Cathedral City, CA Business Licensing & Operations: Tattoo & Body Modification (2026)

Chapter 5.34 of the Cathedral City Municipal Code, titled Body Art Facilities, applies in Cathedral City, Riverside County. Section 5.34.010 makes it unlawful to carry on the business of a tattooing establishment in or upon any premises or vehicle within the city without prior approval of a conditional use permit under the zoning ordinance. Because the section names vehicles as well as premises, a mobile tattoo operation needs the same conditional use permit as a storefront. The chapter defines a tattoo establishment as the building, section of a building, or vehicle in which a practitioner performs tattooing.

The chapter borrows its core definitions from Health and Safety Code Section 119300: body piercing, permanent cosmetics, and tattooing, which means inserting pigment under the surface of the skin by pricking with a needle or otherwise to produce an indelible mark or figure. Under the city's own definition, body art means body piercing, tattooing, or application of permanent cosmetics. A body art facility does not include a facility that only pierces the earlobe with a disposable, single-use stud or solid needle applied with a mechanical device.

Section 5.34.020 is an outright prohibition. It is unlawful for a body art facility to perform extreme body modification services, and unlawful for any person to perform them on another person, anywhere in Cathedral City. The chapter defines the term as branding and scarification. Branding is any method, including heat, cold, a chemical compound, or cauterizing, used to apply a scar and create a permanent mark or design. Scarification is any method that alters skin texture by cutting the skin and controlling the healing process to produce permanently raised welts or bumps, or any other technique that changes the contour or level plane of the skin and results in a scar.

Code compliance officers and other authorized enforcement agents can inspect tattooing establishments under Section 13.50.160, which points to Chapter 5.30 of the municipal code.