Marked sensation

It was 9:30 a.m. on a recent drafty morning, and 325 people were wrapped around the La Brea Avenue block outside High Voltage Tattoo. They were gathered to help Kat Von D (born Katherine Von Drachenberg), star of TLC's reality show "LA Ink," set a world record (as in "The Guinness Book of . . .") for completing the most tattoos in 24 hours. It was all being filmed for the show, which begins airing new episodes at 10 tonight.

But there was a slew of problems: The clock that was meant to keep track of the official time fell off a truck and broke. A fire marshal was enforcing strict rules -- mandating limits on the number of people in the shop and cordoning off areas with caution tape. And six L.A. sheriff's deputies were attempting to keep the burgeoning masses orderly, decreeing that many eager fans would have to be sent home without any new ink.

And when Von D arrived at her shop just before 10 a.m., she was greeted with the most recent piece of bad news: The official from Guinness was stuck in a snowstorm and wouldn't be able to make it.

"He's gonna miss a party, dude," Von D said, smiling and shrugging as she took off her jacket. Underneath, she was wearing an "I Heart L.A." tank top, short enough to reveal the cursive "Hollywood" tattoo scrawled over her midriff. She was taking slow drags of a very thin cigarette.

Von D, 25, wears an immense amount of eye makeup -- a blue, glittery shadow both above and below her lids paired with cherry red lipstick. Despite her severe look, she manages to escape looking clownlike -- her dark hair angles around high cheekbones.

Just an hour later, there were a thousand fans trickling over to Fountain Avenue. Mostly twentysomethings, the crowd was largely tattooed and pierced, outfitted in head-to-toe black with the exception of neon Mohawks and knotted dreadlocks. Occasionally, they broke into an uneven chant: "Kat! Kat!"

At the front of the line, Jose Flores was pressed against the shop's glass door. He had camped out since 7:15 the previous evening, eager to receive the first tattoo Von D would dispense.

"It wouldn't matter what the tattoo was of," Flores said. "I just want to get tatted by her because she's a bomb artist."

Flores would be the first patron -- after Von D's closest friends and family, including the likes of Internet personality Jeffree Star -- to receive the tattoo, which says 'LA' and comprises half of the TV show's logo.