Steven Acosta is an artist and owner of Advanced Dermagraphics Tattoo which has been located in Long Beach for 41 years. He opened his studio in 1979.
“I have been in the business since 1977,” he said.
Since tattoos studios are not part of the essential businesses, they were closed for months and their process to re-open was complicated and uncertain.
Acosta explained how overwhelming his experience was with his business since COVID-19.
Acosta had to close and open his studio several times throughout 2020.
He said, “In the middle of March, they closed everybody down. Then, we were allowed to open back up June 19th. And then July 13th, they closed us down again. We were closed until October 22nd.”
He also mentioned that he could not do piercings.
“They suspended our ability to do anything under the mask. We couldn’t do the nose, we couldn’t do the tongue, couldn’t do the lips. We couldn’t do any of the piercings under the mask, which eliminated half of my services.”
Tim Shelton is also an artist and owner of his own tattoo studio, Still Life Tattoo, located in Seal Beach. Shelton’s studio has been in service since 2011.
Shelton has been a tattoo artist for 15 years and focuses on black and grey art, specially lined and illustrative designs.
In a phone interview on December 4, he commented that when the pandemic started impacting the United States, “Along with everybody else, we did close our doors. There is no financial help that we were ever given from any kind of forgivable loan or any kind of loan.”
Shelton did not have to lay off anyone since the artists and space at Still Life Tattoo are very limited. “We are a very small shop. There are two of us working and the clients are completely spaced out.”
When tattoo shops were permitted by Gov. Newsom to reopen, Still Life Tattoo adapted to the required regulations and modifications.
“We kept it very safe. We received a set of guidelines to follow which did not allow people to bring extra people. We got an air filter and hand sanitizer. We already had a very clean protocol. We just make sure to clean down wherever the client sat and wear a mask, which is stuff we would normally do,” Shelton said.
It was the same case for Acosta.
Acosta explained, “We had to do appointments only, and we couldn’t allow to have anybody observing it. So if someone came with a person to get a tattoo or piercing, they had to wait out in the car. They are social distancing and there is a lot of cleaning and sanitizing in between each client. Tattooing and body piercing is the tightest regulated business there is, next to being a doctor or nurse. Even before COVID-19, we’ve always been very regulated by the health department.”
On December 4, Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom issued another stay-at-home order which temporarily closed all personal care services in regions where ICU capacity has dropped below 15 percent, which includes the Southern California region.
Acosta had to close his studio once again and said, “They closed us down again December 7th,
and now we are closed down for at least three weeks, but it will probably be longer until next year.”