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West Palm Beach man gets WPTV's Chopper 5 tattooed on his chest in homage to his hometown

Posted at 12:28 PM, Oct 25, 2019
and last updated 2019-10-25 18:35:16-04

When you think of West Palm Beach, you may conjure images of the downtown waterfront, Clematis Street or the Kravis Center.

For one local man, add WPTV's Chopper 5 to that list.

Sabian Estremera was born and raised in West Palm Beach, and he loves his hometown. "The people, the things to do, the food," he said.

Estremera also loves expressing himself through his tattoos. So when he recently went to CamBam Studios, his two passions came together.

"The WPTV chopper was going to be there from the get-go because if you’re from here, you know you know WPTV chopper is always in the air," he said.

When reporter Michelle Quesada saw a photo of the tattoo that artist Cameron Santiago posted on Instagram, we invited him and Estremera to visit WPTV for a real-life comparison of the tattoo.

Estremera and Santiago got to meet the pilot and traffic reporter Johann Hoffend, the only local news team who goes up in the air every day to keep viewers informed.

"Step into my office, check it out" said Hoffend, as he gave the pair a tour of the chopper on the helipad.

"When he came and told me I was just ... thinking that's the coolest idea I've heard about a Palm Beach County tattoo," said Santiago, the artist. "When you see that chopper, no matter what chopper you see in the sky, you know where it's from."

The tattoo took about 8 hours to complete, with the Chopper 5 part requiring about half of that time.

"You can't go small with stuff like that," Santiago said.