Hold it a little still . My name is Kerry Barba and I'm the owner of Auto Limits Tattoo here in Long Beach California , the oldest tattoo shop in the nation . Second oldest in the world .
So there used to be a port here in Long Beach , a naval port and the military guys would all come into port and no one had visited other countries . And so the tattoo artist started catching on here and they opened tattoo stops here in the port city of Long Beach , we pulled down a wall , found this safe right behind the wall , still have not opened this safe . And we plan to do that to see what's inside on the 100 year anniversary of the shop .
We got um four of us , five of us including me , but we're lucky to have like real L a natives that are just here playing their trade and putting the best art they can on their clients and the art of the tattoo isn't just a man's world . Head over to Long Beach for some female artistry from the one and only carry barber at a shop that's earned the distinctive title . Oldest in America right there .
It's been running all through both wars and we're very proud of our location . All the tattoo shops you used to see had every inch as much as they could cover , filled in tattoo flesh . And it was called Les because when you'd walk in , it was like bam flesh .
I'm Da De . Welcome to L A and scripted from the broken art tattoo parlor in Atwater Village as we take a colorful look at the art of ink . Now , if you live in , so it's hard to find someone who doesn't have at least one tattoo .
