When you think of the desert, you probably think of rattlesnakes, cacti, and Hunter S. Thompson blazing toward Vegas with a trunk full of drugs. It’s time you start thinking of tattoos as well...
Battle your way through the swirling mosh pit at one of Linkin Park’s sold- out arena shows and there’s a good chance you’ll find at least a few die- hard fans sporting forearm flame tattoos as a tribute to the band’s frontman, Chester Bennington. Just don’t bet that those fans had their derivative ink laid in at one of the five Club Tattoo shops Bennington co-owns with the husband and wife team of Sean and Thora Dowdell. “Kids come in asking for them all the time,” Sean explains over a three-way, three-time-zone con- ference call. “Chester and I have never actually talked about it, but we just don’t copy his custom pieces.” That rule is in full effect at Club Tattoo’s freshest location in the newly renovated and decidedly swanky ...
When City of Ink cofounders Miya Bailey and Tuki Carter moved their tattoo shop Prophet Art from Asheville, NC, to Atlanta in 2000, they wanted a new start, both for the shop and their art. According to Bailey, the plan was "to break that boundary of what black people and Hispanic people should be getting as tattoos and reflect more of the lifestyle of the people we were doing." The simple rule: no more "gangster-type stuff." They christened the new shop City of Ink and designed the interior to feel more like an art gallery than a tattoo parlor. "You won't walk into City of Ink and think it's a tattoo shop," explains Bailey. "The layout is an art gallery, and it's built like a loft, so the tattoo studios are ...
Fifty years ago, the tattoo game in Brooklyn was a strictly blue-collar business dominated by hard men with names like one-eyed Max Pelz, Tony the Pirate, Jack Red Cloud, and Brooklyn Blackie. They were tattooers, not tattoo artists. They worked out of parlors, not art studios. They needled strong black lines and bold colors. They had a code of conduct and brawled to keep it. Paying homage to these tattoo forefathers is Smith Street Tattoo Parlour’s traditional tattoo trifecta: Steve Boltz, Bert Krak, and Eli Quinters. They’re known for distinct old-school styling but excel in all genres. It is, after all, a quintessential street shop. Smith Street opened last October in historic Carroll Gardens, not too far from the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where sailors once lined up for the anchors, ...
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 ...
When tattoo veterans Brad Fink and Mark Andrews decided to open Iron Age Tattoo in 1994, they modeled the new shop after a place most people hate—the dentist. “When we opened, there were only nine shops in the St. Louis area, and they were all older and dingier,” Andrews explains over the sound of music and buzzing needles. “We wanted something clean and modern. It seems obvious now, but very few shops were going for that look back then.” Andrews and Fink set up Iron Age on Missouri’s hippest street, the Delmar Loop, and the shop’s approach and crew of skilled artists have helped them stay at the forefront of the St. Louis scene, even as competition has exploded around them over the past decade and a half. “I haven’t ...
In 1990, tattooer Oliver Peck made the decision to never again wear a pair of shoes that wasn't red. "It's sort of an LSD-induced pact I made with myself," Peck explains from the floor of Elm Street Tattoo, which he opened with partner Dean Williams in 1996. In the 12 years since Elm Street opened its doors, Peck has worn out a closet full of red shoes ("I still have them all. I can go count them for you," he jokes) even if the look and feel of the shop haven't changed much. "From the beginning, we wanted to open a really traditional shop. We weren't interested in the new, studio-type place," Peck explains. With his growing collection of dice, more Americana on the walls than the local T.G.I. Friday's, ...
If you're into neon signs and lots of flash on the walls, then there are plenty of tattoo shops to choose 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, ...
digital edition
Visit the Inked Art Gallery if you're interested in buying or selling your tattoo art or go to our Tattoo Gallery and upload photos of your tattoos or browse 1000's of other tattoo designs. Check out the Inked Girls to see sexy women with tattoos and beautiful Inked Girls.
Copyright © 2007-2010 Quadra Media L.L.C. All Rights Reserved
