Having a masked ball

Hanging from bridges and buildings just wasn’t enough excitement for a pair of Long Beach welders. Sure, the work was thrilling, but the gear was anything but. The standard-issue black helmet, in particular, was far too plain for this pair of tattooed and pierced 30-something thrill seekers.

And so they created Hoodlum Welding--fully functional welding helmets that look like lions, tigers and, uh, bulldogs, among other things. Why just weld when you can weld and look like a wild animal? Why spark a hot rod when you can spark it and look like a razorback pig?

The two were on to something. Five years after setting up shop, thousands of their helmets have sold worldwide, mostly to welders and hot rodders--”young guys with a lot of testosterone,” according to Kevin Coughlin, who owns the firm that makes the helmets.

“Everybody kind of looks at it, like, ‘Who would buy that?’ Then they say, ‘Well, that would be a kind of neat thing to have for Halloween,’ and they end up buying one,” said Jack Fazio, branch manager of Praxair welding supplies in North Hollywood.

In the two months Fazio’s been on the job, the store has sold two plain helmets and four of the Hoodlum helmets -- most of them skulls. The helmets go for $72.95 but safety extras can drive the price as high as $300.

A year ago, Larry Patrick opted for the gorilla. He’d just returned from a gorilla-hunting trip in Belize when he saw the helmet at a local welding shop. A welder for 27 years, he bought one because “it’s cool.” At his job in Victorville, where he works on Caterpillar land-movers, it gets a lot of laughs, he said.

Not every job site is so accommodating. Minneapolis, where Hoodlum Welding is based, banned sewer workers from wearing them. The daily emergence of skeleton skulls from the sewer system was, apparently, scaring the locals.

The burning skull is Hoodlum’s most popular model with men. The arctic cat is a favorite with women. In all, the company offers 15 styles, all designed by the Long Beach welders and their business partner, who have asked to remain unidentified.

The helmets are available online at the Hoodlum web site, www.hoodlum-welding.com, but most are sold through gas- and welding-supply distributors because they are designed to be used on the job. The helmets come with protective lenses and face shields that can be adapted to hard hats.

Now that Hoodlum has made the world of welding more fashionable, or, some would say, freaky, one has to wonder what’s next. Custom-painted blowtorches? Gold lame welding suits?

So far, Hoodlum has only ventured into T-shirts and denim work wear, which aren’t anything special. As for new helmets, Coughlin said, “We’ve got a new one coming out the second quarter of 2003, but I can’t tell you what it is.”

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Behind the mask

Founded: Five years ago in frustration by two style-conscious Long Beach welders.

Cost: About $75 for standard masks, as high as $300 for custom jobs.

Worth noting: Men favor the burning skull model, women the artic cat.

A cold shoulder: Minneapolis stopped city sewer workers from wearing them -- the skulls scared the local populace.

Where to find: Welding supply stores and www.hoodlum-welding.com