I recently journeyed out to Anaheim, CA for wedding with my hot girlfriend. Anyway, besides that, we made our way to the streets of Los Angeles, home of the wannabe actors, actresses, models, and rock stars! The only thing real out in L.A., that I noticed, was their tattoo scene! That was no joke! There were probably as many tattoo parlors on every street corner as New York City has a Starbucks. They seem to take their ink very serious out in L.A., though I think that New Jersey and NYC can give Los Angeles a run for their money.
The one shop that my girlfriend and I made a point to visit was Kat Von Dee's place, High Voltage Tattoo, which was located at North La Brea Avenue in West Hollywood, CA. Yes, that's the shop that you get to see on TLC's hit tattoo show, L.A. Ink. Unfortunately, Kat was not around for any questions because she was probably on the road with the new love in her life, Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx, who is currently on the road with CrueFest 2008. Since Kat wasn't there, I figured that I would just observe how the place was run when the cameras weren't rolling.
First of all, High Voltage Tattoo's shop hours were 9 p.m. to midnight, Monday thru Friday, and on the weekends, they're open from noon to midnight. So, needless to say, when we arrived at the shop at around 9 p.m., there was a line outside to get into the shop made up of people who had made appointments to get tattooed. There were also a few people on line who were walk-in customers who hoped to get some ink done on this night too. I guess when you make enough money from the TV show and your celebrity clientele; you really don't need to stay open all day. Plus, you know that your shop will be packed every night because of the crazy publicity that you keep getting on TV.
Kat Von Dee opened up High Voltage Tattoo in July of 2007 when she left the show Miami Ink, the show that made her household name. High Voltage Tattoo would later become the location for Miami Ink's spinoff series, L.A. Ink starring Kat Von Dee and her crew. On this night, only four of Kat's staff members were on hand, but they were busy with these walk-ins. It took me about twenty minutes just to get a t-shirt from the place. The place had a great vibe to it, but it felt like a tourist trap for people who watch the show religiously.
On High Voltage Tattoo's website, highvoltagetattoo.com, you can make an appointment by filling out a form, choosing your artist, explaining where you would be traveling from, and by simply uploading a picture of what you want tattooed. There is also a disclaimer on the site saying that appointments made online are for off camera only and that if you want to be tattooed on the show, then log onto lainkcasting.com. Depending on which artist is working on your tattoo, prices will vary.
Speaking of artists, Kat seems to surround herself with only the best. There's Kim Saigh, Jeff Ward from Chicago, Dennis Halbritter, Khoi Nguyen (whom I met that night and wasn't friendly at all), Hannah Aitchison, castmate Corey Miller, Adam Forman, native Hollywoodian Nate Fierro, another native Californian Mojo Foster, and Adrian Gallegos. Now, that's a staff and a half, but the mystique of High Voltage Tattoo is their celebrity clientele! Their plethora of celebrity clientele includes members of HIM, Incubus, My Chemical Romance, Green Day, Guns 'N' Roses, the Misfits, Queens of the Stone Age, Mastadon, Scott Ian of Anthrax, Sebastian Bach, Godsmack, Slayer, Papa Roach, Bam Margera, Steve-O, Jenna Jameson, Eve, Ja-Rule, of course, Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue. The list goes on and on!
Now, since I couldn't really talk to an artist, I couldn't include a 'five questions with a featured artist', but I do have to say that this shop was pretty cool to be in even though it was the setting for a TV show and the place was too packed. If you make it out to Los Angeles, CA and always wanted to get tattooed by the staff of L.A. Ink, make sure you either go to highvoltagetattoo.com.com to make an appointment for off camera work, and for on camera tattooing, fill out the form on lainkcasting.com. If you're in L.A, and just want to see the shop for S and G's, they're located at 1259 North La Brea Avenue in West Hollywood, CA.
Well, I'm off to check out my next tattoo place! If you have a tattoo shop that you want to suggest to me please e-mail me the name of the place and whom I should ask for! Email me at chigger273@aol.com
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