Their love for New York runs deep.
Tourists around the world are ditching traditional souvenirs like T-shirts and hats in favor of edgier souvenirs and tattooing themselves with the cities they visit.
“Everyone wants to get a memento. It's not a mug, it's not a shirt, it's not a magnet. That's a thing of the past. Now people are collecting tattoo souvenirs,” says owner Carmen. Verdugo said. Liberty Center Tattoo Shop In Times Square.
“Popular ones include the skyline, the Statue of Liberty, the words 'New York,' 'New York City,' and 'I Love New York.' There's also a hot dog, pizza, and a mouse eating pizza. There's also a scene where a squirrel eats an apple. I made it.”
Verdugo, 40, has never seen pigeons or hot dogs wrapped around skyscrapers. new york city marathon logo Iconic landmarks such as brooklyn bridgethe Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building, and the Twin Towers.
France's Carol Proulle obtained ink from Liberty Tattoo during her three visits to the Big Apple.
For our first design of 2021, we chose a butterfly design with the words NYC at the bottom.
“I chose the butterfly because it symbolizes rebirth. Coming to New York was a bit of a rebirth for me. I returned to my great-grandmother's land, which I had finally found after 30 years. ” she said.
Verdugo estimates that 80 percent of her customers are tourists, and she signs in people from all over the world.
“All kinds of countries: Canada, Poland, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Iceland… the Netherlands, Switzerland. Yesterday we visited two people from Africa,” she said.
The mother of three has 16 tattoos of her own.
Verdugo, who is originally from Chile, got her first tattoo of a cat inside the moon when she was 18 years old, but she wasn't happy with how it turned out.
“I realized my tattoo was so ugly and I thought, 'Oh my God, I could do better than that,'” she recalled with a laugh.
Although she dabbled in painting and art as a child, she says, “I didn't have the opportunity to grow up as an artist in my country. I come from a really small town and people thought women couldn't do that.'' It was very difficult for me because I thought so.”
When she came to New York in 2016, She first found work in a restaurant “because I didn't speak English and didn't know the city,” she said, then worked as a cleaner for a construction company and as a secretary for a plumbing company. Ta.
After the pandemic, she got her tattoo license and joined the staff at Times Square Tattoo, where she worked for four years until it closed last June.
“I used to work on West 46th Street, and I was always looking at vacant lots, and in my mind I was like, 'One day this place could be mine.' '' she recalled.
At her husband's urging, Verdugo bought the space and opened the store last November.
She chose to name it “Liberty” because of the word's “powerful” double meaning.
“The Statue of Liberty is a major symbol of New York,” she said. “And you have the freedom to do what you want.”
