Ottawa Herald, The (KS)
Published: July 15, 2011
Down the street from the Franklin County District Court and nestled between two businesses on downtown’s Main Street stands the city’s first licensed tattoo shop, Old Glory Tattoo Parlor.
Co-owners Sunshine Leslie Dunham and Martin del Camino decided to open a shop in Ottawa because there weren’t any professional tattoo shops in town.
“I thought that it would be a good market,” Dunham said. “I’ve always had my eye on Ottawa because of downtown and the store fronts. I felt like it was architecturally cute.”
For now, the shop is open Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. — by appointment only until a full-time tattoo artist can be hired. Dunham and Camino also are the co-owners of Ichiban Tattoo Studio in Lawrence, and Dunham said splitting time between the two shops is difficult.
“Our original two artists fell through,” Dunham said.
Camino, originally from Argentina and now a Lawrence resident, began tattooing in 1994 at about 17 years old. He said the Ottawa community has been receptive to having a licensed shop in town and said he’s done about four or five tattoos in the month they’ve been open. Those tattoos included a cross and a butterfly. About six aspiring tattoo artists have came in within the past few weeks inquiring about apprenticeships, Camino said.
“We have been well-received and have not had any problems,” he said.
Sarah Porter, an agent at Porter, Spears and Bundy Insurance, 310 S. Main St., next door to Old Glory, said Dunham and Camino are really nice people. Porter said she wasn’t aware of any hesitation or resistance to the first-of-its-kind shop opening.
And the pair didn’t have to go through any special regulations as an establishment that offers tattoos.
City Planner Tom Yahl said tattoo shops aren’t addressed specifically for licensing, but solely through zoning ordinances.
The shop is considered a typical retail service, Yahl said.
Dunham and Camino somewhat abruptly found the space in April, Dunham said, and the shop opened in June.
“We just had to go through the normal process of zoning because we didn’t change any of the structural parts of the premises,” she said. “It hasn’t been as hard as I thought it would be in a town where there isn’t one. I don’t have any tattoos and since I don’t look like a hooligan maybe that made it a little more welcome and not scary or intimidating to people.”
Dunham said she originally was a little worried their might be some hesitation from conservative residents or business owners, but that apprehension has subsided.
“Maybe the generational thing has changed,” Dunham said. “Shows like on TLC have showed it’s more of a standard thing and does not have a stigma attached to it and to not be worried about the criminal activity. We’ve tried to elevate it to not necessarily an art form but an accepted form of art so people can see that it’s more about quality and not so much about a lifestyle.”
Camino, who has tattoos on various places across his body, said the tattoo scene is not like it was a decade ago.
“It’s changing a lot,” he said. “I’ve tattooed a bunch of lawyers and some students from all different walks of life. Some even studying political science, and those are the future politicians.”
Area residents looking to get inked seem excited, he said, to have a nearby option — not just in Lawrence or Kansas City. He said he tattooed someone in Lawrence last week who was from Ottawa.
Chiquita Coggs, Kansas Board of Cosmetology executive director, said there has never been a licensed shop in Ottawa. She said someone applied for licensing before, but never followed through with the application.
The goal, Dunham and Camino said, is to have someone who can work full time at the shop about four days a week.
Angelique McNaughton 