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Tattoos Make Their Mark In Key West

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By ADRIAN SAINZ, The Associated Press

Published: October 14, 2007

KEY WEST - Tattoo artist Bo Mencarelli chills out on a sidewalk chair near Duval Street's fish restaurants and beer-soaked bars, dragging on a cigarette and saying, 'What's up, brother,' to those who recognize the thin man with ink paintings on his arms.

On an island with its own cadre of celebrities - 6-foot cross-dressing Swedes, Ernest Hemingway impersonators, even wandering chickens - Mencarelli and friend Jim McAlhany are a hip attraction.

They operate Key West Ink, one of two tattoo parlors that opened in late August on Duval, this island's main drag. The shop owners sued the city to erase a Navy-backed, four-decade ordinance that banned tattoo parlors - an anomaly in a town where outrageousness is prized and the biggest festival features topless women covered in body paint.

'This Key West and this is Duval. He-llo,' Mencarelli said. 'You can do anything you want here, and you can see just about anything. Come on. ... This town is ready for it.'

Health Concerns Triggered Ban

One would think that getting tattooed in Key West would be as natural as finding a piece of Key lime pie. But in the 1960s, Key West was a bustling Navy port, with about 10,000 sailors and another 10,000 family members helping fuel the economy, historian Tom Hambright said. Sailors got tattoos in places with dirty needles - leading to hepatitis and other illnesses, Hambright said.

The Navy began pressuring port cities to restrict tattooing, Hambright said. Key West passed its ban in 1966.

Forty years passed and tattooing became more mainstream, except in this most unmainstream of cities. In February, Key West Ink and Paradise Tattoo and Body Piercing sued the city, claiming the tattoo shop prohibition violated their constitutional right of freedom of expression.

The city and the parlors reached a settlement. Key West Ink and Paradise could open on Duval, but new parlors will be limited to a commercial zone away from the street.

McAlhany had a spot picked out and opened his shop the day of the settlement.

The parlor has $5,000 chairs for customers, the latest drawing equipment and a hypnotizing wall mural featuring images of swimming dolphins, fishermen, and, of course, Papa Hemingway.

Among McAlhany's first customers was a drag queen named Inga the Swedish Bombshell. Since, he has gotten visits from an 82-year-old woman who got a conch shell tattoo and a man who flew in from Fort Myers on a private jet for a quick inking.

Starting An Attraction

McAlhany, who owns a construction business, said he mortgaged his home and took a risk in spending about $1.4 million on securing and stocking the Duval Street storefront, hiring artists, and promotion.

McAlhany recruited Mencarelli, 50, to join him in the business. Mencarelli, who started 'slinging ink' after getting out of the military in the mid-1980s, jumped at the moneymaking opportunity, calling the shop his 'pension plan.' He is recruiting visiting artists and the shop has reservations stretching into next year.

'Because it's become such a lucrative industry, you've got everybody and their mother trying to own a shop and work a shop,' Mencarelli said. 'But ... this place could become an attraction actually. This is Key West. There's always something happening.'

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