Lola's Provides More Than Just Tattoos

Lola Snow has been practicing tattooing for 38 years, and for 18 years of those years she's also been an active minister, sometimes even counseling patrons of her tattoo parlor — and not just about the type of tattoo they are considering. 

Though she's a business owner, she hopes to provide something more than that for both her customers and her employees, all of whom she trains herself. "Money is a survival tool," she said, "not something to be worshiped. The person comes first."

Since opening in Montauk in October 2012, Lola's Tattoos sees average of five to 10 people a day. Though some people are just looking, some come in for simple tattoos. For more complicated larger work, it's best to make an appointment before hand, she said.

"I like to talk to clients first. It's best to get a sense of who they are and what they want," she said. "I'm not above talking people out of a bad tattoo. People should be glad when we tell them to go home and don't just take their money."

When Snow first got into the tattooing business, she was one of the first female tattooists, and the only one on the East Coast. She learned on her own for five years before receiving any formal help from a more established practitioner. "People would literally kick me out of their shops. It wasn't just that it was an old boys club, it's that it was a secret old boys club. I was very pit bullish about it," she said.

These days Snow does not do most of the tattooing herself. Her head tattooist is Kurt Stender, who has been working for 15 years. What she does do, is talk to people. In her first tattoo parlor in New Jersey, Snow gained a reputation for holding talking sessions with troubled young people who were unable to talk to their parents about the issues that were bothering them. It was these impromptu therapy sessions where she imparted life lessons to her listeners that eventually led her to seminary, and then to the ministry.

Snow will not tattoo above the collarbone, she calls the neck and face, "God's area." Though the shop will tattoo "darker images" like skulls because, "death is a part of life," the one thing Snow refuses to tattoo is Satan. Additionally, for safety concerns, she will not tattoo patrons who have been drinking, or have been recently sunburned.

On average, a client can expect to pay somewhere between $100 and $300 for a piece, depending upon the design of their tattoo and the work involved. The shop does 95 percent custom work. "Customers in 2013 are very savvy," she said. "They know what they want."

Lola's Tattoos is open every day from 12 to 8 p.m. and can be reached at 631-668-5511 for an appointment.