March 3rd will forever be imprinted on the minds of the inhabitants of 4th Avenue Linden and for all the right reasons!
It was the launch party of the Golden Tiki and I am sure that the neighbours had visions of herds of tattooed bikers descending on the suburb on noisy machines…
But that was not the case.Yes, there were LOTS of people in leathers, but very few bikes to be seen in the parking lot.
The majority of the “noise” came from the guests either chatting or enjoying themselves on the balcony of the venue. In order to keep the residents happy, owner Ryan ‘Busta’ Bolton had organized that the actual party would take place at another venue more suited to noise and vast quantities of alcohol
Aside from those who had obvious tattoos, there were several people that seemed as if they had just come from a financial convention and had wandered into this party by accident.But they were welcomed by the masses and were soon enjoying themselves as well.
It is always of interest to me as to what type of people get tattooed and last night I got to interact with a cross-section of the South African population and I was able to discover that tattoos are not confined to any specific job demographic! I got chatting with a young lady with several visible tattoos and she turned out to be a TV presenter.There were several musicians as well as other members of the entertainment industry present and tattoos seem to fit that particular lifestyle.But there was a fellow there whose suit seemed to be at odds with the tattoos on his arms. Eventually I managed to have a brief chat with him and to my amazement he turned out to be an anthropologist! But why am I surprised, I know Doctors and social workers that also sport “ink”…
A good time was had by all and the large turn out bodes well for the continued success of the Golden Tiki.
Congratulations and good luck to Ryan, Jan and Sean…not forgetting Chelsea,Spinx and Jason…
More impressive than the party was the fact that the following morning there was not a bottle to be seen in the street and the area outside the shop had been cleaned!
I do hope that the Linden residents embrace this new venture and welcome both the artists and the clients with open minds…it certainly attracts a better class of clientele than the bottle stores in the area!
Aside from tattoos and body piercings, Ryan and Chelsea have now started a range of hair dye products that are packaged and sold in rather ‘strange’ boxes…but they will make great gifts
The Golden Tiki Tattoo parlour can be found in 4th Avenue Linden and is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10.30 am.
