A tattoo parlor with buttoned-up personnel will open in Long Beach this summer.
Ryan Gatt, who owns Salvation Tattoo & Gallery in Oceanside, hopes to open his second such shop at 58A E. Park Ave., the former site of a women’s boutique, no later than July 1, and with it he vows to bring a more, let’s say, conservative image of tattooing to town.
“We’re trying to change people’s perceptions,” Gatt told Patch after he sported a tie and suit vest, with his shirt sleeves rolled up to reveal his forearms sleeved in tattoos, at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, when his new business was granted waivers for off-street parking requirements.
Gatt, who is an artist who works with oil paints, characterizes his parlor as “high-end.” “It’s all done by appointment and all employees wear almost a suit to work,” he added.
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The tattoo parlor will also feature an art gallery, as Gatt has done with his Oceanside storefront, at 3210 Long Beach Rd., where he displays his paintings. At his Long Beach shop, he plans to host art shows, complete with wine and cheese and musical entertainment, and allow local artists to display their work there year round.
“This is just an extension of our fine art and getting people to view tattooing in a better way,” he said.
After spent much of his childhood enjoying Long Beach and lived in the beach town for nine years, he bought a home in Oceanside. But last October it was destroyed in Hurricane Sandy.
“I lost everything in the storm,” said Gatt, whose noted that his wife was six-months pregnant at the time, and that they had to gut and rebuild their home.
Thankfully, though, business has been good in Oceanside, where this month he celebrates his fifth year in business.
“For our five-year anniversary, we’re opening a second store, so things are going really well,” he said.
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