My Town: San Diego, California

Walking down a San Diego beach on a warm sunny day you’ll be hard pressed to find any scantily-clad sun bather without a work of art to display on their skin. The city’s warm weather helps the tattoo scene gain its popularity simply by allowing the bodyart enthusiast to clearly display their ink for the world to see.

“We have a lot more tourism here,” Jim Thomas of Black Rose Tattoo says. “And we have the beach so there’s a lot more skin showing so of course a lot more people are interested in body art than elsewhere in the U.S.”

The relaxing environment brings in certain situations tattoo artists and enthusiasts might not see in other parts of the U.S.

“I once saw a flying squirrel, and if you’ve never seen the movie “Waiting,” then you might not know what I’m talking about,” Buddy Lapel, tattoo apprentice at Black Rose Tattoo says. “The flying squirrel was soon hosed down with green soap.”

Among the hundreds of shops San Diego has to offer, the artists at Avalon Tattoo on Garnet Street are proud of their shop’s 16-year lifespan.

“I think our shop’s really unique because we’re really customer friendly,” Heather Sinn, a tattoo artist at Avalon, says. “There are a lot of shops that are really harsh. We’re really customer-oriented and plus we’re all really fabulous tattoo artists.”

“This is seriously one of the best shops in the country,” she says. “I feel pretty privileged to be here. I’ve been tattooing for about 10 years and this is the best shop I’ve ever worked in.”

“Probably the most unique thing is that we’re all friends here,” Marty Conklin of Avalon Tattoo says. “There are no egos at this shop. It’s really nice to come to work when you know you like the people you work with.”

Down the street at Guru Tattoo, shop owner Aaron Della Vedova feels he had the right idea by putting time and consideration into finding the best tattoo artists he could find when he was in the process of opening his shop.

“I waited it out and got what I believe are the best tattooers in the west,” Della Vedova says. “A lot of people will hear that and say oh yeah who wouldn’t say that about their own shop, but I’ll tell them to go do their homework and you’ll find what I said is absolutely true.”

“We don’t even have flash, it’s a full-custom environment,” he says.

As far as the atmosphere, Della Vedova says it’s pretty low-key.

“It’s pretty sad and normal here,” he says. “There’s not a lot of excitement and crazy shit going on. Our clients are serious tattoo collectors who don’t bring a lot of drama with them.”

Della Vedova is impressed with the tattoo scene in San Diego by how so many multitudes of people are showing more interest in the fuller, larger pieces.

“I think it’s just awesome to be in this industry right now because it’s a timing thing and it’s just exploding,” he explains. “I’m just lucky that I’m doing the right thing at the right time. It’s all about the art which is cool, because I’m all about the art too.”

“Not only am I doing it in the right time, but I’m in the right place. I think San Diego is a great place to be right now.”

Another artist out of Guru Tattoo, Turk, says the uniqueness of the shop comes from the sheer interest the artists take in their clients’ ideas.

“We actually treat them like their ideas are worthy of tattooing,” he says. “Throughout my career I’ve noticed a lot of tattooers think their shit doesn’t stink and they can do what they want. The industry would be nothing if we didn’t have clients. So here we’re very client-driven.”

Before he came to Chronic Tattoos, artist Bill Kieffer worked as a commercial artist, where his area of expertise was set to sell a certain product.

“Tattooing is done just to help people realize their visions,” Kieffer says. “It’s the closest people get to

thinking about and creating art.”

“We have more of a different art vibe than a street shop vibe,” Johnny Blaze, of Propaganda Tattoo, says. “We hope to set the standard for good tattooing in San Diego.”

Blaze feels there are hundreds of great artists in San Diego and he has to constantly compete with others as well as focus and keep his work progressing forward.

“Compared to other cities that I’ve been in, there are more tattoo-savvy people here in San Diego,” he says. “That’s what sets San Diego apart. Most places people don’t know what they’re in for when they walk into a shop.”

Up and down the coast of California, Blaze hasn’t seen as many tattooed people as he has in San Diego.

“That’s why our shop is so different though,” he says. “It’s more than just a tattoo shop, it’s like a gallery and a shop combined. We try to mix it up a little bit.”

“The best thing about being a tattoo artist is connecting to people and the creative freedom,” Blaze explains. “It’s not like a job; it’s having fun with it. Making people happy on a daily basis is what makes me most content about tattooing.”

Photos by Michael Wilson