10 months ago, I led a seemingly normal life; I was a corporate working mom living a quiet laid back life…and then I had some sort of quarter-life crisis; I decided to start a blog (that would end up changing my life), and also get two new tattoos… I heard through different locals that JC Tattoos was a great place to get work done and most importantly they were reliable. I made my appointment and decided to get a previous tattoo upgraded as well as get a new one; the kiss on my arm that is now part of my logo and brand. It wasn’t intentional, just sort of worked out that way.

When I went for my first appointment, ChicpeaJC did not even exist, it was in the planning phase, I don’t even think I had the URL yet… but I still decided to document it. I asked one of the guys who worked at the shop to take a few pictures of me and a few months later, Jersey City Tattoos became one of my first posts.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago…. I was itching to get some new ink; “La Vie En Rose” a quote from a song by 1950’s singer Edith Piaf (I will explain it’s significance in a later post) and a bow on my wrist cause I like bows and they are pretty. I made my appointment at Jersey City Tattoos and this time  I wanted to interview owner and tattooer Adam Patterson while he tattoos me. I invited friend and photog Greg Pallante as well as my girl Kyra for the moral support and to help me capture the moment. I’ve come a long way right?!

What’s your name? Adam Patterson

What do you do? I am a tattoo artist and I own Jersey City Tattoo.

How long has it been open? Since 2007.

What were you doing before? I worked at some other shops…. I started tattooing a little bit for fun when I was in College in NYC in the 90s…. it was all still illegal there at the time. My sophomore year at art school I had a bunch of classes with a woman named Deidre Aiken who is still tattooing at Tattoo Paradise in Washington DC. She was a little older and had been tattooing for a few years in Maryland. Decided that she wanted to get a degree and had a military husband who was stationed in New York City so she went back to school and continued to tattoo semi-legally and I expressed an interest in learning so she gave me enough knowledge to start making mistakes on friends….haha but then I later apprenticed in North Bergen under a woman named Leslie Allen.

Leslie had a shop in Greenpoint… not too far from where I was living. I got a few tattoos from her and she knew that I tattooed a little bit so when I decided I wanted to take it seriously she gave me the opportunity to learn for real and learn some of the really terrible habits that I had before I had any training… Leslie is in Georgia somewhere now…

What was your first tattoo? That I got? It’s a little drawing of an interpretation of a Russian/Alaskan folk tale…about a shaman that can bring people back to life. It was called “Morgan Kara” when I got it…. I think alot of people, when they get their first tattoo they want to have it encompass every single thing in their life that is important to them…

Not me… I got paws on my ass when I was 21. Thankfully not everyone haha….

(Greg P) I have no tattoos… Cause I think too much about things.

Greg we need to pop your cherry! haha. 

What was the first tattoo you did? It was this little spiral on the woman who maxed out her credit card to get me tattoo equipment. It was tiny. The first one I did in a professional shop environment was probably a name…. I don’t remember exactly. I am sure it was something ridiculous… It was North Bergen.

What made you open JC Tattoos….  I worked at another Tattoo shop in Jersey City and left that place, I lived here so it seemed like it was a no brainer to open my own shop… I had a bunch of loyal clients. I like working for myself even though it’s a lot more work but I have great people who work here.

Can you tell me more about the people who work here? That’s Jason who doesn’t want to talk to anyone because he is grumpy. Jason has been working here for a couple of years now, he is here most of the time with me… That is Danny over there and it’s really Danny’s shop. He runs everything. Jess is here a few days a week.

What is the craziest tattoo anyone has asked you to do? You know, people ask me that all the time. I never have a good answer…I just don’t really do “crazy” tattoos haha.

What is your favorite thing to tattoo? definitely Japanese style… 100% what my focus is. I also do the traditional style type of tattoos and that’s awesome too. People specialize in stuff now but that was never an option when I started. You just have to do what people ask for… I still think like that for the most part..you have to try to be able to do anything.

You are all set with your first one!

Oh my gosh!! I love it!! Thanks Adam!

For people don’t know the tattoo lingo, what are the differences in styles? Most of the time when people talk about the traditional type tattoos they are talking about what might come off like the “Sailor Jerry” looking tattoos… anchors, hearts, roses… Also it depends on how things are drawn. You can do a different type of subject matter that is not necessarily traditional images but can still draw them in a traditional style. Fewer lines, simpler colors, heavy black. Whereas an asian style tattoo has the same principles but the subject matter tends to be dragons and animals… A lot of what makes a japanese tattoo is the way that they are drawn… It’s hard to explain in words so much… some of it has to do with the background.

There are tattooers and there is tattoo artists… a lot of tattoo artists feel that it’s about them and they have this agenda that they want to push their style. I tend to feel like to I want to give people what they ask for…. A tattooer can do any style well.

Have you ever said no to someone? Yeah, sometimes you say no to people because the idea is so stupid and it’s not going to work. People have unrealistic ideas of what a tattoo can be in terms of size…or they just want something that is just impossible. There are some tattoos you should say no to if you are really not into it… if you are going to hate every second of doing then you probably shouldn’t…

(Greg P) What about face tattoos? Haha come on in! We will do it for sure. I am not in the business of saying no to tattoos… I don’t think it’s necessarily smart to do certain tattoos… but people are grown up and can make their decisions. We can warn them but at the end of the day it’s their call.

How did you get to Jersey City? The shop that I was working at, opened in Jersey City and I was living in Brooklyn at the time. I had this really shift apartment, it was falling apart…My wife and I we are like we have to get the hell out of here. We started looking around and realized we can get a mortgage here for the same amount we pay rent in Brooklyn….I felt like with tattooing, there is no 401k so I better get some property.

How long ago was this? Moved here 2005

Do you have a favorite Jersey City hangout spot? Yeah. Marco and Pepes, Barcade, Luckys…. so many places. I like Third and Vine a lot. It’s actually pretty killer, when I moved here there was nothing….now you can do something different every day.

How do you feel Jersey City has changed? When this place was being built when I first moved here, things moved very slowly… it just seemed like it took a lot of time for business’s to open…Change is going to happen regardless, I just hope it doesn’t only benefit people from outside the community. I happen to love Barcade but they aren’t from Jersey City. That’s why I think it’s great when you have people who run Satis and Lucky’s that are from Jersey City….It couldn’t stay the way it was, especially that it’s so close to New York City.

I feel like with tattoos you need to go to someone you trust. For sure.

Who does your tattoos? Different people, I would get tattoos from anyone here at the shop.

Next tattoo plans? Right now I don’t actually. I might get my other foot tattooed….

Did you ever tattoo yourself? Yeah a little bit. You really should when you are learning. It’s a weird thing to force yourself to do… I can sit for a tattoo, but doing it to yourself is different.

Do you do your wife’s tattoos? I do actually yeah.

Do you sit on the couch and talk about what you want to get? haha no, not really! Actually when it’s right in front of you, you kind of procrastinate to get it done.

Anything else you want people to know about you or the shop? Theres a lot of shops out there, my suggestion is take a look around, see what people are doing.

Any tips for people looking to get a tattoo? Never go to your friend that is working in his basement or his kitchen…. Also if you think a tattoo shop is over priced it may be for a reason… maybe because they are good and you are paying for their ability and experience.

Any future plans for the shop? We don’t want to be the biggest shop we just want to be the best one. There will be more shops opening here, they will spend a ton of money and put up signs that they are the best etc… at the end of the day it’s going to be, who’s got their head down? who is doing the work…. you can only worry about what you’re doing.

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253 Newark Avenue

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