S2E42: Tattoo Artist Taler Nicols (RIP)

Film photography by Michelle Kilfeather

Ed. note: Sadly, Taler lost her battle with cancer in April 2021. We thank you for checking here to learn more about her extraordinary life.

Taler Nicols is a fifth-generation San Franciscan. Her family here dates back to Potrero Hill when it was called Goat Hill.

In Part 1, Taler, who is a tattooer now, talks about growing up in bars and restaurants in North Beach, thanks to her man-about-town dad. She ends the episode talking about neighborhoods and the changes in San Francisco this decade, ending on a positive, hopeful note.

Taler wanted to paint.

In Part 2, Taler begins by rattling off bars and restaurants in San Francisco that she used to frequent. She then talks of leaving a job she'd been at for a decade to help open Let It Bleed Tattoo in the Tenderloin in 2009. She ends the episode reflecting on the changes in the city over the last decade, as well as some signs of hope she's seeing now.

We recorded this podcast at Vesuvio Cafe in August 2019.