Ink-N-Um Tattoos & Body Piercing, Homewood’s second tattoo parlor, celebrated its grand opening in a ribbon-cutting celebration on Wednesday, Nov. 29.
Owner Bob Garrity has wanted to move his Calumet City shop to his hometown of Homewood for years. Due to community support and recent changes in zoning regulations, he was finally able to relocate to 18661 Dixie Highway.
Ink-N-Um has mock street signs that say it’s the corner of Piercing Blvd. and Tattoo Ave. The shop has painted wooden masks that Garrity acquired on his personal travels and at tattoo conventions. There are Ink-N-Um signs that Garrity painted himself.
Tattoo shops weren’t legal in Indiana, where Garrity began his tattooing career, until 1997.
“When I first started 30 years ago, people frowned upon it,” Garrity said, adding that it used to be perceived as only specific crowds who got tattoos, but now it’s much more widespread.
Garrity acknowledged that there’s still a stigma surrounding tattoos in some employment situations, but he believes this is slowly changing.
“I think the acceptance has gotten a lot wider, a lot greater. I think people now know it’s not going to change you as a person. It’s not going to change your work,” Garrity said.
Homewood now has two studios in the village, a sign of the changing times Garrity noted.
“There are still towns that don’t allow tattooing because of that same stigma – and it’s hard to say why. But again, that acceptance is changing,” Garrity said. “It’s inevitable. The change is here. They see that it’s done professionally and regulated.”
Garrity showed Homewood government officials his tattoo station. He explained how tattoos were made and the sterilization process.
“Everything gets wrapped up. It’s single-use,” Garrity said, showing the officials a blue wrapping material. “You wrap it over the chair. You have to cover pretty much everything.”
Homewood Trustee Jay Heiferman reminisced with Garrity about places and people from Homewood in the 1990s.
Homewood Mayor Rich Hofeld said that when he was younger, the only people he knew who got tattoos were in the army.
“This is beautiful. What Bob’s done here is gorgeous,” Hofeld said about Ink-N-Um. “It’s a nice addition to the Southgate community and the Homewood community.”
Hofeld said Garrity approached him about 15 years ago inquiring on relocating Ink-N-Um to downtown Homewood, but zoning laws didn’t permit it, and they still don’t. He said after zoning laws changed, making a tattoo shop permissible in Southgate, Garrity “leaped at the opportunity.”
Garrity is currently the only tattoo artist working at Ink-N-Um, but he said this could change.
He said he plans on getting local artists involved at Ink-N-Um and hanging up their work in the waiting room. This displayed artwork would rotate every six months, Garrity said.