Approaching 31: Crazzy's House of Tattoos

“Crazzy” Keith Lynn turned down the music in his tattoo shop, Crazzy’s House of Tattoos on South Center Street in Hildebran, relaxing into a loveseat to tell the story of how it all came to be.

Nearly 31 years ago, on Aug. 5, 1995, Lynn opened the shop in the same place it stands today. Despite decades in the work, he has no plans of slowing down.

“I’m probably gonna do it ‘til I’m dead,” Lynn said, fidgeting with a vape as a handmade guitar laid by his feet. “Or my body gives out and I just can’t — my eyes go too bad or my arthritis, or something. After all these years, I still really love the job. I love my customers.”

Nearby, a swinging panel display, nearly the size of a human, hung from the wall for visitors to flip through pre-drawn art, commonly called flash in the industry.

Don’t bother checking social media or looking “Crazzy’s House of Tattoos” up online. Lynn said he doesn’t do either and hasn’t in years.

“I’m lucky like that,” Lynn said. “I’m in a position, I guess, I’ve been around so long, my name’s out there and people just text my phone and that’s how I stay busy.”

He explained that texting is the best way to contact him, especially when detailing design ideas. It’s the same number he’s had since 1995 — 828-397-3823 — “and it’ll be the last number I ever have,” he said, laughing.

According to Lynn, one of the best parts of the job is the conversations he gets to have with customers.

“People will just unload all kinds of personal things,” he said. “I don’t have the answers, but I feel like I’ve got some pretty decent advice, these days.”

Lynn’s experience as a tattoo artist began well before he ever stepped foot in a shop, when he would give his friends stick-and-pokes, a method of tattooing that doesn’t involve an electric machine, when he was about 12 years old.

“Mom took me to get a professional tattoo when I was 15 to cover up some of the stick-and-pokes,” he explained. “(I) always enjoyed art in school. It was about the only thing that I wanted to do.”

At the time, when he first started getting into the craft, tattoos were only really seen on bikers and military guys. He recounted getting his eyebrow pierced and going to Burger King, where every worker in the building flocked to the window to see the unfamiliar jewelry.

When plans fell through for a Myrtle Beach visit in the mid-1990s, Lynn and a friend ended up in Cherokee, where he met “Crazzy” Richard Freeman, who owned a Crazzy’s House of Tattoos in the mountains.

Lynn said Freeman allegedly earned the moniker of “Crazzy” after driving a motorcycle off a pier in Florida on a dare from a biker.

“I reckon this would have been in the late ‘60s, early ‘70s,” Lynn said. “Who knows if it’s true, but he always seemed sincere telling that story.”

Freeman offered to teach Lynn, who started driving to Cherokee on the weekends to apprentice, a common practice in the industry where a newcomer learns the ropes from an experienced artist, often practicing on skin-like material like leather and grapefruits before moving up to the real deal.

“It was kind of like an apprenticeship-slash-party.” He laughed. “Within a year of that, he helped me get this studio open in Hildebran. … He owned a part of the equipment, and we named the shop Crazzy’s House of Tattoos.”

About a year later, Lynn bought Freeman out of his portion of the store, but their contract required he keep the name.

Not long after, people started calling him “Crazzy” Keith. Freeman died in 2011.

Lynn explained that the stigma surrounding tattoos and piercings has pretty much gone away, pointing out that the hospital used to have rules against any visible artwork, but now nearly every medical professional he’s seen has full sleeves, or arms completely covered in tattoos.

As someone who’s tattooed multiple generations throughout the state, his biggest piece of advice for people considering a tattoo: really mull it over.

“Just think about it really hard,” he said. “A lot of young people get stupid things. When you’re 18 and when you’re 28, your mind’s completely different. Things you’re into are completely different. … A lot of people just make not-well-thought-out decisions. Mostly younger people, but the older people do it, too. Names — 90% of the time that probably doesn’t work out.”