Hot pink details line the windows and front door of an otherwise unassuming Spanish-style building on El Camino Real, bidding passersby into Velvet Kitty Tattoo Parlour.
Since Jan. 31, Brianne “Breezy” Barendt and her all-female staff provide all-body modification piercings, tattoos, and children’s piercings. Younger girls can sit on a “piercing throne” while they get their ears pierced, and they walk away with fuzzy kitty headbands and a little pink bag with piercing aftercare instructions and products.
“Everything’s just really oriented to making a comfort space for women and children,” Barendt said. “Making a space where the trans community feels comfortable, the gay community feels comfortable.”
The name for the store comes from having an all-female staff and curating comfort toward welcoming children.
But Velvet Kitty represents something beyond the floor-to-ceiling pink walls. It’s a culmination of Barendt’s almost 30-year journey in the tattoo industry as a woman and artist.
“It’s a known thing in the tattoo industry that people have what I call ‘tattitude,’” she said. “You walk in and you’re not welcome and you feel like you’re a burden or you’re intimidated because the artist is intimidating.”
After completing a tattoo apprenticeship in 1996 at Morro Bay Tattoo, Barendt said she didn’t get hired due to her gender. Since then, she’s moved around the country opening multiple tattoo parlors in search of the perfect place.
“This is my eighth tattoo shop, and I finally got it right,” she said. “I took a little something from every shop I ever liked and every shop I built and created this.”
In 1998, Barendt opened Traditional Tattoo in San Luis Obispo. Then she opened Never Enough Tattoo in 2006 in Atascadero and eventually two more locations in Las Vegas and New Orleans over the next 10 years. Within that time, she also tattooed in Costa Rica and Colorado.
After a decade, Barendt returned to Atascadero to work at White Moth Tattoo Company, which she eventually bought and transformed into Velvet Kitty.
“I wanted to bring some New Oreleans, some San Franscico, some Hollywood into Atascadero,” she said. “So we painted the entire place pink.”
Barendt’s intention in developing Velvet Kitty was simple and clear: “no male energy, no male ego.” The tattoo parlor owner’s goal was to have an all-female staff dedicated to customer service and to foster a space where women weren’t being sexually approached or harassed.
“That’s real common in tattoo shops, and I wanted to see an end to it,” she said. “I definitely feel a little pushback from men about it because it’s pink and stuff.”
Barendt said her journey of opening up tattoo parlors on the Central Coast wasn’t easy. The city of Atascadero did not legally permit tattoo parlors until July 2013.
“We have to be 1,000 feet from churches and 1,000 feet from schools, like who are we hurting?” Barendt said. “A huge part of my business is piercing little kids.”
Tattoo parlors aren’t specifically outlined in Atascadero’s Ordinance 297 governing “adult businesses,” though Barendt said the law factored into her struggle to get permitted.
“I wanted to create the ultimate safe space for women because women are 80 percent of our business,” she said. “Children are a huge percentage of our business.”
Barendt and her six staff members are all Association of Professional Piercers (APP) trained to ensure proper cleanliness and sterilization, something Velvet Kitty prioritizes.
“The shop just beams because it’s so clean, and I wanted to set an example,” she said. “I’m done with dirty. I’m done with dingy.”
Barendt said that while the customers they receive are mainly women and children, they’ve welcomed male clients as well. Their feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive based on in-person and online reviews.
“‘I have never felt so comfortable and welcome,’ That’s the biggest response,” she said.
That comfort comes from what can be the sacred experience of tattooing—one Barendt fell in love at 17 when she walked into her first tattoo shop and left with some ink, returning for three more tattoos the same month.
“When you tattoo someone, I’m not going to remember them but they’re going to remember me forever,” Barendt said. “It’s an honor that someone is letting me put a tattoo on their body. I need to make it an amazing experience.”
Fast fact
• Morro Bay State Park is seeking volunteers who enjoy kayaking and stand-up paddleboarding to join the SeaLife Stewards Volunteer Program. After in-person and on-the-water training and evaluation, volunteers paddle the waters of Morro Bay every weekend during the summer promoting responsible wildlife viewing. Applications are due by April 7. For more info, visit parks.ca.gov/?page_id=25420. For questions, reach out to sealifestewards@parks.ca.gov. ∆
Reach Intern Fiona Hastings at ntintern@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in March 26 – April 2, 2026.