Text Box: The After Dark Story Text Box: After Dark Culture is the result of a long time friendship between Tyson Lee Lytle and Michael Rogers. Meeting in January of 1994, Michael came to the Electric Needle, where Tyson was working at the time, to get a tattoo fixed. Being a large tattoo in a painful spot, Michael was required to return for several sittings. During this time, they discovered that they had a lot in common. Each had a new baby at the time and had a similar taste in art and music. As their friendship grew, a plot was formed. Michael’s wife at the time had bought the first tattoo as a Christmas present, but as time went on, she became jealous of the time spent at the shop. So the decision was made to never finish that first tattoo. That way, they were always working on the “Christmas present”. Over the years, the friendship became a sense of Family. They came to view each other as brothers and each others’ children as their own. They helped each other through all the trials of life: marriage, divorce, and more children. They often spoke of opening a shop together, but money was always the crushing factor. Tyson worked at a few shops over the years and eventually found himself in China teaching multitudes of students how to tattoo. Meanwhile, Michael was installing carpet and tile, eventually turning that into a prospering business. Upon Tyson’s return to the States, talks resumed about opening a new shop. Unfortunately, Michael was experiencing some personal turmoil at the time and the shop was put on hold again. In 2006, all aspects of a new shop with a new attitude and a new look started to come together. The search was on for a location. It was harder than you might think to find a good place for a tattoo shop. In the mean time, names were discussed. Dark Art and Mike Tyson Tattoos were among them. After Dark was chosen and later became After Dark Culture as it became clear that this was going to be more than a tattoo shop. This shop was going to include the entire custom culture by selling not just tattoos and piercings but also clothes, jewelry, and art. With a whole new attitude, no longer is the day of the surly tattoo artist acceptable. This shop was going to be friendly, clean, and welcoming, but still embody what a tattoo shop should be. Price gauging is not acceptable. After Dark was going to provide excellent product and service for a fair price and treat everybody like Family. Even your grandmother should feel comfortable here. In April 2007 a building was finally found: A 2400 sq ft stand alone building on the edge of Tempe/Mesa. The building was converted from three suites into one large unit. It now sports custom floors, granite counter tops and bathrooms that would rival the nicest home. Six touch screen stations house more than 20,000 tattoo designs. Three tattoo stations and a piercing booth occupy the east side of the building while a custom clothing store resides on the west. The Sterile Room has a glass door so customers can view our sterilization procedures. Each booth has internet access so that we can quickly locate any other design that our customers desire. A flat screen TV on the wall and leather couches in the waiting room complete After Dark. August 25th, 2007, After Dark Culture Tattoo & Body Piercing held its grand opening event, setting a new world record for the most people pierced in a day. After Dark either pierced or provided a coupon good for a free piercing to over 500 people that day and several hundred more the next day. Tyson felt that “We wanted to do something big for the grand opening, bring in a ton of people. We did that.” Thank You for coming down and supporting us. If you have not been to After Dark yet, stop in. You will be impressed. You will get a glimpse of what the Tattoo Shops of the Future will be. Michael and Tyson would like to thank everyone that made this possible for us, including but not limited to: Lora Boza, Anne Rogers, Alan and Carol Rogers, Jessica Lytle, Jordan Lytle, Arries Rogers, Brandon R.,Dave and Jody Synoidis, Tim, Jason Stieber, Jesse Armstrong, Juan, Jesus, Gordo, Baldo, Sam Huss, Jasmine McCafferty, Patty Smith, Theresa Territo, Tim Parish, Allison and Pierre Burns for all of their help. We also want to thank Duck and Crew for their prayers to start this thing off.