Above and at front, scenes from last year's convention. Photos by Clifford Oto / 209Vibe

Last year, Living Ink Tattoo of Tracy held their first ever Tattoo Expo at the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds.

We’re just spitballing here, but maybe a venue usually associated with auto derbies, livestock and horse racing isn’t quite the best place to get inked up.

“It just wasn’t the right location for what we were doing,” said Razer Ebrahimi, owner of Living Ink. “It’s a little more ‘camping out’ type of thing over there, we need our area to be a little more sterilized.”

It should be fresh and clean inside Stockton Arena this weekend, the new home of Living Ink’s Halloween Tattoo Expo, which promises to be even bigger and better in its second year. The Expo opens Friday, October 10 and runs through Sunday, October 12. The event is open each day from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and admission is $10 (or $25 for a three-day pass.)

For more information on the expo, log on to www.livinginktattooexpo.com.

“The Arena has worked very well for us, the place is phenomenal,” said Ebrahimi, who has been in the tat business for the last 20 years.

“We’re going to have easily double the amount from last year of vendors and artists,” he added. “It’s more about quality than quantity with this event, but the whole thing is to give people as much choice as possible.”

This year’s event features live music from rock bands Delirio and One Shot Suicide, food vendors, several apparel, jewelry and art vendors, and other roving entertainment like Tahitian dancers and drummers.

“We’re trying to put some entertainment into it, to make it a show rather than just seeing these guys do their work,” Ebrahimi said.

The event will be raising money for Shriner’s Children’s Hospital, and as an additional effort to “give back,” there will be contests throughout the weekend, like “Tattoo of the Day,” with cash prizes being awarded. There will also be a VIP party on Saturday night.

Local tattoo artists that will be on hand include out-of-towners Evil or Sacred from Los Angeles and Lady Luck from Tempe, AZ, as well as locals like Ink City of Stockton and Ink Machine of Sonora.

“The expos are awesome, I see a whole bunch of people from one foot tat to a full body,” said Kelley Donovan, who has been at Ink Machine for the past year. “I love seeing young people go and see how tattoos really are; it really is an art, it fascinates me and I’m sure it fascinates a lot of other people as well.”

Both Donovan and Ebrahimi agree that as the popularity of body art has increased over the past few years, events like the Living Ink Tattoo Expo have become more accessible to everyone from those pondering their first tattoo, to those rocking modest ink like a tribal band or a randomly placed star, and up to those who are searching for a few more square inches of blank skin.

“It can be kind of intimidating (to newcomers) if they don’t have any tats, being around all these ‘tattooed weirdos,’” Donovan said, “but it should just be a cool, chill environment where everyone has a good time.

“It sort of does in a way (get a bad reputation), but you’ve got to bypass that and just keep on living.”

“It’s a beautiful thing, when it becomes so wide open, it’s almost pushing those old stereotypes out,” Ebrahimi said. “People are appreciating the art now; it’s not a class or creed thing, it’s just a pure love of the business and love of the art.”

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