Tattoo Shops in Los Angeles (Checked 2026)

This list was written in 2016 and has been checked shop by shop in September 2026. Los Angeles is not one tattoo scene but several, spread across a city too big to browse, so the useful way to read this is by area rather than by rank.

West Hollywood and the Strip

The Honorable Society Tattoo Parlour & Lounge

8424 Santa Monica Blvd, Unit B. 10am to 10pm, seven days.

Open since 2009 under Marco Cerretelli, with the broadest style range in the city: fine line, American traditional, realism, Japanese, neo-traditional, Thai traditional, illustrative, Chicano and blackwork. Appointments mostly, same-day by text, walk-ins when possible.

Mark Mahoney's Shamrock Social Club

Now on Horn St, just off Sunset, having moved from the Strip. Seven days, walk-ins accepted.

Mahoney is one of the most influential black-and-grey tattooers alive, and the fine-line single-needle style that spread worldwide came largely out of this lineage. He still tattoos five days a week. Note the address change.

Tattoo Mania

8861 W Sunset Blvd. 2pm to 2am, to 3am Friday and Saturday.

Thirty-five years on the Strip, with the late hours that implies. Anything from a first tattoo to a body suit.

Hollywood and Los Feliz

Dark Horse Tattoo

4644 Hollywood Blvd. Noon to 8pm, seven days.

Opened 2010 by Bryan Burk and Adam Warmerdam, with Aaron Garcia, Martina Major and Candi Kinyobi resident. Appointments encouraged, walk-ins when time allows. A working custom shop rather than a destination.

Mid-City

Memoir Tattoo

7377A Beverly Blvd. 1pm to 8pm Monday to Saturday, to 7pm Sunday. Appointment only, by email - they do not book by phone.

Open since 2009, home to Kim Saigh, Christina "Tiger" Ramos, Dan Bones and Martina Major, with international guest artists throughout the year. Email the artist directly rather than the shop.

South Bay

Onizuka Tattoo

1017 1/4 W 190th St, Gardena.

Traditional Japanese tattooing, run by Jiro since 2005 with Hori Taka and Hori Chuy. Worth the drive if Japanese work is what you want, and worth understanding that a traditional artist will shape the design to the body rather than copy a reference.

Closed, and still searched for

High Voltage Tattoo, 1259 N La Brea Ave, closed on 1 December 2021 after fourteen years when Kat Von D left Los Angeles for Indiana. It is named here because people still look for it.

Uncertain

True Tattoo on N Cahuenga and The Warren Tattoo, which has moved from Lincoln Heights to the Strip to Studio City, both show conflicting listings. Check their own accounts rather than a directory.

The remaining entries from the 2016 list could not be confirmed as still trading and have been left out rather than pointed at. That is not a statement that they have closed.

Before you book in Los Angeles

California requires body art practitioners to register with the county health department, renew bloodborne pathogen training annually, and work from a registered facility. In Los Angeles that is LA County Public Health, and the paperwork should be on display.

Then the ordinary checks: sterile needles opened in front of you, fresh gloves, single-use ink caps, an autoclave, surfaces covered and wiped between clients.

Two things specific to this city. A great deal of the best work happens in private studios with no public address, found through the artist rather than through a shop - so if you are only looking at storefronts you are seeing a fraction of what is available. And the shops on the Strip are priced for visitors and set up for same-day work; that is a real convenience, and it is not the same as being the best in the city.

Details change. Phone before travelling.