Intersection

Tattoo new: Fremont East’s next big thing has been there all along

Image
Black Spade Tattoo, old and new.
Illustration: Ian Racoma

Before Josh “King Ruck” Glover made his move, Fremont East had stalled. While nothing can match the frenetic activity of a few years back, when new businesses opened in the Fremont corridor seemingly every few weeks, this past year—aside from new businesses moving into old spots (Evel Pie into Radio City Pizza, Red into Insert Coins)—has been defined by storefronts going dark. Glutton, Grass Roots, the Beat Coffeehouse, Itsy Bitsy Ramen & Whisky and Zydeco Po-Boys all shut their doors; Vault never opened its doors at all.

That’s half the reason the new Container Park location for King Ruck’s Black Spade Tattoo, inside the two railroad cars that were once home to Bolt Barbers, feels so right. It enables the tattoo shop to double in size, and could allow the bustling businesses that adjoin its old Carson Building location—Donut Bar and Carson Kitchen—to expand. But the other half of the equation is King Ruck himself. The Ink Master Season 4 contestant has been a Fremont fixture since 2009—before Fremont East existed, really. It’s totally right that Fremont’s newest big thing is a neighborhood pioneer.

“As soon as I walked in here I was like, ‘This is a W, right here; this is definitely a win’,” Ruck says grinning. During an intense two-month remodel (“We were movin’ aggressive, man”), Ruck entirely transformed the space’s interior, putting every inch to its fullest use. (The cars’ strangest attributes—two observation chairs, accessible only by ladder—will become an employee break area.) Ruck even painted a striking graffiti mural on the exterior of one of the cars.

Despite his success and celebrity (people actually fly into Vegas just to get tattooed by him), Ruck seems visibly humbled by the new space. He only moved to Fremont in the first place because it was what he knew: He grew up nearby, on 20th Street. “I only wanted a small, comfortable tattoo shop, where I could grow my skills. I didn’t think, ‘I’m gonna hire other artists.’ I just wanted a cool little space where I could be creative.”

In those two railroad cars, King Ruck gets the marquee spot he deserves. And Fremont East gets a much-needed push, rolling it back down the track.

Share
Photo of Geoff Carter

Geoff Carter

Experts in paleoanthropology believe that Geoff Carter began his career in journalism sometime in the early Grunge period, when he ...

Get more Geoff Carter
  • Organizers praise "an amazing event" for the Sin City 8 weekender despite multiple venue changes, vow to try again in 2019.

  • Organizers announce move to "undisclosed location" hours before record attempt, citing privacy issues and difficulties with hosting sex events in Las Vegas.

  • The event was previously scheduled to take place at Embassy Suites during the Sin City 8 weekend.

  • Get More Intersection Stories
Top of Story