Tattoo parlors were illegal in NYC from 1961 until 1997 after being banned for allegedly causing a hepatitis b breakout.
I remember when the city closed them down. Always thought the "hepatitis" reason was BS. Tattoo parlors--and the people who patronized them--were considered "disreputable," "a public nuisance" associated with lowlifes. The only tattoo parlor I remember in Brooklyn, where I lived, was in Coney Island--itself viewed as a "disreputable" place.
