Prototype Issue
From High School to Grillz
By Chris Tsuyuki
(page 1 of 1)The rebelliousness that could have made her just another high school dropout instead drives Castro to make her business venture a success. This is the story of how one enterprising girl makes a living off mouth jewelry.
“You just missed Dennis Rodman!” Yuli Castro shouted excitedly as I enter her Melrose Avenue shop, Grill Talk. Her energy is contagious and not just reserved for Dennis Rodman drop-ins. (She customized permanent canine teeth for the retired NBA eccentric.)
This vibrancy, coupled with her mastery of her craft, is what lures people in to buy as many as three grillz a week from her. Even when they can’t afford to buy, they stop by with lunch or just to hang out. “That’s the good thing about my customers; they all respect me—[or] they all learn how to respect me!” She laughed loudly at this.
Born and raised in Long Beach to immigrant parents, Castro resides in her hometown and daily braves the harrowing freeway system to LA’s Westside. She broke cultural tradition by moving out of the house at 18 and today considers her boyfriend and the friends she grew up with to be her family.
Although she is fiercely independent and tough by nature, her youth shines through in her preference for the color pink and her genuine indignation when she informed me that the shirt she was wearing was selling at another store for less than what she paid.
Castro is adamant about defending her Latino roots. When a racist comment that implied that all immigrants should go back home was printed in her Wilson High School newspaper, Castro led a schoolwide walkout, which got her expelled for “safety reasons.” The rebelliousness that could have made her just another high school dropout instead drives Castro to make her business venture a success.
At 15, Castro was working at a beauty supply store at the Del Amo Swap Meet and a friend convinced her to apply for a job with a nearby jeweler named Sounmi, who specialized in grillz.
As fate would have it, she landed the gig and soon became passionate about the art of grill-making, often pestering co-workers with questions about the craft. Sounmi fronted her the money to open up her own shop.
“It’s hard to get someone’s trust and have them take a chance on you,” Castro said. In business since October 2006, Castro owns and runs Grill Talk all by herself.
Oral Traditions
Grillz, often associated with rap and hip-hop, have even deeper roots. In the South, during the 1970s, locals had rotted teeth replaced with solid gold to represent prosperity.
In Central America, having a gold tooth is a status symbol. Samoans, meanwhile, go through the painful process of shaving down the sides of their teeth and filling them with gold.
Today, grillz are removable, made with gold and platinum and sized to fit snugly around the tooth. Prices start at $200 for six teeth in 10k gold or $600 per tooth for platinum. Custom designs depend largely on how much wealth you want to cram into your mouth.
Castro specializes in diamond embellishments, engraving and 3-D squares. Similar to how a tattoo artist works, she outlines the design on paper and negotiates a price. An impression is taken of the tooth, and less than a week later, the grill is ready for pick up.
“A lot of people don’t take me seriously because I’m only 18, but if you have a dream and somebody gives you a chance, you go for it.”
There are no known negative health effects from sporting a grill. Some of Castro’s clients have claimed that over a period of time, their teeth actually became straighter.
Castro’s average customer is male and anywhere between 15 and 30 years old, but there are also the occasional oddities: The 4-year-old whose mom wanted him to look “pimped out” for his birthday; the girls who got matching friendship grillz; the lesbian who ordered a gay pride rainbow grill; and the Korean tourist whose American dream was met when he went back home looking gangsta. Then there’s the guy who accidentally swallowed his grill and went through extreme measures to get it back. His reasoning: “I met a lot of cute girls with it.”
Castro has a grill of her own, but only sports it to promote her business. Her plans include carrying graffiti-inspired jewelry, designing clothes, pursuing acting and getting her GED.
“A lot of people don’t take me seriously because I’m only 18, but if you have a dream and somebody gives you a chance, you go for it.”
Grill Talk 7600 Melrose Ave., 2nd Floor Los Angeles, CA 90046 323-782-0641
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