Tattoo Parlor

After years in legal limbo, tattoo parlors would be allowed to operate in most Baltimore County business zones, under a proposal county planners are expected to give the planning board today.But the proposal -- called "a good middle ground" by senior planner Hillorie Morrison -- could face a rocky future on its way to becoming law.Two county councilmen think the plan is too lenient. Tattoo parlor advocates view it as too strict. A community activist complains that the plan deals only with the location of tattoo parlors, not their public health implications.

Dundalk's legislators are jumping into the debate over minors receiving tattoos, planning to submit bills in next year's General Assembly session that would outlaw tattooing those under 18 statewide without parental approval.Meanwhile, the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is preparing rules that would require sterile needles and other health standards for tattoo shops, said Dr. Diane Matuszak, deputy director of Community Health Surveillance."Our focus is informed consent covering any body adornment procedure" -- including body piercing -- and infection control, Matuszak said,The moves are the result of continuing controversy over tattooing in eastern Baltimore County.

California has long been the unrivaled leader in outlandish retail concepts, such as 24-hour, drive-through nail salon-video stores. But a Baltimore stalwart just might put those combos to shame. Cafe Tattoo is a music club cum barbecue joint cum tattoo parlor. The music is hit-and-miss and we have no criteria for judging the tattoos, but the barbecue merits taking the drive out Belair Road.Technically, the tattoo parlor is upstairs from the dark, cavernous bar presided over by its chatty owner, Rick Catalano.

It's the old-timers who tell you how much the business has changed. The legendary Lyle Tuttle started tattooing professionally on the West Coast in 1949, when it was mostly drunken servicemen demanding screaming eagless. Then came the first wave of hippies, their heads full of acid and idealism. Mr. Tuttle did Janis Joplin ("Gave 'er a bracelet on her wrist and a rose on her [chest]") and Cher and the Allman Brothers, although a lot of good their tattoos did them.Joplin OD'd on heroin and Duane Allman slammed his Harley into a produce truck, and both were gone from this world forever.

As a zoning official heard a proposal for a tattoo parlor in Towson yesterday, tattoo artist Vincent Myers stressed his worldwide reputation and self-imposed code of conduct, but opponents said the business could hurt the area's image.Mr. Myers, who hopes to open a shop on the second floor of 416 York Road, said he won't tattoo anyone under age 18 without the consent of a parent or guardian. He said he also won't tattoo anyone he suspects of being under the influence of alcohol or drugs.But a handful of opponents at the hearing expressed concerns that a tattoo parlor is not an appropriate business for Towson.

$20 million shiplift to be finished by 1997 at Coast Guard YardThe Coast Guard Yard in Curtis Bay will be getting a new $20 million shiplift that will enable the facility to replace two outdated dry docks, state and federal officials announced yesterday.The shiplift, which will be in place by late summer 1997, will allow easier repair of large vessels and help lower maintenance costs at the facility, said U.S. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, who has assisted in getting the funds for the project.

LET'S SEE IF we understand this decision by the Baltimore County zoning commissioner. Rembrandt would not be allowed to set up shop in downtown Towson if a portrait painter's studio was not identified as a permitted use in the commercial zoning regulations. But pool halls, erotica shops and stores selling books of a prurient nature are permitted because they are so identified?We mention the Dutch master because Commissioner Lawrence Schmidt previously compared tattoo artists favorably to great painters.

While acknowledging a tattoo artist's impressive background and impeccable credentials, a Baltimore County zoning official denied his petition yesterday to open a tattoo parlor in Towson.Vincent A. Myers, president of LVT Dermagrafix Inc. and owner of Little Vinnie's Tattoos in Westminster, had sought to open a tattoo parlor and body-piercing business in the 400 block of York Road in the heart of Towson.Because such a use is not listed in county zoning regulations, Mr. Myers' attorney, Michael P. Tanczyn, filed a petition for a hearing, which was held Oct. 25 by Zoning Commissioner Lawrence E. Schmidt.

Mick Beasley was a good Catholic girl, a young suburban housewife raising five children, when she tried to save her marriage by taking a walk on the wild side.She decided to wear her love on her hip. Taking the advice of a marriage counselor, who suggested displaying heraffection, Beasley headed to the nearest tattoo parlor and had her husband's name and a big pink rose applied to her hip.Two days later, she went back. By the time she finished having another flower tattooed to her chest, Beasley had fallen in love.

Tattoo Tux stands in the middle of his electric studio and takes a deep drag on his cigarette.Surrounded by colorful stencils and strange sculptures with flickering candles, miniature Buddhas and skulls, he leans against a table and kicks at the leg.He's trying to explain his fascination with tattoos. Why did he, at age 41, after quitting the business to put himself through art school, open another tattoo parlor? Why did he, after painting still lifes and becoming fascinated with religious icons, go back to drawing dragons on men's backs?

