Fineline Tattoo

Operating since 1976, Fineline Tattoo started in the underground days of New York's ban on tattooing, which lasted from the early 1960s until the late 1990s. It worked from the Bowery in the East Village before moving to a First Avenue storefront after the city lifted the ban in 1997. Mike Bakaty, the founder, died in 2014, and since 2020 Mehai Bakaty has run it as a private studio in the spirit of the old school street shops. The shop now focuses on custom design work, with pre-drawn flash available, and its portfolio covers backpieces, sleeves, old school, fine line, black and grey and Japanese style pieces. All of its artists are licensed by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Rated 4.6 from 71 Google reviews, 60 of them five stars.