Tattoo 408

This week, I'm taking the time to address some questions I've gotten, the primary one being my own tattoo story. I dive into some of my religious upbringing, my love for San Jose, and my overall vision for Tattoo 408. Please bear with me as I turn the mic around this week. --- Show Support: Rate and Review: Love Tattoo 408? Show your support by leaving a 5-star rating on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠App...

This week is the rest of Ethan's interview with ⁠Klem⁠ . Learn why Klem left the 408 for Santa Cruz, what led him to open his own shop, O'Reilly's, and how it became a staple in Santa Cruz tattooing for many years. Plus, hear why Klem feels that tattooing is better than winning the lottery. If you'd like to book an appointment with Klem, email klem1891@gmail.com ⁠Klem's origin playlist⁠ --- Show S...

As I talk to tattooists all over the 408, many names consistently come up whom I have not interviewed. But one in particular came up for often than any of them: Klem . Preferring to go by his last name, Klem has been tattooing for over 30 years. Born and raised in South San Jose, Klem started tattooing at 22 and hasn't stopped. In this episode, he takes us through his time at his first two tattoo...

Adam Barton takes us through the rest of his time at New Skool, his world travels, and the opening of Fog City Tattoo in Santa Cruz, CA, where he currently tattoos. --- Show Support: Rate and Review: Love Tattoo 408? Show your support by leaving a 5-star rating on ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠ —it only takes a few seconds! Spread the Word: Share the podcast with your tattoo-loving friends and...

🌹 It's hard to talk about San Jose tattooing in the past 30 years and not mention Adam Barton . His career took an early turn when Adrian Lee⁠ invited him to guest spot at New Skool in downtown San Jose. It marked the beginning of a remarkable journey. Join us as we unravel the fascinating journey of a tattoo artist who transformed his religious upbringing in upstate New York into an indelible ma...

In the rest of his interview, Cory "Good Morning"⁠ walks us through his time at Metamorphic Tattoo and opening up ⁠Current Tattooing⁠ in the Alameda/Rose Garden neighborhood. --- Love Tattoo 408? Here are the best ways to support the show! Leave a 5 star rating on ⁠Spotify⁠ or ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠ (it takes ~10 seconds). Tell your tattoo-loving friends and family about it! Get 15% off when purchasing...

Cory "Good Morning" started tattooing on homemade machines in downtown San Jose before landing a professional apprenticeship in New Orleans. There, he really cut his teeth in a fast-paced street shop. Today, he's the founder and owner of San Jose's Current Tattooing in the Alameda/Rose Garden neighborhood. This is the first half of his interview with Ethan. --- Love Tattoo 408? Here are the best w...

For Orly Locquiao⁠ , tattooing quickly became a conduit to connect with his Filipino heritage. After tattooing in Chicago, he found himself at New Tribal, a shop in Waikiki, Hawaii. There, he was welcome with open arms and learned the art of Polynesian tattooing. After a few years, he brought what he learned back to his hometown of San Jose and opened ⁠Humble Beginnings Tattoo⁠ in November 2002. I...

Orly Locquiao was born in the Philippines and moved to San Jose at the age of two. After writing graffiti for years, he found tattooing at age 20. When his parents sent him to Chicago to live with his uncle, he landed an apprenticeship on the West Side and the rest if history. He now owns and operates Humble Beginnings Tattoo on the Alameda in San Jose. This is the first half of Ethan's interview...

In the second half of this interview, Ron Earhart⁠ takes us through his story of arriving in San Jose and falling in love with the bio mechanical tattoo genre. After tattooing at New Skool and Analog, he now owns and operates Eleventh Dimension Tattoo Arts in West San Jose. --- Love Tattoo 408? Here are the best ways to support the show! Leave a 5 star rating on ⁠Spotify⁠ or ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠ (it t...

Ron Earhart has been tattooing for over 30 years, 22 of which have been in San Jose. He opened his first shop as a teenager and eventually found himself tattooing with Adrian Lee and Paco Excel and New Skool. This is the first half of Ethan's interview with him. --- Love Tattoo 408? Here are the best ways to support the show! Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts (it takes ~10 seconds...

The second half of Ethan's interview with Rob Cervantes. Rob takes us through leaving Pierced Ink to currently tattooing in Central Valley. --- Love Tattoo 408? Here are the best ways to support the show! Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts (it takes ~10 seconds). Tell your tattoo-loving friends and family about it! Get 15% off when purchasing tattoo healing products from saniderm.c...