How it came to pass that a young Baltimore man lay down at a tattoo parlor Wednesday night as an artist etched Twitter's whale icon onto his leg is a tale that illustrates not only the power of social media, but the idiosyncrasies that drive it. What started with an impromptu race to bring traffic to the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association's feed on Twitter, the micro-blogging social media site, resulted in an Internet sensation, complete...

What: Exhibition of classic photographs by A. Aubrey Bodine. Where: Ocean Gallery World Center for the Arts, Boardwalk and Second Street, Ocean City When: 10 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week, until Sept. 1. Why: A Maryland treasure, A. Aubrey Bodine (1906 -1970) was one of the 20th century's finest pictorial photographers. A photographer for The Sun for half a century, Bodine combined photojournalism with the eye and the darkroom techniques of an artist. His pictures illuminate a world largely lost: working skipjacks on the bay, Southern Maryland tobacco farmers, Baltimore dock workers, gaslit streets, a tattoo parlor on The Block, steam engines on the Western Maryland Railroad, the spires of Frederick, a Fells Point barber shop, the building of the first Bay bridge and Park Avenue in the snow, the street he lived on in Baltimore.

A man was shot and wounded yesterday during an altercation in a Glen Burnie tattoo parlor, Anne Arundel County police said. Alvin Lomax Burruss, 33, of the 800 block of Phirne Road in Glen Burnie was shot in the leg about 3:30 p.m. in the Viet Dragon, in the 300 block of Hospital Drive. A friend drove him to North Arundel Hospital before notifying authorities, said Lt. Joseph Jordan, a police spokesman. The injury is not life-threatening, Jordan said.

A YOUNG woman walked into a Charles Street bar recently with a tattoo flashing from her calf. I couldn't tell if was a dragon or a triggerfish, though surely a cold-blooded creature of some sort, rendered in that spiky, heavy-metal style favored by graffiti artists. A few years ago I would have been surprised. I would have felt sorry for her. No longer. Tattoos are rife among the young, even women. The author of an article circulated by the venerable Pacific News Service in California described tattoos as "fashion statements for the mainstream."

After years in legal limbo, tattoo parlors would be allowed to operate in most Baltimore County business zones, under a proposal county planners are expected to give the planning board today.But the proposal -- called "a good middle ground" by senior planner Hillorie Morrison -- could face a rocky future on its way to becoming law.Two county councilmen think the plan is too lenient. Tattoo parlor advocates view it as too strict. A community activist complains that the plan deals only with the location of tattoo parlors, not their public health implications.

Dundalk's legislators are jumping into the debate over minors receiving tattoos, planning to submit bills in next year's General Assembly session that would outlaw tattooing those under 18 statewide without parental approval.Meanwhile, the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is preparing rules that would require sterile needles and other health standards for tattoo shops, said Dr. Diane Matuszak, deputy director of Community Health Surveillance."Our focus is informed consent covering any body adornment procedure" -- including body piercing -- and infection control, Matuszak said,The moves are the result of continuing controversy over tattooing in eastern Baltimore County.

California has long been the unrivaled leader in outlandish retail concepts, such as 24-hour, drive-through nail salon-video stores. But a Baltimore stalwart just might put those combos to shame. Cafe Tattoo is a music club cum barbecue joint cum tattoo parlor. The music is hit-and-miss and we have no criteria for judging the tattoos, but the barbecue merits taking the drive out Belair Road.Technically, the tattoo parlor is upstairs from the dark, cavernous bar presided over by its chatty owner, Rick Catalano.

LET'S SEE IF we understand this decision by the Baltimore County zoning commissioner. Rembrandt would not be allowed to set up shop in downtown Towson if a portrait painter's studio was not identified as a permitted use in the commercial zoning regulations. But pool halls, erotica shops and stores selling books of a prurient nature are permitted because they are so identified?We mention the Dutch master because Commissioner Lawrence Schmidt previously compared tattoo artists favorably to great painters.

While acknowledging a tattoo artist's impressive background and impeccable credentials, a Baltimore County zoning official denied his petition yesterday to open a tattoo parlor in Towson.Vincent A. Myers, president of LVT Dermagrafix Inc. and owner of Little Vinnie's Tattoos in Westminster, had sought to open a tattoo parlor and body-piercing business in the 400 block of York Road in the heart of Towson.Because such a use is not listed in county zoning regulations, Mr. Myers' attorney, Michael P. Tanczyn, filed a petition for a hearing, which was held Oct. 25 by Zoning Commissioner Lawrence E. Schmidt.

As a zoning official heard a proposal for a tattoo parlor in Towson yesterday, tattoo artist Vincent Myers stressed his worldwide reputation and self-imposed code of conduct, but opponents said the business could hurt the area's image.Mr. Myers, who hopes to open a shop on the second floor of 416 York Road, said he won't tattoo anyone under age 18 without the consent of a parent or guardian. He said he also won't tattoo anyone he suspects of being under the influence of alcohol or drugs.But a handful of opponents at the hearing expressed concerns that a tattoo parlor is not an appropriate business for Towson.