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

020 defines 'Personal Services, Restricted' as a personal service establishment that may have a blighting or deteriorating effect on the surrounding area and therefore needs to be dispersed from similar uses; the definition specifically lists tattooing, piercing, and similar services alongside check-cashing services. 200, which requires a minimum 500-foot separation between any personal services restricted use, pawnshop, or massage establishment. Distance is measured in a straight line, ignoring intervening buildings, from the closest property line of one use to the closest property line of the other.

The citywide allowable land use tables list 'Personal Services, Restricted' as requiring a Conditional Use Permit in the commercial zoning districts that allow the use at all, and it is barred outright from at least one zoning district shown in the same table. 050, an applicant denied for failing the 500-foot buffer can appeal that decision through the standard zoning appeal process, but cannot obtain an administrative waiver of the distance requirement itself. A is not waivable at the staff level. The current 500-foot standard was set by Ordinance 7135 in 2008.