Scorpio Tattoo Studio has opened at 4929 St. Elmo Avenue, in the St. Elmo's Cove shopping center in downtown Bethesda. This is in the former candle store space. Artists on board include the owner, Carlos Escobar, Henry Hernandez and Andrea Ardon. Operating hours are 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM seven days a week.
We've arrived! Check yet another box in our emulation of our sister city Silver Spring.
ReplyDeleteIt's refreshing to see New Yorkers take such an inteest in providing such necessary services to we needy Bethesdans!
ReplyDeleteTatoo parlors and smoke shops are NOT what we need to keep Bethesda safe and prosperous. I am not one to suggest we restrict them from opening, but take their openings as an ominous sign that we're on a down trajectory and act accordingly.
ReplyDeleteHead shops and tattoo parlors. Just what tony and upscale Bethesda, with over a million dollar condos, wants, needs and desires. Not.
ReplyDeleteWhat the area lost in Dior, Cartier, and Jimmy Choo it has gained in tattoo parlors, smoke shops, and fortune tellers. No wonder the Planning Board keeps approving thousands of apartments to be built throughout Bethesda: who wouldn't want to live in a "walkable community" where every day you could pretend yourself a sailor on shore leave in the Far East.
ReplyDeleteAren't tattoos on the wane? I thought the frenzy for skin ink had passed its prime several years ago, that an increasing number of people were seeking to have their embellishments removed.
You win top comment!
DeleteScared of tattoo parlors and smoke shops? My god, the pearl clutching by Bethesdans never seems to stop. Don't act like it's just the errant youth getting tattoos and smoking. The majority of pot smokers I know are over the age of 50.
ReplyDeleteMaybe folks have realized that if they want their Dior and Gucci they can go to Georgetown to get it. Bethesda is not it. Bethesda is a nice but flavorless major city satellite that reflects the trends of DC rather than holding its own unique charm. Example: Levain, Madewell, Veronica Beard, and more all made DC their first landing place in the DMV before then expanding to Bethesda, and the reasons should be obvious. I would argue that if you want Bethesda to be its own destination then you should be glad culture & arts shops and venues (yes, including tattoo parlors) are spreading their roots here, because the nth luxury clothing brand opening its 4th DC area shop in Bethesda is by no means a "draw."
We will measure our degradation someday by 'Pre Nike arrival,' and 'Post Nike arrival.'
DeleteY'all forgetting nail shops.
ReplyDeleteThis blog is good for three things: following development news, following retail news, and watching boomers lose their mind over the most mundane crap like bike lanes and tattoo shops.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I'm all for tattoos and have many but the effort to go & get one should entail venturing into sketchy dangerous areas for that choice... Oh wait, Bethesda, never mind... Also, isn't there literally another ink parlor/shop upstairs literally above upstairs at that location called Ravens© Tattoos?
ReplyDeleteThe weather is suppose to nice a warm today, near 70 degrees, but I'm amazed at the number of snowflakes I see.
ReplyDeleteThe Planning Department's "Bethesda Plan" never could have predicted Bethesda would primarily become home to more tattoo parlors and smoke shops.
ReplyDelete8:04 - Correct and expect to be electronically punished for daring to point that out. Absolutely crazy. Many have said we're looking like SS. That's being nice. We're looking more like Wheaton.
ReplyDeleteA proliferation of head shops, nail joints, and tattoo parlors do not constitute the sort of "culture & arts" that give a community "charm," or which anyone paying a mortgage on a multi-million dollar residence wants within sprinting distance of their house/home/condo. They are the sorts of transient establishments that lower property values for their neighbors.
