We wanted to make the ambiance of the bar kind of a club house, the kind of place where we would like to hang out with our locals, our new friends and our international followers, a place where you could go and and get treated with love and respect along with excellent service and add the party vibe with our local Dj's like Drop D. The name LOVE HATE comes from the fact that you love what you do but some times you hate doing it. So totally a bitter sweet thing. We want everybody to be able to experience it. It still remains a bar no matter how you dress it up, it is what it is. It's a chic establishment without the pretentious attitude, and no rude door guy that wont let you in. At the same time, it’s not a place where you can come in and be a pig and be disrespectful... we are not going to tolerate that either. South Beach is South Beach, but you know, we are cool street kids before we became tattoo artists. We were stylish street kids and that’s kind of how we operate, we have not changed our mentality. We like people that dress right, and no rowdy people. All in all, it’s a hang out. Ami James, 34, was born in Israel on April 6, 1972 and moved to Miami at the age of 12. As a teen, Ami returned to Israel and served in the Israeli Army Infantry as a sniper, which helped to make him into the tough guy that he is to this day. He got his first tattoo at age 15, a life-changing experience for him. He was impressed by the artistry of the work and decided to become a tattoo artist shortly after. At the age of 20, Ami became a tattoo artist’s apprentice to learn more about the skill needed to be successful in the industry. Ami’s artistic abilities made him a natural for the position and eventually, he opened his own tattoo parlor with Chris Nuñez. Chris and Ami had become friends while working together at a local tattoo shop. With a friend of Ami’s, they put together the idea for the show and approached TLC/The Discovery Channel with the idea. “What a lot of people don’t know about me is that I am not playing a character on the show. I am the same person in my real life as I am on TV”, said Ami James. With the launch of the show, the shop and its talented artists have become wildly successful, both in Miami and internationally. Chris Nuñez, 33, was born in Cuba on April 11, 1973. His interest in tattooing developed from his early career as a graphic artist and blossomed when he got his first tattoo at the age of 16 of both of his parents’ names. After the death of his father, Chris became very close with his family, his mother and his older sister, both of whom have become involved in Chris’ love of tattooing. At the age of 21, Chris traveled extensively throughout Europe and South America, where many of his favorite tattoo artists became his mentors. He developed a personal sense of style and perfected the technique that would later make him famous. When he isn’t tattooing, Chris spends the majority of his time in South Beach with his close friends or with his 8-year old dog, Chingu, named after a Brazilian headhunter tribe. The success that he has experienced as a result of Miami Ink has given Chris the chance to live the life that he had always dreamed of and to pursue his true passions: partying, tattooing and beautiful women.