SAN DIEGO — KFMB TV is counting down the months as we prepare to celebrate our 75th Anniversary in May.
In this Zevely Zone, I shared the spotlight with another iconic San Diego business that opened the same year we went on the air in 1949.
If you think a tattoo lasts forever wait until you hear the stories waiting for inside one of San Diego's oldest businesses. Tahiti Felix's Master Tattoo Parlor is the oldest shop of its kind West of the Mississippi River.
"I was blown away. I came here from Kansas," said Q Tucker, the shop's manager, about the first time he walked in the door. 'Tahiti Felix' Lynch first opened that door 75 years ago. "So, this is Felix, and this is his youngest son Hiro, and his oldest son Maurice. Maurice and Hiro took over the shop after Felix passed," said Q as he showed me pictures on the walls.
As the sign on the front of the Gaslamp District building shows, Tahiti Felix's has been here since 1949 and that same year just a few blocks away from here KFMB TV went on the air for the first time.
San Diego's first television station is celebrating its 75th Anniversary and so is Tahiti Felix's.
The shop opened just after WW II ended so they received a lot of military customers following the war in this military town. "Yes, exactly, so sailors and Marines are probably the mainstay for this shop," said Q.
The walls are covered with thousands of Flash Sheets. "Anchors, daggers, skulls, fighting bulldogs, all of these images of eagles they are all American images," said Q who told me as an artist you only get one chance to make your mark. "Yes, we do our tattoos to last," said Q.
Actor Lorenzo Lamas, and singers Rob Halford from Judas Priest and Brian Setzer from the Stray Cats have all visited the shop.
"A tattoo is forever. It has to be right; it has to be done well," said Q. "You want to uphold that legacy you want to make sure that the shop continues to deliver what it's delivered for the last 75 years."
For Q, tattoos make him feel comfortable in his own skin. "My right arm has a little Tiki Tahitian guy," he said. Much like TV news, the images tell a story.
"I like tattoos because they remind me where I was in that time in life, they really are a marker for who I was and where I was," said Q.
When you believe in your work and love what you do, your passion becomes permanent, and you write it in ink. "I love it. I love seeing people happy. I love seeing their reactions when they stand up," said Q.
The Zevely Zone will continue to profile San Diego's oldest businesses leading up to our official 75-th Anniversary on May 16th.
Tahiti Felix's Master Tattoo Parlor & Museum is located at 924 5th Ave. San Diego. For more information, click here.