ReplyDeleteYou are entirely wrong in positing the age distribution of marijuana smokers. It is the case that, among *all* people who have ever, at one time or another, tried marijuana, the majority is highest among those over 50 --a fairly self-evident, rational statistic, given those people have (A) been around longest and have had the greatest amount of time accrued in which to experiment, as well as (B) having lived so long when marijuana was illegal that they now are curious to see what the long-forbidden, now-frequently-legal hoopla was all about. However, among those who are *frequent, repeat users* of the drug, (the type of user with less disposable income who would likely patronize head shops or dispensaries,) adults over 50 number ca. 25% of the total, as reported here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/07/14/weed-smokers-npr/ People aged 18-29 account for almost half regular marijuana users, or twice as many as the olds.
It is telling you suggest anyone desirous of Dior or its ilk venture to Georgetown, [ED: City Center, actually.] I would, in my turn, entreat those seeking body modification or drug paraphernalia to venture elsewhere --Seat Pleasant or Glenarden, perhaps, where these types of businesses are abundant.
Your examples of New York brands who have expanded into the DC market --Levain, Madewell, Veronica Beard-- are sweet in their naivete, sort of like comparing apples to space shuttles. 2023 revenue for those three outfits were: Levain, est. $64.4m; Madewell, $452,4m; VB, $17m. In contrast, 2023 revenue for Dior, 86.2 billion Euros; Jimmy Choo, $633m; Cartier, $6.2 billion. My point being, you offer nickel and dime examples of flash-in-the-pan NYC concerns that drop a marker in DC, trying to equate that with some of the most storied brands anywhere in the world, the least among them posting revenues $100m greater than your three anemic examples combined. All of which is to say money begets money; status begets same. Establishing a landing zone in Bethesda for seedy, transient, adult-oriented businesses is antithetical to the the idea of encouraging world famous --actually, literally known around the world-- businesses to set up shop here. Your tax base, your "amenities," your community is infinitely better served by those with disposable income sufficient to spend $25,000 at Bulgari, Cartier, et al than it is by the customers buying a pack of rolling papers and sliding next door to get finger tattoos or a tramp stamp. It is a profound shame the County Council and the ever-disappointing Planning Board found it more expedient to encourage junk businesses, better suited to College Park, to fill the voids in Bethesda, rather than figure some path to luring back the luxury brands that once graced our zip codes.
What he said!
DeleteNike's flagship show attractions are priced like "luxury brands." Doesn't that count?
ReplyDelete@1:01 That sure is a lot of text that really just says "My puritanical and anachronistic ideals for the city I live in are threatening the estimated value of my home and I am very scared even though I have no plans to move or sell"
ReplyDeleteAs that one poster said, the pearls are clutched. "Not in my backyard" the reigning chant from behind the white fences. The same who complain about a tattoo shop (oh, the horror!) devaluing their neighborhood are the same to quickly encourage gentrification into adjacent lower income neighborhoods. It's not about maintaining the "class" or the "status" of the city -- it's about shoving out the not even poor, but the less-rich-than-you. It's about ensuring unwanted minorities are not in "their" town, and folks of "ill repute" don't pass through (as though Bethesda somehow harbors the only tattoo shops in the area). It's the same argument many towns have had for a hundred plus years regarding public transport routes and saloons. It's a densely populated metro area with no natural borders walling it off. A shop or two your miserly self doesn't approve of may pop up. Get over it. Nobody gives a shit about Cartier et. al, it's just vanity. Dior's revenue means nothing for Bethesda - it's just another big number that only matters to people whose life sadly revolves around the money they would rather spend on a $25k purse than donate to a local cause and ACTUALLY tangibly better their community.
Your aristocratic and class-phobic tears mean nothing. It's just complaining. Oh no, your $2.1M house off Edgemoor may only be worth $1.9M if and hopefully when you sell and move. According to you this tattoo shop means the world is indeed ending, and Bethesda is the first to fall.
You'll be singing a different tune when you're moved into the Victim category, I bet.
Delete2:21, if I wanted to move to PG County or even SS or Wheaton, I would have.
DeleteDoomed to the Common Denominator; why even worry about a better future for our kids?
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