About Bill

I started on this adventure nearly 15 years ago and boy has there been some ups and downs. I took an apprenticeship in a tattoo shop called Tattoo 46 in Dover, New Jersey. Lets just say this was my only way to get into the tattoo industry in the mid 90s. At that point if your father was not a tattoo guy, you pretty much couldnt be. I needed to work out a deal to get my start. Needless to say to all the young kids interested in being a part of this world today, back then you couldnt just jump on the computer and learn how to tattoo.

I left Tattoo 46 after about a year and then started tattooing out of my home. After a year or two, my portfolio was ready. I headed up to Mt. Vernon, New York to Big Joes. Between the 80s and the 90s, if you got a Tattoo, you went to Big Joes to get it. Big Joes was not like the typical granite countertops and neutral colors of todays tattoo shops. It is really hard to explain this to todays younger generation of tattoo guys but let me try.

When you walked upstairs to the second floor you knew you were in a real tattoo shop. The cold air and the smell of green soap hit you in the face like a right hook. The shop had a taste of old school that we are trying to recapture today. There were bikers, bikes, cats, pit bulls in the back barking and fighting, and people sitting around for hours waiting to be tattooed. Because back in the day, it was not Hello can I help you, it was more Sit down and maybe I will get to you, and god forbid you asked how much a tattoo was. Yes boys and girls, you actually had to sit around and wait for hours to get a tattoo. There were no phony smiles and how can I help you, like there are today. But I can go on and on about how wonderful the tattoo shops were back in the day. And I mean that. That is what Hank and I are trying to accomplish here.

Back to my interview with Big Joe I walked into the shop and asked to speak to Joe. He came out and asked how long I had been tattooing. I lied and said 5 years. He took one look at my portfolio and smiled, five years kid you are lucky you have two years under your belt. With that, I asked if he could use another tattooist and he offered me a position in his new Bronx shop. As fate would have it, Six Line Inc. is actually located in the same place where I got my first start with Joe.

I worked in Big Joes 2 from 1996 to 1999. I eventually had a falling out with Joe over an air conditioner of all things, ha ha ha. I left his shop and then realized, I didn't want to work for anyone else anymore. I opened up my own shop in White Plains, NY in 2000 called Extreme Ink.

As an aside, I want to address Adam thanks for all the times you allowed me to stand over you and look over your shoulder while you tattooed. And to Giuseppe for all the laughs and good days we had together. And thanks for having my back over that AC too!

Extreme Ink tried to appeal to all the new clientele in the tattoo world. In the late 90s and early 2000, tattoos were becoming pretty mainstream. The tabus that tattoos had been were lost at this point. No longer was there bad ass bikers hanging out in the shops. Instead, it was the middle-aged housewives that seemed to be the new fad. Lets just say that I had my shop until 2004 and moved on from tattoo shop to tattoo shop for a while. I have been tattooing by appointment only basis for the past year or so and now I think it is time to get my passion back to the way it was in the mid 90s. Tattooing is my life. I live and breathe tattoos. There is nothing in the world I would rather do than sit around and bullshit with a complete stranger while tattooing them for hours.

This tattoo shop is like a throw back to the way things used to be. I understand that we cannot go back and make tattoo shops quite the way they were. But I really think that the business has become pretty pathetic. Tattoo shops now are like pizzerias on every corner. There is no loyalty anymore. It is just about, how much is this? If the place around the block charges ten bucks less, it seems like this generation wont hesitate to act upon the cheaper price no matter what the quality of work.

Note to all my loyal customers, this is obviously not directed at you. You know who you are!

If I seem bitter toward the industry, it is only because of my love for it. I find that ever since NYC legalized tattoos, it became much easier to obtain tattoo machines and supplies. This just ruined everything our tattoo forefathers established. Over the years, I have had to bite my tongue...like when the tattooist comes in with his man purse it makes me stop and think about what has happened to this business. When he calls his tattoo machine, a gun, it drives me insane. Note to all Internet tattoo artists and soon-to-be tattooists: A gun shoots bullets. A tattoo machine injects ink into the skin.

Let me sum up this short story with my vision for Six Line Ink. From age group of 30 and up, I believe you will enjoy this new shop. Sure everything will still be sterile and clean as it should be and we will go as far as we can to help customers out. But the fake smiles, the man purses, and tattoo guns will not exist in Six Line Ink. And for the other generation who was born in the late 80s and 90s, if you would like to experience a tattoo shop the way it used to be, come stop over and visit us. The days of the granite countertops and matching color shades are over for us at Six Line Ink. It will be a place where you can get a good, clean, traditional tattoo. Come see how it was before you were even born or come back to time that you may have forgotten about. Bikers, bad asses or any other alternative life styles are welcome!

Click here to see Bills Gallery.