Go to College Park for a Curious Tattoo
Underneath the Potbelly Sandwich Works canopy along U.S. Route 1 is a simple sign hanging next to a glass door – “Curious Tattoo Body Piercing,” it reads.
Open this glass door and you will find yourself in a white room smelling of incense with two sets of stairs to the third floor. Walk up and the walls are lined with pictures of torsos covered in art. Through an unmarked white door is a small office and the uneven buzz of a tattoo machine etching away at human skin.
Curious Tattoo Inc. staff has served University of Maryland students and the City of College Park locals for four years, providing tattoos and piercings of all kinds.
Except upside-down, palm or bottom-of-the-foot tattoos, of course, said Bobby Bouldeaux, 23, of College Park, who has worked at Curious Tattoo Inc doing tattoos and piercings for two years.
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| This photo of a 'Mom' quarter sleeve tattoo was pulled from the parlor's Facebook page, which has 142 "Likes" as of July 27, 2011. |
Owner Paul Keplinger, 32, of Baltimore, worked for the previous owner, Sonny Vineyard, who opened Artist In Ink in 1995. Keplinger changed the name when he became owner.
“I’m not going to tell you why because he’s no longer with us. Sonny went to jail then this place caught on fire. After that the landlord asked me if I wanted to take over and I did,” Keplinger said.
From the outside you may never even realize the shop is there. Clients and potential clients trickle in for appointments, to look at the art and make appointments sometimes on the spot.
Four employees work in the office. Inside the walls are covered with posters of potential tattoos. The front desk is a display box of earrings, belly button rings, and jewelry unidentifiable to the untrained eye. Red curtain hang in the doorways to the back rooms, where the art and piercings are done.
The parlor, does not have a Web page or networking site, but advertises by word of mouth.
“We pass out our [business] cards, show off our work, and take care of the bars around us. We’ve done a lot of the [local] bartenders’ tattoos,” said Keplinger. “After people tell people, it speaks for itself.”
Marco Sherman, 28, of Clinton, came to Curious for the first time last year. “I just drove by and I saw it was in a college area so it must be pretty good,” he said.
He wanted to add a fire design to a grim reaper tattoo, he got at another parlor, he said.
“I went back [to the first parlor] and they didn’t really want to help me out. This place did,” he said. Sherman said he liked the quality and detail of the fire and returned for an angel tattoo on his other arm.
The parlor is open from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Saturday, but success depends on the day and sometimes they will close early, Bouldeaux said.
Right after the recession, Friday meant paychecks for Curious clients which also apparently meant it was time for a tattoo, Bouldeaux said. As the recession deepened work on Friday and Saturday would increase and for the rest of the week it would be skimpy. “Things are picking up again,” he said.
Off-season for the university is off-season for the parlor, too.
“At the beginning of the spring time, our little area here is packed with 30 people all day, also beginning in July and after [winter] break,” he said.
Clientele is most often college students getting piercings and Greek [organization] tattoos, but Greenbelt, College Park and D.C. residents come out for tattoos a lot, too, said Bouldeaux.
“The city didn’t really want it here being next to the college and all. They still don’t,” said Bouldeaux.
“There’s always someone cool coming in. Places like this are like when the full moon comes out. It brings out all the freaks,” Bouldeaux said.
Prices at Curious Tattoo Inc. are generally lower than those at other parlors in the immediate area, he said. “People will go over to Great Southern [Tattoo Company at Route 1 and Fox Street] with the same design and come on back,” he said.
As in many tattoo parlors, each of the employees charge his or her own prices based on the design, while everyone is trying to stay competitive. The shop gets a percentage of their income, said Bouldeaux.