Council To Decide On Laguna Beach's 6th Tattoo And Body Art Business

LAGUNA BEACH, CA—The Laguna Beach City Council will decide next week whether to allow a conditional use permit for its sixth proposed tattoo business. Franco Vescovi, owner of the Vatican Gallery in Laguna, has sought a permit to add a tattoo and body art business to his existing South Coast Highway art gallery since November.

At that time, the Planning Commission passed Vescovi's Conditional Use Permit for the tattoo shop. Still, a handful of local tattoo artists, body art businesses, and supporters filed an appeal to deny the permit. According to Kate Kazama, associate city planner, the current recommendation is that the council allow The Vatican Gallery to move forward with its plans and deny the appeal.

Six months ago, local Laguna Beach tattoo artists attended the Laguna Beach Planning Commission meeting where Vescovi's plans were revealed: to add two chairs to The Vatican Art Gallery, located at 618 South Coast Highway. He intended to renovate the space and shared examples of his art, photos of his existing gallery—Vatican Studios in Lake Forest—and photographs of tattoo artwork. The specs called for keeping the existing art gallery and small reception area and adding two"3-foot pony walls" dividing the procedure areas. Vescovi would be the primary tattoo artist, along with two additional body art practitioners and visiting artists as a form of "performance art."

According to the permit request, Vescovi has owned and run the South Coast Highway gallery for eight years. The gallery currently features artwork from Phil Roberts, Noah Elias, and Franco Vescovi.

"All art pieces are for sale and rotated with new pieces as space allows," he said.

Still, local tattoo artists complained about the impending sixth tattoo business in Laguna Beach, saying the oceanfront town is already oversaturated with similar shops.

Down the block sits Laguna Tattoo, a small shop with many loyal customers. Artist Brian Griffith and building landlord David Tran filed the appeal against Vescovi's business. The appeal states that Laguna Tattoo is considered "the oldest working tattoo and body art facility in Orange County," and its followers call themselves "Friends of Laguna Tattoo" in letters to the city.

Wendy and George Schiffman wrote to the city on behalf of the business, asking it not to allow another tattoo artist to set up shop.

"Please take the surrounding business into consideration before allowing this project to manifest," they wrote.

Natalie Uburtis, another longstanding Laguna Tattoo customer, added her complaint, citing that the existing shop is "fantastic for the community."

Though approximately 13 letters of complaint were written, the commissioners stated that it wasn't their job to limit competition.

According to the Planning Commission's review of the permit appeal, "there is no provision of the municipal code that requires a certain distance between tattoo body art facilities."

Though some complained that Vescovi ran a "corporate studio," pointing out the Lake Forest studio, he told commissioners this was not the case.

He pointed out that the Lake Forest shop features an old-world artistic setting for its clientele. The body art aspect of his Laguna Beach gallery would be a boutique-scale studio. At the November meeting, Vescovi rebutted that any concern about his new business causing Laguna Tattoo to go out of business was "an irrational fear, with only two tattoo chairs in operation at any given time." He said his company will be by appointment, with limited walk-in client availability.

After their review, the commission found that his new shop would not be any more "obnoxious than any other tattoo parlor within the city."

Planning commissioners stated that there was no sign of additional police activity due to the addition of tattoo shops and no reason to believe that Vescovi's shop would create anything other than "healthy competition."

While everyone will be able to discuss the matter before the city council makes its decision at the next meeting, this is not the first time a proposed tattoo shop has faced obstacles from competing business owners.

In 2019, Bare Bones Tattoo faced similar pushback, according to an article in the Laguna Beach Independent. That tattoo parlor, located at 2940 South Coast Highway, was briefly under fire after an appeal filed by Councilwoman Toni Iseman, concerned about tattoo shop saturation. City Attorney Phil Choen, at that time, said that cities cannot prohibit a tattoo shop from opening simply because of the service it offers.

At that time, tattoo artist Zane Leibowitz said he understood the concern. "I feel now more than ever we need to work on bridging gaps and embrace growth, progress, and diversity."

According to his biography, Vescovi specializes in grayscale tattoos. He also runs a similar business in Lake Forest, The Vatican Studios, known for its elegant interiors and attention to detail. He says he "plans to expand its gallery on South Coast Highway. Much as he has done in the city of Lake Forest," owner Franco Vescovi is hoping to build

"We have a distinct goal to bring an element of disruption to the town of Laguna Beach in the form of urban contemporary street art."