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Speakeasy Tattoo
Speakeasy Tattoo puts you at ease when you enter. No pretense -- just art, a fluffy Pomeranian named Wilma and traditional-style tattoos. And as I make myself comfortable in the street-level front room, Lizzie Renaud, Speakeasy's head honcho, comes in with a coffee in hand.
After some pleasantries and a brief photo op with Wilma, Lizzie mentions: "Jay saved me from tattooing out of my kitchen." She's talking about one of the city's most revered tattooers (Jay Decator) from one of the city's most revered tattoo shops (Passage Tattoo Parlour). "He wrote me an e-mail one day and said I could come work at his shop. It was probably the most thrilling thing that ever happened to me."
This was back in early 2004, following an apprenticeship with another well-known tat joint, the Queen St. behemoth, New Tribe. After putting in six years at Passage, building a steady clientele, ideas started to float around Lizzie's head about what a tattoo shop would be like if she was running the show. Two years ago this June, it became a reality and Speakeasy opened its doors to its Little Italy-slash-Koreatown environ.
Speakeasy is built on the traditions of tattooing and the respect inherent in the culture. They didn't put a "tattoo sign" on the storefront for a year because Lizzie felt they needed to earn their spot in the city's tattoo culture. To pay their dues, in effect. With four artists (two Jens, Adrian who tackles a lot of walk-ins, and Lizzie) the shop can handle a diverse set of styles and techniques. A diverse set of styles for just as diverse a customer base, such as, 18-year-olds getting traditional back pieces to 70-year-olds getting that tattoo they never got.
The shop also likes to carve out its clientele by being open, both figuratively and literally. The shop doesn't close until 10pm from Monday to Saturday, open till 6pm on Sundays. That's late for tattoo shops. But that's the point at Speakeasy: "We will do anything for anybody at anytime," Lizzie remarks. And she means it.
Lizzie has built her shop, and the shop's traditional culture, based on what she has taken in from her various guest stints around the world. She's tattooed in England, Belgium, France, Holland, New York, Chicago, California, Alberta, Washington inter alia. She traveled to these places because she wanted to learn, and learn she did. "I needed to get better at tattooing," she says, humbly. "And the help was out there."
Having seen the world of tattooing, Lizzie is proud of Toronto's tattoo scene and its bundle of eclectic and skilled artists. She does recall, though, being shocked that Toronto wasn't well known on the world map of tattooing. "I love a lot of the tattooing that goes on in Toronto and it doesn't make sense that it hasn't had more of a worldwide mark yet."
Writing by Ryan Bolton / Photos by Dennis Marciniak
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i too have been seeing lizzie for many years.....i love her tattooing style and she's great fun to sit with for those LONG tattooing sessions.
GO TEAM SPEAKEASY!! : )
i love dogs, but that's completely unacceptable in a 'sterile' environment. I'm actually kind of shocked & disgusted.
I wonder if they'd pass an unexpected Health Canada inspection.
The shop has passed Health Canada requirements upon every visit, and has in fact received exemplary passes, even when the dog was present. Following the guidelines of Health Canada, there are no more risks for cross contamination with a dog in the building than there is if someone walked in with muddy feet.
To whom made the comparison of muddy shoes: my shoes don't collect bacteria and then shed it all over the place, my shoes don't lick their privates and my shoes don't crap and then lick themselves. My shoes also don't stick their noses in everything.
I love dogs, I have one. I wouldn't go back to a doctor who had one near a surgery room & tattoo parlours should be held to the same standards.
They passed a health inspection? LOL, so did The Dumpling House on Spadina, for several years and are still open, even after the rat fiasco. Health inspections are a joke.
The dog doesn't do the tattooing, and therefore never comes in contact with surfaces involved in tattooing. Comparing surgery rooms to tattoo parlours is a pretty naive statement. No one has ever been tattooed in a vacuum like environment such as a surgery room.
My shoes don't have hair that floats around a "sterile environment"
Anyways, enjoy your infections and/or Hep-C. I guess I just have higher standards than you do for all the work I've had done myself over the years.
Do you wear autoclaved clothing, bonnets, aprons, shoe covers etc, as you would in a surgical setting in a hospital when you set foot in a tattoo shop? Then you you've just contaminated a "sterile" environment. You're comparing apples and oranges. Maybe I can consult with you about health code regulations since you seem to know more than hundreds if other tattoo shops and government expertise on air borne pathogens? Id appreciate it.
Why am I even arguing with someone on a blog and who puts an s on the end of the word "anyway"
Hahahahahahahaha.
the above comments were disheartening, and not really worth replying to but i gota say;,
for anybody to imply that i as a client have lower standards for getting tattooed at speakeasy, what a joke! i've been tattooed all over the states and europe and never expected to find a new shop in the GTA that would be bringing the same plays to our tired toronto tattoo game. anybody that even questions the professionalism, cleanliness or high sterile standards of the shop i laugh at you. go see for yourself. My mom, an RN, recently got tattooed at speakeasy (and she was terrified) and was walked through the entire set up and had her questions answered making her feel totally at home. if you haven't gotten tattooed by one of the awesome artists at speakeasy or one of their many guest artists, you're making a mistake, enjoy your boring busted ass tattoos!
To each their own I s'pose.
And I can't help but comment on the whole 'sterile environment' issue - I don't think it really has much to do with being 'bias' as it does with being truthful. From my experience the shop takes cleanliness very seriously.
days later from the artist saying that he miss quoted and it would be an extra 10 to 11 hours on top of what he told me, plus it would also be another 4 hours for shading,so thats an extra 15 hours total!! on top of what he told me, wtf how in the hell do you miss quote something so badly like that, and they're suppose to be a pros and experts.... complete garbage you want a tattoo and no bs go to a different shop this one is trash!!!
@ keven: You're a troll. And from what I can gather from your comments, most likely a young and un-tattooed one, to boot.
No room is aseptic or sterile if the front door opens to the street or if the area outside of it is filled with sick people with various infections.
My post above has little to do with tattooing but I will be going there to see for myself and look at their work, if I like what I see I may just get inked there.
To the person who commented on the "surgeon's" sentence structure, who ever said Dr.s could write well? they can operate and treat patients but English grammar is only taught in primary school.
Just as an FYI, shoes can be very unsanitary (or unsterile, or un-whatever). Years ago when I was flying from AUS to NZ, I was made to take off my shoes and wash them right there in customs! They take that shit very seriously down there and if there's ANY potential for carrying and type of disease thst might harm their flora, you better watch out! I had been to a farm months beforehand and had played rugby in a field by our house. They stopped me because I had grass stains on my shoes. Soo, yeah, shoes definitely carry more shit than your dog does.