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Tattoos by Lou: The Life and Legacy of Miami’s Oldest Tattoo Shop

Owner Michelle Cameron recounts local tattoo history for the family-run Miami institution, Tattoos by Lou.
Image: facade of a tattoo shop with three marquees reading "Tattoos By Lou"
Lou Sciberras opened the original Tattoos by Lou in Cutler Ridge. North Miami and South Beach locations followed. Tattoos by Lou photo
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Throughout its nearly four decades in business, the family-run Tattoos by Lou has built an enviable reputation for its incredible body art. A champion of old-school tattooing, the shop's renowned American traditional and Japanese traditional pieces have made it an influential household name. Founded by the talented and charismatic Lou Sciberras in 1986, Tattoos by Lou is the city's oldest tattoo shop, and it laid the groundwork for the local body art scene that is still growing today.

Born in Malta in 1951, Sciberras immigrated with his family to New York, where he studied tattooing from a young age. The art was illegal in the city at the time, so Sciberras relocated to a friend's shop in North Carolina. He founded two tattoo shops during his time in the South, but small-town living didn't appeal to him. He eventually moved to Miami, where he opened the original Tattoos by Lou in Cutler Ridge. Two additional locations followed: one in North Miami and another in South Beach.

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The talented and charismatic Lou Sciberras founded Miami's oldest tattoo shop in 1986.
Tattoos by Lou photo
Michelle Cameron, Sciberras' daughter, remembers her father as "a really good-looking guy," "a pretty sharp dresser," "a world traveler," and "a trailblazer." He was charming, and that magnetism broadened his impact.

"At one point in time, there was a circuit where young tattoo artists could travel to different shops and study tattooing, and Tattoos by Lou was one of them," says Cameron. "Some of the best tattoo artists in the world worked under my father here in Miami...He knew everybody on South Beach. Everybody knew Lou."

Stigmatization only united those in the tattooing community. Tattoos by Lou became a home for many up-and-coming artists, and Sciberras was a beacon for those in search of chosen family. Cameron grew up admiring his artistry, and she inherited his aptitude for business. She often worked at the shops, learning the ins and outs of the trade, from filing designs to customer service. While she still tends to the family business, she leaves the art to the professionals.

"I've done a couple of tattoos, and I know the mechanics of tattooing," says Cameron. "My father made me learn how to build tattoo needles, which was something back in the day that all tattoo artists had to know how to do. You could not purchase them pre-made. So I learned how to do that. I learned how to set up a sterile field. I learned how to kind of mix pigment," she explains. "You just know when you're not going to be good at something. My father sent me to business school, and I have been able to focus on that aspect of the business. Some people just need to know when it's not your bag, and I was not going to be good at it."

All in the Family

Cameron met her husband, the talented Ken Cameron, at a tattoo convention she attended with her father. Ken, too, came from a family of tattooers and was also immersed in that world from a young age. The couple had plenty of common ground — they went on to marry and have two children, Coleman and Colby.

"It's funny, because I was good friends with people he worked with, and they used to send out a Christmas card every year, and there was a picture of him on the card," Michelle remembers. Ken piqued her interest in the photo, but Michelle's friend let her know he had a girlfriend at the time.

"When I met him years later, I'm like, 'Yeah, I had asked [a friend] about you, and she said you had a girlfriend.' He goes, 'She's a liar. She just didn't want to have me fall in love with you and leave!" At the time, Ken was known for his popular flash designs. "We actually had those hanging in the tattoo studio prior to me meeting him," Michelle remembers. "He has since stepped away from tattooing, and he is known for building high-quality tattoo machines."
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State-of-the-art body jewelry brands are among the shop's modern upgrades.
Tattoos by Lou photo

The Next Generation

The duo took over Tattoos by Lou when Sciberras died in 1996. Just as her father did, the couple raised their children in the shops. Their daughter, Colby Cameron, is the head body piercer at the Kendall location. She earned a master's degree in chemistry and received her body piercing certification from the Association of Professional Piercers. She's raised the bar for piercings at the shops, making continuous improvements, including sending new piercers to APP conferences and incorporating state-of-the-art body jewelry brands for clients.

Michelle and Ken's son, Coleman, followed in his mother's footsteps and attended business school at Florida State University. In his early teens, he worked in the studio during the summer, learning the family trade. For the past two years, he has managed Tattoos by Lou with his mother and worked to keep his grandfather's legacy alive. Much of his body is decorated in tattoos by artists who worked alongside Sciberras and have since moved all over the world.

"Almost all of the artists I get tattooed by have previously worked at Tattoos by Lou," says Coleman. "I told my dad, 'I found this tattoo shop in Vienna, and I'm going to get tattooed by this guy.' He sent me a picture of the guy tattooing Lou at a convention. I didn't even know this, and I just happened to go get tattooed by the same guy."

Coleman says he still visits tattoo shops in hopes of finding a connection to the world-famous Lou. "A lot of these people that I go see knew my grandfather… they'll tell me a bunch of stories I've never heard about him, and I hear a new side of him."

Tattoos by Lou. 9820 S. Dixie Hwy., Miami; 305-670-6694; 456 NE 167 St., Miami; 305-944-0888; 231 14th St., Miami Beach; 305-532-7300; tattoosbylou.com.