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Jan 31, 2024

Five Questions: Alex Oram’s art goes skin deep

Loveland’s oldest tattoo shop is now under new management. Alex Oram, who has

Loveland's oldest tattoo shop is now under new management. Alex Oram, who has worked as a tattoo artist at Lady of the Lake Tattoos at 1718 W. Eisenhower Blvd. in Loveland for the last year, is in the process of taking over as the main manager of the shop, which he will now co-own with previous owner Melody Davis.

Oram says he has big plans for the shop, which has been a Loveland staple since it's opening 25 years ago, that include updating the interior and hopefully making it more of a community center.

The Reporter-Herald caught up with Oram as he takes on this new responsibility to talk with him about those planned changes, his vision for the shop and whether getting a tattoo is as painful as people say.

Name: Alex Oram

Occupation: Tattoo artist and co-owner of Lady of the Lake Tattoos in Loveland

Age: 26

How long in Loveland: He grew up in California but has been coming back and forth to Loveland for awhile now and has worked at Lady of the Lake Tattoos for the last year.

Yeah, they hurt. But it's not an intolerable pain. There's a reason why people come for it. It's a release of some sort for sure. It's ink therapy, you know? Honestly, I think it's because people like to come here and (complain) while they are getting tattooed. We get to hear people's life stories over and over. And what I’ve been told about our shop versus other shops is we are a lot more laid back. It's not so stiff. Everybody tells me how crazy it is here because they come they hang out and they can bump music and eat lunch with us. I like to believe we go as far as we can for them.

It's definitely one of those things where people want to live vicariously. I think that's a huge thing that plays into it along with the pain. I think, from what I understand from people, they like coming here because we are a different type of lifestyle. Me in particular, I am from the streets (in LA) and people like to live vicariously and learn about that side of life.

I’m a young old soul, and I have always had tattoos since I was a youngster. I walk around and there's still a little hatred. Well maybe not hatred, but awe I guess is the word. But I still get the dirty looks and all of that. But as far as tattoos becoming mainstream, I think that's something that's definitely changing and (they are) becoming a lot more accepted than they used to be to the point where now it's pretty easy for people to get jobs (when they have tattoos). In California, everybody is tattooed and (whether it's) face, head, hands, it doesn't matter. But out here in Colorado, it used to be a little different with jobs. But I think it's definitely coming around here too. Cops, nurses, military they all get tattoos now.

In California, the tattoo shop that was in my neighborhood had an atmosphere like a barbershop. But in the past, (Lady of the Lake) was all about business and you couldn't be here unless you were getting a tattoo. I don't want it to be like that. I want it to be a safe area for everybody. If there's people that just come and hang out because they need somewhere safe to be, I am down with it. So we have a little room that I put a TV in, tables so that everybody can kind of hang out. Since I am taking it over slowly, we are starting to redo the interior of the shop. We want to get a pool table and some arcade games.

We are also trying to do work with the community and stuff. If we can help someone out, we will. We sponsor a little kid for skateboarding. Slowly but surely, we are trying to reach out to the community somehow outside of letting people just come and be safe here. And they do. People love it. They will come and just hang out with us.

I think the most challenging issue we have is pricing and that's because people don't understand why tattoos are expensive. If I can get one thing across, it's that tattoos are expensive for them because they are expensive for us. On the low end, for a good machine, you are going to pay $400 or $500. The needle cartridges are expensive.

Depending on the tattoo we can easily have just $100 in materials being used and everything gets thrown away for the most part, so it's not like we could reuse it and save money. The other thing is when a client comes in they get here, they get tattooed and then they leave, so they don't see all the pre-work that goes into it, all the cleanup that goes into it and how many hours we spend drawing the tattoo. I just did a tattoo on Saturday and I was talking to the guy and I said, "Before you even got here, I already put in six hours." That's between drawing and setting up. Then afterwards there's tearing everything down, running things through the autoclave and making sure everything is sanitary and proper. There's a lot more that goes into it than people think.

Know someone in Loveland with an interesting story? Nominate them for the RH's Five Questions feature, seen in the paper every Monday. Send nominations to [email protected].

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