Gretna, LA Business Licensing & Operations: Tattoo & Body Modification (2026)

Chapter 30, Article I of the Gretna Code of Ordinances opens with the flattest prohibition in the health chapter: Sec. 30-1 reads, in its entirety, that the practice of tattooing is prohibited in the city. The section carries no exceptions, no definitions, and no separate licensing track, which means there is no lawful path to open a tattoo studio or work as a tattoo artist inside Gretna's city limits, unlike the occupational-license system that governs most other businesses under Chapter 12. The prohibition traces back to the 1979 Code, Sec. 16-123, and was carried forward unchanged into the 1997 Code, Sec. 50-1, and again into the current code, showing the city has never revisited the ban even as neighboring jurisdictions across the Mississippi River have licensed studios.

The ban also reaches into other parts of the code. Sec. 42-3(b)(5), governing the city-run Gretna Market, separately lists tattoos among the items vendors are expressly barred from selling or offering there, alongside drug paraphernalia, firearms, and fireworks, confirming that the city treats tattooing as an activity it will not permit anywhere in a Gretna business or on city property.

Because Chapter 30 sets no chapter-specific fine, a violation of Sec. 30-1 falls under the Sec. 1-8 general penalty: a fine of up to $500.00, with each day a continuing violation treated as a separate offense. Notice of a citation must be given as provided in Sec. 2-1 before a hearing, typically before the Mayor's Court under Chapter 40.