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New York's First Tattoo Shop Opens
Martin Hildebrandt sets up New York’s first tattoo shop on Oak Street in lower Manhattan. Photo by Tattoo Archive. -
Electric Tattoo Machine Invented
New Yorker Samuel O’Reilly patents the first electric tattoo machine, which would change tattooing forever. O’Reilly, who called himself “Professor,” modeled his machine after Thomas Edison’s automatic pen. Photo by Tattoo Archive. -
Legal Trouble Faced by Tattoo Artists
Charlie Wagner, a revolutionary tattoo artist and former student of O'Reilly, was fined by the city of New York for not sterilizing his needles. Photo by Tattoo Archive. -
Tattoos are Banned
The New York City Health Department bans tattooing after a hepatitis-B scare (which might have been unrelated to tattooing). New York City declared it “unlawful for any person to tattoo a human being.” Photo by Flickr user THOR. -
Ed Hardy Opens a Tattoo Shop
Don Ed Hardy opens Realistic Tattoo in San Francisco, the first custom-only, appointment-only studio in the U.S. Photo by Wikimedia Commons. -
The Alliance of Professional Tattooists is founded
The Alliance of Professional Tattooists, a nonprofit founded to address the tattoo industry’s health and safety issues, is established. Photo by KAFIASTUDIO on deviantart. -
Tattoos Become Legal
New York passes a bill legalizing tattooing by a vote of 38 - 7. It has been estimated that 50 tattoo artists had been operating illegally while the ban was in place. Photo by Wikimedia Commons. -
First Tattoo Convention
New York holds its first tattoo convention. Photo by Wikimedia Commons.
