Most visitors to Baltimore don't look much further than the National Aquarium and the other family-friendly sites at the Harborplace. But venture just a little further into downtown, and Charm City has some of the quirkiest little attractions around.
Case in point: the Baltimore Tattoo Museum, a shrine to the craft and history of body art. The museum includes exhibits highlighting each of the "forefathers" of tattoo art, including their original artwork and tools, and also traces the history of body art in America, explaining how tattoos went from carny culture sideshow to pop star must-haves and symbol of teenage rebellion.
Of course, like at every good museum, there's also a gift shop, so if you're inspired, you can get yourself some ink from one of the museum's seven in-house tattoo artists.
LA Ink "star" Kat Von D has finalized a divorce, made and dumped a "soul mate," and hooked up with yet another new love all within the past half-year or so. Maneater!
Her latest conquest is Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue. To cement their, like, totally amazing bond (and reportedly, as per the departed Page 6 online, to commemorate a wild night together at Manhattan's Bowery Hotel), Von D and Sixx got matching tattoos of the hotel's bowery boy logo. No word on who inked them, but shops in the hotel's general vicinity include the famous New York Adorned and re-born East Side Ink.
Take it from these two lovebirds...the couple that (hotel) tattoos together, stays together...at least for another six weeks or so!
Tattoo-loving pop goddess Rihanna recently stopped in at Body Electric in Hollywood to get some more ink. Last time we checked, she was getting cut on the other coast at Whatever Tattoo in New York. The singer herself says:
I like hanging out in tattoo shops. I am so intrigued by tattoos. It's an entire culture, and I study it. Sometimes I go with friends or just by myself.
Since she doesn't seem to be slowing down on the body art front, we've gone ahead and put together a Rihanna Tattoo Map for ya.
Here's a souvenir that's OK for carry-on: A tattoo! That must have been what singer Rihanna figured when she walked into Whatever Tattoo on St. Mark's Place in New York City this weekend and got some new ink. Friday night tattoos: They're not just for Britney any more!
If you're taking that thing on the plane, though, keep it covered! This is Rihanna's fifth tattoo, so she knows how to wear it. But if you're thinking of getting your first, EHow offers some tips for your new tat.
After her terrifying asthma attack during her New Year's Eve Miami publicity tour/hosting extravaganza, Lindsay Lohan left the hospital and did what anyone who needed to take a little break would do. Head home and lay low? Nah. She hoofed it right on over to the tattoo parlor and got the word "breathe" put on her wrist.
She then said "The attack was a big deal, so I wanted to commemorate it on my body as a reminder." Um, what? Great thinking Linds...Perhaps she should get "Eat" put on her other arm?