Casey Hosch stands outside Sol Tribe Tattoo and Piercing, the shop where she learned to pierce and run a business.
Sol Tribe was a space of ritual, activism, joy and community, she recalls. It was also the place where a white supremacist murdered Hosch’s mentor Alicia Cardenas and coworker Alyssa Gunn-Maldonado in December 2021.
Now, in mid-July of this year, the storefront is boarded up after closing abruptly on July 1.
Hosch is opening a new piercing and tattoo studio a few doors down on South Broadway.
She’s calling her new studio Cold Moon Piercing and Tattoo, a melancholy nod to the studio where Hosch came of age.
Hosch thought she’d be at Sol Tribe for the long haul.
Around 2020, Cardenas began shifting her career from body art to muralism. She talked about passing the shop on to Hosch. Nothing was in writing, but that was their understanding.
A year later, Cardenas and Gunn-Maldonado were gone.
In the weeks following their deaths, the community rallied around Sol Tribe. People mourned the losses.
The shop stayed closed for a while, but the pause was brief. Denver’s high cost of living made taking a break impossible.
“We didn't get a whole lot of free time off,” Hosch said. “We took some time to grieve, but realistically, Sol Tribe itself couldn't maintain without us working. We couldn't pay our bills without us working. It's very interesting that you just have to suck it up and get back to work. There's not really a lot you can do — especially living in Denver these days. It's so expensive. So we got back to work.”
At first, Hosch struggled to shower, dress, and leave the house. Eventually, she started coming back to work.
She and the artists tried to keep Sol Tribe alive after the murders. They changed a few things. The shop stopped taking walk-in appointments. They cautioned customers to keep things light to preserve their mental health. Sometimes conversations were awkward.
But mostly, those who worked there were glad to carry on with Cardenas’ legacy.
Over the past two-and-a-half years, Hosch managed the shop as she mourned and made plans to buy Sol Tribe from Cardenas’ co-owner. But she signed no contracts and did no deals.
Then, earlier this year, the remaining owner told staff he would be closing Sol Tribe down.
Initially, staff heard the shop would close at the end of July, giving them more than a month to decide what to do next.
“We were all under the impression that Sol Tribe would be open through July,” Hosch told Denverite. “And instead, we all got a message via Slack, an hour before we show up to work on Monday, July 1, saying: ‘Shop’s closed. We're done.’”
All the artists, most living paycheck-to-paycheck, found themselves out of work.
Using the business skills she learned from Cardenas, Hosch secured a loan and signed a lease at 120 S. Broadway. She started building out the space that will soon open as Cold Moon.
‘I want to stay on Broadway,’ Hosch said. ‘I love-hate Broadway, for sure. But I want to stay here.’
The strip has changed a lot over the years. Many small businesses she loved are gone. But some are still around.
Hosch plans to keep Cardenas’ values alive at Cold Moon: activism, ritual and community.
Cardenas always told Hosch piercing is about more than poking a hole in your face.
“It's altering your body, and it should be taken a lot more seriously,” she said. “It should be a special thing. For a lot of cultures, it's a rite of passage. There's so much more to it than just your $20 piercing at the strip mall.”
Hosch agreed to bring many of Sol Tribe’s artists with her, to keep their community entact. Shops including Rising Tide Tattoo, Wolf and Goat Piercing, Bound by Design and the Crypt Denver took in others.
“I'm trying to open as soon as possible,” Hosch said. “I'm really hoping to have some major things accomplished by the end of this month. It's chugging along. I'm excited. I need to pierce again. I miss it. I love it. And I just want a place to pierce and try to be a good person.”
