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

Section 26-112 separates body-art regulation into two tracks: body piercing under subsection (a) and tattooing under subsection (b), each with its own permit and siting standards. Tattooing is allowed only in the zones specified in Article II, Division 2, and requires the permit called for in Article VI, Division 4 before a shop can open. A tattoo tenant space must have at least 1,000 square feet of gross floor area, structured as its own stand-alone space rather than a percentage of a larger store as body piercing uses are.

Distance standards keep tattoo shops away from sensitive uses and from each other: a minimum 300 feet from any residential use, religious facility, public park, or school serving minors, measured from property line, and more than 1,500 feet from the perimeter of any other tattoo business's tenant space, a spacing rule aimed at preventing tattoo shops from clustering. m. Temporary or mobile tattooing operations and events, the kind sometimes run out of a booth or a traveling setup, are not allowed under this section at all.

Body piercing, by contrast, is allowed only alongside a beauty shop or jewelry store use, capped at 10 percent of that host business's gross floor area, and requires a minimum 1,200-square-foot host business; incidental ear piercing at a jewelry store or beauty shop does not need the piercing-specific permit. Both piercing and tattooing uses need a standard business license under Chapter 14 before starting operations, and piercing uses specifically must also comply with the Los Angeles County body-art health and safety regulations.