Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1991. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
San Francisco Chronicle (SF) - THURSDAY September 12, 1991
Teresa Moore, Chronicle East Bay Bureau
The irate father of one of the girls called City Councilman Alan Goldfarb, who is leading the campaign for stringent regulation including routine inspections.
Goldfarb said he is concerned about the risk of HIV or hepatitis infection from dirty tattooing needles.
Most people who are tattooed experience minor bleeding as the needle pierces the top three layers of skin and releases the ink.
In San Francisco, tattooists are required to pass inspection by the city Department of Environmental Health before they are licensed.
An inspector said that San Francisco tattoo parlors are examined twice a year to ensure that equipment and work areas are sterile.
No such regulations exist in Alameda County, said Bob Castel, director of the Alameda County Department of Environmental Health.
Since 1955, the tattooing of minors has been a misdemeanor in California.
There are signs announcing the prohibition in Berkeley's three established tattoo shops. Eric Hogan of Miller Cotton's Tattoos on Telegraph Avenue, who tattooed one of the 14-year-olds, said he was fooled by her false identification card.
Owners of Berkeley's two other principal tattoo parlors said yesterday that they welcomed Goldfarb's proposal to inspect tattoo shops, but they pointed out that many tattoos are applied by underground practitioners with questionable sanitation.
"Most shops in the area already operate under highly sterile conditions, but it would be good to have some guidelines on the books that would keep some of the fly-by-night tattooists out of business," said Chuck Eldridge, owner of Tattoo Archive on San Pablo Avenue.
John Doughtery, owner of Blue Buddha Tattoos on Ashby Avenue, said that reputable tattooists take great pains to maintain hygienic working conditions.
"What isn't sterilizable is disposable," said Dougherty, who wears rubber gloves to protect himself from his patrons' blood. "If the public knows that tattoo studios are inspected from time to time, that would raise their level of confidence in them."
CAPTION: PHOTO Tattoo artist Eric Hogan said the underage girl he tattooed at his shop on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley presented false ID/BY SCOTT SOMMERDORF/THE CHRONICLE
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