Columbia’s Iron Tiger Tattoo owner Gabe Garcia recalls the tattoo scene when he first joined the industry as being everything punk rock. It was anti-establishment, violent, weird and leaned heavily into counterculture. 

When Garcia got his first tattoo at 15 in what he describes as a “sketchy and underground” way, it only made sense to him to get a solid black band logo. Back then, Garcia wasn’t aware of tattooing’s potential as a career path.

“I started drawing tattoos right around that same time,” Garcia said. “I didn’t know you could do it as a career back then. I thought it was just a hobby people had.”

Garcia eventually got an apprenticeship with the then-Columbia shop Hollywood Rebels Tattoos, which reflected the counterculture, non-traditional version of tattooing he had grown up with. His mentor didn’t have as much knowledge about technique, meaning the two were often learning together. 

Garcia sees this apprenticeship as a foot in the door for him. He got his friends jobs at the store, learned different styles of tattooing and built up his portfolio. Garcia was debating moving to a bigger city at the time — maybe New York or Los Angeles — when his mentor decided he couldn’t run Hollywood Rebels anymore. Garcia had the choice to let the shop close permanently or buy it and become the owner. 

“I didn’t want my homies to not have jobs. So I just was like, ‘Alright, let’s do it,’” Garcia said. 

After buying the store Garcia renamed it Iron Tiger, the Japanese zodiac sign of 2010. 14 years later, Garcia has settled into his role as an owner. He takes inventory, pays bills, holds weekly meetings and gives advice to other artists in the store. 

Garcia has also seen the tattoo and piercing sphere shift over the last decade-and-a-half. To him, the scene has drifted away from its hardcore roots into a more inviting and inclusive community.

“Now, [tattooing] is pretty accepted, pretty peaceful and pretty open to everything. It’s just different,” Garcia said.

Though there are still roots in punk culture, band members and their fans aren’t the only ones with body modifications anymore. More people feel comfortable getting tattoos and piercings, including sophomore Ava Longfellow.

Longfellow has been interested in piercings since the age of 13. She remembers being in high school and slowly persuading her mother to let her get more and more piercings each year. She now has 14 ear piercings, one septum piercing, and one tattoo. For Longfellow, tattooing is less about counterculture and more about self-expression.

“I like myself with my tattoo and my piercings a lot. I don’t know what it is about them, but I just do,” Longfellow said.

Longfellow’s tattoo, which features a patch of grass and wild strawberries with her grandmother’s handwriting and birthday underneath, memorializes the time spent playing outside with her grandmother in her youth. 

The tattoo sits on her right hip, so Longfellow is the only person who sees it most of the time. This more hidden placement was a way for her to appease her parents who aren’t very fond of tattoos while still paying tribute to her grandmother in a tattoo that will be with her forever.

“At first, [my parents] thought I was joking when I told them that I got [the grass tattoo],” Longfellow said. “So they were a little confused, and I guess a little concerned, at first.”

Her parents’ views might stop her from getting visible tattoos until she’s older, but they don’t stop her from planning future ink altogether. Longfellow has a few unfinished ideas for future tattoos, but she is certain about one dedicated to her other grandmother. The tattoo idea — a small Ferris wheel — symbolizes her annual tradition of decorating her grandmother’s Christmas tree. 

“She has a vintage ornament from the 1960s, and it’s this really pretty gold Ferris wheel,” Longfellow said. “She always loved it. So when I would decorate the tree, I had to make sure it was put in a specific way so that she could see it from her chair.”

Though her current tattoo ideas have specific memories attached to them, Longfellow emphasizes that not every tattoo needs a complex story behind it.

“Just do whatever makes you happy. It’ll be okay in the end. It’s a fun story at the end of the day, if it turns out bad,” she said. 

To Garcia, the experience of getting tattooed or pierced can make or break the work, regardless of how good the end product may be. He tries to foster a positive experience for his clients as much as possible — whenever he’s tattooing a new client he makes sure to ask about their personal life and interests. 

“If it’s a customer that we tattoo a lot, then you just start learning more and more about them as time goes on,” Garcia said. “I always try to connect with people really personally. I make sure they have a good time and leave with a memory outside of the tattoo.”

For some, finding an artist they feel comfortable with is crucial to the tattooing or piercing process. Longfellow has been returning to the same piercer at C.R. Ink Tattoo, a Columbia tattoo and piercing parlor, for her last few piercings. The piercer fosters the relaxed environment she wants when getting pierced. 

“He’s really sweet and really nice,” Longfellow said. “A lot of piercers have to have their own environment and have to be really focused on what they’re doing. He’s really not like that. You could have a full conversation with him, and he’s good at keeping you calm.”

Throughout all of the changes Garcia has seen in the tattoo and piercing sphere, his love for the field has remained constant. To him, tattooing and piercing can be a sort of spiritual act. In addition to creating a comfortable environment, Garcia hopes that he can give the people he tattoos- whether it be people from punk rock backgrounds or students just looking to express themselves, the same feeling he gets from tattoos. 

“You’re in pain, you’re digging into somebody’s skin and you’re doing this sort of blood ritual,” Garcia said. “You connect. So then once you’ve connected like that, if your experience is positive, then you leave just loving the tattoo.”

Edited by Annie Goldman | agoldman@themaneater.com 

Copy edited by Natalie Kientzy and Grace Knight

Edited by Emily Skidmore | eskidmore@themaneater.com