Under the Gun: Kurtis Colamonico

For this installment of Under The Gun, we caught up with Long Beach local and Famous Stars and Straps rider Kurtis Colamonico to have him explain his collection of iconic Long Beach images tattooed on his torso.

“I got the Long Beach probably three years ago and I’ve just been adding to it,” Colamonico said. “I was born and raised in Long Beach, and lived a couple other places and just didn’t like it too much. Long Beach is just my home so you gotta rep your city, where you’re from.”

“I wanted to do portraits of main things of Long Beach so people that aren’t from Long Beach will realize what they are. I just wanted to get the best type of work that I could get and I’m happy with everything I got so far.”

“I got the Queen Mary on the left side, then I got the Spruce Goose. Both are main monuments everybody goes to see. I also got the freeway signs. I’m doing the convention center right now with all the big whales on it, so everybody will realize.”

“It all took like 15-20 hours. Well, probably more than that, like 25 hours so far. I always go get tattooed when I’m hurt so I give time to heal so you don’t go fall on it right away.”

“The same guy is doing the whole front, and then a different guy is doing the whole back. I stick to the same person so everything looks pretty much the same.”

Missed the last installment of Under the Gun with BMXer Mykel Larrin? Check it out here.

Then come back next week when BMXer Jeremiah Smith goes Under the Gun.