It’s Thursday, July 23rd, and miles away from Versailles, a few people, many of them covered in tattoos gather outside the corner of a small, non-descript strip mall. There are several rocking chairs out front and on a blue-curtained overhang, reads the word, TATTOOS. The grey clouds overhead have begun a light sprinkle, forcing a passing Chevy Impala that’s blasting Winsin Y Yandel to roll up its windows. However, many of the people outside don’t go scurrying in, because it’s a packed house at the Ochoplacas Tattoo Company.
Tattoo machines buzz as the music changes from Iron Maiden to an Ecuadorian ballad from the 1950’s. The men at the counter greet each customer with a handshake and ask how they can help. While some customers are deciding what they want, others are just waiting for a chance in the next available chair. The crowd is not only here, because of Ochoplacas’s growing reputation as one of Miami’s premier tattoo shops, but also because its crew is celebrating its own version of Miami Independence Day with “305 Day”, where anyone wanting to represent Miami’s most famous area code, can have it forever imprinted on their skin for just $35.

In the past few years, several tattoo artists have done similar days like this, mostly notably L.A. Ink star Kat Von D and her ex-husband, Oliver Peck, in hopes of securing a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. However, the crew of Ochoplacas isn’t doing 305 Day for the fame; they’re doing it simply to give back to the community that’s made them one of the most talked about and respected shops in the last few years.
“You love it and you hate, but you always rep it”, said shop owner Jose Carrera. Carrera means what he says. He even recently gave up a tattoo convention in Switzerland, so he could stay and tattoo at home in Miami.
Carrera and his three artists, Javier Wolf Betancourt, Vince Vasconez and John Vale thought up the idea just a few weeks before the date, but didn’t really give much thought or care as to whether the day would be a success or a failure. “It was just sort of spontaneous,” says Carrera. “With things like this, everything goes right or everything goes wrong”.

From the amount of people showing up that day, 305 Day was definitely a success. Customers had dozens of designs to choose from, ranging from a Palm Tree, a hammer, a piece of Flan and even a cup of Cuban Coffee, all emblazoned with 305. While Carrera is unsure whether there’ll be another 305 day in the near future, there are still plenty of reasons why tattoo enthusiasts should pay a visit to Ochoplacas.
The shop isn’t your ordinary tattoo shop. While most shops line their walls with tattoo flash, the walls of Ochoplacas are more like a modern art gallery. You can find sketches, pop art, hand-painted skateboards and even small handmade coffin sculptures with different colored skulls inside. And “handmade” is the style of the shop. Most of the work is done by the staff of Ochoplacas or their friends. Even the counters are painted by Carrera and not only feature beautiful hand-painted work, but messages of love and thanks to his wife Yumila and his three stepchildren for all their support.
“Everything here is handmade from the tattoos to the walls, everything,” he says, displaying tattoos across each wrist that read “Hand” And “Styles”. Even if you’re not getting tattooed, you could spend hours staring the walls and counters, trying to pick up each little detail.

As for the artists themselves, Carrera saw his first tattoo when he was five and hasn’t turned back. He developed his artistic skills by doing graffiti in his high school days and did a few tattoos while doing time in prison, before starting an apprenticeship at Silhouette Tattoo Studio on Bird Road. He opened the Ochoplacas Tattoo Company in 2002. Most recently, he toured with rapper Birdman and has also tattooed his protégé, Lil Wayne. He said his time with Birdman has had a positive influence on how he runs his shop. “He’s a hard worker and he inspired me to work even harder,” he says.
Carrera may be the star and owner of Ochoplacas, but he’s more than willing to share the spotlight. He speaks highly of his crew and is quick to heap praise upon them.
“In a way, I trained them all. The shop is just as much me, as it is believing in them”, he says. “There are so many different styles, they can do anything”.
One artist, John Vale recently got some major acclaim. In June, he was tattooing at the annual Ink-n-Iron Festival onboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California, when he tattooed a photo editor at Inked Magazine. That tattoo ended up on the editor’s Letter page in the most recent issue, along with Vale’s and Ochoplacas’ name.
Carrera then jokes “It’s cool, but they put the picture sideways”.
Despite the shop’s rising acclaim and some of its high-end clientele, Carrera and his crew are very down to Earth. Carrera says he enjoys good service when he’s out and he wants his customers to have the same when they get tattooed at his shop.
“It’s our jobs. We provide for our clients. When you take care of a personal request and do it well, you could 10 more clients just from that one job. I don’t like rock stars. Everyday people are rock stars to me. I don’t care who you are, if you come to Ochoplacas, you’ll be treated right”.
If you want to schedule an appointment with the Ochoplacas Tattoo Company, call them at 305-264-0888 or visit them online at www.ochoplacas.com.

After Washberg made his way from Nikki Beach we found him along Ocean Drive where he ended up at Ocean’s TEN during WMC 2009 for a little fun.

Miami Swag’s own THE Washberg (aka THE B. Washberg) set foot in South Florida on September 25, 2005.  Where the hell Washberg came from nobody knows.  Washberg has been known to rip the South Beach scene but he does it in a way that many people don’t understand.  For some reason Washberg believes he is not like everyone else, not that he’s better but, just distinguished and we at Miami Swag agree.  Washberg has been known to have quite a few celebrity acquaintances.  (Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Ronnie Brown, Wizard Sleeve, Malika Haqq, Kadijah Haqq, Jackie Long, and other well-known celebrities A-D list.)  This is not confirmed or denied at the moment these are just rumors.  We at Miami Swag have questioned Washberg but Washberg pleads the 5^th.  Wash berg may also be friends with any local celebrities, hoes, promoters, and gold digging bitches you might know.  Washberg is said to be closely related to the chamilion and this is why Washberg ask that you pay close attention to what he says and doesn’t say, Wash berg ask that you pay attention to the body language in his photos, the way Wash berg speaks when he talks to certain people and most importantly Wash berg ask that you give him chance to be that which he is THE Washberg aka THE B. Washberg the B. stands for Butler serving you Miami Swag.

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Launching April 1St 2009