It ain't Brooklyn Blackie, but it is Brooklyn.

I had a tattoo done while we were in NY this Christmas. My daughter’s boyfriend took me to a tattoo parlor in Brooklyn, not Coney Island unfortunately, but it nevertheless was Brooklyn.

It seems there are no more tattoo guys in Coney Island, El Greco, Brooklyn Blackie and the rest of them are gone.

We went to a parlor called the 3 Kings, great work, lots of heavily tattooed people tattooing other heavily tattooed people, men and women. I was, as usual the oldest guy there. I wanted an octopus on my shoulder; my wife designed one based on the ancient Minoan vases. Larry goes there often, he is one of the heavily tattooed guys, and he recommended one of the artists there, a heavily tattooed Josh.

Go to their site and see the place and the work. Three Kings tattoo, Brooklyn. A great place.

I imagined the place to be seedier with sawdust on the floor and lots of beer cans all over. Nope, nothing like that, a clean, well-lit place with drawings and paintings on the wall, each artist has his own station. Lots of paper towels and boxes of rubber gloves, also plenty of tracing paper with designs on them.

We did have some seediness, after Larry’s tats we did go and have some vodka and bourbon, in a great local bar, and then went for my tattoo.

I still fancy the idea of becoming an apprentice tattoo artist…I would like a nickname. These new guys don’t seem to have nicknames, I wonder why? The old guys all had nicknames, and great ones; my favorite is still Brooklyn Blackie the electric Rembrandt.