Johnson Tattoo Final Tour & Lock Up 2024-08-29

Johnson Tattoo Final Tour & Lock Up 2024-08-29 - Managed to get the old Johnson Tattoo studio cleared-out and all the essentials moved to the new office; Here I shoot a somewhat melancholy walk-through from the back alley, through the empty shop, doing a little reminiscing about our 40 year residency in the Ecorse Rd. location; I recount anecdotes about a homeless guy who set up house in the shrubs and vines in the alley - which was okay until he left a steaming pile of human crap right on the back door stoop! His stuff got moved to the dumpster after that stunt. Also the time some illegal dumping filled the whole alley waist-deep with discarded trashed tires. And the time when dad was living in the back of the shop, and heard some kind of disturbance in the alley - peeked his head out the door to witness some kind of intense drug deal going on, so quietly closed the door and minded his own business. After the walk-thru, I lock the front door one last time, and take footage of the lot and front of the place, now painted-over, and zoom-in on the info I posted on the door directing folks to the new destination.

Then I drive to the corner approach at Ecorse Rd., shoot a final shot of the old JOHNSON TATTOO sign on the corner, and recall the anecdote about an expensive experiment 14 years ago, when I had the sign updated with ASL (American Sign Language) characters reading JOHNSON "QUALITY" TATTOO ... which turned-out to translate to something completely different. At the end of the video, I include my sign design with controversial ASL, the "Prohibited Sign" citation the city of Taylor issued us after somebody complained, a shot of the sign wrapped until we could revise it, then the solution we ended up with after carefully excising the ASL between the JOHNSON and TATTOO. I include an ASL alphabet chart (in comments) for reference, or look it up yourself. Finally, I sing a cringe version of the closing "Mickey Mouse Club Theme" spelling-out J-O-H ... N-S-O ... N-T-A-T-T ... realizing that the number of letters does not fit the song template.

The Johnson name has been in local tattooing for over 57 years; Johnson Tattoo has been in the same location for almost 40; I've tattooed and pierced a legion of cool folks there for over 25; It's the close of an era, I suppose, as I move to an office in my brother John's successful shop, Cherokee Creek Tattoo:

Roscoe's destination in September:
Cherokee Creek Tattoo
32449 Ford Rd
Garden City, MI 48135
(734) 762-5104
  / cherokeecreektattoo