping,” he says, “I don’t know what is.”
All In The Family
The giant bruin is as forbidding as the deltoid it covers, its face almost animated by the contours of the impressively large muscle belonging to UCLA superfan Rubicel Vargas. “The bear is kind of my first love,” says Vargas, who didn’t attend UCLA but whose two younger sisters did. His expanding sleeve started three years ago, with a bruin and a UCLA logo; in the middle stand silhouettes of both his father and his son. “It’s dedicated to the things I like the most,” says Vargas. He dreams of a basketball scholarship for his now 16-year-old. “He’s gonna go to UCLA for sure.”
Cristina Williams ’23 designed five tattoos exclusively for UCLA Magazine. See them, read more about her, and also read about Ira Cohen, who sells thousands of tattoos blaring a message of UCLA pride — without the pain of a needle.
Read more from UCLA Magazine’s Fall 2024 issue.