Salisbury was born to a peripatetic military family in 1943, and attended over 20 schools—mostly in California, but also Michigan, Florida, and Hawaii—before the age of 18. His graphic sensibility, Salisbury later said, came from being the perpetual new kid. "I discovered you had to be cool to keep from being killed by the cool guys, and you had to be cool to get the chicks." In Southern California during junior high school, Salisbury began hanging out at George Barris’ custom car studio in Lynwood where he struck up an informal mentorship with pinstripping legend Von Dutch, and within a few months Salisbury was doing professional-level work of his own.