The LES Shop That Gets Under Your Skin (On Purpose)
Photo courtesy of Vacation Forever
Coming Up
New York's Finest, Pt. 2: A Group Art Show
Thursday, September 10 • 7–9 PM • 154 E Broadway
Eight NYC artists, narrowed down from 155 applicants, one night, free drinks. RSVP required, 21+.
RSVP on EventbriteAsk Kee Kee where the name Vacation Forever came from and she'll laugh before she answers. There's really only one way to have a vacation forever, and it's a little dark. Vicky's take on it going in was softer: if you love what you do, everything in your life can feel like a vacation. Kee Kee's answer landed somewhere funnier and more honest than that, and once you hear it, you can't unhear it. She finds it funny. We do too. It's the kind of name that tells you exactly what kind of shop you're walking into, one that doesn't take itself too seriously while taking the work, and the community around it, very seriously.
Queer Owned, Through and ThroughVacation Forever is proudly queer owned, and that identity is not a footnote, it is the whole architecture of the place. Kee Kee doesn't recruit, artists come to her.
"I like to have the girls gays and theys in here."
So the roster skews away from cis straight men, more gravity than rule. It's not only who tattoos there either. Vacation Forever doubles as a small gallery and retail shop, stocking handmade pieces from local artisans. And access was part of the plan from day one, Kee Kee specifically wanted the storefront to be wheelchair accessible after running her private Brooklyn studio up several flights of stairs, a detail easy to miss but core to what she was building. The queer thread runs straight through the walls and the roster alike, in a city that can make it easy for community spaces like this to get swallowed by the noise.
Photo courtesy of Vacation Forever
Art Nights & WineEvery couple of months, Kee Kee and the team turn the shop into something closer to a gallery opening than a tattoo appointment. They host an LGBTQIA+ artist for a night of free art and free wine, no cover, no pressure to buy, just a room full of people from the community who came out to look at art, talk to strangers, and maybe leave with a new piece for their wall. The featured artists are largely POC, LGBTQIA, and low income, given a real audience and a real wall, free of charge, to show work that might not otherwise find a room like this one.
It's a small thing on paper. In practice it's the clearest proof of what this shop actually is. Vacation Forever was never only about the tattoos. It's a place built for people to connect, deeply rooted in a queer atmosphere that is genuinely hard to find and even easier to lose in a city as loud and fast as New York.
The next one is their annual group show, New York's Finest, Pt. 2, happening Thursday, September 10 from 7 to 9pm right in the shop. Eight artists get the wall this year, chosen out of 155 applicants, and the drinks are on the house. It draws a real crowd, over 200 people came last year, so RSVPing ahead is the move. Grab your ticket here.
What Safety Feels LikeWe asked what a safe tattoo experience looks like in practice, not in theory. Pickles didn't hesitate: private, secluded space in the back for anything a client doesn't want visible to the whole shop, constant check ins, zero pressure on placement.
"A lot of the lines that I say is like, it's up to you. I'll give you my advice, what I think you should do, but at the end of the day it's your tattoo. I don't have to look at it every day like you do."
The bigger thing we noticed watching the shop work: it's social by design. Artists talk to each other's clients. Clients end up talking to each other. People make friends while they're getting tattooed. Add the art nights into that picture and a pattern emerges fast, this is a shop that keeps finding new ways to get people talking to each other.
Kate's tattoo, flash by @keekee3.0, tattooed by @pickles_tats
Vicky's tattoo, by @keekee3.0
Before Vacation Forever, Kee Kee ran a private studio for three years in Brooklyn, right by House of Yes. It worked, but it had a ceiling: multiple flights of stairs, a buzzer system, no wheelchair access, and walk in traffic that simply couldn't find the door.
"People would miss out standing on the street trying to get in."
Going street level wasn't just a logistics fix, it matched who Kee Kee is. There's a running joke that she's the mayor of the Lower East Side, she knows every neighbor, every bar, every restaurant on the block. A storefront shop suited the character of the neighborhood and, honestly, suited her.
Find it now at 154 East Broadway, New York, NY 10002, a quick walk from the East Broadway F stop, right in the middle of the neighborhood Kee Kee jokes she's the unofficial mayor of. They're open seven days a week, noon to 7pm, walk ins welcome alongside custom bookings.
Pickles' LeapThe Pickles origin story hits different. A previous career ended in a way she couldn't control, and she describes the decision to pivot into tattooing as "do or die." Her wife was, in her words, the main source of her courage, the one telling her flatly that she could do it. Now she counts Kee Kee as a mentor, though she jokes there's a limit to how many questions she'll let herself ask before she tells herself to knock it off.
Photo courtesy of @pickles_tats
Kee Kee's Perfect WeekendIf you're planning a trip around getting tattooed here, Kee Kee has the itinerary ready: three days minimum. Time it around a concert or a show. Spend an afternoon at the small art galleries in Chelsea, walk the High Line, finish in the West Village with oysters and a martini at Dante's. Then come to Chinatown, where five dollars still gets you a full feast, which she swears is the correct move to make right before getting tattooed.
Two Very Different HandsKee Kee's style is hard for even her to pin down: trippy, a constant flip between fine line and bold line work, lots of eyes, playful with color. Originally from Australia, she now splits her time between NYC and Europe when she's not in the chair, and her creative range extends past tattooing into contemporary home decor. Pickles' lane is more specific: gay trad, with a particular love for top surgery scar work and pieces that evolve and layer over time rather than arriving finished.
Photo courtesy of @keekee3.0
Meet the Full CrewVacation Forever isn't a two person show, it's a whole roster of artists who each bring something different to the walls. Alongside Kee Kee and Pickles, the crew includes:
- Sumi (@sumiiiz) works primarily in fine line black and grey, telling object based, character driven stories that echo her illustration background.
- Ava (@artby_avarose) brings illustrative, blackwork focused designs with a bold, feminine edge.
- Destiny (@gr3ywash) draws from art nouveau and vintage biological illustration, finding beauty across animal and human, botanical and floral, living and dead.
- Sabeen (@hennabysabeen) is the shop's henna artist and tattoo apprentice, whose henna work has appeared in Vogue, Elle, and Allure.
- Dai (@queerkid.ink) works in black work and fine line, bold graphic shapes balanced against delicate detail.
Every one of them has their own hand, their own following, their own reason to book a chair here specifically. Scroll their grids, you'll see exactly what we mean. International guest artists rotate through throughout the year too, so the walls never really stop changing.
Five Years InVacation Forever turned five this year, two years in the current storefront, three before that in the walk up Brooklyn studio that started it all. Five years of a name that's a little bit dark and a lot bit funny. Five years of walk ins turning into regulars turning into friends. Five years of giving the girls, gays, and theys a chair, a wall to show their art on, and a reason to hang around after the appointment's over.
Anniversaries are nice, but the real headline here is simpler: they're still here, still on East Broadway, still going. Given how this place operates, that's not really a surprise. Vacation Forever isn't the kind of shop that was ever going to be a flash in the pan. It was built to last, and five years later, it's just getting started.
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