Rob Cervantes grew up in a Chicano family on San Jose's North side. He started tattooing as a young teenager after seeing several folks in his neighborhood practice the craft. In this interview, he walks us through his childhood and his early career in tattooing. --- Love Tattoo 408? Here are the best ways to support the show! Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts (it takes ~10 second...

The second half of Ethan's interview with Adrian Lee . He takes us through why New Skool shut down, opening up Analog Tattoo Arts Kollective, and his career up to the present day. Other artists mentioned: Matt Shamah Alan Pham Ron Earhart Horitomo Monmon Cats --- Love Tattoo 408? Here are the best ways to support the show! Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts (it takes ~10 seconds)....

Adrian Lee is the owner of Analog Tattoo Arts Kollective in San Francisco. He was the co-founder of New Skool Tattoo in San Jose along with Paco Excel , from episodes 5 and 6. Adrian approached the interview in a similar way in which he approaches his art: very thoughtfully. I really enjoyed this one. We learn about his childhood, all the way through until he and Paco opened New Skool. --- Love Ta...

In this episode, Ethan talks with Lesley Mullins , shop manager at Marks of Art Tattoo , and Tyler Harrington , tattooist at State of Grace , about their experiences working tattooing's favorite day: Friday the 13th. The following shops will be doing Friday the 13th flash this coming Friday, October 13th: Downtown Luna Tattoo Studio Cali Stylz Tattoo Blacksuit Tattoo Underground Creations Player's...

Today, Tattoo 408 brings you the second half of Ethan's interview with Abraham Ortega , owner of Blacksuit Tattoo . --- Love Tattoo 408? Here are the best ways to support the show! Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts (it takes ~10 seconds). Tell your tattoo-loving friends and family about it! Get 15% off when purchasing tattoo healing products from saniderm.com with the code "tattoo...

Abraham Ortega has been tattooing in San Jose for over 20 years. Like Chono, he learned in the streets on the East Side before moving into it professionally. He is currently the owner of Black Suit Tattoo in downtown San Jose and specializes in black and grey Chicano tattoos. --- Love Tattoo 408? Here are the best ways to support the show! Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts (it tak...

This week I'm finishing up my conversation with Chono Garduño .--- Love Tattoo 408? Here are the best ways to support the show! Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts (it takes ~10 seconds). Tell your tattoo-loving friends and family about it! Get 15% off when purchasing tattoo healing products from saniderm.com with the code "tattoo408" Leave a tip ! Follow Tattoo 408 on Instagram , T...

This week I'm talking with Chono Garduno about his 35 year tattooing career. Born and raised on San Jose's East Side, Chono got his start tattooing on homemade machines in the streets.--- Love Tattoo 408? Here are the best ways to support the show! Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts (it takes ~10 seconds). Tell your tattoo-loving friends and family about it! Get 15% off when purcha...

When we last left Paco Excel , he was just starting to tell us about his days at New Skool, the shop he co-founded with Adrian Lee in San Jose's midtown. In this half of the interview, he takes us through the rest of the shop's days and where his career went after that, and where it is now. --- Love Tattoo 408? Here are the best ways to support the show! Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify or Apple P...

I took a drive north to the foggy town of Pacifica, CA to interview Paco Excel . Paco, along with fellow artist Adrian Lee , opened up that tattoo shop known as New Skool back in the mid 90s. It changed the game in San Jose tattoo. --- Love Tattoo 408? Here are the best ways to support the show! Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts (it takes ~10 seconds) Tell your tattoo-loving frien...

Hey everyone, welcome to Tattoo 408! Ethan Gregory Dodge here with part 2 of my interview with Scotty Weeks. I loved my conversation with Scotty. He's seen so much and his shop, Marks of Art, is a staple in San Jose tattooing. If you haven't listened to the first part of the interview, go back and listen to the previous episode as it sets the stage for this episode. Here Scotty tells us about some...

Hey everyone, Ethan Gregory Dodge here with episode number 3 of Tattoo 408. We're moving on to a new artist. This week we have Scotty Weeks, founder of Marks of Art Tattoo. It's difficult to talk about San Jose tattooing and not bring up Marks of Art. It's been open on Union Avenue in the Cambrian neighborhood for 29 years. I paid the shop a visit back in April to ask Scotty all about his upbringi...

Hey there everyone. Ethan Gregory Dodge here with the second episode of Tattoo 408. This is the rest of my interview with Tattoo John Bullock over at San Jose Tattoo. It's the oldest operating tattoo shop in the 408. It opened its doors in 1978 and only closed down one time due to a fire in 2020. John goes into detail about that fire in this part of the interview. If you haven't listened to last w...