Exile Tattoo on 39th Street expanding into former Twisted Sister location, bringing on former Freaks employees
Kansas City’s tattoo community suffered a rather intense shock back in March, when a 21-year-old woman who was both an employee of Freaks Tattoo and Piercing owner Rodney Sanell, and a tenant in a building Sanell owned, discovered 11 hidden cameras inside her apartment. Many Freaks employees quit in protest, and two of the three branches (Freaks on 39th and Freaks on Noland) closed permanently.
Since then, the tenant, her sister and another former tenant have filed actions against Sanell in Jackson County. Those lawsuits are ongoing. In the meantime, the other victims – the tattoo artists and piercers who lost or forfeited their jobs because their boss is an alleged peeping tom – have been scrambling for work.
Last month, gift shop Twisted Sister (1617 W. 39th Street) closed after 14 years. That presented its next-door neighbor, Exile Tattoo, with an opportunity to expand its operations – and for some former Freaks employees to step in and get back to work.
“The timing of the Twisted Sister space opening up worked out really well as far as the unfortunate incident at Freaks,” says Exile Tattoo owner “Whispering” Danny Kobzantsev. “We don’t have any room to grow in our current location, but we were able to rent the new space, which we are remodeling right now, and we’ll be bringing in some of the crew from Freaks. They’ll be working alongside me and my existing crew.”
Those migrating over include Juan Moya, Justin Sims, Megan McPherson, Nathan Blankenship, Cory Kirby and Steeney.
Kobzantsev says the new location will open for business “sometime in the next 14 days.”
