Long gone are the sex shops and beatniks of London's Soho neighborhood. Over the years, the notorious district has undergone a serious image overhaul, and between the office buildings and trendy restaurants sits Frith Street Tattoo and Piercing, the tattoo shop of owner Dante Di Massa's dreams. "When I was a kid, all I wanted to do was hang out in a really cool tattoo shop all day," Di Massa says with the noise from his busy shop in the background. "And that's what I do now." Even though he's covered in tattoos and owns a shop, the 40-year-old Di Massa has never felt the urge to pick up a needle himself. "I'm not an artist," he explains. "I could go out there and be just another scratcher, but that's ... Feature Story

If you're into neon signs and lots of flash on the walls, then there are plenty of tattoo shops to c"hoose from on the streets of Florida. But when Phil Holt opened RedLetter1 in 2003, he wanted something different for both his customers and himself. "When I first opened, I had just gotten back from Mick's shop in Zurich, Switzerland," Holt explains from Skull & Sword in San Francisco, where he is finishing up a stint. "He didn't have street shop flash all over the walls and not everything was tattoo-oriented. He had a library and a place to chill out, too, so it was really comfortable. That's how I wanted to set up." Holt found his comfortable space on the second floor of an old factory in Tampa, FL, ... Feature Story

When Th’ink Tank Tattoo Studio and Art Gallery opened in Denver it gave the ink-loving folks in the Mile-High City a quality place for tattoos and a stellar gallery space. It almost didn’t last. “When we first started, we opened up in a neighborhood that was just too pricey,” says artist Jef Kopp. “Luckily, we figured that out pretty quickly and we moved over to our current space on Broadway. We’ve been here for four and a half years now and it’s exactly the right location for us. So much so that we’re now undergoing a complete remodel.” The changes weren’t strictly cosmetic, either. In 2005, Kopp sold the business to longtime associate and tattoo artist of 17 years Scottie DeVille, who’s now at the reigns. “It felt right and ... Feature Story

Don’t even think about asking Keone Nunes to tattoo a dagger or dolphin on you. “All I do is Hawaiian tattoos, designs inked for various cultural reasons,” says Nunes. These designs (bold, geometric shapes) have names, meanings, prayers and can reflect the genealogy of the individual. Nunes, who has been tattooing since 1990, works nontraditionally—he has no shop (he works out of a Hawaiian healing center) and he doesn’t use machines (he taps, which he assures is faster and less painful). “In the process of getting tattooed in the ’70s, my tattooist and inspiration, Kandi Everett, recognized the fact that I knew a lot about Hawaiian tattoos from a cultural view,” Nunes explains. “She encouraged me to bring that back out to the community.” Since then, he’s been inking people ... Feature Story

You might get a little claustrophobic in the small space of South Pacific, but it’s worth it. Owner Thomas “Wondo” Wondoloski, a Hawaii resident for 15 years, has been tattooing for 22 years and knows tattoos well. After all, his inspiration was the late tattoo legend Asa Lee Crow III. “He was like a carnival strolling down the road. I sure do miss him,” says Wondoloski. The shop’s tattoo artists are versed in everything from tribal to traditional, color, or black, and they’re confident that their work speaks for itself. Most of the designs are painted in-house, and you can get an idea of their work from the fl ash that covers every corner of the walls. Wondoloski has been an inspirational asset to the industry, whether he believes it ... Feature Story