Popular Boise restaurant lives on as golden horse head finds ‘weird’ new home
A piece of local restaurant history hangs near the entrance to Born Weird Tattoo in Boise.
The golden horse head originally sat on a larger-than-life stallion standing guard over Boise’s only P.F. Chang’s location.
The tattoo shop added the equine trophy to its collection of oddities as of Feb. 6.
“I was going for the whole horse, but I’ll take whatever I can get,” business co-owner Kendall Vader told the Idaho Statesman.
What happened to the P.F. Chang’s horse statues?
Chinese restaurant chain P.F. Chang’s closed its location at 391 S. 8th St. in Boise in late October, the Statesman previously reported. The eatery had been a downtown staple for 20 years.
Vader tracked the restaurant’s closing auction in hopes of obtaining one of the famous gold horse statues guarding its entrance.
However, P.F. Chang’s opted to not sell the horses in order to protect its brand and merchandise, the Statesman previously reported.
“They were going to chop them up, which is a super bummer,” said Vader, a tattoo artist and sculptor.
JPM Demolition of Boise dismantled the two golden stallions in pieces.
However, Vader’s friend connected him with someone who had obtained one of the horses’ heads.
“He literally took it from the Dumpster,” Vader said.
The gilded trophy is now proudly displayed on Born Weird Tattoo’s front patio.
Boise tattoo shop has ties to local restaurant history
Born Weird Tattoo has ties to another longtime Boise restaurant.
The building at 3900 West Overland Road in Boise’s Bench neighborhood was once home to Rockies, a retro-style diner.
The restaurant was once filled with neon lights, roller skating wait staff and a DJ booth complete with Elvis Presley impersonator, Vader said, describing eating there as an iconic Boise experience.
When Vader bought the former Rockies building, it had been “abandoned for two years, completed neglected,” he said, adding that the structure’s previous occupants couldn’t afford to maintain it. “They rented it for 26 years (but) didn’t put a dime into it.”
During renovations, Vader and his wife, Ashleigh Vader, added a new ceiling, floors and heating, ventilation and cooling system, plus a parking lot.
Vader also refurbished the old neon lighting that once wound through Rockies.
What is in Born Weird Tattoo’s collection of oddities?
The Vaders are collectors of the curious and outrageous — and they store some of their possessions at Born Weird Tattoo.
“You can be here for so long and still find new things,” Ashleigh Vader told the Statesman.
Many items on display came made straight from a collection Kendall Vader has been building his whole life.
“I actually started when I was probably about 8 years old,” Vader said. “My very first piece was a little puffer fish.”
Included in the Vaders’ collection is a penny smasher from the Discovery Center of Idaho, a taxidermied bear and Idaho’s largest eyeball. The eyeball sculpture was built and designed by Kendall Vader himself.
Born Weird’s collection puts a special focus on the history of Boise.
“It’s always been my dream to not only have a roadside attraction, but to make a landmark,” Vader said. “When (a visitor comes) to town and you want to show off Boise, I want to be one of those places that you go to.”
How did Born Weird owners build their collection?
Every piece in Born Weird Tattoo’s collection has a unique story and its owners have gone through every means to collect them, including estate sales and auctions.
“It is really hard to find stuff, so the dream is people start contacting me,” Kendall Vader said. “I can get pretty weird with it.”
On a recent tour of the space, a taxidermied crocodile head smiled from behind glass on the shop’s second level near the front.
“I found this from a street vendor in New Orleans, and I made one of my coworkers pack it in her suitcase,” Vader said. “It smelled so bad, she had to throw her suitcase away.”
There’s also an interesting story behind the cigar inconspicuously sitting near the check-in counter.
“This is actually an autographed Bill Clinton cigar,” Vader reminisced.
The cigar’s previous owner had it signed by Clinton during his 1998 tour in Iraq, before gifting it to Born Weird.
The largest item found at the Boise tattoo shop is the rocket adorning the teal-and-black building’s roof. It was a Facebook Marketplace find, according to Vader.
The tattoo shop decorated the old F16 fuel tank into the rocket it is now for a Fourth of July parade before installing it to the permanent collection.
What’s in store at Boise tattoo shop?
Born Weird is open seven days a week and is home to 12 tattoo artists and two piercers, Vader told the Statesman.
The shop is open from noon to 6 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and noon to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Walk-ins are welcome on a first-come, first-served basis, according to the shop’s website.
Every tattoo artist in residence at the shop is on a rotating walk-in schedule to ease customers’ worries of getting pushed off on less experienced tattooers, Vader said.
Tattoo offerings at Born Weird Tattoo include various specialties such as traditional, fineline and cosmetic styles. The shop also offers piercings.
This story was originally published March 3, 2026 at 4:00 AM.
