45-Day Tattoo Parlor Moratorium Passed

Alarmed by the recent debut of the city’s first tattoo and body piercing parlor, the San Fernando City Council on Monday unanimously passed an emergency ordinance imposing a 45-day moratorium on the opening of similar businesses.

Councilman Raul Godinez II, acting as mayor pro tem at Monday’s council meeting, said the city would use the time to possible zoning restrictions that would make businesses offering tattoos, body-piercing or selling drug paraphernalia less accessible to minors.

“These stores cater to the wannabe gang member look,” Godinez said. “We are trying to say ‘no more’ until we can come up with regulations to control them.”

Godinez said Chubb’s Clothing and Record Shop, which opened in June on South Brand Boulevard, and which sells water pipes in addition to offering tattoos and body piercing, is operating legally but represents a bad influence for the area’s teenagers.

Council members have received numerous complaints, Godinez said, from parents angry about Chubb’s location only a few blocks from San Fernando Middle School and El Centro de Amistad and Valley Family Center community organizations.

“We don’t want to censor anybody, but we do want to control where these businesses go in,” Godinez said.

Nora Villela, a counselor at El Centro de Amistad, agreed with the council’s action. “This place is just too close to the school. Most of the kids walk right by it every day,” Villela said. “We are trying our best to help these kids and a store like this goes against everything we are trying to teach.”

Chubb’s owner, Barbara Marta of Palmdale, denied that the store was a negative influence on teenagers in the neighborhood. Marta said the store’s primary business is selling clothing and that the parts of the store where pipes are sold and tattoos and piercings are done are strictly off-limits for minors.

“We run a pretty tight ship here,” Marta said. “If you’re not over 18 there’s no way you’re getting in.”