Danny Zelsman was making a stencil of Jesus Christ with a crown of mushrooms when ALXnow caught up with him at his tattoo shop in Old Town.
Taped to the wall behind him at his work station at Madison Street Tattoo (1012 Madison Street) were hundreds of other stencils, all expressions that clients wanted to bring from the depths of their souls and put on their backs, forearms, legs — anywhere, really.
“My job is to solve problems,” Zelsman said. “I’m just the vessel that’s here to put it on you and make sure that you’re walking away with something that’s not an expression of me, but an expression of you.”
Imagination and self-expression have become big facets in the work realized by Zelsman and his small team of artists.
“How cool is it to be able to walk into a place and say, ‘I’ve got X amount of dollars. Let’s get hurtin’ for a minute and walk away with something really beautiful,'” Zelsman said.
Zelsman renamed the shop after working out a deal with the previous owner, Marlowe Ink, which opened at the location in 2019. He worked for the company for upward of 15 years, learning his craft under the tutelage of owner James Marlowe. After the pandemic, Marlowe made Zelsman an offer he couldn’t refuse — a chance to own his own shop.
Zelsman grew up along Route 1 in Fairfax County and got into tattooing shortly after graduating from West Potomac High School. It’s hard to believe, he says, but that was more than 20 years ago and his industry has completely changed since then.
ALXnow: When was the first time you got in trouble for drawing something on someone?
Zelsman: In the fifth grade I was charging kids a quarter per letter to draw on their arms with a Sharpie. I really got in a lot of trouble in school for that, because I was charging money for the service. That got shut down pretty quick.
ALXnow: When did you get your first tattoo?
Zelsman: When I was 17 I met this kid that was making really bad tattoos out of his house. His mom had bought him a machine when he was 15 out of the back of a tattoo magazine. I met up with him and was like, “Let’s do this.” So, one night in the middle of the night he gave me a tattoo on the back of my neck. My mom was furious. My poor mother.
ALXnow: When did you make your first tattoo?
Zelsman: It was literally the next night. He left all of his stuff at my house. I made Jack Skellington, of all things, on my wrist. It was horrendous, but it was really fun and it was as painful as it was awful. I wound up tattooing that guy a couple days later with the Rolling Stones tongue and lips on his calf, and it turned out surprisingly well for a kid like me who knew nothing about anything. I did one or two more tattoos on a buddy of mine and then I realized I needed to learn for real.
ALXnow: What’s the major difference in what tattooing has become versus where you started?
Zelsman: When I started off it was definitely people coming in from local rehabs trying to get a little bit of control and feel maybe some pain and not just worried about the tattoo. They were trying to have a physical release on a cathartic level, but now self-expression has become a huge facet of this.
Remember, though, this is a weird bloodletting ritual. I’m cutting your skin open and rubbing paint underneath it for all intents and purposes. And while it’s not exactly that on a physiological level, it kind of is. It’s been going on for thousands of years. I mean, it’s as old as prostitution. So let’s make it as okay as it possibly can be, and when you have trust in someone and you feel like you’re safe, just like with your doctor, we have clear communication. I think that whole concept has been adopted by a majority of tattooers. If you want something permanently put on you and you’re going to spend $10,000 doing it, let me get you to the right person. I just want you happy.
ALXnow: Did shows like Ink Master help improve public perception?
Zelsman: Definitely. When we have Ink Master come on and we’re watching it with our families every night or every week, you’re welcoming tattooing into your home.
ALXnow: Are you ever going to open more locations?
Zelsman: Maybe, probably not. I’m more concerned with just making sure that everybody here is happy, healthy, fat and fed. I’m not looking into a money grab. This is already stressful enough.
ALXnow: How old is the oldest person this shop has ever tattooed?
Zelsman: Eighty-eight years old. Joan Parsons. I love her so much. She is awesome. She is a Dachshund lover, and when one of her dogs passes away we put a heart underneath a little outline of a Dachshund (tattoo) on her wrist.
ALXnow: What’s the best way for clients to approach you guys?
Zelsman: We love consultations. I love talking about tattoos, so does everybody else here. Come on in, sit down and let’s figure out what style you’re looking for. What are you drawn to? There’s no pressure, no obligation. We’re just talking, and from there we’ll do a little rough sketch. We’ve all got iPads now so we can start really quickly.
ALXnow: What’s up with the stencil of Jesus Christ with the crown of mushrooms?
Zelsman: That’s a challenge that we’ve all given ourselves — to paint a back piece, something that someone would actually get. All our tattooers are picking topics for each other, and that’s the one that I got. My Jesus with mushrooms is a weird concept all around, and I would have never picked that as a topic, but the goal here is to push us into a direction that we would not normally go.
ALXnow: Have you ever given your mom a tattoo?
Zelsman: Yes. I will say this — my mom has been my number one supporter from jump street. The rest of my family told me this was a phase, it’s gonna pass. But she got tattooed at the first shop that I worked at, she got tattooed at the second shop. She’s not covered by any means if you saw her now, and you would just assume that she has nothing. I just recently tattooed in my handwriting, “I love you,” on her wrist. She’s been non-stop for 39 years my number-one backer.
