It will be up to Hermosa Mayor Pete Tucker to decide whether a tattoo parlor may open up in the area of the Hermosa Beach Pier Plaza.
With Tucker off on vacation, his colleagues on the City Council took up the question of where and how to allow tattoo parlors to operate within Hermosa, after a federal appeals court struck down a municipal ban on the businesses as unconstitutional.
Tucker’s colleagues split down the middle. Councilmen Michael DiVirgilio and Kit Bobko pushed to limit body inking businesses to the commercial zone covering Pacific Coast Highway and Aviation Boulevard. Councilmen Howard Fishman and Jeff Duclos urged allowing the businesses in the city’s downtown commercial zone as well. That zone is defined by the Pier Plaza and a nearby stretch of Hermosa Avenue.
The deadlock left the council awaiting Tucker’s return to break the tie at the next regular meeting on Oct. 26.
“Pete has no idea what is awaiting him when he gets home,” Bobko said.
“My feeling is if the man wants to open up a legitimate tattoo parlor, or anybody wants to open a business, I don’t see why he should restricted to the highway or Aviation Boulevard,” Fishman said after the meeting.
He noted that the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that tattoo artist Johnny Anderson, a Redondo Beach resident with a parlor in Gardena, must be allowed to operate within Hermosa.
“Nobody was happy with the court’s decision, but we recognize that he has the constitutional right to operate, according to the Ninth Circuit Court,” Fishman said.
Fishman and Duclos said tattoo businesses would be sufficiently regulated by provisions including an 11 p.m. closing time, a required distance of 1,000 feet between any two parlors, and requirements that the businesses comply with numerous county health rules.
“I’ve consistently maintained that there should be a place for this type of business, and from the outset I have suggested the C3 [PCH and Aviation] zone,” Bobko said. Before the court decision, Bobko was the only council member who pushed for allowing tattoo parlors rather than spending money to fight the legal battle. ER
