SLO County town is getting its first tattoo shop — with special deals this weekend
A tattooing studio is set to debut in Cambria this weekend — yep, you read that right — and it might be a first for the North Coast village.
3Left Tattoo at 4070 West St. is where Carlton Rodgers, a professional tattoo artist for more than a decade, will design and create body art to order.
According to Bobby and Karen Snow, longtime Cambrians born and raised there, they don’t remember any other tattooing business in Cambria. They said that probably makes 3Left Tattoo a local pioneer for such a commercial venture there.
It could be a bold move, in a town with an estimated median age of over 60, and where scenery, tourism, retirement and art remain the top draws.
But tattooing is becoming more popular across most adult demographics, Rodgers said, although his prime customer base is in the 18-to-35 age group.
Rodgers, 35, is a Texas-born chap who honed his art, health training and skills in Houston and Colorado before coming to Cambria in 2019.
He said there’s real joy in applying his skill and creating something that truly delights someone.
“I just love coming up with the idea for an art piece that will resonate with the client, getting the image from their head and onto their skin,” Rodgers said.
Why Cambria?
Rodgers shares the former chiropractic-rehabilitation office building on West Steet with Intuitive Massage and Wellness. That business is owned and run by his girlfriend, Kylie Tafoya, a Cambria gal who’s a licensed and insured therapist for holistic massage and other related therapeutic practices.
Her mother and stepfather, Jolene Tafoya and Joe Vergara, own and operate Soto’s True Earth Market and Vyana Wellness Collective, and the couple is among the founding co-owners of Brydge Cafe, all in Cambria.
They’re also hinting there’s something new on their drawing boards, but they’re not doing any reveals yet, Vergara told The Tribune on May 6.
Rodgers and Kylie Tafoya met in Colorado in 2018, Rodgers said.
After they became a couple and had a child, he worked, and she became an at-home mom to their son Ezra, now 5 years old.
Then, they moved the family to Cambria.
“Kylie wanted to go back home, and I became a house husband for a while, homeschooling our son,” he said. “But now that Ezra is older, it’s time for me to go back to work, go back to my art.”
For now, they’ll probably share Ezra’s care and homeschooling by adjusting appointment times, Rodgers said, but may consider enrolling the child in formal kindergarten.
What to expect at 3Left Tattoo
Now the 3Left Tattoo studio is almost up and running.
So what’s the story behind its unusual name?
“On my right hand, I have only three fingers and a thumb left,” Rodgers said. “I am missing a finger, having lost it in a 2010 shooting incident at rowdy house party at which I was one of the innocent bystanders. I was hit by a gunshot.”
So when he needed an Instagram handle for his tattooing quickly, Rodgers said — presto! — 3Left Tattoo was born.
“You learn to adapt,” he said.
Pricing for the body art depends on how big and complicated the motif is, and how long it takes to create it, he said.
Costs can range from $80 to $100 for a small, maybe 2-by-2-inch tattoo on up to a couple of grand or more for a full sleeve, which includes the shoulder, wrist and inside and outside of the arm. Sleeves take at least 20 hours to create, Rodgers said.
A tiny, not-too-complicated tattoo, “like a small heart on a finger, can be done in 15 minutes or less, or a small name in 25 to 30 minutes,” Rodgers said of his least expensive artworks.
Initial healing timeframe for a tattoo averages about two weeks, with a month being optimal, he estimated.
Rodgers’ background incudes lots of study and practice from 2011 to 2019, but he said the most intense training happened in that first year.
After that, it was learning his art by doing it, by discovery, “by figuring out my abilities and skills.”
“You can watch as many videos and go to as many seminars as you can, but until you actually do it, you won’t know if you really can,” he said.
Before artificial skin for practicing became available, “we practiced on an orange,” he said.
“Then we’d peel it, and if any ink went through, you’d know you’d messed it up,” Rodgers said. Then, he’d try, try again.
Fortunately, he learned to quickly recognize, even today, if a proposed concept is beyond his skills, and he’ll acknowledge it.
“I know my limits, so I’ll tell the client ‘I’m not sure that’s in my wheelhouse,’” he said.
It happens less often than it used to, now that he has refined his talents. With all the training he’s had and art he’s created during the past decade-plus, he considers his abilities to be “pretty well-rounded now,” Rodgers said.
So what will the prevailing tattoo designs be in Cambria?
“There’s a lot of tourism here, so I’m expecting there’ll be many different ideas, probably with a lot of coastal themes to commemorate coming to California,” he said.
Tattoos that memorialize special occasions, such as significant anniversaries and relationships, also are popular, Rodgers said, as are more elaborate designs that echo cartoons, anime or other popular concepts.
Photos displayed on his Instagram page show other tattoos Rodgers did, ranging from classics to butterflies, birds, fish, flowers, hearts, animals and more. The page had more than 2,000 followers by May 6.
Try these for more information
3Left Tattoo will be at 4070 West St. in Cambria. The studio’s open house from 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturday will include a raffle at $20 per ticket, with a limited number of tickets available.
Two main prizes — one $350, three-hour tattooing session and a $150, one-hour tattoo — will be awarded, but “everybody wins something” including discounts and freebies, according to Rodger and the event’s flyer on several social media sites.
For details about the opening and the studio, call 820-206-7232, although Rodgers acknowledges Cambria can have spacey reception for cellphone coverage.
Perhaps a more reliable way to reach him is by sending a text to that number or an email to 3lefttattoos@gmail.com.
This story was originally published May 14, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
