Do you remember being a kid and designing your Dream Tree-Fort? My Tree-Fort designs looked like something you would find out of the Goonies film, and it would be stocked with my Dad's Titty Mags and Burger King french toast sticks. 

Tyson Taumaoe has fulfilled that Tree-Fort Dream, by creating a by appointment only Tattoo Studio, in Downtown Las Vegas. I was lucky enough to schedule a tattoo with my buddy Tyson and from the time I walked up the stair well to chilling in the waiting room; HIDEOUT Tattoo felt like a cool secret Tree-Fort spot with a hint of Iron Man's workshop. 

The client waiting area sits in an all glass cube room filled with chairs, a comfy couch, and a tv playing movies I forget I've always wanted to watch. Completed with coffee, tea, and water, and some home made chocolate chip oatmeal cookies made by his wife Angelina... But the winning finishing touch? An unassuming glitter pillow of Nicholas Cage's face.  

The walls are covered in amazing art collected through the years, including my favorite illustration by Tyson for Tattoo Fight Club, and collabs with Kiwi Birt's Polynesian designs and Tyson's unique illustrations.  A photo series of Las Vegas' iconic Neons and Desert Scenery is placed throughout the stair well by Rob Seher. And... to top it all off, a giant window overlooks Las Vegas Blvd and a Salvadorian restaurant called Salvadoreno, which has been in Vegas since 1986 serving ice cold Modelo's and some FIRE shrimp Pupusas. 

During my tattoo, Tyson shared some of the history of the building. It was cool to find out that the all time classic Vegas Mobster movie Casino, starring Joe Pesci and Robert DeNiro had a scene filmed across the street in a motel next to Salvadoreno. If you watch that scene, rumor has it that you can see the building and the spot which years later would become HIDEOUT Tattoo.  It's cool how the past and the future get intertwined in Las Vegas and HIDEOUT Tattoo is a great example of that, in this ever evolving city that we love.