Black Cat Tattoo Studio / It’s a bustling First Friday in Chinatown, and people are shuffling along Bethel Street, poking heads into the open doors of a variety of newly launched small businesses. One of those upstart enterprises is Black Cat Tattoo Studio, the brainchild of Anthony Carll and Bobby Wald, high school buddies from eastern Washington. There is an unsettling noise that is at once shrill and blunt. It is the music of the needle, and a milling crowd waits to get under the gun.

Carll came to the islands with the Coast Guard and remained here after his enlistment. He called Wald and convinced him to make the move. “This island accepted me with open arms,” says Wald, his armed inked (or “sleeved”) with a pastiche of finely detailed work. “Moving here was the best thing I’ve ever done.”

Wald got his first tattoo at the age of 13. His dad signed off for much of the work Wald now wears, work done before he reached the age of 18.

Making the move in the late ’90s, both Wald and Carll found steady gigs in the corporate world before embarking on the task of opening a business that is both a tattoo parlor and an art gallery. Wald still works as manager at a popular local fitness mecca and Carll puts in hours as a financial advisor for a national brokerage firm. But both found bouncing gigs at Waikiki nightspots before their entry into the professional world.

It was that time spent in the nightclub trenches where they met the folks that would become their artists and their clientele. Wald met a Hawai’i girl, and now has two sons who are as at home in the shop as the people that frequent it. “My kids are part Hawaiian,” he says. “It says so on their birth certificates. It’s an enormous gift.”

Carll’s girlfriend is also a staple in the shop, and the family vibe is palpable, creating the feel of a good friend’s living room, instead of the stereotype of typical tattoo parlors. Black Cat is clean and brightly lit. With the sound of the tattoo gun in the background, it could easily be mistaken for a dentist’s office if it weren’t for the exotic pieces of art festooning the walls.

The two men had a desire to become part of the Chinatown business community, and eventually settled on the idea of opening a tattoo shop and art gallery. Securing a lease proved to be a challenge, due largely to the stigma attached to the tattoo culture. While tattoos have become patently mainstream, the parlors remain encumbered by the preconceptions of those who are unfamiliar with the art. But persistence paid off, and Black Cat Tattoo now enjoys a prime spot in Chinatown.

Neither Wald nor Carll are artists themselves, but both share a passion for the art of the ink. “The first tattoo I ever did was on myself, and it’s not something I would ever put on anyone else,” Wald says with a touch of sheepishness. Instead, they’ve signed local artists to do the actual work of what amounts to beautiful, permanent stains on the flesh of those inclined to endure the pain.

One of those artists is Richie Lucero, a Leilehua High grad who got his start as a professional artist at Tiki Tattoo in 2003. He is adorned with ink, and was clearly born for the art that he does. “I could always draw,” he explains. “I was already an artist, but I had to learn to be a technician to become a tattoo artist.”

When pressed to explain his entry into the business of tattooing, Lucero glazes over. “I can’t really put my finger on it.” Encouraged by his stepfather, he answered a help-wanted ad by Tiki Tattoo. Without any experience he applied for the job with nothing more than a portfolio of his original drawings and a fervent desire to make art. Everything he creates is entirely intuitive.

Lucero specializes in portraiture, and one of his regular clients is Trieu, a sprightly local girl who dons photo-perfect portraits of her parents on both shoulders, courtesy of Lucero. “I couldn’t be happier,” she beams as she shows off his work.

What makes Black Cat unique among tattoo shops is how it functions as an art gallery as well as a place for creating wearable art. Wald and Carll both serve as curators, selecting choice works by the artists they employ, be they in-house or visiting. Handsomely framed pieces hang throughout the establishment and are as alluring to art lovers as the tattoos are to ink freaks.

Much of the inspiration the artists at Black Cat Tattoo share is a desire to transcend the biker/gangster/prison inmate image with which tattoo art has always been saddled. “We want to elevate tattooing to a form of high art,” says Lucero.

Wald and Carll are committed to their endeavor and to the area they now call home. They have forged friendly, collegial relationships with the restaurants, theaters and galleries in the area, and they are honored with the privilege. “Being in Chinatown,” Wald says, “we have a responsibility to participate and contribute to the community.” Like the pieces their artists provide, they want to be permanent.

Black Cat Tattoo Studio, 1157 Bethel St., [blackcatchinatown.com], 524-7580

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