A CONVERSATION WITH LOGAN
On the first cold day of October, we had the pleasure of visiting Sunnyside tattoo, a local hispanic-owned tattoo shop in the heart of Sunnyside, Queens, where the hums of tattoo machines and the rockstar playlists offered a familiar comfort. Sunnyside isn’t just another local spot, it's a home to many, myself included. During our visit, we chatted with one of their talented apprentices, Logan Sanchez. In the past year, I’ve had the honor to sit in Logan’s chair more times than I can count. He’s now nearing the end of that chapter and stepping into his role as a full-fledged artist. Here’s how our chit-chat went.
JINXX: Can you tell me a bit about yourself and how you first got into tattooing?
LOGAN: I was born and raised in Queens, New York. I'm trans, and I work at Sunnyside Tattoo. I've been here since I was 16 — I’m now 25. I got hired by the old owner, her name was Maxine Keyes. She sold the shop to my mentor, Ivan. They originally kept me around to be a shop assistant, and eventually, I became an apprentice.
JINXX: Oh wow, it’s been a while here! Did working here inspire you to become an artist, or was that always the plan?
LOGAN: Nah, I always knew — it’s definitely always been the goal.
JINXX: Okay, okay! How do you usually approach designing a tattoo that tells someone’s story?
LOGAN: I would say I ask them for their references — what they want to achieve, whether they put together the idea themselves or got it from somewhere else. I give as much creative input as I can, but at the end of the day, it’s their body, their choice. I’m just here to physically bring it to life.
JINXX: Tell me about a time you made a mistake on the job. What did you learn from it?
LOGAN: A time I made a big mistake on the job was during a Friday the 13th event.
JINXX: Oh my god, those flash events?
LOGAN: Yes, the flash events. It really is Friday the 13th that gives you bad luck, haha. I accidentally broke the stencil machine. Ivan said, “Okay, well now you have to draw them by hand.” So I did exactly that. Every design and every stencil that someone got that night was created by my hands. By the end of the night, my eyes, hands — everything — were feeling crazy and exhausted. That was a huge mistake.
JINXX: But you learned from it!
LOGAN: Yeah, haha, I learned not to touch things.
JINXX: When you look back at your apprenticeship, do you see your “tough luck” moments as turning points?
LOGAN: I definitely do. I started working at the tattoo shop when I was 16 — doing emails, messing up those emails, learning how to set up and clean the stations, not even getting to use those tools, nowhere near actually tattooing. Everything took a lot of time and patience, but I treated all those things as good things.
JINXX: Sixteen, working at a tattoo shop, sounds pretty cool though, no?
LOGAN: Yeah, it is cool. People think, “Oh! You’re 16 doing tattoos.” No — I’m 16 cleaning the counters, I’m 16 cleaning the frames, setting up the supplies, answering the phone, greeting the guests. As I aged, my responsibilities aged too — but I did have to start at the bottom of the ladder.
