The main drag in Mt. Airy struggles a little with being hip. There's a gluten free market and cafe. There's a wine bar. There's a video rental place that manages to stay relevant. There's a beloved neighborhood bar. But there's not much that would bring you to the neighborhood if you didn't already live there.
Kadillac Tattoo, opening on Saturday, might help to change that. Artist Eric Perfect owns a shop by the same name in Northeast Philly, but he lives closer to Mt. Airy and has been thinking about opening a shop there for a long time.
Perfect's wife, Lisa Flynn, handles "everything he doesn't want to deal with" in relation to the business. This week, that included talking to Curbed about the new shop.
The new shop will be located at 7102 Germantown Avenue, the home until recently of an electric bike shop. Flynn said the lease was brokered by Bob Elfant of Elfant Wissahickon.
"He went above and beyond," she said. Flynn met Elfant at a community meeting she attended to gauge the neighbors' feelings about having a tattoo parlor on the Avenue. Elfant offered to help them find a location and gain support. He even attending a zoning meeting with them and introducing them to the church across the street from the new store. "Who does that?" said Flynn.
The neighborhood has been enthusiastic, and customers are already booking appointments for the store's opening on Saturday.
We're curious to see if the new tattoo parlor will draw a younger crowd to Mt. Airy, which is known for being overrun with baby strollers and station wagons. Overall the new store seems like a good thing. The sometimes sleepy Avenue could do with a bit more of a South Street vibe.