Guerrilla Graphix lands in Taos from Albuquerque
Business features political art, fast printing services and more
Travis Parkin has worn many hats throughout his life.
He was raised in upstate New York, the grandson of Italian immigrant makers of gloves. He attended the State University of New York at Albany and held a variety of jobs, from New York City cab driver to flight attendant.
“I was one of the first modern-day male flight attendants at TWA [Trans World Airlines],” he said.
After moving to San Francisco in 1980, he worked in five-star restaurants and started a punk rock shopping emporium in San Francisco’s Mission District.
He moved to Taos on March 6, 1986.
“That was the day of Georgia O’Keeffe’s death,” Parkin said.
Many people will probably remember Parkin from the Laughing Horse Inn, which he operated from 1986 to 1994. Or they may recall him as the owner of Southwest Moccasin & Drum, which he opened in 1987. It used to be where The Love Apple restaurant is currently located – at 803 Paseo del Pueblo Norte.
Parkin sold the store in 1993 and went on to cofound Ramona’s Dance Hall, named after his daughter, Ramona Teo.
“Although the dance hall was a popular success, it never attained financial expectations,” he said. “We closed it in 1994.”
Guerrilla Graphix
That same year, Parkin moved to Albuquerque and started Guerrilla Graphix, originally a one-man show that provided résumé writing and graphic design services to his clients. The business did well and in July of 2008, he launched a small T-shirt shop also called Guerrilla Graphix near the University of New Mexico (UNM). He opened it with his daughter, who was attending UNM at the time.
“Initially, Ramona and I wanted to open a political art gallery,” he said. “However, the economy was beginning to crash, so we decided to create our own art and place it on affordable media, like recycled tees, postcards, stickers and badges.”
In 2010, they started their screen printing and business printing operations out of their own Nob Hill store.
A year later, they opened their second store in Albuquerque’s Old Town district and also started a wholesale division.
“We currently distribute our merchandise to more than 60 New Mexico retailers, including shops at the Albuquerque airport, Range Cafes and Mr. Car Wash,” Parkin said. “We are also committed to community partnership and make regular cash and in-kind donations to the ACLU, New Mexico public radio, Planned Parenthood, Standing Rock legal defense fund, Burque Noir African-American Women Artists Association, Women’s Resource Center of UNM, Special Olympics of New Mexico, Tricklock Theater Company and a host of other organizations.”
Taos store
Parkin was in Taos during the past Labor Day weekend visiting friends and watching the sales of his Albuquerque locations.
“I could see that the Old Town store was doing great, with sales going through the roof,” he said. “But this was not the case with the Nob Hill shop; that was doing poorly. It suddenly occurred to me that Taos was the perfect place for a business like mine: a lot of our message is about progressive politics and it goes very well with Taos’ voting records and history. There is also a sustained stream of travelers coming here all year long and they may be interested in buying our products. So I moved the Nob Hill store to Taos and here we are.”
Products, services
Guerrilla Graphix specializes in political, humorous and original art graphics and messages printed on T-shirts, stickers, postcards and art prints that are sold in all the store’s brick-and-mortar outlets, including the new Taos location.
The T-shirt collection includes a “Bless Me, Última” owl, a glow-in-the dark cat and several Frida Kahlo designs.
The store also offers its own designs on coffee mugs, badges, messenger bags and magnets.
“In addition to our retail apparel and gift items, at the rear of the store, we have a print department that accepts and processes custom screen printing and full-color digital business printing services for individuals and companies,” Parkin said. “These orders are processed at our Albuquerque production facility.”
Completed orders are shipped overnight via UPS directly to local customers’ homes and businesses or to the Taos store for pickup. Guerrilla Graphix also provides graphic design and branding services for individuals and organizations.
“I have always loved Taos,” Parkin said. “It has been good for my businesses and I’m happy to be back.”
Rebel Spinner Radio
Parkin is also a music programmer and public radio personality. In 2004, he joined the volunteer staff at KUNM-FM. He was the alternating weekly host of the station’s prime-time Thursday afternoon “Freeform” music program from 2005 to 2013.
In 2014, he founded Rebel Spinner Radio, a 24/7 streaming music service headquartered in Taos.
“This is my gift to the music lovers of the world,” Parkin said.
