Attempt to inform Aline and Alena Petunia aside. Maybe the one issues separating these twins are the colourful designs they’ve purposely injected into their pores and skin.
The 24-year-old twins hale from Germany and moved to Los Angeles final week to open not only one, however two, tattoo parlors. Each are referred to as Petunia Twins Ink, one stands at 7928 Melrose Ave. close to Fairfax, simply exterior of West Hollywood, and the opposite is at 142 S. Flores St. at Kings Rd. in Beverly Grove.
In opening two parlors, they apparently are following a pattern of different manufacturers like Moscot eyewear. “One in every of them is for celebrities and extra non-public,” mentioned Alena. “The one on Melrose is extra open for the loopy guys.”
Our telephone interview was performed in English, nonetheless, the twins’ first language is German. So a few of their responses sounded relatively harmless, and maybe a bit extra to the purpose than what one would hear from a native-American speaker.
For instance, when requested why they selected Los Angeles to begin their companies, Aline replied, “Hollywood is a really large half and a well-known a part of California and we wish to get well-known.” [laughs]
However at 24, maybe they are often forgiven for declaring their need for celeb so brazenly. The sisters grew up in and round Stuttgart, which has influenced their artwork. “We grew up in a small village in Germany and we lived in nature,” Alena mentioned.
Their designs rely closely on natural world imagery, in addition to vivid colours past the frequent darkish inexperienced and black we see in so many tattoos. These European “tattoopreneurs” supply a service that may very well be an enormous hit inside hip, woke LA: vegan tattoos. (You didn’t know tattoo inks and lotions have historically been made with animal bone?) Requests for vegan tattoos usually are not terribly frequent up to now, Aline mentioned. However, “it’s not troublesome to decide on some vegan merchandise. It’s very straightforward in the present day.”
One other distinctive worth proposition the twins supply appears to be the consolation and belief they supply their feminine clients. “Many ladies or women wish to get a tattoo from…a feminine tattoo artist.” It’s not about delicate areas of their our bodies, they mentioned, “it’s extra concerning the dialog.”
The twins are financing their dream with their very own cash and investments from members of the family. Sooner or later, the tattoo professionals wish to increase by welcoming visitor artists and occupying bigger areas.
Pizzana Bake Sale Raises $6k in Three Hours
On the Sunday earlier than Thanksgiving, Candace Nelson, co-owner and pastry chef of Pizzana at 460 N. Robertson Blvd., was busy. Not solely had she introduced collectively greater than half a dozen different LA-area pastry cooks for a strong bake sale fundraiser, she concurrently Instagrammed concerning the occasion as I waited to interview her.
“I gotta do my a part of the advertising and ensure individuals hold coming,” she mentioned.
The beneficiary of the occasion was No Kid Hungry, a nonprofit whose mission it’s to finish childhood meals insecurity. A mother herself, Nelson mentioned, “What they do is that they go into colleges they usually present breakfast for teenagers who in any other case wouldn’t get that, which permits them to be taught and really feel safe.”
By the tip of the three-hour occasion, which passed off from 9 a.m. to midday, Nelson had raised greater than $6,000 for the charity.
You might acknowledge Nelson. She began Sprinkles cupcakes in her residence on Hancock Avenue earlier than shifting to Beverly Hills. “I used to be actually promoting Sprinkles cupcakes out of that townhouse…so West Hollywood is a vital place to me.”
Pizzana West Hollywood opened earlier this yr, taking on the house by longtime beloved establishment Ed’s Coffee Shop. Keen to verify readers perceive, Nelson mentioned with a nervous snort, “We had nothing to do with [Ed’s] going out.”
Bruce Vilanch Feels Up Rounderbum
Bruce Vilanch, the a number of Emmy award-winning comic and LGBTQ rights advocate, appeared at undies-for-men retailer Rounderbum this previous Saturday.
The explanation? The West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Saturday, an American Categorical-created annual promotion to stimulate patronage of small companies throughout the nation.
Why? “Properly, I like West Hollywood,” he mentioned. “And I like brick-and-mortar. A part of the attraction of WeHo is the city village. And a part of that’s little, type of like mother and pop outlets.”
Vilanch held true to type, pausing for only a second earlier than dropping a one-liner. “Of course, a spot promoting horny underwear isn’t precisely a mother and pop, until, you know, you grew up with strippers.”
Jonathan Diersing, co-owner of Rounderbum, was available in a tight-fitting royal blue t-shirt along with his model’s brand emblazoned on the entrance. Diersing mentioned having Vilanch in his retailer was “fairly cool.” “He’s achieved so many issues, from “Hollywood Squares” [to the] Tony’s and all the pieces like that…He actually is a gem, a WeHo gem.”
Rounderbum is understood for promoting males’s underwear that’s padded within the crotch and the rear, to boost a man’s attraction. Its West Hollywood retailer is on the northeast nook of Santa Monica Boulevard and San Vicente.
Chamber membership director Tracy Passo was onsite, too, smiling as she watched Vilanch and Diersing pose with two scantily clad underwear fashions in entrance of a step-and-repeat wall.
Talking to the variety of companies the Chamber champions, Passo mentioned, “I feel it’s actually wonderful that we will deliver Rounderbum in. We will push the sting a little bit bit in West Hollywood.”
