BY SKYLER, DEB & TIM SMITH
Thinking of inking? Mendon is the home of one of the most talented tattoo artists in the field, namely Seth Markus who is the proprietor of Markus Tattoo. Here’s my story.
LOCATION ~ When Seth Markus moved back to the Rochester area from San Diego in 2014 he decided to set up shop in Mendon because he wanted a unique location, away from the city, and where there was not another tattoo parlor in the area. His location on Victor-Mendon Road was formerly Be A Star Dance Studio and the ballet bars are still on the wall. My sister Savanna went there when she was younger.
I asked Dad and Deb what the building was back when they were in school and they told me it was a unique eatery called Murphy’s, which primarily featured donuts in the morning and pizza for lunch and dinner. Apparently not a lot of pounds were lost at Murphy’s back in the day.
MOST UNIQUE ~ The three of us walked out our front door, turned right, and walked half a Mendon block to arrive at our destination of Markus Tattoo. The first question I asked Seth was, “What’s the most unique tattoo that you ever did?” He told me that when he was in California a girl had him tattoo a giant red arrow on the bottom of her foot, which begged the obvious question of, “Why would anybody want a tattoo in a place where no one would see it?” My brain was racing to come up with a theory that might make sense.
Okay, maybe she’s a lifeguard who sits high up in a chair with her feet dangling and visible to the swimmers below. The follow up to this scenario would be that the girl could get the phrase “To the Beach” tattooed on the bottom of the other foot and the arrow would morph from attractive to functional.
Now here’s the actual explanation. The girl was looking to move past personal problems in her life. The tattooed arrow was intended to serve as a symbolic gesture to reiterate her new direction in life . . . Moving forward.
NEXT WEEK ~ Speaking of moving forward, please rejoin me next week and I’ll share with you the stories of Seth’s most unusual clients, as well as his favorites.
