Today we’d like to introduce you to Annie Motel.
Annie, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I am lucky to know that making art is my life’s purpose and blessed to do what I love everyday. My father is an artist, and a retired high school art teacher and my mother is a poet. I studied drawing, painting, and acting in college and graduated from the University of Washington with a BFA. I wanted to be a portrait painter, a job that existed one hundred years ago, but now, is not a practical way to make a living.
Thankfully, I found tattooing when I moved to Los Angeles. After some help from tattooers in garages (where I made my first tattoo) and an apprenticeship, I was able to get into a street shop in MacArthur Park with a steady walk-in clientele. I learned to do tattoos on the spot, a way of working I still favor today. I love to collaborate with my clients to give them a tattoo they feel suits them best.
After MacArthur park, I went to Hollywood and worked a couple of years there until I wanted the freedom to travel for work and manage my own time. I opened up Little Annie Motel Tattoo Parlor in Downtown LA in 2017, and have been graced with the best clients in the world who are a joy to work with.
The friendships I’ve built while traveling around the world tattooing, as well as the skills and creative ideas of the tattooers I work with at my shop, conventions and guest spots, have expanded my knowledge and love of tattooing.
Has it been a smooth road?
Getting into tattooing is not easy. It’s a highly competitive male-dominated field filled with people who had to work hard to get where they are. If you want to become a lawyer, you go to law school. If you want to become a doctor, you go to medical school. There is no such course to becoming a tattooer. You have to prove yourself to those who hold the knowledge you want to possess, and when the road gets rocky, you have to pick yourself up and be willing to try again, and again, and again.
I had a lot of false starts with tattooing. I believe if you’re dedicated to tattooing, you’ll find a way. I think that the harder it is for you to learn to tattoo, the more you’ll appreciate the craft, and you will never take it for granted once you’ve achieved success.
I try to give any opportunities I have to women tattooers because we are the minority in the industry. Thankfully, there are many more women tattooing these days, and I hope this trend continues because we excel at what we do.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Little Annie Motel Tattoo Parlor is located in the Jewelry Manufacturing Building in Downtown LA. Our shop feels like a secret, cool spot, and is on the fifth floor with giant windows dressed in frilly fancy mint green curtains, looking out and in-between the Downtown skyline. The sunset every evening is a delight, and a salon style gallery of originals by many talented artists cover the walls.
I love Old Hollywood, so many of my tattoos are Hollywood vamp inspired black and grey traditional pieces. I also am a huge fan of art deco, spiders and vampires, so these elements work their way into my designs. All my coworkers have their own styles, from skulls to roses to fancy girl’s heads; we have a tatt for every appendage.
I think what makes our shop special is that when you walk in, you’re transported to a magical place where you feel calm, safe, welcome, and excited to work with great artists who really care about making great art with you.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I honestly think that the rotary tattoo machine has changed the game when it comes to the learning curve of tattooing. Coil machines are tough to learn with, as they vibrate and weigh a ton.
On the contrary, rotary machines are light, silent and smooth, almost like tattooing with a pen. The new generation of tattooers I know has never even used coils. I love my coils, and I am proud to use them still, but I can see why these new tattooers would favor rotary machines.
I think to be a real tattooer you have to own and use coils. But that’s just my opinion. The tattoos that the rotary machines can make look just as good as coils, but it’s the tradition of the machine that I feel is important to the craft, and one that should be honored.
Contact Info:
- Address: 728 S Hill St Unit 501 5th Floor Los Angeles, CA 90014
- Website: www.littleanniemotel.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @littleanniemotel @moteltattoo
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/littleanniemoteltattoos
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/little-annie-motel-tattoo-parlor-los-angeles
Image Credit:
Emily Gummig Photography
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