ART-OF-BODY EXPERIENCE TATTOOS PIERCE OLD STEREOTYPES ACROSS L.A.

Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer

Popeye has them. Hells Angels boast them. And Los Angeles gang members have long flexed ``bad boy'' tattoos.

Now, more than a decade after the marks of bikers and convicts have gone mainstream, tattoos are spreading like spilled India ink through the skin of PTA moms, public relations professionals and grandmothers.

Even the grandson of Ronald Reagan.

``I'm trying to think of some way to make him personal to me - I'm the only grandson of the president,'' said Cameron Reagan, 26, of Sherman Oaks, who this week plans to etch a Presidential Seal over his heart with the face of his recently deceased grandfather.

``I'm the only one who can wear it. It'll be an honor - people would trip out.'''

Tattoos are now bigger, bolder and gutsier than ever, say tattoo artists in Los Angeles - what some call ``the tattoo capital of the world.''

What were once discreet rosebuds have graduated to vibrant floral arrangements, plus tribal motifs, Asian kanji symbols, pouncing tigers and splashes of personal decor.

And piercing, once a symbol of prickly spite, continues to punch holes through polite noses, tongues and navels.

``There's a saying, 'Please don't make fun of the people who don't have tattoos,''' said award-winning tattoo artist Lou Bone, owner of Art to the Bone in Sherman Oaks, who is designing Reagan's presidential tattoo.

Since Bone and his brother, Milestone, first opened a shop in Hollywood 18 years ago, the likes of Ice-T, Anna Nicole Smith and recently, Britney Spears, have walked out with near-permanent mementos.

And it is celebrities - from Janis Joplin to Ben Affleck to Angelina Jolie - who are credited with keeping tats in the limelight since the heyday of rock 'n' roll.

``Once people see MTV, Britney Spears, Kid Rock, once they see their tattoos, it is more acceptable,'' said Spoon, a body piercer at Art to the Bone.

Kristina Kirk, PR director for THQ, a video-game company in Calabasas, has two tattoos showing beneath her pants legs - the letters of her sorority and a comedy-tragedy mask.

``In a sense, tattoos can be seen like the photo album of your life,'' the 32-year-old company rep said. ``God forbid that someday ... life is all tragedy, I can't find the comedy.''

Even bankers can wear pinstripes - beneath their suits.

``The story is we don't discriminate against anybody with tattoos,'' said Chuck Sifuentes, spokesman for Wells Fargo bank in Los Angeles. ``We're an equal opportunity employer and want everybody to feel welcome.''

Los Angeles County counts 155 tattoo parlors, including 88 in Los Angeles, which together employ more than 600 tattoo artists, according to the Department of Health. Additionally, 150 beauticians are licensed to apply permanent makeup.

The county's body art inspection program claims to be the largest tattoo regulatory agency in the world, which would place Los Angeles - with its multifarious tattoo and piercing parlors from Venice Beach to Hollywood to the San Fernando Valley - as tattoo capital of the world, officials say.

``They've grown in recent years,'' said program head Cole Landowski. ``Body art has become a lot more popular - all you have to do is go outside and see all the people with tattoos.''

This weekend, more than 200 famous tattoo and body-piercing artists gathered at the Fairplex in Pomona for what is billed as America's Largest Tattoo Expo.

A decade ago, Think Ink of Woodland Hills opened with two tattoo stalls. It now has seven, their walls sponge-textured in soccer-mom orange.

Last week, an 80-year-old grandmother with a tattoo on her ankle came in to the parlor, wanting to have her nose pierced, said co-owner Debbie Martina. Her clientele has become more upscale and conservative.

``We never expected to be this busy,'' said Martina, who four years ago took the plunge for a full shoulder-sleeve floral tattoo. ``People you would never think would get tattoos are getting them done.''

Drew Arno, a needle man at Sunset Strip Tattoo Inc. in Hollywood, said women now get the biggest tattoos.

``It's crazy,'' said Arno in a parlor catering to Tinseltown stars. ``It's a cool way to summarize a thought or idea with a symbol - everybody got real deep all of a sudden. Real visionaries.

``They're not just pirates or hookers anymore.''

But with ink can come remorse - and a commensurate spike in the removal of misplaced names of boyfriends, girlfriends and other youthful follies.

The American Society of Dermatologic Surgery reports tattoo removal using laser-light technology increased 27 percent from 2001 to 2003.

Laser-zapping tattoos can cost $200 a visit for up to 12 sessions.

``We've been busy since we opened,'' said Sherry Stiles, coordinator for A Laser Beauty Center, founded six years ago in Tarzana. ``We see moms coming in ... Now they have a child, they don't want their kid to see their tattoos.

``I've had bankers, accountants, everybody.''

But Winter Young has no illusions. The 41-year-old massage therapist and PTA mother of three walked into Art to the Bone last week to modify one tattoo and sprout another.

Each time she suffers personal loss, such as a death or relationship, she gets another tattoo. This time, it's a slash through Bam Bam, a cartoon character representing her former husband, and a cartoon representing a breakup with her girlfriend.

``I'm a good girl with conservative values,'' said Young, of Sherman Oaks, the tattoo needle purring in Milestone's hand. ``I'm middle-of- the-road. I like 'em, they're historical. (Tattoos) remind you of where you come from.''

This month, at the nudging of an 11-year-old friend, she put a diamond stud through her nose.

``I said, 'Yeah, you should totally get your nose pierced, you'll look pretty cute,''' said Katrina Fernandez of Reseda, watching Young's latest tattoo take shape.

A 70-year-old woman recently came into Bone's shop, a heavy-metal boutique advertised as ``family friendly,'' wanting the rose on her breast ``turned into a whole garden.''

An entire family came in from a nearby martial-arts studio wanting tattoos of their family crest, a dragon wrapped around the world, Bone said. The youngest was 13.

A doctor from Cedars-Sinai wanted a tattoo of his Corvette.

``Now it's so mainstream, everybody's talking about it,'' said Bone, a former airbrush artist. ``But it's always been kind of dark. You're abusing your body - but it becomes art.''

For his part, Cameron Reagan said he's still considering whether he wants a presidential seal with the portrait of his grandfather in the center, or off to the side ``in shadowy silhouette.''

``I have my tongue pierced. I've had my ears, nose and eyebrows pierced. I think it's good that (tattoos) have gone mainstream,'' said Reagan, who works in a nearby travel agency with his mother. Though he sports a shaved head, he has never had a tattoo - until this week, he said.

``People would see a bald head and a presidential seal and say, `He looks like a hoodlum - what the hell!'''

Dana Bartholomew, [phone]

dana.bartholomew(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

6 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Lou Bone, owner of Art to the Bone in Sherman Oaks, says tattoos have gone prime time. A 70-year-old woman recently came into Bone's shop, a heavy-metal boutique advertised as ``family friendly,'' wanting the rose on her breast ``turned into a whole garden.''

(2 -- color) Leonardo Martina works on a tattoo on the arm of his wife, Debbie. They co-own Think Ink in Woodland Hills and have watched their clientele become more upscale and conservative over recent years.

(3 -- color) Winter Young of Sherman Oaks gets body art from Milestone at Art to the Bone. ``I like 'em, they're historical,'' Young said of tattoos. ``(Tattoos) remind you of where you come from.''

(4 -- color) The tailbone tattoo has become very popular with women.

(5 -- color) Joey Nichols applies red flames to a man's existing tatto. Tattoos are becoming bigger, bolder and gutsier than ever.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer

(6 -- color) Angelina Jolie has a tattoo of a tiger engraved on her back recently in Thailand. Movie stars and singers help make the trend more mainstream.

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