Tattoo's are a part of San Diego culture. I suppose it started a long time ago with the Navy.
The current crowd are pretty hardcore. There are tons of parlors surrounding my office at 7th and Broadway. I see gatherings outside of these daily. It's part of a subculture here. The shops alone are very colorful. Some shops look like the art you would see at carnival side shows, brilliantly colored and freaky in a horror show kind of way. The shops themselves would be great photo subjects.
It's funny to me though, since it is now fairly common to see "tatts" on soccer moms and grannies. Used to be that one did it to stand out. But here you would be one of the sheep.
In the early eighties I considered having a bar code tattooed on my arm detailing information about me. Blood type, date and place of birth. A statement on how we were all just numbers to some great machine. The idea didn't go over well with my girlfriend at the time. "too creepy"